On the White Side of the Fence

[American G.I] Forum leader Manuel Avila feared that any mention of sympathy toward blacks might hurt the Mexican American cause.

"Sooner of later we're going to have to say which side of the fence we're on. Are we white or not [and] if we are white why do we ally with the Negro?"

Avila wrote. "Let's face it, first we have to establish we are white then be on the white side and then we'll become Americans - otherwise never."

Avila had rather simple logic; as whites, Anglos were Mexicans' natural ally, not blacks. He also contended that Mexican Americans in California and Arizona had progressed because they "will never make an issue of defending the Negro."

"To go to bat for the Negro as a Mexican-American," Avila emphasized, "is suicide".

Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle For Civil Rights in TexasBrian Behnken - University Of North Carolina Press - 2011