A leading backer of California recall race candidate Cruz Bustamante is defending the Latino supremacist group MEChA and its slogan, "For the race, everything; for those outside the race, nothing."
Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., complained Wednesday night that MEChA critics were engaging in McCarthyite tactics.
"This is like the 1960s where people were accusing the Southern Leadership Christian Conference of being a communist organization," he told Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes."
Bustamante, a MEChA member in his college days, has been under fire on the issue since Saturday, when he declined to condemn the organization for preaching a racist message.
During a heated exchange with Sean Hannity, Rep. Becerra revealed that he too had been a MEChA member, and praised the group for helping Latinos get an education.
"I got to be the first in my family to go to college" thanks to MEChA, Becerra said.
Hannity repeatedly pressed Becerra on why he would belong to a group that preaches racial discrimination, prompting the Bustamente backer to complain, "Are you calling me a racist?"
When the Fox host pointed out that MEChA favors the return of California to Mexico, Becerra still declined to criticize the group, saying, "I got a lot of help from people in the organization who have promoted education for kids and who continue to do that. ... What I know is what they do."
The full exchange went like this:
HANNITY: Congressman Becerra, I want to ask you this question, and I want a straightforward answer. And please don't duck it. I want to ask you about Mr. Bustamante and this group, MEChA – and I want to ask you – which calls for a separate state. They want California released to return to Mexico and they have as their slogan, "For the race, everything. For those outside the race, nothing."
Now, he was given an opportunity this weekend to denounce that statement and denounce those positions and he didn't do it. I want to know, number one, how can the Democrats support him if he doesn't have the courage to take a moral stand on a racial issue like that?
BECERRA: Wait, Sean. You're totally misinterpreting what Cruz Bustamante, the lieutenant governor, has said. You're also misrepresenting what the organization is.
HANNITY: For the race, everything ...
BECERRA: I was a member of it. Are you calling me a racist? I was a member of MEChA when I was in college.
HANNITY: Do you agree with that statement? Their slogan.
BECERRA: I don't agree with that statement.
HANNITY: Why were you in an organization that had that as a slogan, then?
BECERRA: Sean, are you familiar with MEChA?
HANNITY: For the race everything, outside the race nothing ...
BECERRA: Are you familiar with the fact it's an organization that promotes the ability for young people to get to college, the way I got to be the first in my family to go to college.
HANNITY: But they want California returned to Mexico?
BECERRA: I got a lot of help from people in the organization who have promoted education for kids and who continue to do that.
HANNITY: Is – I only have a few more seconds – is that their slogan?
BECERRA: What I know is what they do.
HANNITY: Is that their slogan? You're a member. Is that their slogan?
BECERRA: This is like the 1960s where people were accusing the Southern Leadership Christian Conference of being a communist organization.
HANNITY: Would you condemn anybody – would you condemn any organization that had that as their – answer this question.
BECERRA: Are you calling me a racist?
HANNITY: Would you ...
BECERRA: Are you calling me as racist?
HANNITY: ... that had that as their slogan? Yes or no?
BECERRA: I have been a congressman for 11 years and I've served very well. And I was a member of MEChA. [End of Excerpt]
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