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Somos Primos
AUGUST 2008
104th Online Issue
Mimi Lozano ©2000-8
Dedicated
to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity Issues
Society of Hispanic
Historical and Ancestral Research
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Sent by Frank Sifuentes |
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Letters to the Editor: Ms. Mimi Lozano, Keep up the great work that you do to preserve our Hispanic Heritage. Muy estimada Mimi: |
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Mimi Lozano, Editor Mercy Bautista Olvera Bill Carmena Lila Guzman Granville Hough, Ph.D. |
John Inclan Galal Kernahan J.V. Martinez Armando Montes Dorinda Moreno Michael Perez |
Rafael Ojeda Ángel Custodio Rebollo Tony Santiago John P. Schmal Howard Shorr Ted Vincent |
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Dan Arellano José Armas, Ph.D. Richard Avolio Armando Ayala, Ph.D. Marcus C. Barrera Mercy Bautista Olvera Jerry & Gloria H. Benavides Fred Blanco Bill Carmena Alberto Casas Henry J. Casso, Ph.D. Anne Cervantes Gus Chavez Robin Collins Jack Cowan Loris Crawford Tim Crump Steve Delgadillo Sal Del Valle Joel Escamilla Juan Farias James E. Garcia Jose M. Garcia Leonel Garza Raul Garza |
Val Gibbons Ron Gonzales Walter Herbeck Lorraine Hernandez Michael Hernandez Miguel Hernández Torres John Inclan Walter Kenna Larry Kirkpatrick Jerome Kocher Rick Leal Larry Luera Juan Marinez JV Martinez, Ph.D. Eric Moreno Dorinda Moreno Carlos Munoz, Jr. Ph.D. Paul Nauta Rafael Ojeda Willis Papillion Ignacio Pena Jose M. Pena Jim Perman Alfonso Rodriguez Ramos Juan Ramos |
Catherine Robles Shaw Norman Rozeff Rafael Jesús González Benicio Samuel Sanchez Garcia Tom Saenz Richard G. Santos John P. Schmal Howard Shorr Frank Sifuentes Cynthia Smith Robert Smith Gil Sperry Ricardo Valverde Janete Vargas Ted Vincent, Ph.D. Carlos von Son Barbara L. Voss V E Wenneker Celeste Yantis amp@satx.rr.com hernandezs@oxy.edu latejana@comcast.net lazos@lazos.tralcom.com toby@dallashistory.org saga_corpuschristi@yahoo.com |
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SHHAR Board: |
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Armenta Dever, Gloria Cortinas Oliver, Mimi Lozano
Holtzman, Pat
Lozano, Yolanda Magdaleno, Michael Perez, Crispin Rendon, Viola Rodriguez Sadler, John P. Schmal,
Tomas Saenz |
| Hispanic Medal of Honor Society Think Piece: Should Latinos Vote Independent? What Latinos want from their president The American G.I. Forum: 1980 through 1990 the Glory Years Hector P. Garcia Jr., a Tribute to My Brother Hispanic Military Enlistees Increase Dr. David Hayes-Bautista: the end of California as we know it |
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Hispanic Medal of Honor Society at the NCLR national conference Photos by Richard Avolio |
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The booth was favored by Mariachi musicians, and many visitors. In this grouping, from Lft. to Rt. musician, Dr. Henry J. Casso, Student volunteer, Jorge Hayes, California State University, Mimi Lozano, Steve Rubin, media documentarian, and Rudy Hernandez, and two other mariachi musicians. The enthusiasm and diversity of interests in recognizing our history lead to the firming of a Witness to Heritage effort, a collaboration of groups dedicated to the same mission. Click for more. |
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THINK PIECE |
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Should Latinos vote Republican again? Just kidding. It’s
just not
going to happen, at least not in the numbers of the last presidential
election. Without question, today’s Latino voter has become a much
more
sophisticated constituent. Having been disillusioned with the Democrats for a long time, in the 2004 presidential election a record 40% of Latinos voted Republican. That’s an increase from the 35% in the 2000 elections (another record). Without Latino’s 5% additional numbers, Bush might still be riding ponies in Texas. Latinos proved they could make a difference at the polls and we waited, patiently, to see if our Latino agenda would finally get action and we’d finally stop being the “Invisible Minority”. After all, Latinos are a vibrant, growing community on the move. We contribute to society, demonstrate an unsurpassed work ethic, are patriotic, and have great family values... But despite our contributions, we also face major challenges. We suffer the largest percentage of working poor; schools are failing to educate 50% of our children and our health disparities are growing while everyone else is getting healthier. If whites suffered the magnitude of our problems, politicos from both parties, long ago, would’ve battled to see who’d be the first to call for a state of national emergency. Surely the Bush administration would take action on our behalf after Latinos voted Republican in unprecedented numbers. Alas, it was not to be. Nearly, eight years later our problems are worse and with the demonizing of the undocumented all Latinos are being victimized with the increase of hate crimes and job discrimination. No politico is confronting this surge in racism against us. We used to be the "Invisible Minority". No more. Since we’ve surpassed Blacks as the largest minority we now have the dubious distinction of being this country’s “Largest Invisible Minority”. ‘Course, every president since Kennedy --Democrat and Republican-- brags about appointing more Latinos to top positions than the pervious administration. But to paraphrase Stanford professor Debra Rhode: Giving a Latino of position of power is not the same as empowering Latinos. So, what’s the big deal about this being a history making election? This is not about a white woman or black man or even another white man becoming president; this is about us. And no one is really seeing us. Sen. Clinton has not addressed a Latino agenda except in general terms, which means she really doesn’t see us. Sen. Obama manifests the Latino/black divide as a major chasm. The Latino / Black divide is real. Blacks either don't see us or treat us with disdain. Example: they control nearly 30% of Dept. of Education while making up about 13% of the population; Latinos on the other hand are 15% of the population and hold less than 5% of those jobs. Does it look like Blacks are helping lift their “brothern” up? No, in fact there is a sense of black entitlement to government jobs, which is also disproportionately reflected in the national health department. And Sen. Obama contributes to this divide when he says after a recent primary: "I saw crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children alike.” Later, in his “race” speech he modified the crumbling schools statement to include black children, white children, American Indian, Asian -–and Hispanic children. If Obama can only see us as an afterthought, think he’ll see us behind the doors of his Oval Office? Latinos aren’t going to vote Republican anywhere near the numbers of the last election, but that doesn’t mean we’re returning to the Democrats hat-in-hand. A December a poll by ImpreMedia sounds an alert for all politicos. And, it provides a ray of hope for Latinos. The poll revealed that in the top five Latino states, 58% are registered Democrats and 20% are registered Republican. But, then they show that a record number (15%) have now registered as Independents or members of another party. But even more revealing is that 37% do not report a preference for either a Democrat or Republican candidate. This is big time! Our sophisticated voter today is becoming more pragmatic. We’ve fed up with voting for the lesser of the two evils. The record number of Latino Independents brings us to Ralph Nader and his VP mate, Matt Gonzalez. Yes, Nader’s hated –by the Democrats—but no one pats him on the head and gives him platitudes. Believe me, Democrats may sound dismissive, but they’re terrified of him. That gives Latinos a place for leverage. Nader is a player. What about Gonzalez? The South Texan is a lawyer, a former public defender and was a long time member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a key leader in raising the minimum wage. Gonzalez is a heavyweight also. It will certainly take “cojones” for the 37% undecided Latinos to vote for them. But we also know that Nader is an uncompromising champion of the disenfranchised and isn’t controlled by big special interests. Some will retort: Yeah but, you’re throwing away your vote going for Nader. I’d respond, No more than we have on the last 43 presidents. Isn’t time to talk to Nader and Gonzalez and see if they see us? Dr. Armas is an award winning writer/publisher living in New Mexico. He can be reached at armas@swcp.com
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| Any candidate who wants to attract this crucial voting bloc must address racial equality. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign has reignited an examination of race relations in America. It has led some to question how deep the divide is between black and white Americans. From my perspective, the question ignores the reality of our diverse society. We must also consider the divide between the majority from another group, one that I happen to belong to: Latinos. According to the Pew Research Center, Latinos are the nation's largest minority group, at 42 million people and 14% of the population. By 2050, that population will triple, to 128 million, which will be 29% of the American population. Those numbers are already having a political impact. Just how strong it may be could become clear in November. In a close presidential election, the Latino vote could decide the outcome. For example, in the closely contested strategic states of New Mexico, Florida and Colorado, Latinos make up, respectively, 37%, 14% and 12% of eligible voters. The conventional wisdom is that Latinos vote Democratic. But not necessarily. In 1999, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report published in 2007, Democrats enjoyed a 33% advantage over Republicans in partisan allegiance among Latino registered voters. However, in 2003, a sufficient number of Latinos voted for Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger (over a respected Latino Democrat) to make Schwarzenegger the governor of California. In 2004, President Bush won a historic percentage of the Latino vote (more than 40%). By 2006, again according to the Pew Hispanic Center, the Democrats' edge in partisan allegiance had dropped to 21%. Pew's numbers now show that Latino voters are heading back into the Democratic fold, but the message in these voting patterns and in the demographic projections is that neither party can afford to take the Latino vote for granted. The great diversity within the Latino population presents a challenge for both parties. Mexican Americans in Texas, Cuban Americans in Florida and Puerto Rican Americans in New York do not agree on every issue. But -- while I can't speak for all Latinos -- I believe there are issues that resonate for us all. Among them, of course, is immigration. Latino support will swing to the political party that has the courage and fortitude to put forward a specific immigration solution that is effective and efficient in securing our borders, that supports the economic interests of the nation and that is compassionate in a way that is consistent with the character of a nation of immigrants. Beyond immigration, both parties need to forge closer relationships with Latino voters. They need to connect with