By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Special Length-column

Justice. That’s a word not normally associated with Arizona. With Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his military tank still on the loose, this will not be changing anytime soon. In Arizona, Arpaio is colorful, but he is actually the least of them.

Just recently, Sen. John McCain decided to blame “illegal aliens” for the state’s forest fire outbreaks. Aided and abetted by the media, the senator’s irresponsible accusations, after touring the 500,000-acre Wallow fire, set off a contagion of wind-aided hate and fear. This month, two cousins were arrested for setting that fire. They were not aliens of any kind. The senator has issued no retractions.

This is the climate we live in. But it is actually worse. The borderlands are killing fields. That is not accidental or hyperbole, but U.S. policy since the 1990s. It is a policy that has resulted in thousands of deaths; migrants are intentionally funneled to the most dangerous deserts, mountains and rivers. Not just in Arizona, but the full expanse of the border.

So too brutality against detained migrants. It is widespread and not an aberration. The human rights organization, No More Deaths, is releasing a shocking study that won’t so much surprise, but simply confirm these widespread practices [thousands of abuses] at the hands of immigration agents. Here, the “migra” act as hunter battalions, always chasing down people the color of the earth.

The government refers to the funneling as policies of deterrence. Politicians in Iowa, Kansas, New Mexico and Washington have advocated even more direct forms of deterrence: shooting migrants or blowing them up as they cross the border.

Operation Streamline is also one of these deterrence policies. Every day, seventy brown men (and a few women) are herded into the 2nd floor of the federal court building in Tucson. They are all shackled to their wrists, waists and ankles, charged with illegal entry. If the judge spends more than a minute on each detainee, that might be an overestimation as the entire operation generally lasts but an hour. By the time this kangaroo court is done with, the judge will have criminalized them and ritualistically sentenced these men and women to private profit-making detention centers (Corrections Corporation of America).

What else can you call them but human sacrifices. The operation is designed not to mete out justice, but to enrich and to send a message (propaganda]. Prior to 9-11-2001, no one would have associated such an operation with the United States. Perhaps apartheid South Africa, but not the U.S.A. It is fitting that it operates in Arizona. It is also no coincidence that several of the governor’s closest advisers are implicated in this profit-making scheme.

The same day I go to witness this operation, I watch a movie, The Postville Raid: I shake my head. This can’t be happening in the land of freedom. The movie is about the infamous Postville, Iowa immigration raid of 2008. It is about the herding of 389 men women and children – mostly from Guatemala – into a cattle facility where they are processed, deported or forced to wear dehumanizing electronic ankle monitors. For 3 days, it’s their version of Operation Streamline. For us in Arizona, it’s 24/7/365.25.
The next day, a friend is visiting and wants to go to the border. As we cross from Nogales, Arizona into Nogales Mexico, we come upon a man from Central America. His eyes reveal not post-traumatic stress disorder, but rather, eyes of terror. He has been out in the summer desert, unsuccessfully trying to cross for a week.

Every time I am anywhere near the militarized border, my stomach turns. There is no justice there. Just scars, like the unnatural wall separating the two Nogaleses. It is the most visible sign of dehumanization.

Amidst all this, state senate president, Russell Pearce, who associates with known racial supremacists and who has been recalled and is facing election in November, is convinced that he can legislate the state back into the 19th century.

But none of this could have prepared anyone for the Tucson Unified School District’s appeal hearing in Phoenix. Despite the independently commissioned Cambium Study, which gave two thumbs up to the district’s Mexican American Studies program, State Schools’ superintendent John Huppenthal still found the district out of compliance with HB 2281 – the state’s anti-Ethnic Studies law. The district is appealing his ruling and the hearings are reminiscent of the 1500s-era Inquisition. At this surreal hearing, it is knowledge, a discipline and [brown] people that are on trial. Not surprisingly, even the student organization MEChA or Movimiento Estudiantli Chicana/Chicano de Aztlan is also under attack.

This six-year war against MAS is about what is permissible knowledge vs. banned knowledge. It is about banned books and about banned curricula. In this instance, it is a war against Indigenous Knowledge, this in a state that is also engaged in Ethnic Cleansing.

The supposition here is that individualism is next to godliness… that to teach [Indigenous] culture is to somehow not to treat students as individuals and that do so is to be both, anti-American and anti-Western Civilization (Great Zeus!)

Today, this hearing is about Mexican American Studies and its maiz-based curriculum. But the state law itself actually covers all of Ethnic Studies. And yet, a closer inspection reveals that it is a war over education itself. The state here wants to make Swiss cheese out of what can be taught/learned, wants to be able to censor, and still be able to call it education. Short and simple, this is not simply a war against ethnic studies, but a civilizational war on the very idea of education.

