COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS SINCE 1994 - BILINGUAL
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
JANUARY 21, 2008
THE ART OF DECIPHERING POLITICAL-SPEAK
BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
Politicians possess a special language that requires special translators. Yet, they don't simply engage in double-speak and obfuscation. Their primary objective, particularly during elections, seems to be contributing to national narratives that can be better understood as myth-making: the idea of American exceptionalism.
This year's number one word/phrase & myth is "change." Sen. Barack Obama claims to embody it, yet, Sen. John McCain – who would keep troops in Iraq for a 100 years – also claims to be "the face of change." Gov. Mike Huckabee, who supports overturning the 14th Amendment (birthright citizenship), also claims to have become "the face of change."
Political double-speak and myth-making, however, is not a partisan affair. For instance, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has refused to entertain the issue of impeachment, claiming that it is "off the table." She appears to have confused her role as a leading Democrat, with her Constitutional role as the head of the House of Representatives, whose primary duties are to uphold the Constitution and to carry out the peoples' business.
Here's a few other words/phrases:
THE RULE OF LAW: This idea led to the impeachment of former president Bill Clinton. Lawmakers insisted upon such action, not based on his "crimes," but behind the idea that he had lied under oath before Congress. Since President Bush took office, those very same voices have become muted; nowadays, any law can be violated, disregarded or changed – and no law applies to the president and vice president of the United States.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Under this canard, Big Brother and secret government now here to “protect the homeland.” Democracy, personal freedom, the Bill of Rights and the right to privacy have all been tossed into history's trash-bin in favor of a fear-based nation.
THE WAR ON TERROR: This catch phrase means that the United States has the God-given right to attack anyone or wage illegal wars against any nation that the president determines to be "our enemy." At the same time, rogue nations that use state terror against their own populations – are not deemed to be terrorists as long as they are on “the path to democracy.”
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS: This idea (found on billboards), corresponds to the idea that the U.S. military has to right to kill tens of thousands of people…in the name of peace. Peace also refers to creating anti-democratic regimes that agree with U.S. policies of world domination.
OUT-OF-CONTROL-SPENDING: Republicans like to think of themselves as being opposed to taxes… as long as they can exempt certain categories, such as high fees for governmental services. However, the most egregious exemption is the war itself. Ending this exorbitant tax would permit every child to be educated through college; it would permit everyone to be protected by a national health insurance program, and; it would permit the nation's ailing infrastructure to be completely rebuilt.
SUCCESS: The Bush administration has created the fiction that U.S. occupation; the ethnic cleansing of millions of Iraqis and the continued killing of thousands of Iraqis form the basis for "success." As defined by the administration, the illegal and incompetently run war, is now virtually over. Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers also continue to die.
VALUES VOTERS: All people have values, but this concept is part of an Orwellian idea in which conservative ideals are equated with American/Christian "values." All other ideals are deemed to be un-American and un-Christian.
PRO-LIFE: This does not translate into: "all life is sacred." Pro-life corresponds to an anti-abortion stance that permits conservatives to also support the death penalty, the waging of illegal wars and the classification of people into legal/legitimate and illegal/illegitimate categories... without seeing any moral contradictions. Ditto the idea of “pro-family.” Families must be the right color and possess the correct legal status.
CORRUPTION: Waging illegal wars, war profiteering and wholesale law violations by U.S.-based global corporations that wreak havoc on entire peoples and the planet are outside of the American definition of corruption; that category is reserved for petty graft and bribery by police and government officials of other nations.
Implicated and coinciding with this latest phase of American myth-making is the decline of U.S. journalism. Nowadays, the news media has become part and parcel to this process, seemingly unable to see what the rest of the world can clearly see: the United States is not the moral leader of the world... unless the meaning of "moral" is altered.
(c) Column of the Americas 2008.
Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com
Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
DECEMBER 18, 2007 (Media Release upon Receipt)
MACEHUAL: BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
THE SILENCE OF THE 999 MONKEYS
In order to tell a big lie to the American people, it is not necessary
to fool 300 million Americans. To govern by deceit, it is not
necessary to fool 151 million people. All that is required to run a
dishonest government is to fool but 999 people, otherwise known as the
nation's decision-and-opinion-makers. In truth, in order to run an
outlaw government, one does not even need to fool 51 percent of these
999 monkeys.
All that is required to destroy a healthy democracy are seven
ingredients: lots of fear, plenty of ignorance, raging hysteria,
secret government, plenty of deception, a special language in which
words are twisted to mean whatever government wants them to mean, and
lots of silence. Government supplies the first six ingredients.
Silence, coupled with a lack of backbone, is supplied by those that
know, but instead become complicit in subverting a government of, by
and for the people.
Of course, the best example is the current war and occupation against
Iraq. But the same is true about climate change, tax schemes that
benefit the super-rich and the administration's now-discredited plan
to attack Iran.
In all this, the only opinions that matter are those of 435 members of
Congress and 100 Senators. Other opinions that matter are those that
come from the Supreme Court, the heads of the Intelligence services,
the heads of the Armed Forces, federal judges, the editors of the
major newspapers and magazines in the country, the heads of television
and cable, think tanks and other leading opinion makers. Total them up
and that's how one gets about 999 monkeys.
Yet, as this administration has shown, if it keeps everything
classified and keeps the country in a permanent state of war and in a
permanent state of fear, all it needs to do is manipulate less than
two handfuls of members of Congress – "the gang of eight" – to get its
way. In this manner, the well-tested system of checks and balances
comes to a grinding halt… all of this, not surprisingly, under the
guise of "protecting the homeland."
The gang of eight, incidentally, are the Democratic and Republican
leaders of both the Senate and the House, plus the Democratic and
Republican leaders of the Congressional Intelligence committees.
Under this form of government, all information is tightly held and
when convenient, it is selectively released, not to Congress, but to
the gang of eight who are sworn to secrecy. Truth and logic aside,
under such a scenario, cherry-picked intelligence is easily fed to
these eight… and when convenient, to selected members of the media. It
doesn't have to be scrutinized by Congress or the courts and it never
has to see the light of day…. unless it is cooked. As we have seen in
the destruction of the CIA torture tapes, all the administration needs
to do is inform, not the gang of eight, but the "gang of four," to
pull off such a job.
The four are the heads of Congress's Intelligence committees. Not lost
on anyone is that one of the four at the time was none other than
Nancy Pelosi.
So to govern by deceit and outlaw government and to ensure that no one
ever has to be held accountable, one needs to simply get the
acquiescence of the gang of four… and if one of those members ascends
to the position of Speaker of the House… little wonder that
Impeachment comes "off the table."
But the issue is bigger than impeachment, the destruction of CIA tapes
or obstruction of justice. It is bigger than whether the torture was
committed on planes over international waters or in secret prisons on
foreign soil by U.S. allies. It's even bigger than waging illegal
wars; this president has shown us how the most powerful nation on
earth can easily descend from a peoples' democracy into an autocratic
and totalitarian form of government almost overnight. Big Brother has
come, not disguised as a monster, but as "Protector Man."
And yet, as we've now seen with the cooked Intelligence on Iran, it
seems like the heads of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies have
escaped their zoo and have staved off another war, affirming and
confirming what the rest of the world has always known… not simply
that war again is not the answer, but that it is time to put the main
monkeys behind cages, if not bars. Despite this, the other 983 monkeys
seem content playing in their zoo.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 3rd & 5th Mondays of the
month. Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com-- Rodriguez can be
reached at XColumn@gmail.com. Also at: 520-743--0376
PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their columns are archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
The Patzin column will return in January.
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
DECEMBER 4, 2007 (Media Release upon Receipt)
MACEHUAL: BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
MEXICANS, WAR AND THE WAR ON CHRISTMAS
SPECIAL HOLIDAY EDITION
Let's play a game. I ask a question, and no matter the facts, the answer is: The Mexicans. For example, who is responsible for ushering in the era of robber baron government in which the top one percent is raking in the trillions while spreading misery to the middle class and the working poor? The Mexicans. That one was too easy. How about: Who stole or who has declared War on Christmas? You got it. We could blame illegal aliens, but why beat around the bush? We all know it is but code for brown Spanish-speaking people. So let's begin with the nation's 21 most pressing problems. Who is responsible for:
1) the U.S. dependence on Middle East oil and the price of gas going through the roof?
2) there being lots of money for the nation's roads and bridges in Iraq, but not the U.S.?
3) skyrocketing tuition which is making college unaffordable for the children of working families?
4) Iraq War Veterans being intentionally cheated out of their health & education benefits & bonuses?
5) the never-ending Iraq war costing (including hidden costs) more than a trillion dollars thus far?
6) torture, killings and other rights abuses being up worldwide as a result of "the war on terror?"
7) U.S. intelligence "failures" on maters of war and peace, particularly in regards to Iraq and Iran?
8) the president being the most distrusted and despised leader on the planet?
9) leaders of both parties and the media unable to see through the president's war propaganda?
10) the Army & Marines being stretched beyond their limits, unable to invade any more countries?
11) converting the EPA into the Environmental Pollution & Toxics-licensing Agency?
12) more Black & Brown men being subject to the U.S. penal system than being in college?
13) the mortgage crisis in which millions of Americans are losing their homes?
14) U.S. mercenaries & war-profiteering companies operating outside of the law in Iraq?
15) the U.S. rejecting most treaties related to war, land mines, cluster bombs and nuclear weapons?
16) rising poverty, homelessness and close to 50 million Americans being without health insurance?
17) corporations continuing to outsource jobs overseas while the dollar hits new lows?
18) food, health and safety laws being ignored and product recalls becoming routine?
19) cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, asthma, autism and insomnia rates all being on the rise?
20) Social Security and Medicare being on the brink of bankruptcy?
21) the drought in the United States and the global water crisis?
If you don't know the answer, Lou Dobbs, Tom Tancredo, Pat Buchanan, "Curveball" and "Screwball" are all waiting to take your call.
When in history have we seen a similar game played out in which Americans come to believe that some peoples are less than human and not entitled to the same basic human rights and protections as everyone else? Since 9-11 Arabs/Muslims are now equated with Islamo-fascist terrorists… and since most Mexicans are brown, they're also being taken on the same vicious ride. Blacks have always known this story. Jews, Chinese and Japanese Americans have also lived this reality. And since 1492, who better than Indigenous peoples can tell this story of demonization and dehumanization?
In the 2008 presidential race, if a candidate accuses another candidate of either party of not hating or scapegoating illegal aliens enough, that is considered mudslinging; not the dehumanization, the accusation. Where did the idea come from that human beings could ever be illegal? The Bible? The Law? The Border? The Media? Most people are repulsed by brazen bigots in whose minds illegal aliens and Mexicans have become one and the same thing. But what about the Jay Lenos of the world (and their writers) who continually demean "illegal aliens" for a cheap laugh? That's actually how dehumanization becomes normalized and acceptable.
The Republican Party is nowadays being identified worldwide as the American anti-immigrant party. Yet, Democrats, akin to their role in the war, cannot be counted on to counter this fast-spreading cancer. An agreement to regulate the flow of labor, without remanding Mexicans to permanent illegality or subserviency, can easily fix this problem. But then again, who would be left to dehumanize? Mormons? Mitt Romney, who himself has turned to scapegoating immigrants, is about to become a victim of this brand of politics that stress purity and authenticity. He has been "Mexicanized" to the point that he is now unelectable. What group is next? Divorcees?
By the way, if your kids don't find the gifts they're expecting under the Christmas tree, blame the Mexicans. It will prepare you in the event you lose your job, health insurance, home or your sanity. You might not get your job or home back, but you will feel better.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 3rd & 5th Mondays of the
month. Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com-- Rodriguez can be
reached at XColumn@gmail.com. Also at: 520-743--0376
PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their columns are archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
* Patzin will be published this month on the third Monday of December
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
NOVEMBER 19, 2007
MACEHUAL: BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
ON THE VERGE OF DEMOCRACY COLLAPSE DISORDER
Colony Collapse Disorder: this is the name given to the dying off of
the world's bees, which spells an impending global crisis. It's not
that I want to make light of this diagnosis. Quite the reverse; it's
that the name could just as easily be applied to the state of the
nation. Though Democracy Collapse Disorder is what comes to mind.