and make use of surrogates, as the Democrats have done with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. They need to make more contact, an effort both parties launched last weekend, when they spoke to a conference of Latino elected and appointed officials in Washington. More important, they need to embrace policies from the Latino point of view. What is that point of view? For starters, we may now wear suits on Wall Street or Main Street, but we know the experience -- personally or from our parents and grandparents -- of working in the fields, on the docks and in the kitchen. We want a job, not a handout. We value opportunity over more government. We are risk takers, willing to bet on ourselves and start a business. We want a society that recognizes and rewards us based on our hard work and ingenuity, not our skin color. We are unabashedly proud of America, and we are prepared to enlist, fight and die for this country, sometimes even without the right to vote for its leaders. We believe an education represents freedom in America, and we are willing to work multiple jobs so our children can go to college. Finally, although we know that America strives to be a fair country, the harsh reality is we are not one nation with liberty and justice for all. And yet equal opportunity -- to a job, to capital and to credit -- is a cornerstone of American success. The promise of equal opportunity is what drew our parents and grandparents and what still draws immigrants to the U.S., and it is what firmly knits them into the country once they are citizens. As we move to the next phase of the presidential campaign, some people may try to discourage discussion about race relations in favor of issues they say are of greater importance: the war against Al Qaeda, the cost of energy, the sub-prime mortgage crisis. However, we need leaders who appreciate -- and who choose to confront -- the crucial elements of racial inequality within these so-called bigger issues. Those are the leaders who are likely to be successful in finding effective solutions to our most important challenges. I have said often that Latinos share a common prayer: "Just give me a chance to succeed." I believe that the candidate who will win Latino votes is the one who understands that desire and who will engage the issue of racial equality for Americans of all colors. It's politically wise. More important, it is the right thing to do for our nation. Sent by Juan Ramos jramos.swkr@comcast.net
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The American G.I. Forum:
1980 through 1990 the Glory Years |
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The decade of the 1980s was an exciting decade for Dr. Hector P. Garcia and his family. During this decade, the nation recognized and bestowed him with honors for his work. He received many awards during this period, but the most significant to him was the Presidential Medal of Freedom. On March 25, 1986, President Ronald Reagan awarded my father the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The Presidential Medal of Freedom gave my father visibility and a needed boost to continue his work. The Medal was the catalyst for other organizations to recognize my father as well. Dr. Hector earned the nation's respect and elder statesman status. Dr. Hector now was in his seventies. His health began a decline that lasted about 16 years. In many of the columns, Dr. Hector refers to his health problems. In the 1981 convention booklet, he writes, "I have asked the good Lord to make me well enough so I can be with you at the National Convention." Dr. Hector understood that his time was limited and worked on preserving his legacy. On May 1978, Dr, Garcia established the AGIF National Archives and Historical Foundation. The purpose of the foundation was a depository for historical information and official papers of the AGIF and so that scholars could research for education purposes. In 1981, Papa began his efforts to gather the memorabilia from the AGIF chapters, "Please don't forget to send me your state convention magazines for my archives. " In addition, Papa wanted the AGIF Archives to purchase his clinic from his estate to house the AGIF memorabilia. "I am working on the archives and historical work of the American G.I. Forum. I have had two exhibits in Corpus Christi and one in Fort Worth. I still have hopes that I can write the pictorial history of the forum." However, events were not all glorious during the eighties. Young Mexican American leaders with radical alternatives criticized Dr. Hector. They were not content to work with the system but demanded change "yesterday". They referred to my Papa as Tio Taco and other derogatory names. Yet Papa persisted in his mission. It is clear from the writings my father was a visionary. Sometimes it seemed that he was crying out in the wilderness. However, the relevance of his messages at the time and today confirm this. The Message from the Founder in 1981 reflected the new direction that Dr. Hector wished the AGIF to take. Papa broadened the mission of the AGIF to include the uneducated, the elderly and the poor besides the veteran. This was because many Mexican Americans fell into this disadvantaged socio-economic group. MESSAGE FROM YOUR FOUNDER 33RD AGIF Annual Convention, August, 1981 Dallas, Texas I hope the organization continues to work for the poor the uneducated, the elderly and the suffering. During this year and other years to come the programs for the poor will be cut more and more. I foresee more suffering, more hunger and less education for our people. I foresee efforts to complete eliminate bi-lingual education. Don't give up; do not despair, after 33 years we are not giving up. After 36 years, the problem of education was not resolved. Dr. Hector felt vindicated about his views on education by the blue ribbon committee findings that the educational system in this country was a failure. Dr. Hector was pleased that the AGIF was one of the first to question the standards of public school education. MESSAGE FROM THE FOUNDER American GI Forum of Texas Amarillo Convention July 4-8, 1984 Amarillo, Texas The Motto of the American G.I. Forum is "Education is our freedom and Freedom should be everybody's business." Dr. Hector wrote: "36 years ago, many of you and many of your fathers and mothers assembled together in Corpus Christi and adopted our motto. We chose this motto because we then realized that the standards of education in our public schools were very bad for our children. We had no choice. Our education level was less than four (4) years of schooling. We had 110,759 children (or 43%) who were not attending any school, anywhere, at any time. Among those attending, as many as 50% were not passing their grade. You, the American GI Forum, protested this type of education for our children. We stated then and we can state today, that whenever a school district gives poor education to our children, everyone will suffer. This action will also affect the Anglo child. We fought and won the Hernandez school case, the Cisneros school case and many others. Still many school districts did not give our children that "Golden Opportunity". A few weeks ago, a blue ribbon committee denounced the education system of the U.S. as being a failure as far as the education of the American schoolchild. Not the Hispanic, not the Black, but the American schoolchild. It is a sad state that we never learned the lesson, "Deprive one child of education and you can deprive them all. My Message is, get back into the fight and fight for education of all our children." Give us equal education. We need bilingual education. We need Head start. We need bi-lingual teachers. Dr. Hector never passed judgment on the validity of the Vietnam War; however, was a presence in honoring the veteran by providing color guards for casualties and helping the veteran adjust to returning from War. His column written in 1985 said it all: "The poor, needy, hungry, and suffering have "The American GI Forum" and that is sufficient." MESSAGE TO OUR MEMBERS Laredo, Texas July 4, 1985 Your Founder expects to be with you in Laredo, Texas to join you in the observation of our Texas Convention The American GI Forum of which you are a member is the most respected organization in the U.S. The history of the American GI Forum is a history of service and dedication to the poor and the needy. It is a history of service to the uneducated and the Veterans. We are proud of our contributions in the recognition of the Vietnam Veterans and their families. While other groups were ignoring the Vietnam Veterans, we were setting up Vietnam Veterans Outreach Programs and Educational services. We were serving them through "SER" and we were burying them with full Military Honors. This is a great tribute to our American GI Forum. Laredo, Texas, has always been close to my heart, and indeed the monument at the park to the memory of the Vietnam Fallen Heroes is a masterpiece of love and compassion. I am proud of the "Women" of the American GI Forum for this monument. "Yet today, in 1985, we must not forget that the fight must continue because our poor, and our sick and our children need the advise, guidance and love of the American GI Forum. We have been challenged in the past and today, we are challenged again, and we must not fail. We must produce." We have to continue our support of "Bilingualism" of Medicare and Medicaid, of scholarships, of free school lunches, for better Social Security, People say private interest and big business and corporations have their lobbyist, but the poor, needy, hungry, and suffering have "The American GI Forum" and that is sufficient. Que Dios Los Bendiga. Su Fundador. The next issue, The Last Message 1990 |
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Hector P. Garcia Jr. A TRIBUTE to
my Brother
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For most, July is the month for taking vacation and
spending time with family. For
me the month of July marks the time to remember passages.
I have so many memories of Sonny. I was the
first-born and he was two years younger than I was. Therefore, we
experienced the usual childhood events together. I
remember playing with Sonny and growing up with him. A typical younger
brother, Sonny loved to tease me. I
remember his growing into a young man. Then he was gone. Sonny died in an
accident in One always questions God’s wisdom in cutting short
the life of a young person. Sonny’s passing was especially hard to
understand and accept. Usually
the young outlive their elders. My father grieved over the loss for many
years. I feel that he never got over the grief.
Our family was so grief-stricken that we seldom mentioned Sonny
because of the pain. Sonny’s life was brief.
He lived only 13 years. Life has taught me that the measure of an
individual's life is not in its length but in the quality of their life.
Sonny was able to accomplish in those brief 13 years his mission on
earth. In this case, Sonny’s
brief life clearly taught us to treasure each moment of our lives. He
showed this to us by his example. If that is all we have learned from him,
then Sonny accomplished his work on this earth. It has been forty-six years since I spoke to my brother Sonny. Do I miss him? Yes! Yet my spiritual beliefs tell me that individuals never perish and their spirits live on. Sometimes I feel Sonny’s presence in the wind, or in the whispers of the shadows. Sonny is not gone but lives on in spirit and in our memories of him. Let us thank God for giving us Sonny.
