UNT students call for end to racism
07:28 AM CST on Thursday, February 3, 2005
Some University of North Texas students called for an end to racism and
hate speech at a rally Wednesday, and condemned the campus' Young
Conservatives of Texas chapter for last week's "Catch an Illegal Immigrant
Day." But Rebeca Perfecto, coordinator of the "unity rally," said the event
was meant to send a message to the world that discrimination is not the
norm on campus. "The purpose of the rally was not to go against the Young
Conservatives," she said. "The purpose of the rally was to show that UNT
has a huge welcoming community that will embrace people from different
cultures and different backgrounds, and that you will always be safe and
you will not be persecuted." Last Wednesday, members of the Young Conservatives held a demonstration
on campus in which some members wore orange shirts that read "Illegal
Immigrant" on the front and "Catch me if U can" on the back. Passers-by
could check in at the group's table, receive a badge and go find the
"illegal immigrants." Captures were rewarded with 100 Grand candy bars.
The Young Conservatives also handed out literature it says accurately
outlines problems with illegal immigration, though many Latino students
said it was false and "misinformation." Young Conservatives President Chris Brown said his organization's
political demonstration was neither racist nor hateful and was only meant
to educate students about illegal immigration. "I wouldn't change anything about what happened that day," Brown said.
"I think it worked out well." But some students said that the group's presentation "insulted" people
from all backgrounds. "Today, we are here to sound our voices and come together to
demonstrate against them," recent UNT graduate Jorge Becerra said to more
than 150 people gathered at the rally. Dozens of students held signs of protest, declaring: "The real death of
America is when we are all alike," "Stop Racism," "Stop Ignorant Speech,
Not Free Speech," and "I'm an Immigrant, You're an Ignorant." Students from many ethnic groups attended the rally and said they were
sickened by last Wednesday's demonstration, which they called degrading
and humiliating. Pricila Cardenas, president of UNT's chapter of the League of United
Latin American Citizens, invited other student organizations to join with
hers in suggesting amendments to the university's free-speech zone
policy. "We're not trying to limit free speech, but they need to do it in a
different way," she said. "They need to be professional about it. They
need to be responsible for what they did." Other students, who held protest signs denouncing "ignorant speech,"
said they support the idea of free speech but think the manner in which it
is expressed should be confined. "There should be some limitations of where you can go," said Brooke
Stelmazewski(CQ), a 20-year-old junior from San Antonio. "We're on a
college campus. I just think they [the Young Conservatives] are going
about it in the wrong way. "I think that everybody has the right to free speech, but it should be
educated. You shouldn't spread hate." But Brown said the Young Conservatives did nothing of the sort. "I think their response was far overblown," he said of the rally. "I
think they responded to something that didn't happen. Their signs said,
‘stop the hate speech' and ‘stop racism.' We've been told by lawyers,
administrators, people from the Department of Justice, that it wasn't
racist or hate speech by any means." And he said the Young Conservatives were not invited to participate in
the rally. "I think this is racist activity on their part," he said. "We weren't
invited to take part in this so-called diversity and unity rally." But Perfecto said an e-mail message was sent to the entire UNT campus
inviting everyone to participate in the rally. "We were not being racist at any point," she said. "What we consider
discrimination in this recent act was that they were trying to round up
their ‘illegal immigrants' as cattle." JOSH BAUGH can be
reached at 940-566-6881. 