The Arizona Republic
Jan. 21, 2005 12:00 AM http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/centralphoenix/articles/0121ext-silver0121Z4.html
Yvonne Wingett
Silverio Garcia, former state education chairman of Arizona's League of United Latin American Citizens, said his resignation from the organization will not affect threats to pull students from Maxine O. Bush Elementary School in south Phoenix or several pending civil rights complaints against several Valley schools.
The Avondale resident has taken an official position with the Arizona Hispanic Community Forum, a local advocacy organization that seeks to educate, fight for and empower Latinos.
"I'm trying to get my feet
back on the ground," said Garcia, 48, who works
at a nuclear utility site. "I've had more people
call me and I've had more support from the
Latino community than I've had before - ever."
That outpouring comes in the wake of the
suspension of state LULAC Director Samuel
Esquivel. National executives accuse Esquivel of
holding secret meetings and allowing Garcia to
use LULAC's name without permission of the state
board.
At a bilingual news conference Tuesday, Valley
leaders rallied around Garcia and Esquivel, with
some saying the fight for civil rights for
Hispanics could be threatened if the pair don't
carry on the fight.
They are a "tremendous force" who have "carried
on the grand tradition of LULAC," said Maricopa
County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, who hosted
the event at a Mexican restaurant south of
downtown.
LULAC, based in Washington, was founded in Texas
in 1929 and has fought for the civil rights of
Hispanics in courtrooms and classrooms. LULAC in
Arizona has thousands of members.
Garcia has threatened to make good on a boycott
of south Phoenix's Bush Elementary School if the
district does not remove Principal Walsdorf
Jenneford. Garcia has accused the principal of
failing to provide a safe campus for Hispanic
students after an April incident in which a
group of Black girls beat up an eighth-grade
Hispanic student, according to police reports.
"He seems to be a fairly reckless individual of
using our name without permission," LULAC
National Executive Director Brent Wilkes said
last week. "Sam doesn't seem to be curbing his
actions. Sam seems to be giving him free rein.
This is the end of the long line of these kinds
of actions."
Maybe under LULAC, but not under the Arizona
Hispanic Community Forum, whose membership
ranges from 70 to 100.
"We admire his willingness and his desire to put
his own work and name on the line for children
and education," said David Rubi, president of
the group. "I've always known him to be very,
very thorough, not someone who shoots from the
hip. He won't have to deal with the politics you
have to deal with in LULAC. We're very dedicated
to moving the civil rights agenda, the human
rights agenda. We don't let politics get in the
way."
Reach the reporter at
(602) 444-4712 or
yvonne.wingett@arizonarepublic.com.