When historians look back to examine the origins of this latter
disorder, it will be determined that it began in 2000, compliments of
the U.S. Supreme Court when its intervention resulted in the ascension
of George W. Bush to the presidency of the United States.
Lacking the tradition of contesting government, the opposition meekly
accepted the results. Yet, by governing from the middle, the highly
contested presidential election might have simply resulted in an
asterisk next to the president's name. Instead, he began to govern as
if he had received an overwhelming mandate from both, the electorate
and God, helping to usher in the most greedy, corrupt, anti-science,
secretive and unaccountable administration in the nation's history.
Under the guise of Christianity, POTUS or the President Of The United
States single-handedly helped to usher back in The Dark Ages.
Just as plans for the Iraq invasion were in place long before, 9-11,
the designs for Democracy Collapse Disorder were also in place, long
before the president's installation. Yet, President Bush, a blue-blood
son of a former president, was not an innocent bystander; to carry out
the neoconservative agenda of world dominance simply required the
notion of a unitary executive in which all power resides in POTUS.
Given 9-11, the attack gave him an opportunity to accelerate that
agenda, which included the de-Constitutionalization of the United
States..
The seven primary components of Democracy Collapse Disorder include
assertions by the president that he has the right to:
1) wage preemptive permanent war against any potential enemy, while
coddling tyrannical blood-thirsty dictators who support the U.S.
agenda of world domination.
2) declare that the United States is in fact in a permanent state of
worldwide war against "Islamo-fascism."
3) disregard the rights of anyone, including the right to secretly
detain anyone indefinitely, without due process and without the right
to legal representation, including the right to torture.
4) disregard any law, create any law, or interpret any law to his
favor, to be able to operate outside of the U.S. Constitution, while
also asserting the right to interpret his illegal actions as lawful.
5) operate outside of the Constitution during this time of permanent
war, without being subject to any checks and balances.
6) operate outside of international law and in disregard of
international treaties and conventions.
7) pardon, grant amnesty and grant retroactive immunity to anyone
under his control who violates the Constitution or any international
law.
If these were but theoretical assertions of power, that would be
dangerous enough. But this president has actually carried out his
assertions and aside from engaging the United States in a disastrous
illegal war and occupation, he has also been wrong about everything.
Wrong in a moral sense. Wrong in a legal sense. And wrong in a
strategic sense.
Enter the Democratic Party and the 2006 elections: its leaders are
given an overwhelming mandate to stop this runaway president who has
been plundering the public treasury to wage his illegal war. Yet,
their first order of business is to grant him and his war cabinet
unconditional amnesty and retroactive immunity.
That is the definition of Democracy Collapse Disorder.
If Congress had an alternate and effective plan to actually terminate
the illegal occupation of Iraq, that would be one thing, but worse
than being impotent, the refusal to hold the president accountable has
emboldened him to continue his criminal endeavors worldwide, including
threatening to wage yet another unsanctioned war against Iran.
To its credit, Congress has at least now taken a firm stand in support
of "the rule of law." Joining the likes of Lou Dobbs and Rep. Tom
Tancredo, who represent the lunatic and fanatical wing of the
political spectrum, Congress has taken a firm stand against amnesty,
that is, no amnesty for Mexicans. No amnesty for brown
Spanish-speaking dishwashers and maids. At least they are consistent.
There will also be no amnesty for those in the U.S. government whose
lies have caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq. Similar
to Scooter Libby, instead they will be granted immunity, pardons and
commutations.
That too is Democracy Collapse Disorder. It also sounds like the
definition of insanity.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 3rd & 5th Mondays of the
month. Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com-- Rodriguez can be
reached at XColumn@gmail.com. Also at: 520-743--0376
PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their columns are archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Patzin: Sweeping the Roads
By Patrisia Gonzales
Patzin: (Nahuatl for respect worthy medicine) -- a special monthly
edition on Indigenous Medicine for Column of the Americas (c)
Nov. 1, 2007
We dance in a circle, some of us with our bundles of herbs and
escobitas, our little curing brooms. The sweeping of the roads
ceremonial cycle has just begun. Long ago in this sacred count, the
midwives and traditional healers danced with bundles of marigolds and
tobacco and little brooms of herbs. The sweeping of the roads comes
with fall winds, the milpas are cleaned for the next harvest. The Do–a
Predicanda Perea Encuentro de Medicina Tradicional in Albuquerque,
N.M. fell in this ceremonial time. There is a continuity as the dance
leaves its footprints on time and earth. We are still carrying our
brooms for sacred work.
About 20 healers are called to the circle to be blessed by la jefa
Josefina and Do–a Predicanda, who are elders to the event organizer
Kalpulli Izkalli. La jefa Josefina, who was initiated into
the Aztec dance ceremony at age 16 and continues to withstand the
all-night ceremonies even now that she is well into her seventies, is
well known for her powerful smudgings with copal smoke. Do–a Predi
tiene sus manos de poderes, has the powers in her hands. In spirit
are other legendary women known for their medicine Ð la famousa
Maclovia Zamora of Rupee's drugstore, who shelves are lined with roots
and herbs gathered from the mountains and river walks of New Mexico;
Enriqueta Vasquez, the author of Enriqueta Vasquez and the Chicano
Movement: Writings from El Grito del Norte, is also honored as a long
time luchadora and ceremonial keeper. She wrote of the santa tierra in
1971: "Man comes/man lives/man passes on through earth/through time/
man forgets/but the earth/the land/remains/the earth/the land/knows."
People stand in line for hours waiting for a limpia. La gente es muy
necesitada, the people are in need. All the month of September and
October, stories circulated throughout Mexican communities about the
families separated from their children during raids. Mothers and
fathers arrested on the way to pick up the irchildren and U.S. born
children are left with no one to care for them here. Stories of
migrants prosecuted for illegal entry, who are brought in chains and
shackles to immigration court Ð protocols of homeland security. The
people are filled with susto, fright, trauma, soul loss, soul wound.
There are many remedies for susto. Some herbs are better for susto of
the back while others are good for susto of sight. There are rites to
cleanse the soul with candles; there are remedies of an extremely hot
nature and ceremonies based on Sun and Moon.
I think of the four elements during these ritual times as we head
towards honoring those in the spirit world. Tierra/earth: Mayan woman
left unburied in the desert sands. Water: giving water to the migrants
in the desert is a threatened offense, and many homes in Arizona bear
the banner, "Humanitarian aid is not illegal." Fire: is it the desert
heat that is unforgiving? Or the policies that have funneled more
than fifty percent of undocumented immigrants into the Arizona desert?
Wind: los aires, the energy of the airs, they bring the spirits, they
warm us, they cool and encircle us, they penetrate us, we must respect
them. Soon on the winds we will feed the spirits of those who passed
this year: Corbin Harney, you told us to pray for the water; Vernon
Bellcourt, you threw your blood on the Guatemalan embassy; Trinidad
Sanchez, your poetry was so brown.
La jefa Josefina leads us in a prayer song, la Divina Providencia. I
paraphrase its verses: Divine Providence, we do not know where you
come from as we start the day, at the feet of your plants, among your
four winds, you surround us, protect us, console us. The grandmothers
come in medicine dreams, dancing with their gourds. The men's regalia
bells still ring in my ears.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Gonzales can be reached at: Patzin@gmail.com
Column of the Americas, PO BOX 41552 - Tucson, AZ 85717
The INDIGENOUS INSTITUTE of the AMERICAS is sponsoring the
CELEBRATION OF LIFE CEREMONY November 17, 2007 at Southern Methodist
University in the Maguire Building-3rd Floor, 6214 Bishop Blvd.,
Dallas, Texas. Workshops will be held from 1- 3 p.m. on traditional
parenting, Traditional Indian Medicine, generational trauma, in
addition to storytelling, flute playing & other activities. From
2:00- 5:00 P.M. will be Gourd Dancing---Danza de los Guerreros.
Dinner is from 5:00- 6:00 P.M., with a pow wow and celebration of life
following from 6:30- 11:00 P.M. For more information, contact:
apachegomez@comcast.net; Webpage: www.
indigenousinstituteamericas.org; (505)-271-0447.
Column of the Americas
Oct 11, 2007 (Media release upon receipt)
Macehual By Roberto Rodriguez
Time for the Columbus Mattress Sale Again
Challenging the widely held-beliefs of his contemporaries, Christopher
Columbus sets sail across the Atlantic ocean on La Pinta, la NiÐa and
the Santa Maria. The objective of this commercial venture, called The
Enterprise, is to find a Westerly route to the Indies. After several
months of sailing, on Oct. 12, 1492, he discovers America and proves
that the world is round. He not only claims the continent and finds
riches for the King and Queen of Spain, but begins the greatest
civilizing project in the history of humanity, bringing both
civilization and Christianity to the savages of the New World and to
those in Africa as well. This divine mission becomes"The New Promised
Land" for all those fleeing oppression and bondage, while seeking
religious freedom, liberty, equality and justice for all. As such,
America becomes the beacon for all of humanity, for all freedom-loving
peoples.
The above is a commonly repeated children's myth regarding Christopher
Columbus. It forms the central tenet of the Western "master narrative"
of history. It also is the basis of U.S. history. In it, Columbus is
symbolically the quintessential Founding Father, not simply of the
United States, but of the Americas. He is the person who symbolically
culturally unites the East and the West and makes possible the unity
of humanity. In this story, beyond ignoring ancient wayward travelers
from other distant lands, ignored are Indigenous peoples as human
beings. Ignored are thousands of year-old narratives of origins and
migrations and epic journeys and thousands-of-year-old histories. In
this so-called master narrative, Indigenous peoples don't count and
essentially, are remanded to the status of savages waiting to be
discovered, civilized and saved by Europeans on divine [and
commercial] missions from God. Without moving, Indigenous peoples are
even displaced geographically as they are not part of the West and
certainly not part of the East. (Without moving, this is how many of
us become aliens).
Neither the histories of Indigenous peoples, nor pre-Colombian contact
(Vikings or others) between the continents, form part of the master
narrative because they do not conform with the religio-vision of the
conquest of the Americas. Despite the Columbus story being mostly lore
and fable, it survives because it is useful and it helps to weave the
master narrative as one of divine mission, providence, and then later,
manifest destiny. In this manner, as Cree writer Sharon Venne argues
in Our Elders know our Rights, it, in effect, serves to justify
genocide, land theft and slavery and the complete dehumanization of
peoples not inside of the Western or master narrative. In this
religio-vision, she argues, Euro-Iberians were not simply entitled to
these lands, but in effect, were carrying out a divine mandate to
Christianize and civilize the entire world. This mandate enabled
Spanish conquistadores, through divine right, to both take lands not
claimed by Christians and to wage merciless war upon non-Christians.
(Sound familiar?)
The mandate, which came in the form of the Requerimiento, a Spanish
proclamation backed by Papal Bulls, was authorized by the King and
Queen of Spain, plus the Catholic Pope. In this vision, violence and
genocide are not seen as such, or are seen as fully sanctioned by God.
Here is an excerpt from the Requerimiento, made available through
Bartolome de las Casas "protector of the Indians." Here, it picks up
after proclaiming, under authority of the Catholic Church, that the
lands now belong to the King and Queen of Spain, and that those
listening to this proclamation must accept and adhere to it:
"If you do not do this, however, or resort maliciously to delay, we
warn you that, with the aid of God, we will enter your land against
you with force and will make war in every place and by every means we
can and are able, and we will then subject you to the yoke and
authority of the Church and Their Highnesses. We will take you and
your wives and children and make them slaves, and as such we will sell
them, and will dispose of you and them as Their Highnesses order. And
we will take your property and will do to you all the harm and evil we
can, as is done to vassals who will not obey their lord or who do not
wish to accept him, or who resist and defy him. We avow that the
deaths and harm which you will receive thereby will be your own blame,
and not that of Their Highnesses, nor ours, nor of the gentlemen who
come with us . . ."
