Table Of Contents The Fists of La Raza
By Roberto Rodriguez The Movement Against the Minutemen
By Javier Rodriguez H. WHO KILLED ÒNETO FALCONÓ?
By Vicente Marcos Guillen
Column of the Americas
Roberto Rodriguez & Patrisia Gonzales
The Fists of La Raza
By Roberto Rodriguez He lived, wrote an epic poem, then died. That seems to be the obituary that many observers have settled upon for many a 1960s-'70s-era icons. The latest icon to move on has been Denver's Rodolfo Corky Gonzalez. In the past 12 months, preceding him have been Lalo Guerrero, Octavio Romano, David Risling Jr., Lalo Delgado & Gloria Anzaldua. Many of these icons led full lives, yet their memories have been reduced to a song, a poem, a play, a book or but a single act or an idea. Typical of the era, they may never see the pages of a history book. Corky too lived, wrote an epic poem - Yo Soy Joaquin - then died. He was a boxer, a warrior, a husband, father and grandfather, and in his role in the Chicano movement, he strapped on a six-shooter (rather than a pen). He was a cross between Mohammed Ali and Malcom X. This is how he is being described by some. Many a commentator who are describing him were born after he splashed onto the world of Chicanismo. This is how history is generally written. Myths (sometimes distortions) often are created by those far-removed from the individuals or events being described. Truth is, he took part in hundreds of actions - often risking his life -- against a society bent on culturally assimilating or eliminating La Raza. Corky merits his own story (Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings, Arte Publico Press). To attempt to understand him through an obituary is akin to learning quantum physics through a book review. To learn his story is to learn the spirit of a movimiento. He and the Crusade for Justice developed what some term a militant brand of Chicano nationalism that was centered on the idea of the liberation of Aztlan. Aztlan too can not be understood in but a few words, because it is loaded, charged and mostly misinterpreted. In his day, it was about a territory which had once belonged to Mexico‰Û? which purportedly had been the homeland of the ancient Mexica. Many people associate this idea with the poet Alurista and the 1969 El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan, yet Alurista has always maintained that it was a vision that perhaps emanated from the Crusade. His vision was that of a continent, not the U.S. Southwest, Alurista says. Accurate or not, the idea of Aztlan as the Southwest did take hold in that era. Yet it was never a single idea and it was always conflictive. About the only people that are crystal clear about Aztlan is the fanatical extreme right wing which is convinced that Chicanos - through MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan) - a student organization -- are plotting to ‰ÛÏtake back Aztlan‰Û via ‰ÛÏLa Reconquista.‰Û It is tempting to want to rebut the extremists in depth here - for desecrating something they know nothing of, this while converting those who have lived the effects of racial, economic and cultural oppression - into caricatures or objects of fear. This is par for a nation that is being dismantled by other like-minded merchants of fear. Instead, here, it is a time of honoring and it should be recognized that Corky was human, with faults like anyone else. Yet, he will undoubtedly be remembered as a mythic figure - the Fists of La Raza - someone who personified the essence of resistance and defiance. What he symbolized is that the era of bowing down to the patron was over. Despite this mythic view, one can not forget that this era spawned a lot of internal conflict. Some of it was gender related. In effect, the nationalism of that era - which was characterized by male dominance and a culture of intransigence -- triggered the development of the Chicana movement. To be fair, this typified the whole era, not just nationalism. While that era is now long gone, the struggles against racial oppression, anti-immigrant forces and against patriarchy continue. Today, Chicanos/Chicanas struggle to situate themselves within these movements and within this continent - an indigenous continent. And yet, that would not contradict Corky's views. Perhaps this points to the destructive role of the nation's intelligences services of that era. Activists then did not actually differ that much. It was the intelligence services (through infiltration) that magnified and manipulated differences for the expressed purpose of disrupting and destroying these movements. Petty differences aside, most people active in these struggles did have and do have something in common - the desire to uplift La Raza - the desire to uplift humanity. Corky Gonzalez, presente. © Column of the Americas 2005
The Movement Against the Minutemen