What is bothersome is not so much the Inquisitorial questions or answers, but by the very fact that this hearing (a modern day Auto de Fe) is taking place at all. I check the calendar; it is 2011, not 1511. I check the map… and not so sure where Arizona belongs. The last hearing is scheduled for Oct. 17, though we are not sure what the point of the charades are because as Huppenthal has already shown, regardless of the evidence, he does whatever he feels like.

By the way, the tremendous anti-Mexican rhetoric that has resulted from this conflict has also produced death threats against the students – threats that law enforcement has deemed “a joke.” Not coincidentally, I too have received a series of death threats. Normally, death threats seem to be ignored, but in this case, the person issuing the threats against me will be arraigned at the end of September. Stay tuned.

The following announcement was written by Ancestry.com:

Access is Free to Public for Most Comprehensive Mexican Census Published Online

PROVO, UTAH – (September 16, 2011) – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced a significant addition to its growing collection of online Mexican and Hispanic historical records. With nearly 13 million records, the newly available 1930 Mexico National Census (El Quinto Censo General de Población y Vivienda 1930, México) is the most comprehensive historical Mexican census available online[1]. It is estimated that this census counted approximately 90 percent of the population, therefore for nearly 30 million Americans who can trace their families to Mexico, it provides a valuable gateway to begin researching Mexican family history, especially if family, vital or religious records are lost.

Mexico’s first formally recognized federal or national census was taken in 1895. Starting in 1900, censuses were taken every 10 years, making the 1930 Mexico Census the fifth official government census, or formally the Fifth General Census of Housing and Population. This particular census is significant in Mexican history as federal officials sought to make it a vehicle for national unity. A successful campaign urging citizens to take part as a civic duty resulted in an extremely high participation rate – the primary reason why the 1930 Mexican Census is considered the best Mexican census conducted in the 20th century.

Edward James Olmos, Academy Award nominated actor and noted philanthropist, is working with Ancestry.com to trace his family’s Mexican history using information found in the 1930 Mexico National Census.

“Like so many Latinos, I’m proud of my heritage and want to preserve that legacy for future generations,” said Olmos. “With resources like the 1930 Mexico National Census, families can now trace their ancestors to Mexico and gain a greater understanding of where they came from.”

The 1930 Mexico National Census provides a wide spectrum of details about individuals and families and can offer valuable insight into their lives. In addition to demographic data such as name, age, gender, birthplace, address and marital status, the census form also recorded nationality, religion, occupation, real estate holdings, literacy and any physical or mental defects. The millions of records in the collection reveal some interesting statistics about life in Mexico in 1930:

• The most common given female name was Maria and the most common given male name Juan.
• The three most common surnames were Hernandez, Garcia and Martinez.
• Nearly 18% of the population were recorded as Soltero [single], 11% were Casado por lo Civil y la Iglesia [civil and church marriage], 10% were Casado por la Iglesia [church marriage] and 8% were Union Libre [free union—living together without marriage].
• The four most populous Mexican states were Puebla, Veracruz, Jalisco and Oaxaca.
• Famous Mexicans found in the collection include Maria Félix (1914–2002), who was among the best-known Mexican actresses and Carmello Torres Fregoso (Bernardo del Carmen Fregoso Cázares; 1927-2003), a renowned bullfighter who later became a successful businessman.

“As the United States is home to the second largest Mexican community in the world, Mexican-Americans comprise 10 percent of the total U.S. population therefore it is fitting that the world’s largest online family history resource now has an expansive collection to serve this important demographic,” said Josh Hanna, Ancestry.com Executive Vice President.

While the 1930 Mexico Census is the newest and largest collection of Mexican records on Ancestry.com, there are a number of other collections that may be helpful when conducting Mexican family history research, including Border Crossings: From Mexico to U.S., 1895-1957; Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, Mexico, Selected Parish Records, 1751-1880; and the Spanish-American Family History Guide.

To start researching the 1930 Mexico Census for free, please visit www.ancestry.com/Mexico.

September 26, 2011

Estimadas/os Colegas: Our fight to save ethnic studies (a misnomer: only the Mexican American Studies curriculum is under attack) continues. The last day of testimony in Tucson Unified School District’s appeal of the Tea Party State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal’s ruling that teaching Mexican American history is illegal, i.e., violates HB 2281, will take place in mid-October. And rulings on the motions filed in federal court by the 11 teachers and two (2) students who are suing the state over HB 2281 are still pending.

This weekend I attended a fundraiser for the Save Ethnic Studies (SES) organization, the support group for the teachers and students who are suing the state. The large turnout and the enthusiasm of those present was a microcosm of the widespread and diverse overall support that the 11 MAS teachers, the students, and the SES movement enjoy.