Now that we know the Columbus story, let's all go out and get us a
discounted mattress.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 3rd & 5th Mondays of the
month. Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com-- Rodriguez can be
reached at XColumn@gmail.com. Also at: 520-743--0376
PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their columns are archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
SEPT 10, 2007 (MEDIA RELEASE UPON RECEIPT)
MACEHUAL BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
BUSH'S UNDOCUMENTED WAR WITHOUT END SURGES FORWARD
SPECIAL IRAQ WAR COLUMN
Now that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales - chief architect of the de-Constitutionalization of the United States - is no longer running legal interference for the White House, perhaps Congress can now get to work. This means making a determination, not whether "the surge" has been successful or whether benchmarks have been met, but rather, whether the war and occupation of Iraq is operating inside or outside of the law.
In a country that prides itself as a nation of laws, one would think that the first order of business would be to determine the legality of this war. It should be Congress's only order of business. Its task would be simple; compel the administration to cite the legal authority that gives it the right to continue to wage war against a nation that never attacked it or ever posed a threat to the United States. (Presidential candidates should also be asked this same question).
If no legal authority can be cited, then Congress should determine which laws that the United States is in violation of as it continues to wage this war that has produced tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths, nearly 4,000 U.S. deaths, plus the displacement of more than four million Iraqi civilians. It subsequently should determine the appropriate remedy.
It is mind-boggling that this investigation has not commenced,
considering that even before the war had begun, UN inspectors had already determined that Iraq did not possess WMDs. This is why most of the world rejected the notion that the war was legal, moral or just. Despite this, Congress - citing "classified intelligence" - went along. By the time the administration officially confirmed the lack of WMDs, the Democrats were being told to quit looking backward€ to move on. And so to this day, Congress has moved on, nowadays investigating everything but the legality of the war.
For those whom are mystified as to why Congress has not made a determination on the legality of the war, the answer is quite simple. Beyond not wanting to remind the nation that Congress has been complicit in this war since its duplicitous beginning, its leaders perhaps fear its ramifications. For example, despite an electoral rebuff of the administration's war policies in 2006, House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi unilaterally took impeachment "off the table."
While her decision seems inexplicable, that's a different discussion. Impeachment hearings probe administration officials for possible high crimes and misdemeanors. Impeachment does not address the more critical issue regarding the legality of the war.
Without arriving at such a determination, the entire Bush War cabinet could be impeached, yet the war would continue unimpeded and we would all still be arguing about war tactics as opposed to how best to get out. If Congress ruled the war illegal, by law, it would be unable to fund an illegal war and occupation.
Being that Democratic leaders have indicated that it is more important to stop the war than to impeach the president, their actions have been less than impotent. This has permitted the president to remove dissenting generals, replacing them with yes-men, allowing him to continue to press on with his disastrous war. It also permits him to argue - through an exaggerated fear of terrorism - that he is waging the war as part of the so-called global war on terror. Virtually uncontested by Congress, the President's 2002 Bush Doctrine permits this and future presidents to wage wars without end against any nation
or nations or undefined enemies. Beyond the inhumanity of codifying such a "right," such a permanent state of war confers upon a president the "right" to assume never-ending extralegal wartime powers at home and abroad. Under such authority, it's a short step to invoke a state-of-emergency in which the president could suspend the already weakened Constitution and presidential elections.
All this comes back to the question of the illegality of the war. The decision to wage the war had nothing to do with a "worldwide intelligence failure." Further, an illegal war does not become legal as a result of repackaging its rationale, by presenting bogus reports or by changing the meaning of words, e.g., "progress," "stability" and "success." Neither does it become legal because of the passage of time or the timidity of lawmakers. Nor does it become legal or moral as a
result of delusionally believing that illegally occupying nations is a God-given American right. Precisely because illegal wars are waged outside of the law, neither can they be waged intelligently, competently or humanely. (In particular, this war cannot be "won" by U.S. troops, in the same way that foreign troops can not impose democracy on other nations.)
Yet, without Congress making this determination, it will permit the bloodletting to continue unabated and it will allow the president - who has been dead wrong on everything - to dictate the debate, i.e., the surge, etc. Such debates are the epitome of the politics of obfuscation. Yet, on this point, the president is correct; Congress should cease attempting to micromanage the war. Instead, it should simply rule on its legality.
Making the obvious determination may not lead to holding the president accountable for the underlying illegality of the war, nor would it guarantee impeachment (it wouldn't preclude it either), but it would unquestionably force Congress to end the illegal occupation of Iraq. It's not clear that this is what the Democratically controlled Congress actually wants.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 3rd & 5th Mondays of the month. Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com-- Rodriguez can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com or PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their columns are archived at: hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Patzin: Grandfather Tobacco
By Patrisia Gonzales
Column of the Americas (c) Sept. 3, 2007
Patzin (Nahuatl for Respect-worthy Medicine): a monthly feature on
Indigenous medicine
Several years ago, I was asked to give a prayer for a gathering of
tobacco researchers. In my hand I held ceremonial tobacco that friend
Lawrence Shorty had gifted me. For years, Lawrence has grown Native
ceremonial tobacco and offered this sacred plant for free to Native
communities in hopes that Indigenous people will stop using commercial
nicotine products for prayers.
The researchers were surprised that I would pray with a plant that in
its altered form is so poisonous. The many varieties of tobacco grown
by Indigenous peoples across the Americas attest to a shared regard
for the plant. While many nations have heirloom seeds, many of us also
will use a commercial cigarette for a prayer when sacred tobacco is
unavailable. Though it grows wild even in the desert, growing tobacco
takes a certain mastery and relationship with the plant.
Tobacco is a sacred granddaddy for many Indigenous peoples across the
Americas. This Grandfather's smoke is used in ceremonies and
purification rites. The tobacco leaf also has great medicinal power.
In Mexican Traditional Medicine, tobacco is used to address both
spiritual and physical ailments. Precisely because it is so powerful,
tobacco is treated with great care in these rites. Stories abound of a
granny curandera smoking over someone with her puro.
While tobacco is often associated with American Indian peoples,
tobacco also has a long ancestral use in various parts of the
Americas. Tobacco flowers are depicted in numerous Mesoamerican
symbols and pottery. Colonial friars recorded how Nahua people
presented large bundles and gourds stuffed with tobacco as part of
greetings and ceremonies. The painted picture books, thousands of
years old, depict various ceremonial offerings with tobacco.
Inquisitorial reports record incantations to tobacco in its Nahua
ceremonial name as "Nine Times Beaten One," referring to its journey
across nine spiritual levels of existence as the smoke carried
prayers. In keeping with ancient practices, it is snuffed in the Andes
and drunk in the Amazons. Peoples in the Caribbean and Mexico continue
to use tobacco in the spiritual cleansing known as limpias, for
protection rites or to introduce male energy.
A common tobacco remedy known by many peoples in the Americas is the
use of tobacco and saliva or water for an insect or snake bite. It is
also blown on crops as an insecticide as well as for blessings. The
tobacco leaf is hot in nature, and soaked in oil or rubbing alcohol it
becomes a pomade or liniment for muscle aches, including as a rub to
assist women afterbirth during the lying in period. Tobacco provides
heat and warmth for a cold condition, such as the period following
birth. It is also used for burns, diarrhea, cuts, afflictions of the
uterus, incision, headaches, inflammation of the spleen, toothaches,
syphilis, asthma and dropsy and to alleviate pain. It is used for
protection or rubbed on the body for fatigue or as a form of prayer.
Friars attempting to irradicate Indigenous spiritual ways recorded a
recipe for tenexiyetl-lime-tobacco in a 1:10 ratio for mal de frio
(illness caused by cold), or to be used with tomato for swollen
throats and for cysts.
Tobacco reminds me of how Indigenous people share what Native scholar
Inez Hernandez-Avila calls "correspondences." Though they are distinct
peoples they can also share similar values and approaches. Some Native
midwives have commented that among their tribal traditions in the
North, they also employ tobacco or peyote when there is a difficult
labor or to diagnose causes and actions. In the 1600s, Hernando Ruiz
de Alarc‹n noted that in order to facilitate labor, midwives in Mexico
"pick up the piciete in the hand and crush it, and then they move the
hand with the piciete over the belly of the pregnant woman especially
over the fetus." Iyetl ? is tobacco in Nahuatl or Piciyetl -- "tiny
tobacco." This tiny tobacco is known in Western botanical terms as
Nicotiana rustica and is used to cure afflictions of the uterus.
When I shared that story with the Nahua midwife Do?a Filo, she
commented, "Fijate que si. You wouldn't believe it but it works. You
just blow like this." She showed me how to lightly blow tobacco near
the womb. Tobacco used in this physical and energetic manner is a
technology of birthing because it is employed to move the labor, and
therefore energy. However there are nurses, who upon hearing this
story, were incredulous that tobacco would be burned near a fetus.
Like the tobacco researchers, these health care professionals are
unaware of the ceremonial heirloom seeds still available to Indigenous
peoples, or how tobacco is used in sacred or ritual forms. And, again
midwives thousands of miles from each other knew to use the plant
toward the same ends. Lawrence Shorty, who is Navajo and Choctaw,
argues that Native reliance on commercial tobacco for ceremonies
impedes tobacco prevention/cessation programs in Indian country. Let
us persevere to strengthen our original relationships to this powerful
relative.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
MACEHUAL BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
RELEASE DATE: AUG. 20, 2007
"WE GOT HER!"
AN OPEN LETTER TO TOM TANCREDO
(And other would-be presidents)
Mr. Tancredo:
So you want to be president? What are your qualifications? That you
want all the Elvira Arellanos in this country to be rounded up and
deported?
I heard your credo the other day. At the recent Republican debate, you
said you had been saved by Jesus Christ. Was that you who said that?
To be honest, I had my back turned to the TV, but it did sound like
you. Yet, how could it have been you? Wasn't Christ the Christ of the
aliens, the exploited and the unwanted? And isn't it you that's on a
crusade against the aliens? Excuse me... the ILLEGAL aliens?
Or was that your Congressional colleague and fellow running mate Rep.
Duncan Hunter? I don't quite follow your message. I've read the Good
Book, and I can tell you that if Jesus were alive today, I know whom
he would side with: Elvira Arellano and her 8-year-old son, Saul. But
actually, he would never accept dividing up human beings into legal
and illegal categories. How do I know? Do you for one second believe
that Jesus would ask for papers before agreeing to provide comfort to
the wretched? Would he ask for papers of his followers?
To tell you the truth, if Jesus were alive today, he himself would be
branded an illegal alien... and probably a terrorist too. If he were alive
today, he without question would abhor the inhumane campaigns that
seek to pin the blame on all of society's problems on the most exploited
sector of society.
Tell me Congressman Tancredo, the Christ that saved you, is this the
same Christ that the president has also turned to— to wage an illegal
and immoral war against the people of Iraq? He and every politician
slanders the name of Christ when his name is invoked to carry out
these permanent wars— or when his name is invoked to conduct massive
dragnet immigration raids.
Was that you who said he was saved, or was that Mitt Romney? He too
seems to have jumped into your runaway anti-illegal alien locomotive.
Isn't his Christ the same as yours? I heard him also lash out against
America's mayor, Mr. Rudy Giuliani -- for providing sanctuary for
illegal aliens. Is that not what Jesus would do? Would he not also
come to their aid? But not to worry, Giuliani, like Sen. John McCain,
are also now on board your train.
Perhaps you should explain how you are different from Lou Dobbs, Pat
Buchanan, hate radio, the Minutemen and the Republican Party? Do you
really believe your own propaganda or do you all simply fear the
browning of America? Do you for one second believe that your life will
improve by haranguing and deporting 12 million human beings? Do you
for one second believe that by targeting the hardest of workers ? by
branding them and their families criminals and freeloaders ? do you
think that your inhumane campaigns will create a better America?