By Javier Rodriguez H. July 12, 2005 It has been a long hard road since the armed right wing militias known as the Minuteman appeared on the national scene. They are part of the latest anti immigrant phenomena sweeping the country. Immediately, the widespread media coverage propelled them as heroes of the extreme right, the Governors of California and Texas, the Republican Party, and tacitly the Bush administration. Undoubtedly they pushed the immigration agenda further to the right and their most significant victory to date, the approval of the Federal Real ID Law, further erodes the rights of the undocumented immigrants making their empowerment more difficult and naturally intensifying at the same time their level of subjugation and exploitation. However the political conditions of today have set forth a different scenario from that of 1994 and the massive fight back against Prop 187 led by Pete Wilson and CaliforniaÕs hard right. The country was then under a democratic administration with Bill Clinton, Janet Reno and Senator Feinstein at first leading the charge. Six years after, the Republican extreme right took control of the country and the 9/11 incident set off a chain of events which the neo-cons from the Project For a New America (PNAC), in control at the White House used to their advantage, to push a near fascist program nationally and worldwide with the war against terrorism as the perfect smoke screen. Today that pseudo war on terrorism, which has brought us Madrid, Bali and now London, is the main battle cry of the demagogues in the hardening of immigration legislation. However, at the same time, the perspective for a broad and generous legalization, such as IRCA of 1986, has begun to move in Congress and the thick of the countryÕs immigrant rights sectors are lining up and mobilizing behind it. It is in this context that the Minutemen phenomena and the struggle by the pro immigrant opposition forces should be seen. Already burdened with a deluge of anti immigrant legislation, ArizonaÕs civil rights movement, assisted by California and activists from other states, courageously led the way and for a whole month displayed the first counter offensive. The success of the Minutemen in Arizona moved the setting to California. Similar hate groups, recycled under new and old fronts, have been organizing and are set to begin patrolling the border. Though it appears they may have chosen the wrong state. Since late May, the racist fringe has been routed by hundreds of pro immigrant activists in massive, and yes, militant demonstrations throughout Southern California, which have dwarfed the diminutive contingents of the right wingers. True to the legacy of the civil rights social movement, aside from the massive numbers of solidarity activists, it is the tone and spirit in these first skirmishes that has placed the California hate group leaders on the defensive, and I quote Joe Turner, "I really suggest we focus more on Orange County or the Inland Empire because LA County is basically a write-off situation at the moment. Since LA is essentially a municipality of Mexico, we are not doing ourselves many favors by assembling there". Obviously the fringe has not done its homework. The Inland Empire is the bedrock of the historic December 12, 2003 statewide boycott which moved hundreds of thousands, if not millions of immigrants, to protest the cancellation of the Cedillo DriverÕs License Law, and to a certain degree, made that dream of "A Day Without Mexicans" a near reality. Additionally Ontario and the University of Riverside (UCR) has brought us a new crop of professors, students and community leaders that last year convened the 10,000 people Ontario march against the ICE raids of 2004, which, get this, was amazingly conceived in just one week. That wonderful show of strength had immediate results. It made the ICE cowboys retreat. Tenaciously it is this same generation, with Professor Jesse Diaz as the figurehead, which brought together the May 28 Coalition against the minutemen in California. It is a multiethnic and multicultural effort with the vision to build a broad inclusive movement, with all activists of goodwill, where the strength lies in positions of unity, strategy and the understanding that this struggle is part of a process to move not just hundreds, but tens of thousands. At this point, through practical and aggressive mobilization it has gained the upper hand on its opposition. The main battles are coming. This week, starting on July 16 and on, the most important confrontation is set for at the border town of Campo, California. There, CaliforniaÕs Minutemen version will set up camp to begin the armed patrols against crossing immigrants. So far, since the first Baldwin Park confrontation, the anti immigrant sectors have been outnumbered and ridiculed. In essence they appear demoralized, unable to recruit and grow. Logically, the coalition opposition movement should continue the momentum and its so far successful strategy. Javier Rodriguez is a journalist in Los Angeles. Jrodhdztf@hotmail.com P.S. But Mucho Cuidado. Be conscious of political developments in the movement. There is a minority of nationalists with factionalism and sectarianism as a mind set that are attempting to deviate the corresponding strategy and tactics into a moderate pseudo radical inclination with security concerns not to protect the struggle but rather to box it in so as not to continue its successful path in confronting and running the racist anti immigrants out of existence.