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| Hispanic Military Enlistees Increase | |
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FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES MILITARY, HISPANICS MAKE UP A GREATER share of the newly enlisted soldiers than African Americans, according to data recently released by the Department of Defense. This rise in Hispanic enlistees reflects, in part, the steadily increasing Hispanic share of the U.S. young male population. In addition, says Professor Pedro A. Noguera, executive director of New York University's Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, there are two other reasons why Hispanics are joining the military. "Hispanics tend to be patriotic," he says. "And, at a time when our right to be in the U.S. is being questioned by those leading the backlash against immigrants, our presence in the military serves as the ultimate proof that we are loyal to the nation and have a right to be here." More practically, Mr. Noguera observes, "Like other poor and working youth with limited options, Hispanics are attracted by the many benefits that the military offers." In 2006, Hispanic Americans comprised 13.26 percent of new recruits, compared to African Americans at 13.02 percent. The numbers are the result of a slow, but steady, increase in Hispanic enlistees since 1985, coupled with a precipitous decline in the number of African Americans volunteering to serve. Hispanic Business, Jun |
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Dr. David Hayes-Bautista: the end of California as we know it |
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| Extract: Latino Leaders: The National Magazine
of the Successful American Latino, April-May, 2003 by Jorge Ferraez http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0PCH/is_2_4/ai_113053458 Q. How did the demographic data pan out? On February 5, 2003, we released a report that analyzed a master birth file, which lists every birth in California--about half a million every year. As it turns out, beginning in the third quarter of 2001 over 50 percent of all babies born in California are Latino. The Latino majority has emerged. That Latino majority is now 18 months old. What this means is that in the fall of 2006, the majority of all children entering the state's kindergartens will be Latino. In the fall of 2013, the majority of children entering the state's high schools will be Latino. In the fall of 2016, the majority of new workers entering the labor force will he Latino. By 2019, the majority of young people who have turned 18 and are eligible to register and vote will be Latino. The Latino majority is here. I saw this happening in 1975. Sent by Dorinda Moreno fuerzamundial@gmail.com |
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"Wait a Minute, Men!" Immigrant widows can sue DHS for green cards Controversial Bill Aims to Help Minority Nonprofits Save the date: Nov 14-16, La Cultura Cura Healing Traditions & Models |
| "Wait a Minute, Men!" | |
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Palomar plans play on immigration debate |
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During the past few years, Palomar College professor Carlos von Son has written and staged several plays that deal with immigration issues along the U.S.-Mexico border, but Palomar theater professor Michael Mufson saw one big problem with von Son's work ---- most of his plays were written in Spanish and didn't appeal to the mainstream, English-only population. So this summer, the two professors have collaborated on a new play that will tackle the immigration issue head-on and will be accessible to both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences. Playing off the name of the self-styled border patrol group the Minutemen, the new play "Wait a Minute, Men!" deals with a confrontation between members of the Patriot Patrol and immigration activists in front of a local church. From there, the play splinters into a series of flashbacks telling the stories of the characters onstage. The production features a split stage, Web postings and live ballet folklorico performances. "This play does depict two opposing ideologies," Mufson said. "It would have been easy for us to write a one-sided rant, a piece of political agitation. What Carlos and I discovered in developing the story and characters of the play is another conflict that is common to both sides ---- the conflict between those who advocate for violent action and those who insist on peaceful methods. In many ways, that is the central conflict of the play." Von Son, who was born in Mexico and has spent most of his adult life in the United States, said he's eager for the opportunity to present his play to a new audience. "My wish is that this play will inspire people to take the time to think at a deeper level about the border situation in the Southern California/Baja California area," von Son said. "I hope the audience will question their beliefs and be more open to see the dilemma from both sides." Mufson said that the play has adult language and content and may not be suitable for small children. Info: (760) 744-1150, Ext. 2453, or palomarperforms.com Carlos von Son CVonson@palomar.edu |
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Immigrant widows can sue DHS for green cards |
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Immigrant widows who were denied legal residency because their U.S. spouses died before they got their green card scored a small victory against the Department of the Homeland Security. On Monday, a federal court allowed their lawsuit against Homeland Security and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to move forward. The case of Hootkins v. Chertoff challenges the agency's practice of automatically denying spousal status to the husbands and wives of U.S. citizens when the spouse dies during the processing of a green card application. The practice-called the "widow's penalty"-c alls for the green card to be automatically rejected once the American spouse dies, according to U.S. immigration Law. The widows' attorney Brent Renison says a few of the plaintiffs are from Orange County but wouldn't say whom because he said they're fearful of getting deported. There are more than 150 of these cases nationwide and some of these widows are already facing deportation hearings. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California allowed the class action suit to include all illegal immigrant husbands and wives whose U.S. citizen spouses died before the couples' two-year anniversary after meeting a couple of requirements. The court ordered that the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit be able to represent anyone who has a similar case in the Ninth Circuit. The court, however, has not yet ruled on the legality of the Citizenship and Immigration Services procedures. Also, the court only approved those cases that were filed within the Ninth Circuit. This includes: Alaska, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Northern Marianas Islands, Oregon, and Washington. It seems as though everyone else is pretty much out of luck. Citizenship and Immigration Services has 10 days from the order to appeal the court's decision. It's unclear whether they will. For more information about the widows' go to: www.ssad.org - Cindy Carcamo Sent by Ricardo Valverde RValverde@ochca.com |
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THE CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY RECENTLY PASSED legislation requiring large foundations to disclose the race and gender of their staff and board members, in an effort to increase the flow of grant money to minority-led nonprofits. The measure, AB 624, will apply to every private, corporate and public foundation with assets of more than $250 million. It will require each to post the information on its Web site, the San Jose Mercury Press reported. The State Senate must pass the bill, and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger must sign it before it becomes law. Hundreds of millions of dollars are awarded to nonprofit groups, but little of it goes to organizations led by Hispanics and other minority groups, according to State Assemblyman, Joe Coto (D-23rd District), who proposed the legislation. Mr. Coto's assertion is backed by a 2006 study from the Greenlining Institute, which found that 3.6 percent of the total grant money given out that year was awarded to minority-led organizations. The study also found that 10 percent of California foundations' executive directors and board members belonged to minority groups. Furthermore, as Hispanic Business magazine reported in May 2008 ("Top Hispanic Nonprofits Understand the Business of Giving"), less than 1.2 percent of grants by foundations that assist minorities went to Hispanic nonprofits. The measure
is being met with opposition from foundation leaders in California and
nationwide, who fear the measure could spread to other states. Critics say
the measure is a violation of privacy. They also argue there is a high
likelihood that minorities are benefiting from grant money from nonprofits
that are not minority led.
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Over 80 Educational Sessions
♦ Use of spirituality in Counseling/Psychotherapy with Latina/o individuals ♦ Community intervention with mentally ill ♦ Coping and Resilience with Low-Income Latina/o families ♦ Healing and Counseling with Mexican American College Students Pre-Conference Workshops ♦ A Hundred Ways to Keep One's Soul Alive: Exercises in Self-Care for Latina/o Professionals ♦ Psychotherapeutic Principles of Healing for Latina/o Professionals: A Shaman Perspective ♦ La Cultura Cura: Psychospiritual Guide Lines in Counseling with Latina/Families ♦ Developing Models of Healing in Research ♦ Developing Transpersonal Vision and Leadership with Mental Health Organizations and Agencies November 15-16, 2008 Pre-Conference Workshops: November 14, 2008 Westin South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, California For more information or to register online: WWW.NLPA.WS Sponsors are being sought. For sponsorship material and additional material, please contact Julie Gonzalez at (909) 319-3825 or via email at almajulissa@hotmail.com. Sent by Steve Delgadillo erdelgadillo@yahoo.com
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Action Item Burns Developing US National Parks Documentary Reacting to Luis Ramirez Murder in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania Clipping Away for Military Families GI Bill Educational Benefits Carry Over to Spouse and Children |
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BURNS DEVELOPING US National Parks DOCUMENTARY |
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| Filmmaker Ken Burns' six-part series on US national parks to air in fall 2009 The Associated Press Published: July 12, 2008 BEVERLY HILLS, California: Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns' new series celebrating America's national parks and detailing their history will air in fall 2009, the Public Broadcasting Service said Saturday. "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," is a 12-hour, six-part film that traces the origins and growth of the national parks system over 150 years. Tom Hanks, Andy Garcia and John Lithgow are among the actors who lend their voices to historical figures in the series. The narrator is actor Peter Coyote. Editor: Let me suggest that NOW IS THE TIME to write PBS, the National Park Service, Ken Burns and your Congressman/woman asking if a Latino presence is going to be included in the documentary on the National Park Service.
This is an email that I sent PBS omsbudsman Michael Getler
Hi . . I am a bit concerned about Burns newest project on the
history of the National Park Service. Apparently he will be
focusing on the the last 150 years. Why . . ? I would
think that the history of the parks would include the history of the
explorations of those wonders, going back to the 1600 and 1700s when
Europeans first had the privilege of viewing the beauty of our country.
It sounds like Burns is focusing on civil rights issues. Was the
funding given for that purpose? Why are the histories of the parks
themselves not being given proper historical presence. My
understanding was that the purpose of his grant was to write about our
National Parks.
If issues and events took place in some sites and they then became
national parks, that is one thing; but that does not cover the
facts and history concerning the first and earlier national Parks.
Michael Getler 703-739-5290.