Congressman Tancredo: Now and then, I visit the Southern Poverty Law
Center's website (http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intpro.jsp). They
track hate mongers and racial extremists. Seems like most of the pages
on their Intelligence Report are nowadays dedicated to anti-immigrant
extremists. Yes, there's the KKK and Nazis, etc. --newly invigorated
as a result of these anti-illegal alien campaigns. Do you think they
know how to distinguish between legal and illegal aliens? When they
conduct their hate campaigns, do they ask for papers and do they know
how to distinguish between citizens and non-citizens? Illegal aliens --
how do they know they're out there? How do they tell them apart? Do
they see them at parks, churches or Walmarts? Can they tell them apart
by their color or language? Do they take great care to distinguish,
like you?
Do you not worry about the frenzy you have helped to create? Is that
the American way? (Do not answer that). Do you not worry about who
will be targeted next? Blacks? Jews? No need to worry about them,
right? They're citizens— and they speak English. Hey... have you ever
bothered to ask Indigenous peoples what they think of your campaign?
(Here's a clue, most migrants from the Americas are Indigenous).
!Late flash! "We got her!"
Yes, you got her in L.A., outside of a church. You got Elvira
Arellano -- well-known fugitive, recipient of sanctuary from a
Chicago church. And the United States is now one step closer to being a
more moral society. And we can all now breathe free. How many more
families need to be ripped apart for you to become president and for
America to be free at last?
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
* There are international mobilazations in response to Arellano's
deportation. For info re these developments, contact her sponsoring
organization: Pueblo Sin Fronteras at: PSF@somosunpueblo.com
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 3rd & 5th Mondays of the
month. Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com-- Rodriguez can be
reached at XColumn@gmail.com or PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their
columns are archived at: hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Patzin: Keeping Kalli
By Patrisia Gonzales
Column of the Americas (c) Aug. 9, 2007
Patzin -- Nahuatl for respect-worthy medicine - is a monthly feature on Indigenous medicine
To keep kalli, or to keep house is a sacred responsibility. Kalli or
calli is the Nahuatl word for house. The house was considered so
important that it is one of the year symbols in numerous Mesoamerican calendars. The year of the house holds a particular teaching. When the calendar is in a house year or kalli, it is a time of going inward, a time of becoming grounded. Kalli is also associated with female powers - but the feminine territory spans the universe and spiritual domains as "woman place."
When we lived in New Mexico ? the Land of Enchantment ? we used to eat at a restaurant that sold mugs that touted: New Mexico -- land of mi chante. Chante is the Spanish derivative of another Nahuatl word for home, chantli. It is part of our landbase. For those dispossessed of ancestral lands, our home may be our only ground through which we assert self-governance. It is our land. Among my mother and tias, they share a communal landbase in Texas and we all must tend to it with care. Sometimes an elder demands to not only die at home but to be buried in their land.
After years of migration, including four winters in la tierra de los
hielos, my family is now in the process of buying a home in the
desert. We have lived in many homes and each has received a house blessing. And through the cyclical procession of time, we have cleansed them with sweeping rites and offered prayers to maintain them in good stead as part of our house keeping duties. Homes are alive, and in a traditional way, a home is fed and offered food as it is built. Homes have an ombligo, or a place of origin that connects to its Mother, the earth. Homes have a fire, even when there is no hearth inside.
In the old ways among various Indigenous peoples, a summer home and a winter lodge allowed for cleansing and renewal and a common-sense way to live by the seasons and fully utilize the ecosystem. Beyond the technical logistics of acquiring a home in these times, we have left offerings to the spirit of the land y los cuarto esquinas. To buy a home, we have asked permiso -- permission from the creatures (they are sharing their territory so we feed the ant people and respect their abodes as well as that of Spider and now we have snakes, Gila Monsters, scorpions, tarantulas, pack rats and javelinas as new neighbors). We have also met the trees and the body of the chantli. La comadre Sylvia taught us the sacred and physical way to prepare a home for occupation. As another comadre reminded us recently, homes react to new occupants -- sometimes things start to breakdown or act out of sorts. Upon physical purification, there are blessings with yerbas, flores, agua and other appropriate medicines and offerings for the four corners. When we move out of a home, a similar process is followed.
Our house will be given a name -- Xochicalli, Flower House. The House of Flowers is another name that refers to the Mexican sweat bath tradition. The name emanates from the re-flowering of a woman who has recently given birth. When she leaves the womb of the adobe structure, she emerges from the medicinal ritual anew like a flower. To calli, mo calli; our house, your house.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st Monday of the Month.
Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 2nd & 5th Mondays of the month. Gonzales can be reached at Patzin@gmail.com-- Rodriguez can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com or PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their columns are archived at: hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Column of the Americas
July 30, 2007 (Media Release upon receipt)
Macehual by Roberto Rodriguez
Taking George The Terrible to the Mat
Worldwide polls conclude that president George Bush & vice president Dick Cheney - instigators of the illegal and immoral war against Iraq - are viewed as the most mistrusted, most despised and most dangerous leaders on this planet. This duo - who by now are at best delusional - probably see this as a compliment.
Maybe it's war-fatigue. Or maybe it's just this long, hot summer.
Suffice to say that after watching a late night movie: Billy the Kid
meets Dracula, I got to thinking; where's Billy when we need him now? If not him, perhaps a superhero. Sure, it sounds silly, but there's a precedent.
When the ruling-PRI rigged Mexico's 1988 election, allowing Carlos Salinas de Gortari to steal the presidency (sound familiar?), out of the slums of Mexico City emerged Superbarrio. This wrestler-turned social hero continually took Salinas to the mat, so much so that after completing his term, Salinas was forced into exile to the land of leprechauns.
Also, a few years ago, Mopman and Mopwoman successfully helped to organize janitors in U.S. cities against Bossman and Migraman. Truthfully, the heroes and villains in our midst actually tell us a little bit about who we are. And continuing to have Bush & Cheney at the helm tells us that we're in deep trouble and that they need to be brought to justice. No doubt Spiderman, Batman or Captain America are unavailable, but perhaps Mopman and Mopwoman can be dispatched to the
White House, disguised as janitors to clean house.
Before searching for superheroes, what we first need to do is give the criminal duo the villain names they deserve: George The Terrible and Captain Dick. (How about Nukularman and Tricky Dick II?)
Seems like even Felix the Cat could take out the prez and stuff him in his bag of tricks. But what about Captain Dick - the one who went over to the "dark side"? Regular superheroes would be powerless against his kryptonite-filled shotgun. The Incredible Hulk could probably crush him, though Cheney's liable to go nuclear on him, further irradiating our green superhero.
In real-life, super-heroes are actually common people who rise up to the occasion. If it were a hero, it would be someone like Sen. Russ Feingold - the only senator to vote against the unconstitutional USA Patriot Act. If a heroine: the courageous Cindy Sheehan. All she needs is a cape and a superhero name. Yet, even if they could defeat Bush The Terrible & Captain Dick, who would take out Condoleeza "Mushroom Cloud" Rice, with her over-the calf high-heeled boots and all? She's definitely no pushover. In another life, she could have filled the role of Catwoman or even Wonderwoman, but regardless of her role, she never would have lent her name to promoting permanent war.
Maybe who we're looking for is Citlali; an Indigenous super-hero ? someone who could probably take on Condi, Tony Snow(job), Alberto "Tortureman" Gonzales, and Ann "the Mouth" CoulterÜ all at the same time. However, Citlali's main weapon is love, a weapon no doubt powerless against this bunch.
But back to our fiendish duo, who probably think of themselves as super or Biblical action heroes. Come to think of it, maybe there's already a super-hero working incognito. Most of the administration's original warmongers and fearmongers have already left, including Donald Rumsfeld, John "Constitution Man" Ashcroft, Tom Ridge, Scooter Libby, etc. (Those opposed to the war were chased out early onÜ and later on, especially the dissenting generals). Let's not rule out Robert Novak, the Prince of Darkness, as a possible covert super-hero. Wasn't it his outing of Valerie Plame that triggered the administration's implosion? Perhaps she and her husband, Joseph Wilson, should don capes until they take out their arch-nemesis Karl Rove, though SpongeBob could probably take this guy out by himself.
The job of ridding Bush & Cheney shouldn't fall upon superheroes. But as long as Congress shirks its responsibilities, we will have to continue to hope that a mild-mannered bookkeeper or librarian rises up to meet this generation's challenge.
What about Pulga, you ask - the Mexican superhero that burrows through collapsed buildings in times of natural disasters? Isn't that what we have now - a national disaster? I'd settle for Barney the Dinosaur going on a rampage and chasing the criminal duo out of their White House bunkers.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Rodriguez can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com
Patzin, by Gonzales is published the 1st and 3rd Mondays of the Month. Macehual, by Rodriguez is published the 2nd & 4th & 5th Mondays of the month. They can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com or PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717. Their columns are archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Column of the Americas
July 16, 2007
Macehual by Roberto Rodriguez
Our Undocumented Wars
In the past seven years, Republicans have been on the wrong side of virtually every issue - from the environment, universal health care, a living wage, food and drug safety, consumer protection and worker and civil rights - to the Iraq war and war-profiteering corporations.
Despite this, Republicans continue to get their way - even when they lose elections. (It pays to appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court and to have a compliant media.) However, when it comes to amnesty, conservatives have it right; lawbreakers should be brought to justice.
Where many depart with them is on the matter of just who needs
amnesty? Seemingly most Republicans believe that undocumented immigrants are criminal aliens. To them, no matter what anyone calls it, legalization - a recognition of their humanity - equals amnesty, and are thus abhorred. Conversely, regardless of what conservatives say, for many, at the core of their revulsion is the "browning of America." They feel entitled to their indignation and assert that the nation's problems will be solved by warring against the nation's 20 million "illegals." (That's their number, epithet and illogic).
Arguably, it is those that have prosecuted the undocumented war against Iraq who are in most need of amnesty, having used their power, intellect or prestige to disingenuously spread falsehoods to help facilitate this illegal war, including their outlaw policy of permanent war.
The demagogues, who claim to oppose rewarding law-breakers, are generally the same ones who continue to swallow the president's lies about a country that had nothing to do with 9-11 nor has ever posed a threat to this nation. But they're not dupes; they've been complicit when this imperial president, obsessed with secrecy, has willfully disregarded the U.S. Constitution and international treaties, including the Geneva Conventions on War.
This is the definition of a double standard. The difference is that
the sole crime of the vast majority of these migrants consists of
crossing perilous borders to feed their families. The attempt by
politicos to paint them as deadbeats and criminals, and conflating them with terrorists, is but a shameful canard. Contrarily, this administration stands accused of waging an illegal war; contrary to its unfounded claims, without a Congressional or UN sanction. In the process, it has ruined a nation - supposedly in the name of the Lord - while causing many thousands of casualties, at the eventual cost of several trillion dollars.
This explains the desperate need for scapegoats; i.e., brown people. But the hypocrisy and obsession doesn't end there. When pardons begin to be doled out to administration officials for prosecuting this illegal war - what will Congress do, especially those members who are dead-set against amnesty for undocumented immigrants? But we needn't wait; even beyond the Scooter Libby commutation, the hypocrisy is already on display. A cowed Congress has enabled this war, this while
going along with the administration's insistence of exempting itself from the International War Crimes Tribunal, while also embracing its illegal torture, spying, detentions, secret prisons and extraordinary rendition programs. The leadership has also inexplicably taken impeachment "off the table."
If Congress were to grant pardons and immunity to these incompetent and corrupt political scoundrels, they would be meaningless before domestic and international courts. Just as we've seen in Chile, Argentina, South Africa, Guatemala, El Salvador, etc. - nations that engage in illegal behavior normally go through convulsive periods that minimally require truth commissions and trials for those implicated in the deaths of thousands.
Let the convulsion begin. Yet, beyond the illegalities and the
exorbitant war-costs, another casualty has been the nation's moral compass. The politics of fear - fostered by a completely deluded president so as to promote this war-for-profit - has had the unintended consequence of permitting many otherwise decent Americans to feel comfortable with their revulsion, finger-pointing and dehumanization. It has now morphed into a climate and culture of fear, hate and blame. They have seemingly forgotten that throughout human history, the laws of survival have always trumped artificial borders and laws. As such, many do not seek humane solutions because they do
not see human beings. Instead, they see invading hordes and
illegitimate human beings and clamor for draconian laws, hunter
battalions and 2,000-mile walls.
