ULTIMATELY, who benefits from these well-practiced fables? Who makes gain from the false lessons instilled? Who are the myths of Thanksgiving designed to benefit? What are the truths they are meant to obscure?
CRIMES IN LINE WITH THE DOMINANT PARADIGM are not seen as criminal. Others rouse fury and command milkbox galore. As Noam Chomsky said about terrorism being a simple distinction on which direction the guns were pointed in, so goes the justice system and media in the USA when it comes to people of color and whites.
THIS IS AND HAS BEEN a long, long war. This foul spirit that rises and repeats and seeks to make mi gente retreat has been tearing at the land and the skin of the face and the hands of my people for hundreds of years.
EVERY DAY IT BECOMES CLEARER that the current form of “Enforcement First” immigration tactics boil down to a War on Latinos with all the measures in place lending themselves enabling, requiring, or encouraging the illegal practice of racial profiling. The data and evidence grows, and here is another addition.
IN THIS “SECOND GOLD RUSH,” where it seems every store, site, and organization is moving forward quickly to access “The Latino Market,” and keeping in mind the arrival of Latino/Hispanic Heritage Month, it seems a good time to consider the question: What does it mean to be “Latino” today? Another chapter in the News With Nezua narrative.
NEWS WITH NEZUA is a new feature, where I will wrap up the past week’s Latino-centric and Immigration-related news. I can’t promise it will be a consistent feature, though I will try my best. In this week’s news: Kennedy’s passing, White House stalling, 287(g) growing, MAPA marching, and Whirlpool Border-Hopping.
INADVERTENTLY OR PURPOSEFULLY, intention matters not: On the matter of immigration in this land of immigrants, the “Left” and the “Right” perversely both adopt (to differing degrees) a conservative scarcity-model frame punctuated with the barbs of xenophobia and/or racism.
I NURTURE A SUDDEN AND UNREASONABLE HOPE that we can institute behavior incompatible with the larger and more destructive behaviors of our culture as well as cast off the illusion that makes so many give up before they might have a chance to start.
WHAT USGOV is now doing to México by way of NAFTA and the overwhelming of México’s market by US-subsidized Agribusiness it does directly in other nations through coups and forced legislation. The Empire, in yet another shape, sprawls and burps and bleeds and chews up humans as it moves into its final phases.
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!
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.
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.
A COALITION OF VOICES claiming to be acting in the interest of the undocumented are suggesting that they not be counted by the Census. This idea is so wrongheaded that it is a kindness to call it only an honest mistake.
IT’S NOT DIFFICULT TO FIND A MOVIE that portrays the indigenous of this land as heartless brutal savages. Be the people called Apache or Mayan, be the portryal be by John Wayne or Mel Gibson. We enlist words to mask the truth of history. And then, sometimes, we use art to tear that mask away. This is why Art is considered powerful and dangerous by some.
THE DIALOGUE ON IMMIGRATION has, historically, been contentious and cyclical. There are times when hysteria peaks, and rational thought struggles to enter the national dialogue. And then, there are moments the truth breaches the surface and shines brightly. This week is one of those moments.
House of Nezua
the XOLAGRAFIK theater!
