Oxnard Outlaws Tribal Indian Bullying

The Oxnard School District in Ventura County, California has banned the use of epithets for Oaxacan tribal natives in a campaign to stop the bullying and abuse of Native North Americans.

58 miles west of Los Angeles, the Oxnard School District has prohibited the use of the terms "Oaxaquita" and "Indito," which are akin to "nigger" for African Americans and "wetback," "spick" and "beaner" for Latino Americans.

Indigenous people from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which include descendants of several native tribes, comprise a third of California farm workers.

The epithets are widely used derisively by Latino Mexicans against non-Latino native people from Oaxacan, many of whom do not speak Spanish.

Oxnard is the largest and most populated city between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.  The Oxnard metro area contains a great number of migrant farm workers due to the region's agricultural industry.

The city is home to Latino immigrants from Central America and every state in Mexico, including Zapotec Indians and Mixtec Indians from the state of Oaxaca who speak their own native languages.

62 indigenous languages are spoken in Mexico by native peoples today.

In early May, the Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (MICOP) in Oxnard launched the "No Me Llames Oaxaquita" campaign to stop the racism and abuse long endured by Native North Americans in Ventura County.

The Oxnard School District unanimously passed the resolution proposed by MICOP, outlawing the derogatory epithets and founding an anti-bullying committee and district-wide policy.

Oxnard School District Outlaws Indian Bullying