Saturday, March 22, 2008
Amigos y Hermanos: Si Se Puede!
Today, I feel extremely happy that Bill Richardson decided to make public the only rational decision for a respected and well-thought of Hispanic leader. Consequently, I repeat for you my blog of March 1, 2008.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Hermanos Y Amigos!
Two years ago Rush Lumbaugh spent 31 days lambasting Hillary Clinton with defacing rhetoric. He was happy he said that the Liberal Dems would nominate Hillary, and this would give them the chance to sink the Liberals once and for all. This was during the time that the Republican-Abramhoff scandal was in its heyday, and he himself was under investigation for something regarding prescriptions. But, what stuck with me was a reference he made to Ronald Reagan and the Latino vote. He did not differentiate between Cubanos, Mexicanos, Ricanos, Columbians, Panamanians, Peruvians or Dominican Republicans. And that started me thinking. Rumour and inuendo was being emitted intermittantly from Republican talk show hosts that Blacks and Latinos hate each other and that they don't have the intelligence to band together to bring about change in America.
At the time, I was teaching a class of 42, thirteen of whom were Hispanics. These students often raised political questions in my History class, with even more coming in my Religion class. My response was always the same. There will come a time, I said, when Latinos, Blacks and White women will realize that if they band together and become "Hermanos Y Amigos" they would take over the country from the "good ole' boys." Some Hispanics wanted to know more about becoming brothers with Blacks when in numerous communitites in LA, Chicago, New York and Miami, there seemed to be an endless stream of bloody turf-wars. My response was to show that throughout recorded history tribes, clans, nations and ethnic groups have always fought over turf.
The fights in 20th century New York, I said were typical. When Italians from southern and eastern Europe came to America there were constant battles between them and those from northern and western Europe who had come 2-3 decades before. Italians-northern against southern-fought to the death, and there was the same between Sicilians and Italians during the 1920s and the time of Capone. When one million Irish, who fled Ireland because they were starving to death, came to America, they fought with the Italians and Europeans who were here already, and then they turned their ire on the Blacks because they found it difficult to get jobs. They were the last hired for the more dangerous jobs.
Then, when I told them that everyone in America is an immigrant of sorts, or the descendant of immigrants, the Hispanics and the Blacks in my classes began to share a comadery they had never experienced before, but they challenged me to clarify that bold statement. I explained that the native Americans came across the Bering Strait at Alaska following game some 12,000-14,000 years ago, and they spread out across the north, east, west and south. When the Spanish came after Columbus discovered the Bahamas and the New World in 1492, the Pope settled an argument between Spain and Portugal, which caused everything west of the line agreed in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) to be Spanish and Hispanic in culture, and every new land, including Brazil, to be Portugeuse.
I explained that the English running for religious and political freedom landed in Virginia and Massachusetts, and that over time, others came. And since that time, every generation born in the United States wanted to keep others from coming.The only ones whose ancestors did not migrate to the United States were the Blacks. They were brought here in abject, filthy, and brutal diabolic conditions in the holds of ships laced with dysentry and disease, which led some historians to claim that more than 15 million died crossing the Middle Passage. This bit of history, I shared, meant that Jews who lost 6 million by European hands, should be more sympathetic to Blacks who lost 15 million--many of whom were thrown overboard, chained and alive. This also means that the Irish, who had sympathized with Blacks during their slavery, should have continued that kinship rather than opt to join the supremacy of the color line. Ultimately, this means, I said, that Mexicanos who should be taught that the U.S. border crossed the lands of their ancestors, who were for a while protected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, should also feel a kinship with the Blacks. Because these Blacks, whipped and threatened in some instances by dogs, had to cut down the trees, drain the swamps, dig up stumps and boulders, and clear the land before they could plant and harvest. Yet, they had a great relationship with Latinos and Mexicanos in Tampa and Texas long before the Civil Rights Era began in earnest.
After the third day of asking them to google-up the proof of the history, I discovered that the Mexicanos began to interact with the Blacks in such a way that even the white students in the class joined the group of "Friends and Brothers." Indeed, "Vamanos, amigos y hermanos, va el tiempo, y, si se puede."
