Mil palabras: Emergent movement
Westlake/MacArthur Park Metro Station
I’m still working on trying to put my thoughts together to express something coherent on how I felt at the end of the day on May 1st.
I’m not quite sure of how I fit in to this emergent movement or what my role is or should be. I’m not an immigrant and am not working class. I don’t want to speak for anyone, but know that this is one of those situations where my voice [unfortunately] carries more legitimacy because I speak the language, don’t have an accent, I was born here and have a couple of letters after my name. That privilege sucks… ’cause really what the hell do I know?
i think you know you know =)
no really, not that your/our voice has more weight/truth, but that some people are to elitist and closed minded to listed to working class people, to the abuelitas and gente trabajadora, and they listen to us cuz of the letters after our name. and because i, as a maestro, say it, then people think twice about it, or at least we have some knowledge to back up what we are saying.
but really, how do you find the time to write so often?
To the eyes of many you are seen (erroneously) as an immigrant.
Why is it that some people are second/third/fourth generation immigrants, while others get to become American right away?
That is a rhetorical question, by the way.
The point is to empower people, to stop the marginalization of certain groups, to protect basic human rights, and to fight ignorance.
Ultimately we are here to educate others, aren’t we?
wow, this entry of yours had an extreme effect on me. I wasn’t even planning on writing anything. .yes, i see what you mean now, it’s hard to put into words.
Dude, i’m so getting hate mail.
[...] I just finished reading Cindy’s entry she wrote today, and it got me to thinking about my role in all the recent demonstrations. It’s hard trying to write all the feelings one has towards the current hot topic in American, whether you’re for or against, if you’re like me, you don’t want to get the hate mail/comments. [...]
one of the most moving things for me about the protest in austin monday was that it was not solely attended by immigrants. there were a lot of mexican americans present (and, of course, others). the idea is that this is not just an immigrant issue. it’s a human rights issue. and you should be able to write about it because you are *human* and understand the basic needs for dignity and respect.
Sorry for not having a better way to explain myself but here goes.
It’s almost like certain groups (certain media outlets) want to make it seem like all the protestors are “illegal aliens” to take away from the political power of this movement. In a way this demonstrations go beyond immigration…it’s as though the Mexican-American community (and other latinos) are finally standing up and demanding that the politicians listen to what we have to say much like they listen to other interest groups. To me this is an awesome feeling…to know that come election time the politicians will be listening to us more intently and wont be simply giving the latino community their usual lip service.
you take such colorful pictures. this itself, is moving.
I, like you, was born here and also have a couple of letters after my name, but that privilege should not be looked as a negative, but a positive. It because we have those letters behind our name that it allows us to help educate others and inform others of what is happening in our communities. We may not think building a wall or mass deportation will effect us, but that is not true at all. If you look at the two Senate bills -Sen Specter’s and Sen Frist’s immigration reform bill – closely, you would see that those bills do affect you because it would have allowed the local enforcment to profile all Hispanics. These bills are not dead, so what §224 of S.1768 (Specter bill) and § 225 of S.2454 (Frist bill) would actually do is very frightening. It would have allowed for the expedited removal of immigrants, including lawful permanent residents, whether or not admitted into the United States, and whether or not they may be eligible for any relief from removal. It would have It would also have authorized DHS to impose summary non-hearing proceedings under INA §238(b) for a greatly expanded class of individuals: any noncitizens convicted of an offense “described in” the extremely broad aggravated felony deportability ground of INA §237(a)(2)(A)(iii), the firearms deportability ground of INA §237(a)(2)(C) and the miscellaneous deportability ground of INA §237(a)(2)(D)(relating to, among others, espionage, treason and sedition offenses) creating a conclusive presumption of deportability for anyone deemed by DHS to fall within this new class of people. In other words, it gives DHS the right to profile brown folk, so a person like us, born here, would not be safe. Say we were stopped for speeding in town or city where is know that the cops were racist and is they felt we fit a certain profile of a person they are looking for, one of those bills would have allowed them to start deporation proceedings. Sure, we may think all we have to do is just show our birth certificates, but it is not that easy. There are a number of innocent new residents in detention centers trying to prove their case. But how would I have known about this, it is because of the two letters behind my name. It has given me the skills to do research and understand the legal texts. And because I blog, I am able to convey this information to anybody who reads my site. Hopefully, the reader will inform others and have the word spread through out the community.
This issue goes beyond immigration, it is about human and civil rights. The US has a history of mass deportation, which I wrote about. WE need to continue forcefully speaking out against the racist nativism that has divided this nation. This form of nativism has slowly infected the US like a cancer. It is has pitted Americans against each other.
CIndylu, the pictures are amazing. And I just have to concur what HP has said. This not only effects “illegal immigrants” if effects all of us of brown color. These bills give law enforcement the “right” to stop anyone of us just for the color of our skin. And if that isn’t racial profiling than I don’t know what is.
The question posed by my favorite Chicana are the sames ones I asked myself during the formation of a body of work seeking what is the identity of “Latinos, Mexicans, Hispanics or whatever the right term is this year.” I was born earlier than most of you, I was raised in an objective home, but witnessed the social changes that now define Chicano – a term I never adopted for myself since I felt it was dated as the term ecology and I was never political in nature. And in interviewing people in my digital mural, no other Mexican-American even considered calling themselves “Chicano”. Only one subject called himself “Chicano” because he spent a lifetime teaching others what that meant. And refers to me as the Chicano in recovery.
But the answer came to me while I empathized with you. It is not our responsibility – as some people would say – to pretend to have the same conflicts and stuggles of those coming across the border. It is not our duty as names with extra letters to demand full ammesty on behalf of others – when we are not sure how we fit in a cultural landscape that wants residence.
But my dear Chicana. You answered your own question. It is a privilege. It is a privilege to be able to question ourselves, our roles, understand the complexities of both sides of the issue, and clearly interpret with vibrant documentation and analysis so two sides can understand the other. And nothing wrong with being a cultural docent.
I will have to write this former Professor of Chicano Studies, who is concerned that the voices of activism are lost. I will have to assure him that there is a new stage of Chicano/a now in development. An example of that on a blog called Lotería Chicana and she will apply it for social change and awareness when she is damn good and ready.
Jenn says:
Not at Balboa Park here in San Diego. That’s one of the things that I didn’t like about May 1st. I didn’t see any evidence that it was an immigrant movement. I heard shouts of “raza” “Mexico!” and “el pueblo unido,” but nothing suggested that immigrants were united.
If this is about ethnic pride, then that’s one thing, but saying it’s a movement for all immigrants seems disingenous.
The politicization of the children of the marchers along with an LAUSD that is 70% gente will produce a “chicano movement” beyond anything that has ever been seen. What it will be called (as native people have been confused about identities since 1492) seems yet to be determined as well. I think if and when gente stop thinking of themselves as immigrants will be an important step in this development, because if we don’t soon we will just be acting like every other “immigrant” group trying to get “theirs” and repeating the same assimilationist americanist agenda that LULAC, Hijos de America and the Mexican American generation tried to play out. I am afraid this is more of a re-emerging Mexican American phase (or Latino-American phase as people have accepted this euro oriented moniker) than a Chicano movement oriented phase. However, there is a fundamental key difference and that is class origin. That said, we flood and spend in wal mart like everyone else. So maybe the middle class mentality is there afterall. In my heart I am more hopeful, but the flag waving has got to stop.