If only they used their time and energies to end this foolish war
would they find the money to solve society's real problems.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Rodriguez can be reached at: Column of the Americas, PO BOX 41552 Tucson, AZ 85717 or XColumn@gmail.com. The columns are archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Patzin: Sunflowers, Lemons & the Pits
By Patrisia Gonzales
Column of the Americas (c) July 2, 2007
Patzin (Nahuatl for Respect worthy Medicine) is a monthly edition on
Indigenous medicine
In Mexican Traditional Medicine, precious petals, leaves, seeds, rinds
and even pits are medicine that should be put to use. While the
girasol towers in gardens and on roadsides, we should not let the
power of Sunflower go to waste. Sunflower seeds, leaves, bark and
petals make excellent teas and tinctures for colds that affect the
lungs and respiratory tract. This tea also gently fortifies the body's
health. The petals, when collected while the dew is fresh and soaked
like a sun tea, provide clarity. As a flower that follows the sun,
sunflower remedies uplift the spirit. The bark should be tinctured
while fresh -- although a good sunflower stalk can grow tall and thick
and require some effort to cut up. Other similar flowers that are
cold-fighters are Mexican hat, margaritas, daisies and "Indian paint
brush."
Other summer medicine is found in citrus rinds, leaves and flowers.
The flowers and leaves of all citrus are relaxants and make excellent
t?s y ba?os. The rinds of lim?n, lemon and oranges can be soaked in
water and drunk to stimulate the immune system, fortify the nervous
system and provide bioflavonoids and Vitamin C. (Of course, grapefruit
seed is well-known for its anti-microbial properties.) These rinds
also can be chewed on or soaked in honey (particularly to soothe a
cough). They also may provide relief for people suffering from
glaucoma and varicose veins. An enduring practice of many abuelitas is
to have a cup of warm water with the rind and juice of a lim?n first
thing in the morning to gently clear the liver. And then there is agua
of lim?n or limonada, which can be enhanced by blending an entire
pesticide-free fruit in water and straining and sweetening to taste.
Lim?n can also be combined with yerba buena or other mints to improve
digestion. Citrus rinds may be dried and stored for use in the
winters. Oranges are also eaten to combat mild depression in the
winter months. A slice of lime or lemon can be placed on the forehead
or ingested to soothe some headaches.
All huesos de aguacate should be washed and saved! If they are
organic, they can be shredded or quartered and made into a tea that
battles diarrhea, intestinal bacteria and parasites (boil one
quartered or shredded pit in two cups water and add honey). The tea
also can be taken for menstrual cramps, muscular aches and when
combined with other herbs is useful for folks suffering from
arthritis. Even pits from conventionally grown avocadoes should be
washed and saved and used in a liniment, soaked in rubbing alcohol
with estafiate, ruda, chiles, and yerba buena. Combined with clavo,
timo, estafiate or epasote de comer, avocado pit makes a great
anti-parasitic remedio. Boiled with honey and apple, it makes a jarabe
that can be used for chest ailments that youngsters will tolerate. The
pits also are exceptional tinctures. When boiled, the tea becomes
orange, indicating its powerful medicinal content. (Of course, eating
avocados provides healthy fats, minerals and vitamins that are
protective of the heart, brain and skin.) In Mexican Traditional
Medicine, even the pits and the casacaras are medicines. So save your
pits and peels! Except for the use of lemon rinds, limonada or the
eating of fresh fruits and seeds, these remedies are not for pregnant
women.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Gonzales can be reached at: Column of the Americas, PO BOX 41552
Tucson, AZ 85717 or Patzin@gmail.com. The columns are archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
MACEHUAL: BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
JUNE 25, 2007
HUEHUETLAHTOLLI OR ANCIENT WORDS FOR THE MIGRANT
* EDITOR?S NOTE: SPECIAL BILINGUAL EDITION
Your footprints are not always left in deserts, mountains or rivers. Like a shadow, they follow you everywhere. From Mexico and Central America, and South America too, they follow you into El Norte.
From your NAFTA-decimated fields and factories, your footprints follow you into toxic factories and pesticide-laden fields. They follow you into food-processing and manufacturing plants, construction sites, hotels and restaurants. For more than a century, wherever there has been tedious, dangerous and back-breaking work, your footprints have led you there.
Don?t believe the news; here, some love you, some hate you and many exploit you. Some even look like you. You make billions for corporations and they give you back centavos. They lower wages and shutter factories and you get the blame. Still, they love your work ethic; hard-work, long hours, low pay and no benefits. You pay into social security, medical and unemployment insurance, knowing you will never collect. But to many politicos and racial extremists, you are a criminal, drug dealer and a drain. Even a terrorist.
What many like is your silence: just work, don?t complain. Don?t organize or fight back, and if you must speak: ?In English, damn it!î And if you ever fall ill, ?go back to where you came from!î
Don?t believe the hype; you pay exorbitant taxes, you enrich global corporations, employers, landlords, merchants and the nation?s treasury. Without you, food prices would be sky-high, hotel prices and houses would be unaffordable, lawns would turn to weeds, homes, cars and offices would go uncleaned and the children and elders of the middle class and the well-to-do would be uncared for. Through your sweat, you make life convenient and make their dream possible, and yet they clamor for walls and sic the migra to you to chase you down.
Those that vilify you strive for a checkpoint society because America is an idea; they believe it was created by God for Americans, and to many, Mexicans are not Americans. Not real Americans, nor a part of their dream. They hate you because like American Indians, you are a reminder that their ancestors came from afar that they?re part of a young nation, not a thousands-of-years civilization. You?re a reminder that their land-theft project called Manifest Destiny failed, though many believe it is simply on hold.
Those that denigrate you, especially hate, yet covet your color. They are schizophrenic. They love your food and love to be served and cleaned-up after, preferably in silence and out of sight. They hate the language you speak, but make it impossible for you to go to school and for your children to receive a higher education. And they especially hate that your children ? not theirs ? will one day become bilingual. The only two words in Spanish they approve of are: ?Si se?or.î
That?s why they insult you and call you names, beginning with immigrant. You are not an immigrant! They also accuse you of being lazy and on welfare, this while claiming you are taking their jobs. There?s that schizophrenia again. Those unwanted jobs, they claim, are reserved for African-Americans and Hispanic Americans. Not surprisingly, the best jobs are not reserved for them. Oh, how they love to swing you like a political pi?ata. They don?t blame the corporations for this exploitation, instead they blame you and brand you illegal alien ? despite knowing that there is no such thing as an illegal human being and also knowing full well that your ancestors have traversed these lands for thousands of years. They ignore this and call you wetback. Yes, the same ones whose ancestors came over on boats When you learn their language, they will call you beaner. And it?s true; for millennia you?ve been eating frijoles, maize, calabaza, nopales and chile ? a healthy Indigenous diet.
Migrante: you are entitled to be treated with dignity and respect and afforded your full human rights. Neither governments nor the United Nations dole them out. Instead, you are born with them; they simply affirm them. Always remember that. Never forget that.
Migrante: don?t believe their propaganda; they?ve always needed and wanted you just without rights without a voice and without a vote. Yes, even those that hate you, deep down, they actually admire and envy you. They know of your sacrifice, your hardships and of your inspiring commitment to family. They are also aware of those footprints that never made it out of the desert, mountains and rivers. In another time, they will honor you and thank you.
Tlazocamati huel miac.
© Column of the Americas 2007
Rodriguez can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com or PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717
Columna de las Americas
Macehual: Por Roberto Rodr?guez
26 de junio de 2007
Huehuetlahtolli o palabras antig?as para el migrante.
Tus huellas no siempre dejan marca en los desiertos, monta?as o r?os. Como una sombra, ellas te siguen a todas partes. Desde M?xico y Centroam?rica, y Sudam?rica tambi?n, ellas te siguen hacia El Norte.
Desde tus campos y f?bricas diezmados por el Tratado de Libre Comercio, tus huellas te siguen hacia f?bricas t?xicas y campos cargados de pesticidas. Ellas te siguen hacia plantas procesadoras de alimentos y manufactureras, lugares en construcci?n, hoteles y restaurantes. Por m?s de un siglo, en cualquier lugar en donde haya habido un trabajo tedioso, peligroso y lastimoso, tus huellas te han guiado hasta ah?.
No les creas a las noticias; aqu?, algunos te quieren, otros te odian y m?s, quieren explotarte. Algunos incluso se parecen a ti. T? haces que las gran corporaciones ganen billones y a ti te dan centavos. Estas compa??as bajan los salarios y cierran f?bricas en este pais y te culpan a ti. A?n as?, les encanta tu ?tica laboral: trabajas duro, muchas horas, bajo salario y nada de prestaciones. Tu aportas al seguro social, al seguro m?dico y contra el desempleo sabiendo que nunca recibir?s nada. Pero para demasiados pol?ticos y extremistas raciales t? eres un delincuente, narcotraficante y una carga. Incluso un terrorista.
Lo que a muchos les gusta es tu silencio: s?lo trabaja, no te quejes. No te organices con otros o luches, y si tienes que hablar: ?In English, damn it!î Y si alguna vez caes enfermo, te dir?n: ??regresa de donde veniste!î
No le creas a la excesiva publicidad; t? pagas impuestos exorbitantes, t? haces ricos a las compa??as transnacionales, empresarios, grandes propietarios, comerciantes y a la tesorer?a de la naci?n. Sin ti, los precios de los alimentos estar?an por los cielos, los precios de los hoteles y de las casas ser?an imposibles de pagar, los jardines se llenar?an de hierbajos, las casas, coches y oficinas estar?an sucias y los ni?os y ancianos de la clase media y de los ricos estar?an sin cuidado alguno. A trav?s de tu sudor, t? les haces la vida f?cil y les haces su sue?o realidad, y a?n as? ellos ruegan porque se construyan muros y te echan la migra para que te deporten.
Esos que te infaman luchan por una sociedad de control porque Am?rica es una idea; ellos creen que fue creada por Dios para los americanos, y para muchos, los mexicanos no son americanos. No son americanos verdaderos, no son una parte de su sue?o. Ellos te odian porque al igual que los pueblos Ind?genas de este pais, t? eres un recuerdo vivo de que sus ancestros vinieron de lejos de que ellos son parte de una naci?n joven, no de una civilizaci?n de miles de a?os. T? eres el recuerdo vivo de que su proyecto de robo de tierras llamado el Destino Manifiesto fall?, aunque muchos crean que solamente est? en pausa.
Esos que te denigran odian especialmente, y al mismo tiempo codician, tu color. Tienen esquizofrenia. Les encanta tu comida y les encanta que les sirvan y que les limpien, preferentemente en silencio y sin que los molesten. Odian tu idioma, pero hacen que sea imposible para ti y para tus hijos ir a la escuela y recibir una educaci?n superior. Y especialmente odian el hecho de que tus hijos ? no los suyos ? alg?n d?a ser?n biling?es. Las ?nicas palabras en espa?ol que les gusta escuchar es: ?S? se?or.î
Por eso te insultan y te llaman nombres insultantes, empezando con inmigrante. ?T? no eres un inmigrante! Ellos tambi?n te acusan de ser flojo y de ser mantenido por el estado, esto mientras se quejan de que les quitas sus trabajos. Ah? est? otra vez esa esquizofrenia. Esos trabajos que nadie quiere, afirman, est?n reservados para los afroamericanos y los hispanos de Estados Unidos. No es de sorprender que los mejores trabajos no est?n reservados para ellos. Ah, y c?mo les encanta columpiarte como una pi?ata pol?tica. Ellos no culpan a las grandes corporaciones de esta explotaci?n, en lugar de eso ellos te culpan a ti y te etiquetan como illegal alien ? aunque sepan que ning?n ser humano es ilegal y que tus ancestros han atravesado estas tierras por miles de a?os. Ellos ignoran esto y te llaman wetback o mojado. S?, esos mismos cuyos ancestros vinieron en barcos Cuando aprendas su lengua, ellos te llamar?n frijolero. Y es verdad; por milenios hemos estado comiendo frijoles, ma?z, calabaza, nopales y chile ? una dieta ind?gena saludable.