That support includes teachers-professors, MAS students and alumni, parents, civil-rights-community-political activists, a Who’s Who of elected officials, including Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (who published a great Op-Ed piece on the issue), and many, many others of all races and ethnicities.

The support goes beyond Arizona. Among others, the writings of the following have brought the issue to a national audience: Mexican American Studies icon Rudy Acuña, who is also targeted by HB 2281. Journalists Roberto Rodriguez and Jeff Biggers.David Abie Morales, aka “The Three Sonorans the foremost authority on the dynamics of the MAS issue.

The fundraiser and the discussions there highlighted the fact that SES is a defining issue for our community, which got me to ruminating.

In terms of the attitude of the Tea Party-Republicans who are in control of Arizona government toward people of Mexican descent, Arizona today is for our community what Mississippi was for African Americans in the 1960s.

These people hate us. They hate who we are. They hate our history. They hate that we even exist. They hate us so much they have codified their hate into law by passing abominations such as SB 1070 and HB 2281.

But, as happens always when our community is under attack, history makers have emerged:

Randy Parraz (a Democrat) and Chad Snow (a Republican) and their Citizens for a Better Arizona obtained sufficient signatures to recall Arizona’s chief Mexican hater, Russell Pearce [a known associate of white supremacists and neo-Nazis], the first time in American history that a sitting State Senate president has had to face a recall election.

That the 11 MAS teachers are suing the state—not to achieve any personal gain but to preserve our history and on behalf of our children—is also an historic occurrence.

I cannot say this loudly or often enough: We need to support this kind of courage and integrity—with respect to the 11 MAS teachers as well as Randy Parraz and Chad Snow. We owe these folks a loud and heartfelt THANK YOU!!! [Both groups also need contributions for their respective campaigns.]

Fortunately, the MAS teachers have Richard Martinez as their lawyer. Martinez was involved in the political-community dynamics of the 1974 TUSD desegregation lawsuit and has historical perspective to complement his outstanding legal skills.

The MAS teachers have also called for Superintendent John Pedicone’s resignation, another courageous act [how many of us have held press conferences to call for the resignation of our boss?] The following three things by themselves buttress the teacher’s call for Pedicone’s resignation:

1. It was Pedicone who directed the cops to arrest Lupe Castillo (and the seven others) on May 3 when she tried to address the school board. The video clearly shows Pedicone calling the shots that evening. Yet all the outrage was directed at then-Board President Stegeman, which is a tribute to Pedicone’s skill in manipulating events, in manipulating us. He had us jumping through the Stegeman hoop rather than focusing on his lead role in that reprehensible act.

2. Pedicone was the one pushing to prosecute—as felons!—the young people who engaged in non-violent civil disobedience on April 26.

3. Knowing she is inimical to MAS, Pedicone assigned Assistant Superintendent Lupe Garcia to oversee MAS. A glimpse into Garcia’s attitude and actions:

Even as she admits in a memo to Pedicone that she has never attended a meeting of MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán), Garcia asserts that MEChA is “un-American,” subscribes to “dangerous” philosophies, and targets students from bad homes. Her exact words about this latter point:

“We have students who come from strong home environments, and they are not easily convinced (to join MEChA), but we also have students with little or no (family) support who are easily swayed into (joining MEChA and) believing what is expressed in the school building is the truth.”

So, according to Garcia, only those of us from lousy families joined MEChA while people from “good” families didn’t.

[Show of hands from the former Mechistas reading this: does this describe you or your MEChA friends and colleagues?]

It doesn’t take an advanced degree in education to know that it is not ethical, much less accepted educational practice, for an educator to make sweeping, pejorative, stereotypical judgments about a group of students that the educator has never interacted with, and, by her own admission, knows nothing about.

And yet, with Superintendent Pedicone’s full support, this is exactly what Asst. Superintendent Garcia does with respect to MEChA (which, I submit, Garcia is using as a proxy for the MAS curriculum).

Clearly, Pedicone is John Huppenthal’s inside man, re: destroying the Mexican American Studies curriculum. Yet, it appears he’s getting a free pass. The only ones trying to hold him accountable are the MAS teachers.

Yet another reason why the 11 MAS teachers deserve our full support.

HB 2281 is as evil as SB 1070. They both attempt to treat us as foreigners in our own land, to marginalize us in the face of the reality that the history of Arizona, indeed, of the U.S. cannot be told without extensive discussion of the substantial and substantive contributions of our community.

History will record, as a defining moment in our existential evolution, how we responded to the hate mongers. We need to be on the right side of that historical narrative.

These are my ruminations. I’d like to hear your thoughts about this…if enough of you respond, I’ll post the results later. Thanks.

Below are links that you can access to contribute to Save Ethnic Studies or the Recall Pearce campaigns.

Salomon