Matt Garcia recalled the horde of military recruiters that swarmed him as he graduated high school. They pursued him based on one factor: his last name. Garcia. Sounds Mexican.
Garcia was a commodity because he was a minority. And the recruiters almost succeeded.
Only a stern three-hour lecture from his uncle, a Vietnam vet so scarred by his wartime memories that he could no longer be a contributing member of society, would keep Garcia from shipping off to West Point.
Now a professor of ethnic studies at the University, Garcia said Tuesday that an abnormally large percentage of the military is composed of minorities. Sold on images of successful minorities such as Colin Powell, many minorities see the armed forces as a road to power and economic stability.
Garcia was speaking at the “War and Students of Color” teach-in at the International Lounge on Tuesday night. The teach-in, sponsored by Students for Peace, the Multicultural Center and Concerned Faculty for Peace and Justice, aimed to create awareness of how minorities are affected by war.
Students and professors discussed issues thrown into the spotlight in the aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001, ranging from minorities in the military to the highly-controversial USA PATRIOT Act.
“It makes perfect sense to someone, but not to me,” local political activist Hope Marston said of the act, which grants government agencies widespread authority to carry out searches and surveillance on people thought to be involved in suspicious activities.
“What we are doing now with the PATRIOT Act is accomplishing nothing but the repression of all Americans,” Marston said.
Marston also touched on the secretive government detainment of thousands of American Muslims following the 2001 World Trade Center bombings as an example of this new “repression.” Garcia also spoke of these detainments and other examples of racial profiling in the United States.
Garcia said Americans have historically persecuted people because of their ethnicity during times of war. This “movable feast,” Garcia said, can be traced back as far as 1848, when Mexican Americans experienced racism and hate crimes while the United States was at war with Mexico.
This trend continued with the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II and Korean Americans during the Korean War. Garcia said the racism aimed today at Muslims in America is merely an extension of this pattern.
Another issue covered was the migration of political power to the conservative side during the past decade, leading to what English Professor Linda Kintz called a “resurgence of effective racism.”
Kintz, a native of Texas, said many prominent Southern politicians, such as Mississippi native and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, have been tied to historically racist organizations and have helped pass what she said were fundamentally racist policies.
Students shared many of the sentiments expressed by the speakers.
“This conservative trend is taking away resources from things such as education and health care and prioritizing military spending,” senior sociology major Crystal Middlestadt said.
The need for a common community goal was also emphasized by one graduate student.
“White and non-white students need to stand up for each other and protect their human rights,” Javier Ayala said.