Migrante: tienes el derecho a ser tratado con dignidad y respeto. Ni los gobiernos o las Naciones Unidas reparten derechos humanos, m?s bien, los derechos nacieron contigo; ellos s?lo los reafirman. Siempre recuerda eso. Nunca lo olvides.
Migrante: no le creas a su propaganda; ellos siempre te han querido y te han necesitado s?lo que sin derechos y sin voz y voto. S?, incluso aquellos que te odian, en el fondo te admiran y te envidian. Ellos saben de tu sacrificio, tu esfuerzo y de tu inspirador compromiso con la familia. Ellos tambi?n tienen conocimiento de esas huellas que nunca lograron salir del desierto, monta?as y r?os. En otros tiempos, ellos te honrar?n y te dar?n las gracias.
Tlazocamti huel miac
© Column of the Americas 2007
Para comunicarse con Rodr?guez escr?bale un correo electr?nico a: XColumn@gmail.com o por correo a: PO BOX 41552, Tucson, AZ 85717
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
MACEHUAL: BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
JUNE 17, 2007
HUEHUETLAHTOLLI FOR THE NATION'S LEADERS
" Here is how you shall be known, how people will speak of you, how you will be remembered by the people. It is necessary that you lower your head, that you govern in a humble manner, with kindness, and always pay attention to the needs of the people. Don't ever take advantage of the people "
Huehuetlahtolli: Testimonios de la Antigua Palabra,
Miguel Leon-Portilla, & Librado Silva Galeana
Huehuetlahtolli is a form of communication developed by the Nahuatl-speaking peoples of this continent. Hue means old. Huehue means ancient. Tlahtolli means word. Thus, the ancient word. However, together, it refers to the ancient wisdom of the Toltecayotl or the Toltecs.
Huehuetlahtolli is given as advice or guidances from parents to children. It is also given by elders to doctors, merchants, warriors and leaders. Long before the arrival of Europeans, leadership here was equated both with wisdom and the ability to speak clearly. In fact, a speaker of Nahuatl actually refers to one who speaks clearly. The leader was referred to as Tlahtoani ? meaning speaker or one who speaks for the people.
While the opening quote is Huehuetlahtolli for public servants ? it appears to be applicable to this era. As such, it seems appropriate to give further guidance to the current administration.
Huehuetlahtolli for the Bush Administration
A leader is honest and humble. A great leader always speaks clearly and firmly. A leader who speaks firmly, but who speaks deceptively or
without wisdom betrays himself or herself and the people.
A leader always seeks to bring peoples together. A good leader brings out the good in everyone. A great leader is a peacemaker.
A leader possesses a good memory and governs with the knowledge and wisdom of the past generations. To make sense of the world, a great
leader must be able to communicate that knowledge to his or her peoples. A leader without memory knows little, cannot speak, govern or teach. Great leaders are great teachers. They set a moral example and
impart knowledge that lasts a lifetime.
Leaders do not amass all power onto themselves. Good leaders never dictate; instead they persuade. Great leaders never proclaim
themselves to be omnipotent and infallible. They do not make spectacles of themselves, are not greedy, are kind and mete out justice fairly and compassionately.
Leaders do not exaggerate or change the meaning of words. A good leader does not govern through force or fear nor do they blame others for their own failures. Great leaders do not create war and call it peace. Great leaders never invent reasons for war and then send the children of others to shed needless blood.
Leaders humanize people; they help give them a face and a heart. Good leaders humanize their enemies. They see no aliens or enemies; just
neighbors. Great leaders build bridges, are honorable and are judged by the manner in which they treat all the people.
Bad leaders demonize their neighbors and enemies and build walls. Terrible leaders demonize their friends when they disagree and make them their enemies. Pompous leaders see everyone as beneath them, are cowardly and take advantage of the people.
Leaders are stewards of the earth and all life. Good leaders are not wasteful and do not pollute. Great leaders divide the resources of the nation equally and do not show favor, except to the least amongst us.
Leaders who lack wisdom and memory, who govern through fear and do not speak the truth are liars and fools. Arrogant leaders who lie, then
later deny their untruthfulness, are insane. They are dishonorable and bring shame to themselves and the people.
Leaders who are untruthful and who surround themselves with dishonest and deceitful advisors, who lack wisdom and who enrich themselves at the expense of the people, lose the capacity to speak clearly and forfeit the right to speak for the people.
A people who accept insane leaders deserve their insanity. But peoples who reject them, yet fail to oppose them and oust them will also be
known as foolish and insane.
" this is how you shall be known, how the future generations will speak of you, how you will be remembered..."
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com or PO BOX 5093, Madison, WI 53705. The column is archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Patzin: Hot and Cold in Mexican Traditional Medicine
By Patrisia Gonzales
Column of the Americas
June 7, 2007
Patzin (Nahuatl for Respectworthy Medicine): a monthly feature on
Indigenous medicine
Mexican Traditional Medicine (MTM) is often organized around an
Indigenous system of diagnosis based on the balance of hot and cold
states in the body. This duality reflects Indigenous cosmologies that
are founded in ever-balancing conditions created by the dynamics of
hot and cold, sweet and sour, male and female, acid and alkaline, wet
and dry, and the interactions among the four elements of air, fire,
earth and water.
This is also reflected in spiritual and medicinal teachings based on
relationships that are masculine-feminine, solar-lunar, earth-sky,
Earth-Moon, Earth-Venus. These conditions function to create balance
through the tension and interaction of contrasting states of life that
are not dualistic but rather affects the whole system of the body and
being.
Foods, elements, acts and illnesses have hot and cold properties. Sex,
pregnancy and childbirth are hot. Sometimes children may need a limpia
because they may get sick from receiving the heat of a couple who has
recently had relations. Postpartum is considered cold, and therefore
requires warming teas, vapors, herbs and foods. Like the period after
birth, menstruation, menopause and miscarriage or termination of a
pregnancy bring on cold states in the body, requiring warm foods and
protection of the uterus, womb area and lower back. Walking barefoot
allows for cold to enter the body through the feet and lower limbs,
creating coldness, such as leg cramps and painful periods. Getting
aire or airs in the back or other parts of the body that are
vulnerable to aire also is part of the hot-cold paradigm. Limpias or
purification rites are administered based on whether a person needs
cooling or hot elements. Some curanderos say that susto (fright,
trauma or soul wound) is a cold illness, while others say it is hot.
(This variation reflects the dynamic understanding that different
peoples arrive at, particularly in Indigenous botany that does not
seek to systematize knowledge for a general audience.) When susto
leaves the body, the person can also go into a deep cold condition.
Nahua curandera Do?a Modesta says that extremely cold states actually
bring on hot symptoms. For instance, hot flashes occur as a woman is
going into a cold state of life during the Change. She may be more
prone to back aches. Another example is the common cold which is of a
cold nature but may become hot as a fever transpires. People sweat to
"cool down" the fever and sweat out the microbes. Cold conditions are
often treated with herbs, massage, and the temezkal or Mexican adobe
ceremonial sweatbath. However, cold can "mature" to the point that it
is difficult to transform into a balanced state.
Certain foods and herbs are hot, cold or neutral or fresco, as Nahua
partera Do?a Filo terms it. Sometimes hot and cold herbs are combined
to create a neutral or fresh pomade for a pregnant woman who does not
need to be heated up but may need the relief that a hot herb can bring
to sore muscles. Often hot is used to treat a cold condition but like
treating like is also used, such as a fresh jalapeno that is used to
treat a burn (Though I do not recommend you try this unless you know
the proper application). Certain acts are hot and therefore we should
refrain from quickly cooling down. For instance, after you garden or
do massage, your hands are hot and should not get wet. After you have
sex, you should not immediately step barefoot onto a cold floor and
take a shower. Allow your body's temperature to recalibrate. You can
also cook based on the hot-cold principle. My family makes hot
enchiladas and adds shredded lettuce to cool it down. During the
summer, we eat lettuce, cucumbers, celery, parsley, all cooling foods
that are grown during the peak of the summer heat. But in Texas, caldo
is quite popular during the summer. Like chile, the hot soup allows us
to sweat and, therefore, cool down. The list of foods placed in the
hot-cold categories is too numerous to list. I suggest you ask your
grandparents for their own hot-cold categories. Lo fr?o y lo caliente
are dynamic processes of life.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Gonzales can be reached at: Patzin@gmail.com and at 608-238-3161 or PO
BOX 5093, Madison, WI 53705. The column is archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
May 28, 2007
By ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
THEM VS US IN THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE
Is anyone old enough to remember the expression: "Go Back to Africa?" Can anyone remember when the lynchings of Blacks, Asians and the hunting down of American Indians and Mexicans were commonplace? Does anyone remember when Jews -- during the time of the Holocaust-- were turned away at this nation's borders? How about the Chinese Exclusion Act? Can anyone remember when the Irish, German and Italians were not
welcome here?
This country has had a long and sordid history of xenophobia and scapegoat politics, which brings us to the current immigration debate. Prior to it, I had not been aware that illegal aliens were the number one threat to the security of the most powerful nation on earth and the cause of the majority of the nation's many problems.
It's amazing how we are all easily manipulated and corralled. All we seem to need is for someone to whip up the frenzy to permit the immoral discrimination and segregation of human beings and to permit the mass incarceration of Japanese American citizens or to conduct an Operation Wetback to send Mexican American citizens "back to where they came from." Not too long ago, it was George Wallace. Yesterday it was Pat Buchanan. Today it is the Three Amigos: CNN's Lou Dobbs, and Republican presidential hopefuls, Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter.
And it is amazing the lengths that people who have been formerly targeted by demagogues will go to, to prove their Americanism. They seemingly scream the loudest when a new group has been targeted. One can hear the catharsis -- an incredible sigh of relief -- when they are able to point a finger at another group.
This time around, illegal aliens are the target. They can't fight back or vote or even protest in public. And technically, they don't have a face. All the vitriol can be hurled against them without feeling guilty -- just don't say the word Mexican and you can't be accused of being a bigot. Besides, you have nothing against brown people, as long as they're legal, educated, employed (just as long as the job is not too good) and can speak English.
Perhaps this exam will help us to determine the actual answer as to who is the cause of this nation's problems. Who is responsible for U.S. policies that permit:
* the spending of more than $500 billion to wage an illegal and immoral war?
* torture and the violation of the Geneva War Conventions?
* the elimination of Habeas Corpus?
* the illegal wiretapping of its own citizens?
* war profiteering by Haliburton and mercenary armies
(Blackwater) to flourish?
* the dismantling of affirmative action and the nation's civil
rights laws?
* a tax system that favors the super-rich?
Here are the choices: a) illegal aliens b) Arabs & Moslems c) Blacks d) Mexicans e) Jews f) Gays & Lesbians g) liberals h) abortion-seeking women i) American Indians
While all these groups have been intermittent favorites throughout this nation's history, today, it seems that most Americans would choose option "a." (This option has been a favorite since the 1700s).
This means that if the United States puts up a 2,000-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and if the 12 million nannies, busboys, gardeners and maids were deported, the Iraqi war ? which is expected to skyrocket in costs to another $1.5 trillion ? would immediately come to a halt. If deported, the nation's skyrocketing gasoline prices would begin to immediately reverse. In fact, the nation's dropout crisis would also end overnight, enabling those who are remanded to the worst jobs in society to instead compete for the nation's best jobs.
Once these 12 million law-breakers are deported, no doubt this
administration would direct the EPA, the USDA, the FDA, the Federal Trade Commission and the Labor Department to begin to enforce its consumer protection and food, drug and worker safety laws. (Why enforce them now when illegal aliens are making a mockery of our nation's laws?)
While it's true that illegal aliens are overworked, overexploited,
highly overtaxed ? and generally without human rights ? we all know that if deported, Congress would pass Universal Health Care overnight. While it's also true that illegal aliens have for decades been pouring billions of dollars into Social Security and into Unemployment Insurance and Medicare, knowing full well they will never see a red cent -- their precipitous departure, along with their windfall tax revenues -- would also no doubt bring about their immediate solvency.