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/feedback.html
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| Reacting to Luis Ramirez Murder in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania | |
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In July, a fatal beating by an estimated six high school football players
resulted in the death of a Mexican farm laborer in the small town of
Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Two articles on the case are included under
Anti-Spanish Legends, Hate Crime in Pennsylvania. Please
read and act.
The MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund), and PRLDEF (Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund) joined forces with community leaders and held a Candle Light Memorial on July 29th at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church in Shenandoah. For more information, please contact: Please send a letter of support to both MALDEF and PRLDEF, thanking them for taking action. Also contact our other major Latino organizations in the U.S. to come forth and demand a national wide investigation of Luis Ramirez death. We need to react strongly to bring to an end in the upward spiral of hate crimes against Mexicans, farm workers, and all Latinos. www.maldef.org headquarters@maldef.org |
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Clipping
Away for Military Families |
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It's an ambitious goal:
Clip thousands of dollars' worth of coupons in one year and give them
away. But Kay MacVey is cut out for the challenge—particularly for
National Military Appreciation Month in May. • MacVey, 82, is a member
of the American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 37, in Ames, Iowa, where she and
other members have adopted a coupon program for military families
stationed overseas. The coupons are redeemed at commissaries. •
"The families really enjoy using them, and it saves them a lot of
money, especially on diapers and baby food," says the
great-grandmother. • MacVey heard about the program through the legion's
national office and got involved. In 2007, she and 30 volunteers helped to
clip more than $349,000 worth of coupons from newspapers. This year's
goal: $500,000. • Surprisingly, that number won't set a record. In the
nearby city of Nevada, Iowa, another American Legion auxiliary topped the
million-dollar mark last year. • Clipping, organizing and mailing the
coupons can take several hours each week, but MacVey doesn't mind.
"There are a lot of things
I can't do, but I can do this." —Angela Bryant Starke
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GI Bill Educational Benefits Carry Over to Spouse/Children |
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Some good news for our Post 9/11 veterans and their families. Please add this link to your list servers and pass the word to our Post 9/11 veterans to learn more about their G.I. Bill benifits. For those veterans that qualify, but are not planning to attend college, they can let their spouse or children take advantage of these educational benefits. Many State also are giving education assistance to spouses and children when the military members are considered "out-of-state" residence. It might be a year before Veterans Administration gets all of the details completed for these benefits: http://www.gibill.va.gov or call: 1-888-GIBILL1 Sent by Rafael Ojeda RSNOJEDA@aol.com Tacoma,WA |
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Gen. Joe Robles Honored as Corporate Executive of the Year Hilda Zacarias Hired to Lead Family Care Center Hispanic Fans Critical to Major League Baseball LULAC Receives $1 Million Grant from AT&T Denver Post |
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Gen. Joe Robles Honored as Corporate Executive of the Year |
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 USAA President and CEO Joe Robles has been recognized by the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as the 2008 "Corporate Executive of the Year." He received the recognition during a special ceremony on July 8 honoring the achievements of Hispanic leaders in the Alamo City. An introductory video highlighted Gen. Robles' commitment to core values as a quality that has contributed to his success noting the consistency of USAA's core values of service, loyalty, honesty and integrity with those of the U.S. Military. "Occasions like these really make a person humble," said Gen. Robles during his acceptance speech, "because when someone talks about you as a person of accomplishment, you know deep down that whatever you have achieved in life is only partly due to your own efforts. So much of the credit goes to those who helped you and mentored you along the way." Gen. Robles called on local leaders to increase their support of education and mentoring programs to prepare today's youth for tomorrow's workforce. "My wish for our community is that every child has access to the opportunities you and I have had." Others honored at the event include: Special Award (posthumous): Viola Barrios, co-owner of the Los Barrios Restaurant and La Hacienda De Los Barrios in San Antonio Lifetime Achievement Award: Vikki Carr, singer Rising Star of the Year: Eliot Garza, NSIDE Publications Business Owners of the Year: Al Aguilar & Gisela Girard, Creative Civilization Community Service Award: Dr. Julian Trevino, senior lecturer The University of Texas San Antonio Joe Castillo joecastillo7421@yahoo.com
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Hilda Zacarias Hired to Lead Family Care Center |
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| Zacarias Hired to Lead Santa Barbara
Family Care
Center as Executive Director By Latino Today Staff Writer City leader and local businesswoman Hilda Zacarias has been hired to lead the Santa Barbara Family Care Center as its executive director. She will take the post effective July 1. The local nonprofit organization provides a wide range of child care and education services to low-income families throughout the county. Zacarias has served as as a board member for many local nonprofits and foundations including the Santa Barbara Foundation, the Fund for Santa Barbara, Planned Parenthood, Future Leaders of America, and the McCune Foundations Grant Making Committee. A longtime local resident, Zacarias is a Santa Maria City Councilwoman and former accountant with over 20 years of public sector experience including auditing, grant writing, managing, consulting, and leading non-profit organizations. More recently, she completed an accelerated program from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government where she received her master is in public administration. "I am excited to be working directly with the children and families of Santa Barbara County. SBFCC has a history of fostering excellence in family child care and support of parents, Zacarias said. I look forward to leading the organization in partnership with the board, the amazing staff, child care providers, and the community-at-large." Source: Jesse Chavarria jesse@latinotoday.us www.latinotoday.net Sent by Dorinda Moreno fuerzamundial@gmail.com
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Hispanic Fans Critical to Major League Baseball |
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| Hispanic baseball fans are driving attendance numbers to record heights. Aggressive marketing plans and an increased number of Hispanic ballplayers and managers have made Hispanic attendance a critical element to the bottom lines of many major league teams. If that sounds like hyperbole, consider this. More than half of all fans who watched Los Angeles Dodger games at Chavez Ravine in 2007 were Hispanic. That represents nearly two million baseball lovers. Hispanic Business, Inc. news@hbinc.com 425 Pine Avenue, Santa Barbara, CA 93117 July 8, 2008 • Volume 4, Issue #299 |
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LULAC RECEIVES $1 MILLION GRANT FROM AT&T / DENVER POST |
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| The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the AT&T Foundation, the corporate philanthropy organization of AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) announced today that LULAC will receive a $1 million gran from the AT&T Foundation's Aspire initiative, to implement LULAC's Adelante America program, which will provide academic classes, mentoring and student leadership development for underserved, at-risk Latino teens in grades eight through 10. "This important educational initiative in our community will help ensure that our nation's rich high-tech future and digital empowerment is within reach of our Latino youth," said LULAC president
Rosales. Full text at Sintesis Informativa, 11/07/08 lazos@lazos.tralcom.com |
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Fund Raiser: "Dream Act Radiothon" and Broadcast of Play AT&T Kicks Off $100 Million Education Initiative Students' success begins in the belief system Culture-based Educational Approach and Accountability New way of tracking high school students |
| Two-thirds of doctoral candidates in science and engineering in U.S.
universities are foreign-born.
