Dear Mr. Netkin

July 11, 2000

You really got the wrong guy labeled as a racist. In today's L.A. Times there was a rally to free 10 iranian Jews in a trumped up spy trial. Antonia Villaraigosa was there. Here is a part of the article.

'At Monday's rally in Los Angeles, former California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa, a Los Angeles mayoral candidate, said the government of Iran must be sent a message that "there is no hope--no hope--for normalizing relations with Iran until these prisoners are freed."

Quoting the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Villaraigosa said: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."'

Name Withheld

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July 11, 2000

Mr. Villaraigosa is to be commended for taking his stance.

As I have mentioned in answers to other letter writers, Villaraigosa's overt conduct is not Racist or Antisemitic. But his association with the racist factions of Raza and MEChA is evidence enough that he still holds racist views; and as a publicly elected official, his refusal to repudiate or condemn Raza makes him their accomplice.

Villaraigosa plays ethnic politics. While he shows his support for the Jewish cause, he also shows his support for racist and separatist Raza organizations.

In addition to the message Mr. Villaraigosa wants to send to Iran, he should send some messages to Mexico to cooperate with the U.S. in stifling Mexico's out-of-control drug trade.

My standing offer to Antonio Villaraigosa is: If he will hold a news conference with the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News, and publicly and unconditionally condemn MEChA's racist "El Plan de Aztlan" manifesto like he means it, publicly and unconditionally repudiate MEChA's goal of "liberating Aztlan" like he means it, publicly and unconditionally condemn the anti-Semitic "Nation of Aztlan" like he means it, and publicly and unconditionally declare that he is proud to be an American (just as he has declared on various occasions that he is proud to be a Mexican even though he is not a Mexican), I will publicly apologize to him and remove this MayorNo web site.

Hal Netkin

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