If these 12 million varmints (as John McCain refers to them) were
deported, it would solve the U.S. prison crisis overnight. A recent
study, by the Washington-based Immigration Policy Center, has found that immigrants are much less likely to be imprisoned than U.S. born residents of the same ethnicity. Another study, by the Public Policy Institute of California, has shown that immigrants are more likely to push up wages than depress them. Regardless, the departure of 12 million would no doubt make space for our own home-grown criminals, and it would also no doubt compel U.S. corporations to immediately
institute a living wage for all workers. Right?
Truthfully, the primary party responsible for all of the above
problems is the Bush-Cheney administration. All else is diversion, distraction and division. The urge to blame illegal aliens or anyone else for the nation's problems is but the result of the administration's politics of fear, hate and blame. They've unleashed that dynamic and now, Americans have come to believe that their rights, livelihood and happiness are dependant upon the denigration and dehumanization of their fellow human beings.
Perhaps the demagoguery is limited to a loud and rancorous minority of Republican ideologues; we do know that a majority of U.S. citizens support a path to legalization for this nation's undocumented immigrants and oppose a new bracero program. Neither do they want to continue to divide up human beings into legal and illegal categories. It doesn't have to be this way; a simple transnational labor agreement can change all this, though the drawback is that workers and their families would not lose their human rights, dignity or citizenship in the process. Who would we then blame for the nation's problems?
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com and at 608-238-3161 or PO BOX 5093, Madison, WI 53705. The column is archived at:
hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
MAY 21, 2007
HUEHUETLAHTOLLI
ANCIENT WORD
ANTIGUA PALABRA
FOR 2007 GRADUATES
BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
SPECIAL GRADUATION EDITION
Graduados! Graduates!
Tiahui! Adelante! Forward!
Ahora que han recibido un papelito,
from the telpochcalli to the Calmecac,
from high school to the university,
ahora son Raza con documentos.
Pero ahora, que hacer? What to do/where to go?
Hacia Tamuanchan? Hacia Huehuetlapallan?
De donde venimos?
From where the Tlamintini say we came from?
Is that where we are all going?
Es alla a donde vamos? Es nuestro destino?
Is that where we are destined to go?
To return? To go back?
For some, it is now time to work.
For others, to the Calmecac of life.
For still others,
you will continue with your formal education.
For those who have just graduated
or for those getting ready to graduate,
ask yourselves: What is a higher education?
Do you know the antigua sabiduria?
The ancient amoxtlis or pinturas-escrituras?
What is it that you have been taught,
over the course of your lifetimes?
Are you now smarter, wiser,
more knowledgeable than when you arrived?
Did anyone pass on to you the Huehuetlahtolli?
Did anyone ? did your temachtianis ? teach you,
how to become a better human being?
Were you taught about relationships,
about respect and reciprocity?
about In Lak Ech?
Tu eres mi otro yo. You are my other self.
I cannot hurt you, otherwise I hurt myself.
Graduates! On this day that you graduate,
so too your community graduates.
On this day, we all graduate.
We, is your familia, friends, and
those closest to you.
And for some, we graduate
in spite of those in our midst.
Have you examined your life?
Who is the we in your life? Your parents?
Who and what has made you? Tus abuelos?
Who are you and how did you get here?
Who has guided you and illuminated your path?
Who has held up your mirror?
Answer these questions, and that
becomes your ceremonial discourse.
This is not about whether you walked here,
took the bus, or got here by car.
This is not even about your individual path,
but about the thousands-of-years journey
it has taken for you to arrive here and now.
Yes. Your journey was charted for you.
Some say perhaps your future too.
Yet, you yourself have to choose your own path.
It is you that has to pave it. More importantly,
it is you that has to create it.
Will your path lead to a good job
and the fulfillment of the American Dream?
A job with a good salary and great benefits,
with security, health benefits, a big house
and a great retirement plan?
Retirement, already?
It's the American Way!
Is that the ceremonial discourse you will choose?
Or will you instead decide to also make history?
Will you create new paths,
for your younger sisters and brothers, cousins
and nieces and nephews to follow?
Your Ceremonial Discourse:
It is not simply all that is beauty;
It is also the headaches, the many scars,
the sleepless nights & the many obstacles;
yours, and of those around you.
It is acknowledging all of that, while selecting
the memories we choose to remember, and forget
while you chart your new Ceremonial path.
Graduates! Do not seek the path
of an enlightened Toltec or Buddha.
Instead, follow the path of a simple macehual.
Son macehualitzin merecidos. You have earned it
This path will also take you there eventually,
but you will not arrive there alone.
The path of a macehual
is that of sacrifice;
it is to fight for the Dream Act,
against nationalized Driver IDs,
new Bracero programs, and against the division of society
into legal and illegal human beings.
It is also to fight against illegal wars.
Yes, the path of the macehual
is actually a life of struggle.
It is the heroic path of Elvira Arrellano
and Tomas Calderon ? migrants from Chicago and Madison,
whose struggles affirm that
there is no such thing as an illegal human being.
The path of a macehual is the
the historic path of Emma Temayuca
the resistance path of Dolores Huerta,
the selfless path of Cesar Chavez
It is the path of Si Se Puede!
Yet that path is more
than a path of defiance or resistance.
And as we've witnessed recently in Los Angeles
that path is sometimes dripped in blood.
Still, the path of Si Se Puede, means:
Yes, I can. It means: Yes, we can.
Your mere presence here affirms this.
It also affirms those that have come before you.
As a graduate, that is now your role:
to find out what it is that you can do:
Eliminate disease and starvation, or prevent the
desecration of our sacred mother earth?
Create new technologies to visit other worlds?
That is your ceremonial discourse,
your ceremonial path, your path to creation.
Your wisdom path.
Have you created it yet?
Have you though of it yet?
Have you taken that first step?
Do the swinging clubs,
the smoke & the rubber bullets intimidate you?
Give you trepidations?
If they do, then be prepared and brace yourself,
because all institutions of power
use the tools at their disposal
to dehumanize our communities,
to treat us as aliens, as less than human,
to treat us as though we don't belong.
But of course, we do belong. We all belong.
Perhaps that's your path and
the purpose of your education:
to take us into the future, toward a humanized society.
Not simply to eliminate poverty,
homelessness, inequality & injustice¾
not to change, but to create a new world.
That is your role:
not to re-discover, re-member, re-invent
or to re-create. Instead, it is to imagine & create.
The time has now come for you
to create your own ceremonial discourse
your own ceremonial path & journey¾
to leave your own tracks.
pero como dice una amiga:
para dejar huellas, se necesita ir descalzo;
to leave footprints, go barefoot¾ go humbly.
(c) Column of the Americas
Rodriguez can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
THE ELUSIVE BARS OF JUSTICE
May 15, 2007
By Roberto Rodriguez
As a result of the May 1 melee at MacArthur park in which at least 60 innocent people were injured, heads have begun to roll. However, if the past is any indication, it is virtually a foregone conclusion that punishment will not result in prison time for any of the Los Angeles Police Department officers that attacked the innocent bystanders.
This should be a sobering thought, but in today's culture, it isn't. If anything, it is but a reminder of the value society places on the lives of migrants (read Mexicans & Central Americans). There's little doubt that if rally participants had clubbed any of the officers, i f apprehended, they would be facing serious criminal charges. Actually, if that in fact had happened, chances are they would have been severely beaten on the spot,
or on the way to jail.
If this incident plays true to form, we can expect some wrist-slapping in the form of desk duty, retraining, suspensions, demotions, possible firings and, some cash payouts by the city. There may even be talk of finally establishing civilian oversight of the police, but in the end, it is highly doubtful that any of the officers will actually be placed behind bars.
Perhaps this can be considered progress. A generation ago, those that were clubbed and shot at would have been the ones charged with attacking the officers. And yet, "serious" wrist-slapping is what nowadays passes for justice. Officers everywhere know this; at worst, it may mean a civil trial in which if they lose, the taxpayer will bear the costs of excessive force and brutality under the color of law.
These practices, because they hold no single officer or commander responsible, certainly cannot be viewed as deterrents. If anything, they condone business as usual. Thus the outrage.
While some might deem the suggestion of prison time a bit harsh ? particularly since the investigations are barely underway ? if guilty, that in fact, should be the appropriate punishment. Anything less will continue to send out the message that the lives of civilians ? regardless of their race/ethnicity or their citizenship ? are valued less than the lives of officers.
In response to the May 1 police maneuvers at MacArthur Park, LAPD Chief William J. Chief Bratton has responded by moving swiftly. Aside for criticizing the actions of his department's Special Operation Bureau officers and calling for their retraining, he has also begun to shuffle and reshuffle commanders. For this, he is receiving intense pressure from the city's police union, which is calling everyone not to prejudge the officers.
Indeed, no one needs to prejudge which individual officer is guilty of using excessive or unlawful force. However, residents should minimally expect the city to enforce the law. There is no law enforcement agency anywhere that permits officers to go outside of the law to "enforce the law." District attorneys should have a zero tolerance policy regarding this matter. In this instance, unless our eyes are once again deceiving us, it appears that the bringing forth of criminal charges is appropriate; beyond losing a promotion or job, someone has to be held legally accountable for the shooting and the brutalizing of
innocent bystanders, including members of the media. It is the jury who will decide guilt or innocence and the nature of the punishment.
As the broader investigations begin, the relevant questions are, Why does the LAPD have such a force, and where did the SOB officers get the idea that they could use violent and even deadly force upon innocent civilians? And lastly, is there a history of immigrant rights' marches turning violent so as to merit the presence of such a paramilitary force?
The answers are self-evident; the fear that has gripped the nation the past few years has permitted such militarized units to flourish. And with rare exceptions, there have never been severe consequences for the illegal use of force anywhere. In this case, these were not the LAPD officers that the residents depend on and trust; they were a virtual goon squad. If we were in a different country, we would be discussing this brutality within the context of human rights violations. Actually, aside from federal supervision, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have for years been monitoring law enforcement violence against communities of color in the United States, including Los Angeles. And yet, what changes?
If no true justice is achieved, perhaps the next move is to pettition the Organization of American States or the United Nations.
(c) Column of the Americas, 2007
Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com or 608-213-3710.
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
WITHOUT AMNESTY & WITHOUT ANIMOSITY. YES!!!
BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
MAY 7, 2007
"Without Amnesty & Without Animosity."
When I heard the president utter those words, I said to myself, ""Yes!!!"
Apparently, I had not been paying attention too closely because when he gave his rehearsed punchline, I thought he had been giving a sober assessment of how to approach the issue of lawbreakers within his own administration -- of how to treat them: fairly, but firmly.
"Yes," I had said, "That's how Impeachment has to proceed."
Instead, it turns out he was speaking about the hardest working sector of the economy. On the issue of immigration, his cute phrase makes about as much sense as his "Mission Accomplished" banner of four years ago.
Truthfully, if anyone needs amnesty, it's the career criminals within his own administration, not people working double time to feed their families. And in regards to animosity, he is the one who has made it socially acceptable to blame all the nation's problems on those whose sole crime is to be working in a country that begs for their labor, exploits them, and refuses to treat them as full human beings (this can be accomplished through a simple accord).
Again, I thought he had been talking about Impeachment as its case has already been made in regards to the waging of an illegal war against a nation that has never posed a threat to the United States -- a war that has caused the death of tens of thousands of Iraqis and close to 3,500 U.S. military personnel. Arguably, his entire War Cabinet could also be subjected to such proceedings, as well as many members of Congress that continue to green-light this criminal war. And yet, is it possible to also impeach the journalists and pundits that functioned as stenographers or cheerleaders for the administration's falsehoods, and the media outlets that heavily censored dissenting views?