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PHOENIX -Chicanos Por La Causa, KNUV 1190 AM and New Carpa Theater joined forces to produce a radiothon on KNUV-1190 AM from noon to 9:00 p.m., Thursday, June 26. The radiothon featured the premiere broadcast of a radio-play version of "Dream Act." Written by James E. Garcia and produced by the New Carpa Theater. The play tells the story of Victoria, an undocumented and homeless university student and her struggle to achieve the American Dream. "Dream Act" aired from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. and was followed by a two-hour talk show featuring experts and community leaders who'll discuss efforts to pass a proposed federal bill known as the Dream Act, as well as efforts to provide scholarships for undocumented immigrant children. Over the course of the afternoon, listeners were encouraged to donate to the American Dream Fund. The fund was established by Chicanos Por La Causa on behalf of the American Dream Fund (ADF) Coalition. CPLC is one of the state's largest nonprofit social service agencies. The ADF Coalition was formed by a group of concerned community representatives in order to support high achieving Arizona students impacted by proposition 300. New Carpa Theater actors and production staff have donated the radio-play production of "Dream Act". The play was presented in English and in Spanish in April at Playhouse on the Park. KNUV-1190AM and its staff has donated production time, air time and on-air talent. |
"The inspiration for Dream Act, as well as this radio-thon are the thousands of students nationwide who wake up in the morning determined to pursue their education, despite what to most of us would seem like insurmountable barriers," said playwright James Garcia, who also teaches writing at Arizona State University. "The students who receive scholarships from the fund are high achievers, men and women who want to contribute the betterment of our society. Sadly, the fund is only able to assist a fraction of the young people out there who need this assistance. It's my hope that the radio-thon will at least provide a portion of the direly needed financial assistance needed by these students."New Carpa Theater is dedicated to staging and developing Latino/Multicultural theater. The company (formerly Colores Actors-Writers Workshop) was founded by James E. Garcia in 2002. New Carpa Theater was formally incorporated as a non-profit in 2006. Playwright, journalist and university professor James E. Garcia is the troupe's producing artistic director. KNUV-1190AM is the only 24-hour, Spanish-language news/talk radio station in Arizona. For information please contact: KNUV 1190 AM-La Buena Onda, Mayra Nieves, 602-433-6245, mayra.nieves@nrvcorp.biz . New Carpa Theater, James. E. Garcia, 602-460-1374, jgarcia@americanlatino.net or www.americanlatino.net/caww . Chicanos por la Causa, Jose Martinez, 602-257-0700 Jose.Martinez@cplc.org Sent by James E. Garcia
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By Karin Chenoweth, Guest Columnist |
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An extraordinary thing happened last month in Granger, a small, impoverished town in the Yakima Valley where most adults and many children work in the fields cutting asparagus, picking cherries and sorting apples. More than 90 percent of the Class of 2008 -- almost all of whom are low-income -- graduated from high school on time. Another couple of students will be graduating this summer. That's not all -- a whopping 90 percent of the 62 graduates are going on to some kind of post-secondary education. Thirty-seven percent are going directly to four-year colleges, 14 percent to technical schools and more than a third to two-year colleges. Those statistics are normally associated with much wealthier schools. Schools like Granger, where 90 percent of the students are low-income, 80 percent Latino and 10 percent American Indian, often graduate fewer than half of their students. Granger provides an important example of the kinds of things schools can do to change the trajectory of children's lives. To those who think that poverty is too great a barrier for schools to overcome, it provides lessons in what can be done. Just eight years ago, Granger High School was in many ways a typical high-poverty school. Little was expected of the students, and they delivered -- only 20 percent met state reading standards, gang activity and graffiti were pervasive, and fewer than half the students graduated. "Things were very different," said English teacher Joyce Golob. That was when Richard Esparza became principal. He refused to accept that his students could not meet the same standards as middle-class students. "I come from poverty. I come from where the students come from," he said. "To me, if I can make it, these students can make it." The list of things Esparza and the faculty of Granger have done in the past eight years to improve instruction and student achievement is long, but all their efforts stem from the belief that students are capable of being successful. "It all starts with the belief system," Esparza said. That doesn't mean it's easy. For the most part, Granger students enter ninth grade well below standards in reading, writing, math and science. "I call them academic refugees," Esparza said, adding that the students often arrive discouraged and beaten down from previous experiences in school. "How often have they been told, 'You are as dumb as a box of rocks'?" To make sure students connect with teachers, Granger has an advisory system in which every professional in the building meets four days a week with 18 or 20 students, making sure that they keep up with their class work and graduation requirements. Twice a year students, advisers and parents or guardians confer together to do the same thing. To ensure that those conferences happen, teachers call, badger and even go to students' homes. To tackle the students' low reading skills, Granger uses a locally grown program that begins by providing students with very short passages posing an ethical dilemma, allowing students to grapple with serious topics while learning new vocabulary and gaining fluency. Eventually students graduate to longer passages and, after a while, serious literature that allows them to enter the life of the mind -- "Huckleberry Finn," "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Even students who enter reading at fifth-grade level or below are meeting state reading standards by 10th grade. Unlike at most schools, failure is not a final outcome. Students who fail quizzes and tests are given the opportunity to retake them after tutoring, allowing them to develop an academic work ethic. Teachers know that their students will make mistakes and even flirt with the gangs that plague the rest of the Yakima Valley. But, says longtime English teacher Jesus Maldonado, "I try to look beyond where they are now and see them for who they will be." He is not alone -- teachers at Granger know that their students can be successful, and try not to let adolescent goofiness distract them. "Passionate," is how new graduate Miguel Garcia describes the teachers. "Here the teachers will stay after school until we understand it." Garcia, who will attend Central Washington University after spending the summer picking cherries and hops, spoke for many students when he said, "Our parents -- they're Latino and they work in the fields, and most of us don't really want that life. So we strive to get out." Although the state backed down on a long-planned requirement that students pass a math test in order to graduate, it held onto its requirement that students must pass a reading and writing test. Because of that, Esparza said, his students can boast that "not only did they graduate, but they graduated to a standard -- they have the skills to take them on to other things." This was Esparza's last graduation as principal. He is enrolling in a doctoral program and plans to be a superintendent in a high-poverty district. "Now that I've demonstrated this can be done, I need to do it on a bigger scale," he said. "People have to understand that these students can be just as successful as anyone else." But, he said again for emphasis, "It begins with the belief system." We as a nation owe it to Miguel Garcia and all his fellow students to develop the same belief system. They can be successful if we believe in them, hold them to high standards and give them the help they need. Karin Chenoweth is a writer with The Education Trust and author of "It's Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools." Sent by Willis Papillion Source: seattlepi.com |
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AT&T Kicks Off $100 Million Education Initiative |
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AN ALARMING 1.2 MILLION STUDENTS DROP OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL every year. That's the equivalent of 7,000 students a day, more than half of whom are Hispanic, African-American, and Native American children. "The high dropout rate has implications for individuals and for our nation's global economic leadership," says AT&T Inc. Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, who recently announced that the telecommunications giant is hoping to decrease that number through a new, $100 million program called the Aspire Initiative. "AT&T Aspire is about supporting the great work already underway to help our kids succeed in school and helping students see the connection between education and their best future," says Mr. Stephenson. The ambitious project will feature several key elements. First, the phone company plans to provide grants to schools and nonprofit organizations that help students not only graduate from high school, but become better prepared for college and the workforce. Second, a student job shadowing initiative, involving 400,000 AT&T employee hours, will be created to give about 100,000 students a firsthand look at skills they will need to succeed in today's workplace. In addition, the program calls for the underwriting of national research that will explore the perspective of school officials on the high school dropout issue. HISPANIC BUSINESS JUNE, 2008,
pg 86
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From Diverse Online-July 10, 2008 Current News LULAC Calls for Culture-based Educational Approach and Accountability To Stem Dropout Rate Among Minorities By Michelle J. Nealy Jul 11, 2008, 23:28 |
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| WASHINGTON - Reforming the No Child Left Behind Act to promote higher accountability standards for the nation's high schools, inclusive and equitable testing and culture-based curricula may help stem the wave of minority high school student dropouts and shrink the achievement gap, a panel of educators and activists said at a LULAC meeting here this week. Every year, approximately 1.2 million students drop out of high school. The dropout rate for Hispanic students is more than 40 percent, and for Blacks it hovers at 50 percent. Underrepresented minorities, in general, have less than a 58 percent chance of graduating high school with a regular diploma. This inequality can be reversed by reforming No Child Left Behind (NCLB), education advocates say. Policymakers, educators, civil rights leaders and activists convened this week for a town hall-styled meeting hosted by the League of United Latin Citizens (LULAC) to address NCLB policies that shortchange minority students and fail to hold high schools accountable for poor graduation rates. LULAC, a founding member of the Campaign for High School Equity, a diverse coalition of civil rights organizations committed education equality, is pressing for visible reform in the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act slated to pass sometime next year. Currently NCLB neither ensures that graduation rates are calculated consistently or accurately nor requires the data collected to be disaggregated by race. Panelist Holly Kuzmich, deputy chief of staff for policy and programs at the Department of Education, insisted that standardized test scores in mathematics and reading have risen since the passage of NCLB in 2002, particularly among minority and special education children, but admitted the program is flawed. "In 2002, focus on accountability was really put on elementary schools. High schools are our new focus, [especially] better reporting of graduation rates and dropout rates. There is no uniform definition of dropouts. States get to define that for themselves," said Kuzmich. "We have proposed a set of regulations to get all states reporting on the same scale by 2013." Nearly 5.5 million English Language Learner students are enrolled in America's public school system. According to LULAC officials, this student population is being left behind. ELL students - 80 percent of whom are Hispanic - are among the country's lowest-performing students. In 2007, only 4 percent of eighth-grade students scored above "proficient" in reading for the National Assessment of Educational Progress, compared with 31 percent of ELL students. In addition, only 49 percent of ELL students graduate from high school on time. Peter Zamora, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund's Washington, D.C., regional counsel, favors testing in native language to level the playing field. Zamora, a credentialed bilingual educator, says that in teaching 12th-grade English at a California high school he learned that, "most English-language learners are not going to be able to perform well on an English assessment test." LULAC is also petitioning for implementing culture-based curricula, an educational approach which is not supported by NCLB. Data from the Nation Indian Education Association reveal that learning in an environment that incorporates native language, culture and traditions increases students' mastery of math and science. Federal education policy that promotes culturally based teaching is critical in shrinking the achievement gap, advocates say. "School climate is tied to academic achievement," said Dr. Joel Gomez, associate professor of educational leadership at The George Washington University. "Research shows that when kids feel good about going to school they do better." Sent by Juan Ramos jramos.swkr@comcast.net |