WHO KILLED ÒNETO FALCONÓ? By Vicente Marcos Guillen May 1, 2005 In another senseless killing, on March 23, 2005, Aniceto ÒNetoÓ Falcon was brutally assassinated in Boyle Heights at a known and violent neighborhood bar. So far this year, this is the ?th murder in this eastside community and the question is: Will his murder go unnoticed and fall victim to impunity once again? Born in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico, Falcon, married and a father of three grown children, was 48 years old. Like millions of Mexican immigrants, as a teenager, he and his brother Sabas ventured to the north. Years after, along with their siblings and their spouses, they benefited from the 1986 Amnesty program. ÒNetoÓ then graduated as a schooled electrician, became a journeyman and member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union. He was about to apply for citizenship because he wanted to vote. According to family and friends he was a joyful and peaceful man and did not ever carry weapons. However, he was cowardly gunned down and the motive or the killers are not yet known. Out of fear or complicity, the owner of the bar and his alleged runner and right hand man, the barmaid and the patrons present at the time of the killing are all keeping silent. ItÕs been over a month and so far the Los Angeles Police Department has made no arrests. It has not publicly offered the Witness Protection Program nor has it requested a reward be approved by the City Council on FalconÕs death. The killing took place in the evening at the Cesar Chavez Ave. ÒFloresta BarÓ. A known picadero, drug haven for consumption and distribution of cocaine under the protection of the Michigan Street Gang. The place is known for violence and illegal after hourÕs operation where clients drink and consume drugs for long hours, sometimes days, and where the tension and paranoia multiply. ÒEl FlorestaÓ, along with dozens of enterprises of this type, large and small, dispersed throughout the main arteries of the district, are frequented by a social circle of hundreds of patrons, mostly cocaine, rock and crystal users, large and small drug dealers, blue collar workers, professionals, merchants and small business men, prostitutes, ficheras, dancers, thieves, gangs and organized crime. It is a macho subculture, ironically coexisting with transvestites, that for years has augmented drug addiction, alcoholism and violence in this Latino enclave. Several of these businesses cater to this social group on a twenty four-hour basis offering the whole package: Liquor, drugs and their establishments as picaderos. Under the very nose of the authorities. Their employees, barmaids and security guards are their eyes and ears in case of police visits or raids. The crowd comes alive late at night, especially on weekends, and from all points of the county feeds into the circuit of bars and restaurants. At these establishments, the narco corridos blast, the narco dress is the thing, the fights, beatings, robberies, prostitution, crime, drug traffic, killings, kidnappings, drug traffic and confrontations between organized crime rivals have been breeding in this neighborhood for over thirty years. From the ancient Tico Tico Restaurant on Brooklyn and Soto, El Asadero on Lorena St, El Flamingo on Washington, and El Villa Lopez and El Leon de Oros on First St. to name a few. The owners, some tacitly and some directly the purveyors have benefited from the illicit activities to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and of course tax-free. The prostitution is carried out mostly in unsanitary restrooms and parking lots. The drug dealers, some who are homeless, surprisingly, but not unusual, cut and prepare baggies of cocaine and crystal on top of dirty latrine tanks and covers. The lines for drug consumption are plenty and like everywhere else the preferred spot is the ÒjohnÓ, at times the scene of violent and bloody confrontations. The cowboys donÕt respect hygiene and impatiently urinate on the washbowls, spit on the floors, and smoke continuously. The symptoms of snorting cause the smearing of walls of blood and mucus. Needless to say, many of these businesses are breeding grounds for bacteria and illnesses, but shamelessly, the health department bureaucrats and the so called drug and AIDS prevention counselors are no where to be found. This macho world of functional illiterates, high and paranoid and in some instances armed, dangerously drive and walk the streets as the student population innocently walks about to school, or travels with their parents to church on Sundays, or when workers wait for transportation on to their jobs. This highly explosive and dangerous fact is obviously known by the unscrupulous business owners. Something has to be done. In a surprisingly bold decision, Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa, the leading candidate in the race for Mayor of Los Angeles, opened its East L.A. headquarters on the corner of First and State, in the heart of Boyle Heights. These are the same premises where only a few days prior, the notorious picaderos El Leon de Oros Bar and the Villa Lopez Restaurant were opened for business. A lot more is needed, specifically real accessible treatment and prevention programs with aggressive grass roots outreach organizers. However, the CouncilmanÕs daring move should be taken as a signal. This primarily liberal and progressive Latino community, with a rich political and cultural history, which has seen 150,000 people march in its streets in defense of its dignity, for the sake of its soul and its future generations has to act now and take control of its main thoroughfares and move to close all these undesirable businesses now in the hands of an antisocial parasitic class. Otherwise, more of its productive children like ÒNetoÓ will die in the hands of these gangsters. Long live ÒNetoÓ. Vicente Marcos Guillen is a resident of Boyle Heights. Email: vmguillen1194@yahoo.com |