Badillo Once Again Proves He's a Pig

CUNY Board of Trustees Chairman says Dominicans and Mexicans have no tradition of education & makes racist stereotypes about their physical characteristics. Outraged community organizations protest. CUNY students organize to call for Badillo's removal.

By Marcela Putnam

"The problem is that in Mexico and Central America, there has never been a tradition of education ... They're pure Indians: Incas and Mayans, who are about, you know, 5 feet tall, with straight hair. And when they speak about 'La Raza' they're not talking about the Spanish language, they're talking about the original Indian language. And therefore it's a far more complicated problem than the problem that we're used to dealing with but nobody seems to want to face up to it."

This is an excerpt from a transcript of Herman Badillo's speech at a Center for Education Innovation luncheon on September 22, 1999.

Badillo goes on to complain about the growth of Mexican businesses in East Harlem, a neighborhood he claims is "supposed to be Puerto Rican." These ill remarks are not only offensive but also ignorant. New York has a long history of immigration from all over the world. This is one of the characteristics that make this city one of the most exciting in the world. Because it is a melting pot, the people of New York have the great advantage of learning about different cultures. Badillo has apparently not taken the time to do this, points out Esparanza Chacon Morales, a leader of Asociacion Tepeyac, a Mexican immigrant organization. She is quoted saying in El Diaro on September 24, "I would like to suggest to ignorant Badillo that he should study a little bit of history. Incas are basically from South America...Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and a little bit of Colombia and not from Mexico."

CUNY Board of Trustees Chairman Herman Badillo mentions in the same transcript of his own difficulties upon arriving in New York from Puerto Rico. "... I arrived here not speaking English and found the public schools unprepared to deal with my language barriers."

When Badillo attended City College it was still a free university. Although it was intended to serve the working class, very few minorities were actually accepted. It was predominantly white and this did not change until 1969, when students protested that the school was not serving all of the working class but an elite group.

As Chairman of the CUNY Board of Trustees, Badillo is in the position to be a strong and influential voice for students. Instead, he uses his power to support and advocate educational apartheid. Badillo has repeatedly referred to the University as an "educational disaster" where "phony degrees" are given away because students "just can't cut it."

Although Badillo dabbled in political movements in the early 60's and played a role in creating Hostos Community College, he has always aligned himself with the conservative mainstream. When he entered the political scene in 1961 on the reform wing of the Democratic Party, their emphasis was not on the issues of housing, jobs, health care, or education. During Badillo's stint as Deputy Commissioner of New York's Department of Housing (1962- 1965) he played a major role in the displacement of the Puerto Rican and Black communities throughout New York City in projects called Urban Renewal.

"Because he looked and spoke like them, because he was Latino, the community believed he was one of them and would fight for their issues," said Mark Torres, a community activist who was a leader of the CCNY student protests and building takeovers from 1989-91. Instead, Badillo has become one of CUNY's worst enemies.

The bottom line is that Badillo needs to resign, which will require political pressure from students and faculty. Although actions have been taken against Badillo, we still have a long way to go to be successful in his resignation. The Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund quickly organized a September 29th rally at the New School University that drew 150-200 people. Ramiro Campos, a Hunter student at the rally, described Badillo as "very shaken."

Approximately thirty concerned students showed up to a CUNY meeting at Hunter College on October 13. Representatives from Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, and Queens Colleges attended. Queens College activists handed out quarters to students along with Giuliani's phone number and urged them to call on the spot, resulting in the flooding of Badillo's voice mail.

The (Hunter) High School Organizing Committee has had a campaign around open admissions since spring, and is working on educating high school students and the community about the slashing of open admissions and remedial education. Future tactics were also discussed. On the top of the list was organizing students, and pressuring our individual college presidents, as most are denying any knowledge of Badillo's racial slurs. Students are also hoping to draw the connections between Badillo's racist remarks and his attacks on open admission and remedial education at CUNY.

The more media coverage there is, the more power we have. While the Spanish-language newspapers have showed their support by covering Badillo's remarks and protests, most mainstream media has not given it the attention it needs.