One thing about criminal behavior; there is no statute of limitation for waging an illegal war. The war does not become legal or moral simply because Congress refuses to properly investigate. Virtually everything about the war is illegal; from how it was sold, to how it has been conducted (in disregard to the Geneva Conventions), to how the administration has waged a war on the rights and privacy of its own citizens. In fact, the administration's current smearing of his opponents with a brush of disloyalty and even treason -- itself arguably constitutes an impeachable offense. Yet the mainstream media continues to facilitate the war by failing to question the administration's current propositions, that:
* Failure to support the president's war funding means failure to support the troops.
* Failure to support the troop surge is to hand victory to the enemy.
* A call for the withdrawal of U.S. troops is a call for defeat and surrender.
* Disagreement with the president is an act of disloyalty and brings aid and comfort to the enemy.
* Disagreement with the president is to go against the commanders on the ground.
* The troops cannot leave until their mission has been accomplished.
* The president's detractors are simply tax & spend liberals who have no interest in protecting the homeland.
The mainstream media could respond in this manner:
* Supporting the troops has nothing to do with where they are stationed; bringing them home is a sign of support.
* Failure in Iraq falls squarely on the shoulders of the president's failed policies.
* Similarly, defeat and surrender correspond to the administration, not to those who call for the war's end.
* Disagreement is not a sign of disloyalty; it is a Constitutional duty.
* The commanders on the ground take orders from civilians, not the other way around. Also, the ones who disagree with this president have all been purged.
* The mission, whatever it may be, is not sanctioned or supported by the United Nations nor the vast majority of Americans.
* The war is the biggest tax upon Americans in a generation.
Tens of thousands continue to die in an immoral war; and the President, Congress and the media would rather get tough on lawbreakers? Yes. Let's begin with the ones that attacked the immigrant rights' marchers in Los Angeles and the ones waging that war in Iraq: Without amnesty and without animosity.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007
Rodriguez can be reached at: Column of the Americas PO BOX 5093 Madison WI 53705 -- XColumn@gmail.com or 608-238-3161
It is archived at: hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
RELEASE DATE: APRIL 15, 2007
Bush's Migra: Icemen Gone Wild
By Roberto Rodriguez
Under the president's watch, several thousand Mexican and Central
American migrants have died along the border. Under his watch, massive
Gestapo-style nationwide immigration raids-- in which families and
communities are being torn apart -- have become emblematic of his
failed immigration policies.
These raids get lots of press, cause widespread terror, but do not
address issues that could easily be resolved via a simple bilateral
agreement; all it requires is making the decision to treat workers as
full human beings with the same rights afforded all other workers.
But apparently, nobody wants this, as Americans seem quite happy
to treat them as subservient, exploitable and expendable workers.
Despite this multi-generational tragedy, the media continues to give
the president a pass, touting him as a moderate voice on immigration.
After being in office for 7 years, the president has actually been
AWOL on this issue, permitting the public to conflate immigration with
terrorism. And actually, the president hasn't permitted this
conflation; he is the one person responsible for it, though admittedly,
Republican representatives and presidential aspirants Duncan Hunter of
California and Tom Tancredo of Colorado, are giving him a run his money.
Yet it is the president who is primarily responsible for fueling this
poisoned environment as he has mastered the politics of fear, blame
and hate. All of this under the guise of the war on terror.
As a result of his politics, Western Civilization is involved in a
Holy Crusade against the Arab and Muslim world. While he initially
labeled it as such, he can no longer call it a crusade; nowadays, it
is simply referred to as the "global war on terror." More accurately,
it is a war against all those forces or regimes that won't go along
with the administration's expansionist dreams. If it were actually
such a war, he would also have to go to war against both, friendly
repressive regimes, and against the right wing militias at home that
have proliferated since the Reagan-Bush era.
What a dilemma. Actually, it's no dilemma at all. The president is not
interested in making moves against allied repressive regimes or in
disarming home-grown terrorists. Instead, he is quite content with
stoking the politics of fear, blame and hate. This permits him to
continue with his notion of permanent war and it also permits the
nation to fear the border.
In the minds of Americans, the U.S./Mexico border is brown. It is
where potential terrorists can infiltrate because it is also where
other brown peoples are waiting to stream in. Terrorists, immigrants,
illegal aliens, drug traffickers: all brown, same thing. Close it
down, put up a wall, deport them all. The American mindset.
And yet, after the huge pro-immigrant nationwide protests last May 1,
and after the nation repudiated the president's agenda in November,
now all is changing.
Not quite. The two million protestors who marched in May were told to
march with U.S. flags because it would send a clear message to the
nation: that these were potential U.S. loyal Americans. The thought
must have horrified even liberals and Democrats alike.
Despite the November elections, the president has stayed the course of
inaction, this while stepping up his nationwide draconian immigration
raids by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents. The raids
are designed to prod Democrats into accepting his new bracero or
"Guest Worker" program, this while appeasing the anti-immigrant wing
of his party.
The response of the new Democrat majority has been to go to the
extreme right. Similar to the issue of confronting him on the war,
Democrats appear to fear this lame president.
While it is incontrovertible that most people do not want a future
society divided between legal and illegal human beings, due to the
politics of fear, blame and hate, the majority has been prodded into
believing that a little bit of ethnic cleansing (via mass deportation
raids) is not such a bad thing.
The response of the Democrats has been to introduce the STRIVE Act
(Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy) Act
of 2007 (H.R 1645). In effect, it is taken from the president's
playbook: mass deportations and the continued militarization of the
border, along with the introduction of a permanent subservient labor
force? a labor force that is actually precluded from ever being
treated as full human beings (no path to citizenship) and a labor
force that continually has to exit the country.
This is what we're striving for?
* For more information on the STRIVE ACT, the deaths along the border,
the current immigration raids or the upcoming May 1 protests, go to
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights at: www.nnirr.org
or: www.derechoshumanosaz.net.
(c) 2007 Column of the Americas
Rodriguez can be reached at: Column of the Americas PO BOX 5093
Madison WI 53705 -- XColumn@gmail.com or 608-238-3161
It is archived at: hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ & PATRISIA GONZALES
APRIL 1, 2007
BUSH SIGNS EXPLOSIVE U.S./MEXICO SECRET PACT
Special April 1st edition
We have obtained documents of a secret pact signed this past month by the presidents of the United States and Mexico that guarantees the right of the United States to purchase Mexican oil at half-price for 30 years. It also grants the United States the right to "secure" Mexico's oil fields in the event of an emergency.
In exchange, the United States will create the Bureau of Undocumented Ready Reserve - Outsourced Labor Force (the BURRO-LF initiative)." It will guarantee industry a permanent supply of low-wage Mexican guest workers for a period of 30 years. President Bush said: "the Burros will remind Americans that Mexicans are hard workers." The pact also calls for the immediate cessation of all "Catch an Immigrant Day"
raids by the Migra's special Hunter battalions, though it does call on Mexicans to wear a picture ID on them at all times.
Because it was negotiated as part of the War on Terror, the pact -- which also permits the USA Patriot Act to cover Mexican soil -- will automatically go into effect for 2 years on April 1, 2007, without the need for Congressional approval. Thereafter, the pact requires Congressional approval, unless an emergency is declared.
Aware of Mexican sensibilities -- the pact calls upon Mexican President Felipe Calderon to sell it publicly to his Congress as a mutual defense pact. The pact was negotiated by Bush as an effort to stem the rising popularity of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, and as an effort to thwart the bipartisan Security Through Regularized Immigration and a Vibrant Economy Act of 2007 (STRIVE Act of 2007), which calls for comprehensive immigration reform.
The secret pact is composed of a series of quid pro arrangements that can be invoked as a result of global, climactic, law enforcement or military emergencies. For instance,
in the event of a terrorist attack upon Mexican soil, not only will
the U.S. military seize Mexico's oil fields, it will also dispatch former intelligence chief, John Negroponte and former Attorney General John Ashcroft to coordinate Mexico's anti-terror initiatives.
Calderon vociferously objected to the idea of a double wall along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border. "One wall is sufficient. Two is a double insult to Mexico's dignity," he said. However, he did agree that in the event of a terroristic incursion, he would drop his opposition and assist in creating special "Lou Dobbs-Tom Tancredo Burro Bridgadas" -- to help in the construction of the double wall.
The secret pact, signed during Bush's recent tour of Latin America, was also an effort to promote the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas-- promising to do for the Americas what the North American Free Trade Agreement has done for Mexico. He also acceded to a major revision to NAFTA, initially permitting Mexico to protect one additional product. (Currently, Mexico protects tequila as patrimony of the nation; Canada protects whiskey; while the United States protects oil). These
products cannot be taxed or produced by the other member nations. (Under the Central American Free Trade Agreement, Guatemala is permitted to protect its anti-Indian policies).
While Calderon initially sought to protect corn, Bush balked because of a similar pact with Brazil. Yet, after heated negotiations, only Mexico will henceforth be permitted to produce corn for human consumption; the United States will be permitted to produce corn for ethanol, and; both nations will be permitted to produce corn for animal consumption.
Additionally, Calderon offered to convert the pact into a 99-year
agreement in exchange for U.S. citizenship for the 12 million
undocumented Mexicans in the United States. Bush countered with a "path to legalization" program ? with no guarantees of citizenship -- in exchange for making the agreement permanent. However, he added: "We will grant Mexicans U.S. citizenship only if Mexico comes under U.S. jurisdiction as part of the United States of North America."
Calderon is purportedly mulling over the offer, considering that he has been offered the position of vice-president, in the event the current occupant is unable to continue to serve in his capacity.
On a related front, Choctaw legal activist Alicia Seyler has filed a
class action lawsuit, challenging the right of nation-states to make agreements related to corn and, particularly, challenging the right of multinational corporations, such as Monsanto, to genetically modify the crop. Some of the demands also include banning companies such as Taco Bell from marketing their products as "Mexican food." The litigants include various maize-based peoples of the continent, and the Ant, Squash and Bean Nations.
(c) Column of the Americas 2007 -- April 1st Edition
The writers can be reached at: Column of the Americas PO BOX 5093 Madison WI 53705 -- XColumn@gmail.com or 608-238-3161
It is archived at: hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
------------------------------------------------------
*** SUPPORT ACADEMIA SEMILLAS DEL PUEBLO
The Walk for a Better Education
Thursday March 29, 2007
Rally at Noon in Olvera Street Walk at 12:30 pm down Main St. & S. Beudry, ending at LAUSD Board
This is the final day when the community will receive the final
decision from the LAUSD Board on Academia's charter renewal. The school has been under incessant attacks from the right wing (media) for several years now. EVERYONE! Make sure to send emails and make calls to all the LAUSD Board members so that when we walk on the 29th, we are celebrating our charter renewal!
For Info, call: 323-769-5656
support@dignidad.org
www.dignidad.org
PLEASE POST/FORWARD AND DISTRIBUTE THIS INFO WIDELY
----------
COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
March 18, 2007 (Media Release Upon receipt)
THE DEGRADATION OF WOMEN AS PROFIT & SPORT
By Roberto Rodriguez
As I write this, my heart is still pumping fast from my daily workout.
Only my writing takes precedence over my love of sports and the great outdoors. There are few things in life that feel better than an exhilarating bike ride or hitting all-net from beyond 20-feet; writing a column to help build a new world is one of them.
Sports actually used to be a bigger part of my life. This was during the civil rights era when America's streets were ablaze -- including those in East L.A. -- when being a magician on the basketball court was not something you were supposed to talk about with people you were protesting with (though I once had a girlfriend who used to window-shop during marches).
I didn't just play or watch sports. I knew virtually every statistic
about every athlete that had ever played since Jim Thorpe.
And then I grew up. Sort of. I still love to get out there and I still
take in an occasional championship game.
So why this sports resume today? To proclaim that as a former sports nut, it's time to speak out about the degrading manner in which corporate America portrays women in the media -- particularly during televised sporting events.
This society has always had an ignoble history when it comes to
matters of human rights. And that was the point of the civil rights movement. No longer would it be acceptable to discriminate, segregate or publicly degrade people of color, women, gays or the disabled. In regards to sports, the exception was always cheerleaders i.e., America's love for the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders (Or was that just the TV cameramen?)
Well, perhaps the degradation never actually ended; scantily clad
women in front of cars and at boxing
