TUESDAY, President Obama announced Sonia Sotomayor as his pick to replace Supreme Court Justice David Souter. Sotomayor could be the first Latina appointed to the Supreme Court. Predictably, attacks and slurs from the Right are already flying.
YOU KNOW what everyone is talking about! Obama’s nomination of Sonia Sotomayor! It is clearly a move intended to appease the aliens now hovering over the US, having breezed in from PuertoRico Planet—okay that’s not true but sometimes the lunacy in “political dialogue” makes me want to take a trip off-planet…
THIS ARTE is a painting I made from a foto my father took in the Chiapas region of México right about the time period that Corky Gonzales wrote the poem from which he named me. Your Xicano Heritage Riddle for the day!
THE CELEBRATED STORIES of early American pioneers, explorers, and immigrants typically center around men of fortitude and bravery. Depictions of modern-day migrants remain male-centric, and this cultural lens is the default in most cases. But women play a central and overlooked role in today’s immigration story.
THERE IS POSITIVE ENERGY AND RENEWAL happening all over this Spring, and there are are few new events and places that reflect this. Let’s take a quick trip to the community bulletin board hanging up at the Unapologetic Mexican and see what’s going on.
NEW AMERICA MEDIA, whose mission is to expand the news lens through ethnic media, has given ProMigrant.Org (The Sanctuary) an award in blogging/journalism! I will be in Atlanta early in June to receive this award on the group’s behalf.
The Latin@ community has had ample reason to hope that President Obama would take on immigration reform in a humane manner. While he is undeniably centrist in his political approach and has long been fond of language stressing punitive solutions to the immigration issue, he has also said that “America is changing and we can’t be threatened by it.” But enforcement policies are becoming a threat, not only to immigrants, but the country at large.
THREE THINGS immediately shock the conscious soul upon learning about the murder of Luis Ramirez. The simple manner in which he died is the first of those. His death was a gruesome and violent one, and inarguably racially motivated. And yet, that is not the most horrific part of the killing.
AND SO I RETURN TO THE ROOT: This is the radical positivity that I use as my compass. This is the simple vision that I have. Not a never-ending wearying battle, not an eternal tightlipped scowl. Not moping and hoping and weeping and keeping the feeling of being a victim alive. But a joy filled heart on a sun-drenched field with fight in my bones and light in my eyes.
LIKE THE EARTH, like the waters, like the sky…like Mama Nature herself who loves us down to our bones, and even when we’re bad, or wrong, or all alone. Where would we be in this world without our mothers?
FROM THE “SWINE” FLU’S declining fervor to 2009’s May Day marches for worker rights and immigrant solidarity; from the tragic killing of Luis Ramirez to legislative movement on immigration, these are tumultuous times. But it is precisely such conflict and challenge that provides the best opportunities to make lasting change.
QUESTIONS OF APPROPRIATION and Tokenism are areas one must approach carefully. Human beings are involved and there is nuance, to be sure. Good can be done with methods that are not optimally beneficial to all parties involved. Furthermore, that cost must be weighed by each person. And yet, shapes of Whiteness move behind and around us, often invisible. They must be named.
SOONER OR LATER there will be a hard choice in how much compromise to make in the path of helping your own people. This is a windswept path, and one you must travel alone. Walk it carefully and choose thoughtfully.
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE A SIDE. Life contains as much nuance as there are sizes of raindrops. But in la lucha para justícia, there is no nuance but only making a decision on whether you will stand with the entrenched powers that be, or the people suffering in the wake of those powers.
I AM PROUD TO HAIL FROM MEXICO. And I underline this pride both to satisfy my own soul, to boost up gente who struggle, too, under the heavy load of a dominant culture’s disdain. But I also make it a point to connect with other Latinos, with other gente from Latin America, because we share so much and we are stronger when we celebrate this.
House of Nezua
the XOLAGRAFIK theater!