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Extract: 1 in 4 California high school students drop out, state says By Mitchell Landsberg and Howard Blume Los Angeles Times Staff Writers July 17, 2008 |
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Using a new system for tracking dropouts, California discloses a rate considerably higher than previously reported. About 1 in 3 students in Los Angeles Unified left school. Deploying a long-promised tool to track high school dropouts, the state released numbers Wednesday estimating that 1 in 4 California students -- and 1 in 3 in Los Angeles -- quit school. The rates are considerably higher than previously acknowledged but lower than some independent estimates. The figures are based on a new statewide tracking system that relies on identification numbers that were issued to California public school students beginning in fall 2006. The ID numbers allow the state Department of Education to track students who leave one school and enroll in another in California, even if it is in a different district or city. In the past, the inability to accurately track such students gave schools a loophole, allowing them to say that departing students had transferred to another school when, in some cases, they had dropped out. The new system -- which will cost $33 million over the next three years, in addition to the millions spent for the initial development -- promises to eventually provide a far better way to understand where students go, and why. But state and school district officials acknowledged that the data initially available Wednesday, after a final one-day delay, were limited in usefulness. "I think as the system stabilizes, you will get better data," said Esther Wong, assistant superintendent for planning, assessment and research in the Los Angeles Unified School District. For now, she said, the numbers tell only part of the story, albeit more accurately than in the past. Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of public instruction, presented the new data, based on the 2006-07 school year, as a quantum leap forward in understanding the nature of the dropout problem. But, he said, "no one will argue that the number of dropouts is good news. . . . It represents an enormous loss of potential." For the state overall, it was 24.2%, up substantially from the 13.9% calculated for the previous school year using an older, discredited method. Statewide, 67.6% of students graduated and 8.2% were neither graduates nor dropouts. The last category included those who transferred to private schools or left the state. School districts have until the end of August to correct data, so figures could change. The statistics highlight a problem that is getting worse in California, said Russell Rumberger, a professor of education at UC Santa Barbara who directs the California Dropout Research Project. Even using the old system of measurement, he said, the number of dropouts has grown by 83% over five years while the number of high school graduates has gone up only 9%. Rumberger attributed the trend to three primary factors: an increase in Latino immigrants, who are among the most likely to drop out; the raising of academic standards; and insufficient funding for public education. Among large, comprehensive L.A. high schools, the highest dropout rates were recorded at Jefferson, 58%; Belmont, 56%; Locke, 50.9%; Crenshaw, 50%; and Roosevelt, 49.6%. Those with the lowest rates were Palisades Charter High, 2.5%; Granada Hills Charter, 6.4%; Canoga Park, 11%; Cleveland, 12.8%; El Camino, 13%; Taft, 13.1%; Chatsworth, 14.5%; and Fairfax, 14.9%. mitchell.landsberg@latimes.com howard.blume@latimes.com Sent by Ricardo Valverde RValverde@ochca.com
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The Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) Role of Schools in English Language Learner Achievement Gap |
The Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) |
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Education either... is used to facilitate integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world." --Paulo Freire Parent
Institute for Quality Education (PIQE)
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On Thursday, November 15, 2007 Parents of Alvin Dunn Elementary School in San Marcos, California graduated from the PIQE Program. One of the mothers, Felipa Gaytan presented us with an unsolicited personal letter thanking PIQE for helping her help her children. Below is her note exactly how she presented it to us: |
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Cuando
mi hijo enpeso la escuela medi cuenta que nesesitaba saber mas sobre
como funsionaba el distrito escolar pero el temor de
el idioma no me permitia tener la confiansa para buscar alluda fue entonses que nos inbitaron a partisipar en instituto de padres mi esposo y yo Pudimos entender que importante es trabajar con los maestros pero sobre todo lainportansia de apollar a nuestros Hijos y el gran balor de el tiempo y la disiplina. Cuando tubimos la conferencia con la maestro de mi hijo A ella le sor prendio que llebaramos con nosotros una libreta y que le preguntaramos que nibel tenia en las materias en ves de preguntar como iba en la escuela. Desde ese momento las visitas a la escuela se hicieron mas continuas y los grados de mi hijo mas altos. uma frase que tengo grabada en mi mente es (el trabojo de la casa nose ba y los hijos cresen y dejan de nesesitar nuestra allude) Por estas rasones quiero darle las crasias a instituto de padres por en scenarnos la responsabilida de ser lideres, El pribilegio de ser los primeros maestro de nuestros hijos Y el orgullo de formar excelentes ciudadanos para un futuro mejor
Felipa
Gaytan
11-8-07
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When
my son started school, I became aware that I needed to know more on how
the school system functions but my fear of not speaking the language
would not allow me to have the confidence to look or ask for help.
It was then that we were invited to participate in the Parent Institute
for Quality Education. My husband and I were able to understand
how important it is to work with the teachers and above all the
importance of supporting our children's education and the value of our
time and discipline. When we had the conference with my son's
teacher, she was very surprised that we had a note book with us and that
we asked at what level was our son performing in his studies instead of
asking how he was doing in school. From that moment on our visits
to the school were made often and our sons grades went up. One
phrase that I have etched in my mind is (the house work doesn't end but
our children grow-up and won't always need our help). For these
reasons, I want to give thanks to the Parent Institute for teaching us
the responsibility to be leaders, the privilege we have to be the first
teachers of our children and the pride to form excellent citizens for a
better future.
Felipa
Gaytan
11-8-07
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| Extract: The Role of Schools in the English Language Learner Achievement Gap by Rick Fry http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/89.pdf 6.26.2008 |
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Students designated as English language learners (ELL) tend to go to public schools with low standardized test scores. However, these low levels of assessed proficiency are not solely attributable to poor achievement by ELL students. These same schools report poor achievement by other major student groups as well, and have a set of characteristics associated generally with poor standardized test performance--such as high student-teacher ratios, high student enrollments and high levels of students who live in poverty or near poverty. When ELL students are not isolated in these low-achieving schools, their gap in test score results is considerably narrower. Other Resources Fry, Richard. 2007. How Far Behind in Math and Reading are English Language Learners? June. Washington, DC: Pew Hispanic Center. Batalova, Jeanne, Michael Fix, and Julie Murray. 2007. Measures of Change: The Demography and Literacy of Adolescent English Learners. Washington, DC: Migration Policy Institute. Cosentino de Cohen, Clemencia, Nicole Deterding, and Beatriz Chu Clewell. 2005. Who's Left Behind? Immigrant Children in High and Low LEP Schools. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Zehler, Annette M. and others. 2003. Policy Report: Summary of Findings Related to LEP and SPED-LEP Students. Report prepared by Development Associates, Inc. for the U.S. Department of Education, Office of English Language Acquistion, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OLEA), under Contract No. ED-00-CO-0089 Jepsen, Christopher and Shelley de Alth. 2005. English Learners in California Schools. San Francisco, CA: Public Policy Institute of California Sent by Juan Marinez marinezj@anr.msu.edu |
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Historia
de Juanchorrey y Tepetongo, Zacatecas |
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Juanchorrey Zacatecas By José
León Robles de la Torre Spanish
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Historia
de Juanchorrey y Tepetongo is a genealogical book written by José León
Robles de la Torre. The author writes about the history of Juanchorrey and
Tepetongo history back to the early 1500’s. The
history based on genealogy information, conversations with family and
friends. The book contains
histories, biographies and genealogies of Juanchorrey and Tepetongo. The
genealogy charts are hand written by the author in a way he developed and
easy to read. The author includes the books titles that the author
previously written and has been published, the book is well written and
illustrated Included are some of his poems and personal data, photos of
families from Juanchorrey and Tepetongo towns and United States. Families
who immigrated to It
is the history of two towns Juanchorrey and Tepetongo, IMPORT
FROM MEXICO 8 1/2 X 11, softcover, collectively documents thru the years,
biographies, several black & white pictures and family trees. It sells
for $65.00 price and handling included, 549 Pgs. Los Talleres de Carmona
Impresores Torreón,
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Professor Alfred Arteaga Berkeley Chicano/Ethnic Studies |
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| A funeral for Professor Alfred Arteaga was held
Saturday July 12 in Santa Cruz, CA at Holy Cross Church. A
fall memorial is expected to be held in the fall. Click to this link for
information on his work and photos of his travels, etc. http://alfredarteaga.com/ |
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BOOKS and other works by alfred arteaga
http://alfredarteaga.com/listbooksx.html
Video Poesis To view on PC get QuickTime: www.apple.com/quicktime/
The Present 4:57 Eine Frau 1:11 Manuscripts/Manuscritos Ineditos Flesh and Verse Language, Discourse, Sign Essays Red and Black Poetics of Resistance A Tired Aesthetic Locating Poetry/Cantos Primeros Lacunae Chicano Mexican Corrido Aesthetics of Sex and Race Poems/Hojas Sueltas Inspiración The Story of Water Balance Xochitepec Illumination Mine En lugar de la nada Collections/Series Catalog of Human Emotions Amor Nonato Drama Mechas Collaborations Respuesta Xicana: 15 Xicano Poets Respond to 187 Epistles 1-6 Information sent by Anne Cervantes IXMALI@aol.com
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Laguna Hills, California woman writes book about her
Mexican American roots.
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Age : 34 Residence: Laguna Hills Q.
What is your book about? My sisters and my mother have their own chapter. Something that's also significant is introducing the idea of learning English in the American school system. I would get sent to English classes because Spanish was my first language. Our parents would actually have to go to the school and tell them not to enroll us in ESL classes. My parents at one point had to convince me and lie to the school saying that English was my primary language. Some stories are funny, like realizing that not everyone eats tortillas every day. My dad also used to work in the print room for the O.C. Register. He started up as janitor and worked himself up and became a supervisor. He would come home with these crazy ideas from reading some articles. He grilled frog legs like he would grill carne asada - whatever ran that day in the paper. Q.
How did the idea of writing this book come about? Q. What kind of an upbringing did you
have? At the same time, my parents exposed us to the idea that not only were we Mexican but we were also American - we were Mexican American. My father made a great effort to expose us to different cultures. Even at times when my parents faced different prejudices, they would remind us of this. To them it was very important that we identity in both cultures, because they wanted us to exceed in our family's new country. They wanted us to have the opportunity of going to college and getting an education. Q. Whom do you hope to
touch with your book? Whether you are just arriving in America or are here for four generations, everybody has the same opportunity. My father always said they came to this county to have a better life, and it's up to us to create that better life for ourselves. I try to compile memories that have had an impact not only in my childhood but as an adult. Because of those childhood
memories, it gave me a foundation to help me get through experiences as
an adult. I got to share those stories with my sisters, who are my best
friends.
