"Utaztlan"?! (Insider Report).

Since the 1960s, radical Chicano activists (with financial and moral support from major tax-exempt foundations) have championed the notion that the southwestern United States is actually "Aztlan," the mythical homeland of the Aztec Indians. Believers in the Aztlan myth insist on the indivisibility of "la Raza" (the Mexican race) and the need to abolish the U.S./Mexico border. One of their preferred slogans is, "We didn't cross the border -- the border crossed us."

In recent years, the Mexican government has taken up this refrain by claiming to represent Mexicans in the U.S. -- not just illegal immigrants but American citizens of Mexican ancestry. There have also been more than a few hints that the Mexican government agrees with militant Chicano groups that Mexico should reclaim "Aztlan" through demographic warfare -- namely, unrestricted immigration to the U.S.

The November 17th Salt Lake Tribune reports an interesting nuance to the Aztlan fable: According to some academics, the Aztecs' ancestors came from Utah. Among those who believe in this account is University of Utah ethnic studies professor Armando Solorzano, a native of Guadalajara, Mexico, who refers to the state as "Utaztlan."

Whether the theory can be proven is irrelevant, insists Hispanic activist Roberto Rodriguez. "Now, we have a bigger understanding that the whole continent is connected," he told the Tribune. This is why the Aztlan myth is valuable to the "silk-hat revolutionaries" who fund street-level Chicano radicals as part of a drive to tear down our borders en route to consolidating the entire continent.