Hispanics gearing up for service project

Hundreds, and possibly thousands, of Latinos all over Utah are gearing up for a massive service effort July 30, to be carried out in small projects all over the state.

Meanwhile, some Latinos are suspicious of the intent, and some are fighting against it.

"It sends the wrong message to Hispanics-Latinos that in some way they are beholden to the white community," said John Renteria, an ethnic Latino but lifetime Utahn. "We just don't have anything to prove to anyone by doing community service. That is just the wrong way to go about this."

But Tony Yapias, founder of Proyecto Latino de Utah -- the Utah Latin Project -- said the effort, called Latino Service Day, is exactly what is needed to fight back against an anti-immigrant movement that characterizes the Latino community as a burden to the state and its resources.

The idea, he said, is for Latinos to organize in a decentralized way to serve communities all over the state. He said groups from Logan to St. George are organizing service projects and estimated somewhere between 500 and 3,000 people will participate in potentially more than 100 separate groups. Most of the groups are organizing their own projects, and the Utah Latin Project is providing direction and publicity.

He said he wants to make it an annual event, a culmination of smaller projects he hopes to encourage throughout the year.

Another who is somewhat skeptical is Archie Archuleta, chairman of Utah Coalition of La Raza, a Latino advocacy group. He said he gives the project "one palm up and one palm down."

"When you roll up your sleeves and help the community, nothing but good comes of it," he said. "But how many times do you have to prove to someone that you're a good American citizen?"

But Yapias said something needs to be done to counter anti- immigrant feelings and the service day was chosen because it is constructive, as opposed to a boycott or strike, which might fuel resentment.

The positive approach is being embraced by many prominent groups in the community. Yapias said The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints sent a service call to its 104 Hispanic branches in the state and the Catholic Church did likewise with its 25 Spanish- speaking parishes.

The Utah Minuteman Project, a group against illegal immigration, has also expressed interest in the project, although in a more critical manner.

Minuteman Alex Segura spent a couple of hours July 16, working with Yapias and others restoring headstones in the Veterans of Foreign Wars section of the Salt Lake Cemetery. He said the idea of giving service is admirable, as long as it's not merely a publicity stunt.

"If this is truly what it is meant to be, it may be a good thing," he said. "But if it's just a publicity stunt, shame on him," he said of Yapias.

Segura said another potential problem of the service is the use of illegal immigrants to do the work.

"Bringing the illegal aliens to the VFW cemetery is kind of a slap in the face to those who died serving our country," he said. "But if he wants to take illegal aliens to clean up the areas illegals have trashed, he can go to those areas and help the people clean up their yards and houses."

The project at the VFW section of cemetery will be the central project on the 30th, where, Yapias said, there is still a lot to do. But other projects are going forward, and the Utah Latino Project is publicizing the event with the idea that many projects will be organized and carried out without their knowledge.

"The beauty of it is that we're not even organizing it -- they're organizing it," said Gonzalo Palza, part of the Utah Latino Project's governing council.

And that is part of what is irking the Minutemen. In May, Segura expressed interest in the Minutemen participating in the project, but is now criticizing Yapias for not doing more to include them. He said the proposed cooperation may fail if Yapias doesn't provide them resources and guidance for a project.

Segura didn't rule out organizing a project without assistance from Yapias but questioned his organizational skills, saying the leader of any project should be more involved in contacting and organizing volunteers.

E-mail: dhinckley@desnews.com

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