For What it's Worth . . .
http://bethsaidabible.org/
http://blackissachar.blogspot.com/
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Hermanos Y Amigos!
Two years ago Rush Lumbaugh spent 31 days lambasting Hillary Clinton with defacing rhetoric. He was happy he said that the Liberal Dems would nominate Hillary, and this would give them the chance to sink the Liberals once and for all. This was during the time that the Republican-Abramhoff scandal was in its heyday, and he himself was under investigation for something regarding prescriptions. But, what stuck with me was a reference he made to Ronald Reagan and the Latino vote. He did not differentiate between Cubanos, Mexicanos, Ricanos, Columbians, Panamanians, Peruvians or Dominican Republicans. And that started me thinking. Rumour and inuendo was being emitted intermittantly from Republican talk show hosts that Blacks and Latinos hate each other and that they don't have the intelligence to band together to bring about change in America.
At the time, I was teaching a class of 42, thirteen of whom were Hispanics. These students often raised political questions in my History class, with even more coming in my Religion class. My response was always the same. There will come a time, I said, when Latinos, Blacks and White women will realize that if they band together and become "Hermanos Y Amigos" they would take over the country from the "good ole' boys." Some Hispanics wanted to know more about becoming brothers with Blacks when in numerous communitites in LA, Chicago, New York and Miami, there seemed to be an endless stream of bloody turf-wars. My response was to show that throughout recorded history tribes, clans, nations and ethnic groups have always fought over turf.
The fights in 20th century New York, I said were typical. When Italians from southern and eastern Europe came to America there were constant battles between them and those from northern and western Europe who had come 2-3 decades before. Italians-northern against southern-fought to the death, and there was the same between Sicilians and Italians during the 1920s and the time of Capone. When one million Irish, who fled Ireland because they were starving to death, came to America, they fought with the Italians and Europeans who were here already, and then they turned their ire on the Blacks because they found it difficult to get jobs. They were the last hired for the more dangerous jobs.
Then, when I told them that everyone in America is an immigrant of sorts, or the descendant of immigrants, the Hispanics and the Blacks in my classes began to share a comadery they had never experienced before, but they challenged me to clarify that bold statement. I explained that the native Americans came across the Bering Strait at Alaska following game some 12,000-14,000 years ago, and they spread out across the north, east, west and south. When the Spanish came after Columbus discovered the Bahamas and the New World in 1492, the Pope settled an argument between Spain and Portugal, which caused everything west of the line agreed in the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) to be Spanish and Hispanic in culture, and every new land, including Brazil, to be Portugeuse.
I explained that the English running for religious and political freedom landed in Virginia and Massachusetts, and that over time, others came. And since that time, every generation born in the United States wanted to keep others from coming.The only ones whose ancestors did not migrate to the United States were the Blacks. They were brought here in abject, filthy, and brutal diabolic conditions in the holds of ships laced with dysentry and disease, which led some historians to claim that more than 15 million died crossing the Middle Passage. This bit of history, I shared, meant that Jews who lost 6 million by European hands, should be more sympathetic to Blacks who lost 15 million--many of whom were thrown overboard, chained and alive. This also means that the Irish, who had sympathized with Blacks during their slavery, should have continued that kinship rather than opt to join the supremacy of the color line. Ultimately, this means, I said, that Mexicanos who should be taught that the U.S. border crossed the lands of their ancestors, who were for a while protected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, should also feel a kinship with the Blacks. Because these Blacks, whipped and threatened in some instances by dogs, had to cut down the trees, drain the swamps, dig up stumps and boulders, and clear the land before they could plant and harvest. Yet, they had a great relationship with Latinos and Mexicanos in Tampa and Texas long before the Civil Rights Era began in earnest.
After the third day of asking them to google-up the proof of the history, I discovered that the Mexicanos began to interact with the Blacks in such a way that even the white students in the class joined the group of "Friends and Brothers." Indeed, "Vamanos, amigos y hermanos, va el tiempo, y, si se puede."
For What it's Worth . . .
http://bethsaidabible.org/
http://blackissachar.blogspot.com/
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]