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New Book: Annotated Baptisms 1789 to 1823 of San Agustin de Laredo, (Present-day Laredo, Texas) |
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Los
Bexarenos Genealogical Society is most pleased to be offering this new
book, Annotated Baptisms 1789
to 1823 of San Agustin de Laredo, (Present-day Laredo, Texas), for
sale for $34.00 each plus $3.00 postage. Make
check to: Los Bexarenos The
book, by Gloria Villa Cadena and Angel Sepulveda Brown, is 8½ by 11, soft
cover, tape binding. The book
contains the early baptisms of the Catholic Church in Laredo, Texas.
This first edition is published in 2008 and contains
234 pages including index. This
book has been in process for many years and the accuracy has been checked
and rechecked and is as near perfect as is humanly possible.
There are 2116 baptisms extracted in this book.
Los
Bexarenos, P.O. Box 1935,
San Antonio, TX 78297 Send
orders by E-mail to: fmtejanorey@aol.com
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“Por Amor/For Love: An Operachi in One Act”
Calavera Highwa Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón A la Guerra ya me llevan Despedida El Soldado Razo La Peña Presents Poetry Schedule |
“Por Amor/For Love: An Operachi in One Act” by James E. Garcia and Raul Yzaguirre |
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 A sneak preview performance of “Por Amor/For Love: An Operachi in One Act”, written by James Garcia and Raul Yzaguirre. Directed by Marcelino Quinonez. It’s Romeo and Juliet meets All that Jazz in a story about love, fame, greed and the behind-the-scenes travails of touring theater. A romantic comedy inspired by the classic music of the Golden Age Mexican and Latin American cinema. July 8-17, 2008, Herberger Theater Center (Lunchtime Theater), 222 Monroe in downtown Phoenix. Tickets available at the door. Doors open at 11:40 a.m.. Show starts at noon and ends by 1 p.m. July 18-19 at Playhouse on the Park, 1850 N. Central Ave. (Palm & Central), Tickets available immediately at americanlatino.net/caww or by calling 602-254-2151, then press 4.
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Calavera Highway Film by Renee Tajima-Peña & Evangeline Griego edited by Johanna Demetrakas |
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| Best Television Documentary, San Francisco International Film Festival v Best Documentary Feature at the San Diego Latino Film Festival v National PBS broadcast on “P.O.V.,” Sept 16, 2008 v THE STORY: Armando Peña, a veteran of the 1968 Chicano student walkouts, and his brother CARLOS carry their mother's ashes back to South Texas and reunite their far-flung brothers. But the road reveals more than they bargained for. Calavera Highway traces the odyssey of two brothers as they uncover a complex story. Why their mother was an outcast, and what happened to their father who disappeared during “Operation Wetback,” the 1954 U.S. government program that deported over a million Mexican and Mexican Americans. A sweeping story of seven brothers grappling with the meaning of masculinity and fatherhood, and the nature of family ties. ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS: Calavera Highway is a new production by the filmmaking team of Renee Tajima-Peña (Who Killed Vincent Chin?, My America…or Honk if You Love Buddha.) Evangeline Griego (Sir! No Sir!, Chevolution) and editor Johanna Demetrakas (Amandla!). Executive produced by Jeff Bieber, cinematographer Jonathan Schell, sound recordist Sara Chin, composers Brian Kirk & Sharon Smith and Rene Gasca & Los Frijoles Romanticos, music performances by Ry Cooder, Joaquin Cooder, and Hugo Arroyo. Produced in association with The American Documentary/P.O.V. (Simon Kilmurry, Executive Producer). A co-presentation of Latino Public Broadcasting (Patricia Boero, Executive Producer). Funded in part by the Center for Asian American Media with funds provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. www.pbs.org/pov/pov2008/calaverahighway/ Sent by Walter Herbeck wlherbeck@sbcglobal.net |
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| ------------------------------------------------ I first knew Frida the summer of 1950; I was fifteen years old and on a trip to México my father took the family to the National Museum of Art. There I met Frida in double, a large canvas (the largest one I believe she ever painted) in which two Fridas, one dressed in white in the style of the end of the 19th century and the other in the dress of Tehuantepec, seated before a tormented sky, held each others hand, their hearts exposed and bleeding, their gazes locked onto mine. I stood there absorbed and fascinated. My mother had to pull me away dragging me by the hand. I believe it was then that I fell in love with Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón. I sought her everywhere; then, her paintings were not as easy to find as her husband Diego's. Whenever I found them, there she was, always looking at me with fixed and stoic gaze even though in many of them the pain she displayed like a malignant flower or poisonous jewel, was palpable - necklaces of thorns; corsets like medieval instruments of torture; the exposed vertebral spine, a column of steel; a few tears like pearl ornaments, drops of blood like ornaments of ruby. Each of these small paintings was like a precious reliquary of suffering, a delicacy of pain, offerings for some perverse miracle, ex votos to a cruel god. What amazed me were the colors, the sensuality, the beauty with which they celebrated her pain. Among the fifty some odd self-portraits, even in the ones in which there appear no images of pain, never, that I know of, did she paint herself smiling. Little by little, I came to know her history - her precocious rebellion, the polio that attacked her as a child, the terrible trolley accident that left her in pieces young, her obsessive love of Diego (though not so obsessive that it prevented other loves with man or woman), her courage that lent strength to her determination for joy (which at times she must have feigned), her cult of vanity, she zeal for regional costumes, archaeological jewels so heavy that they must have hurt her to wear them, her boasts of being indigenous. Now I find her everywhere, even in films, and at costume balls she seems to multiply herself more and more; I find her in the salons, the dining rooms, the kitchens, the bedrooms, the bathrooms. She sometimes makes me jealous, my promiscuous, ubiquitous Frida. © Rafael Jesús González 2008 |
------------------------------------------------- Conocí a Frida por primera vez en el verano de 1950, tenía yo quince años de edad y en un viaje a México mi padre nos llevó a la familia al museo de pintura nacional. Allí conocí a Frida en doble, un lienzo grande (el más grande que creo jamás haya pintado) en que dos Fridas, una vestido de blanco en el estilo de fines del siglo XIX y la otra en traje tehuano, sentadas ante un cielo atormentado, se cogían de la mano, los corazones expuestos y sangrando, las miradas clavadas en la mía. Quedé absorto y fascinado. Mi madre tuvo que desprenderme jalándome de la mano. Creo que entonces me enamoré de Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo Calderón. La buscaba por dondequiera; entonces sus cuadros no eran tan fácil de encontrar como los de su esposo Diego. Cuando los encontraba, allí estaba ella, siempre mirándome con mirada fija y estoica aunque en muchos de ellos el dolor que ostentaba como una flor maligna o un joya venenosa era palpable - collares de espinas; corsés como instrumentos de tortura medievales; la espina vertebral expuesta, una columna de acero; una que otra lágrima como adorno de perla, gotas de sangre como alhajas de rubí. Cada uno de estos pequeños cuadros era como una reliquia preciosa del sufrir o una golosina de dolor, retablos como mandas por algún milagro perverso, exvotos a un dios cruel. Lo que me asombraba eran los colores, la sensualidad, la belleza con que celebraban su dolor. Entre los cincuenta y tanto autorretratos que pintó, aun en los que no aparecen imágenes del dolor, jamás, de que yo sepa, se pintó sonriente. Poco a poco me enteré de su historia - su rebeldía precoz, el polio que de niña le atacó, el accidente de tranvía atroz que de joven la dejó en pedazos, su amor obsesivo por Diego (aunque no tan obsesivo que le impidiera otros amores con hombre o mujer), su valor que prestaba fuerza a su empeño por la alegría (que a veces ha de haber fingido), su culto a la vanidad, su afán por prendas regionales, joyas arqueológicas tan pesadas que le han de haber costado llevar, su alarde de indígena. Ahora la encuentro por dondequiera, aun en las películas, y en los bailes de disfraz parece que se multiplica cada vez más; la encuentro en las salas, los comedores, las cocinas, las recámaras, los baños. A veces me causa celos, mi Frida promiscua y ubicua. © Rafael Jesús González 2008 |
| Rafael Jesús González P. O. Box 5638 Berkeley, CA 94705 U. S. A. http://www.rjgonzalez.blogspot.com (English) http://www.rjgonzalezg.blogspot.com (español) rjgonzalez@mindspring.com |
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During WWII, these were the musical echoes that were heard among our Chicano soldiers and our people from 1940 to 1945 instilling in them a sense of pride and courage while fighting for their honor and their country the United States of America and being proud of being Americans of Mexican descent I Am Off to War The Farwell The Buck Private I was drafted yesterday I'm saying goodbye I am joining up and if I don't die in battle because I'm off to war soon with the brave boys to your arms mother dear I'll return. although I'm far away leaving mothers behind I am going to defend leaving girlfriends crying Unknown Chicano composer 1943 My country and my crying their farewell. Honor. I Sing Instead of Crying My Virgen Guadalupana Pedro Flores will protect my flag Listen carefully my friends Puerto Rico. 1943 and when I am in battle what I am about to sing far from my country that nobody knows I will prove that my people when your time will come. are ready to die anywhere. My sweetheart that I was going to marry I am departing early tomorrow was very beautiful with a new day but after the war and here goes another Mexican I didn't see her anymore that is giving up his life and sings and shouts Unknown Chicano composer long live my country! My Virgin of Guadalupe take care of my mother for she is very loving . take care of her till I return Holy Virgin send her my love never allow the heavens to take her from me.
