"I don't see myself as a great victim of discrimination"

SHE IS BRIGHT, smart, tough. "I'm a very controlled person," says Linda Chavez, 36, the new U.S. Civil Rights Commission staff director who sent out shock waves by denouncing hiring quotas. In her Thomas Circle office, she sits with hands folded on her desk, business suit and blouse flawlessly neat, not a hair out of place. She is smiling. Her voice is warm and low, her speech energetic.

She talks about how it feels to be treated differently because your skin is brown.

"I have had more difficulty with what I consider discriminatory and prejudiced behavior from liberals who thought they were doing me a favor than I have ever experienced from bigots," she says. "Maybe it shaped some of my attitudes on the whole affirmative action and quota business." 

...

She was denigrated by Anglos, called a Mexican. "I don't see myself as a great victim of discrimination . . . Blacks have experienced the most severe discrimination in our society."

 

McCombs, Phil. "The Civil Struggles Of Linda Chavez." The Washington Post, January 30, 1984

"Hispanic" was not a word.

Ms. [Linda] Chavez's ancestors emigrated to what is now New Mexico from Spain in the 17th century, and have been primarily English speakers since the 1870's, her mother said. In fact, after Ms. Chavez became active in politics, she served as president of U.S. English, a national lobbying group that has led campaigns to make English the official language of various states...

Before entering college, Ms. Chavez had been oblivious to racial differences, her mother said.

''Nobody thought to ask anybody what they were,'' Mrs. Chavez said. ''There was no such thing as Hispanic. That was not a word. Linda started noticing that when she went away to school. Race became important, and I think that is when the 'Hispanic' word was coined.''

 

Times, The New York. “Conservative and Hispanic, Linda Chavez Carves Out Leadership Niche.” The New York Times, 19 Aug. 1998