Estos eran los ecos melódicos que se oían durante La Segunda Guerra Mundial entre nuestros soldados Chicanos y nuestra gente desde 1940 hasta 1945 demostrando su orgullo y su valentía mientras defendían su honor y su patria Los Estados Unidos de América y sintiéndose orgullosos de ser americanos de ascendencia
mexicana. |
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La Peña Presents
Arte Poetica, Poetry Schedule Sunday, August 10, 2008. 7pm $5. At La Peña Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley. 510-849-2568 http://www.lapena.org |
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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. La Peña Presents: Arte Poetica, The Dream Poetry Team The Dream Poetry Team descends on La Peña for a powerful evening of poetry. Francisco x Alarcón, Jack Hirschman, Jose Montoya, and Nina Serrano. MC by La Peña's Fernando A. Torres. Arte Poetica. The Dream Poetry Team. La Peña celebrates California's full-fledged voices of poetry, the ripened voices that have taught up & coming new generations and upheld resolutely the arte poética for the people. With Francisco x Alarcón, Jack Hirschman, Jose Montoya, and Nina Serrano. MC by La Peña's Fernando A. Torres. 7pm $5 Francisco x Alarcón, Chicano poet and educator, was born in Wilmington, California, in 1954. Raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, and he came to California when he was 18 years old. He is the author of a number of bilingual poetry books for children and ten volumes of poetry, including From the Other Side of Night / Del otro lado de la noche: New and Selected Poems; Sonnets to Madness and Other / Sonetos a la locura y otras penas; Snake Poems: An Aztec Invocation and Of Dark Love / De amor oscuro. More information about Francisco can be found here: http://www.yrmusic.com/v2/artists/bios/artist.php?ID=122 Jack Hirschman is San Francisco's Poet Laureate and social activist. He has written more than 60 volumes of poetry, translated more than 45 poems from at least 6 different languages, edited anthologies and journals. Dismissed from teaching at UCLA for anti-war activities in 1966, he moved to San Francisco in 1973. He is the city's present poet laureate. The Before Columbus Foundation presented Hirschman with an American Book Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. The citation, written by David Meltzer, reads in part: "Jack Hirschman is an immensely present yet hidden figure in the cultural politics and life of American poetry. Amazingly prolific - on the highest levels of committed artistic and activist involvement - his work is generous, open, and penetratingly critical." More information about Jack can be found here: http://www.sfcall.com/issues%202002/5.24.02/hirschman_bio_5_24_02.htm Jose Montoya was named Poet Laureate of the City of Sacramento in 2002. As a painter, poet, and activist, Montoya is recognized as a legendary figure who has played a leading role in the Chicano cultural movement. He founded the Royal Chicano Air Force, a California arts collective renowned for its political murals and community projects. His poetry is widely anthologized and has promoted new interest in Chicano literature. Among his most famous poems is "El Louie," about a man with whom Montoya grew up. The poem described Louie's military service in Korea and his later entanglement with drugs, which led to his death. Many critics consider "El Louie" to be a classic depiction of a pachuco. "A Chicano cannot be born. No, the individual becomes a Chicano. The difficulty is not to understand what Chicanismo is but to become and to be a Chicano. What is Chicanismo? Simple: to be like Jose Montoya." (Javier Huerta) More information on Jose can be found here: http://biography.jrank.org/pages/3946/Montoya-Jos-1932-Artist-Educator-Writer- Poems-Published-in-Anthology.html Nina Serrano is a poet, writer, storyteller, and independent media producer. Her poems are widely anthologized, most recently in the literary anthology, Under the Fifth Sun: Latino Writers from California and the three anthologies of peace poems Farewell to Armaments. She has won international film awards and served as an Alameda County Arts Commissioner. Serrano, former director of the San Francisco Poetry in the Schools program, is a co-founder of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino and produces regular radio programming on KPFA 94.1 FM in Berkeley. "She has lived a relatively long time compared to a butterfly and a relatively short time compared to a rock. There is much she still does not know about the two basic issues: life and death." More information about Nina can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Serrano La Peña Cultural Center is a favorite stop for activist pundits, imaginative artists, late-night poets, avid tourists, and South American gastronomy connoisseurs. Founded in 1975, La Peña is a multicultural community arts center that presents cultural and educational programs that increase understanding of different cultures and support efforts to build a more just society. La Peña presents about 250 music, dance, theater, spoken word, film, visual art and multi-disciplinary events each year. The Center presents emerging as well as nationally and internationally renowned artists, commissions new work, and organizes special artist residencies. La Peña also offers free and low cost classes available to youth and adults. La Peña is located at 3105 Shattuck Ave. in Berkeley. For more information call For more information please contact Fernando at 510 849 -2568 ext. 15 or fena@lapena.org or visit http://www.lapena.org |
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Dirty Little Secrets from Otherwise Perfect Moms |
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| Second book on motherhood co-authored by a
second cousin., Trisha Ashworth and her collaborator, Amy Noble. You're not the
only mom who's forgotten to brush her kids' teeth or cursed in front of her toddler. Confessions such as these have been compiled into their new book, Dirty Little Secrets From Otherwise Perfect Moms
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Anti-Spanish Legends |
| July 2008 Shenandoah, Pennsylvania Hate Crime |
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Editor: Below are two articles on this case: a young Mexican worker
was beaten to death by Anglo teenage boys. The dates of the articles
are July 19 and July 25. I've bolded some important statements.
In contrasting the two articles, there seems to be considerable effort by
the defendant's legal defense and Shenandoah officials to negate that this
was a racially motivated death. This is a tragic story that the whole nation should know about. I
fear that when Police Chief Nestor say, “From what we understand right now, it wasn't racially motivated,”
or Schuylkill County District Attorney James Goodman says, "Now that the criminal charges have been filed, we must let this case be handled in the criminal justice system,"
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Immigrant's death exposes tensions Mexican worker beaten by teens Michael Rubinkam, ASSOCIATED PRESS Saturday, July 19, 2008 http://www.washingtontimes.com/themes/people/luis-ramirez |
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SHENANDOAH, Pa. | Luis Ramirez came to the United States from Mexico six
years ago to look for work, landing in this town in Pennsylvania's coal
region. Here, he found steady employment, fathered two children and, his fiancée
said, occasionally endured harassment by white residents. Now he is headed back to Mexico in a coffin. The 25-year-old illegal immigrant was beaten over the weekend after an argument with a group of youths, including at least some players on the town's beloved high school football team, police said. And despite witness reports that the attackers yelled ethnic slurs, authorities say the beating wasn't racially motivated. Hate crime or not, the killing has exposed long-simmering tensions in Shenandoah, a blue-collar town of 5,000 about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia that has a growing number of Hispanic residents drawn by jobs in factories and farm fields. An investigation continues, and no charges have yet been filed, but police say as many as six teens were involved in the fight, which ended with Mr. Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth. He died early Monday of head injuries. Luis Ramirez Crystal Dillman, the victim's 24-year-old fiancee, who is white and grew up here, said Mr. Ramirez was often called derogatory names, including “dirty Mexican,” and told to return to his homeland. “People in this town are very racist toward Hispanic people. They think right away if you're Mexican, you're illegal, and you're no good,” said Ms. Dillman, who has two young children by Mr. Ramirez and a 3-year-old who thought of him as her father. On Ms. Dillman's fireplace mantel hangs a medallion of Jesus that Mr. Ramirez was wearing the night he was beaten. Mr. Ramirez had an imprint on the medallion on his chest, marking where an assailant stomped on him, she said. Police Chief Matthew Nestor acknowledged there have been problems as the community - the birthplace of big band musicians Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and home of Mrs. T's Pierogies - has tried to adjust to an influx of Hispanics, who now comprise as much as 10 percent of the population. Teenagers have sprayed racially tinged graffiti and yelled racial slurs at the newcomers, he said. “Things are definitely not the way they used to be even 10 years ago. Things have changed here radically,” Chief Nestor said. “Some people could adapt to the changes and some just have a difficult time doing it. ... Yeah, there is tension at times. You can't deny that.” ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOGRAPHS Crystal Dillman (left), 24 sits with her children Kiara, 2, (second left) and Anjelina, 3, and sister Lita Rector at home in Shenandoah, Pa., Miss Dillman blames the beating death of her Mexican-immigrant fiance, Luis Ramirez, on racism. Police are interviewing suspects and witnesses. Preliminarily, though, they have determined that Mr. Ramirez, who worked in a factory and picked strawberries and cherries, got into an argument with a group of youths that escalated into a fight in which he was badly outnumbered. “From what we understand right now, it wasn't racially motivated,” Chief Nestor said. “This looks like a street fight that went wrong.” Retired Philadelphia Police Officer Eileen Burke, who lives on the street where the fight occurred, told the Associated Press she heard a youth scream at one of Mr. Ramirez's friends after the beating to tell his Mexican friends to get out of Shenandoah, “or you're going to be laying next to him.” Shenandoah Valley High School Principal Phillip Andras said he knew little about the purported involvement of any football players. A call by the AP to the athletic director was referred back to the principal. But the players' possible involvement has added to interest in the case. Football, along with the town's many block parties and festivals, is a major attraction. Home games typically draw thousands of fans. Arielle Garcia and her husband, who were with Mr. Ramirez when he was beaten late Saturday, said they had dropped their friend off at a park but returned when he called to say he had gotten into a fight. (Editor: this statement is puzzling. It seems to imply that there were two fights in which Ramirez was involved.) She saw someone kick Mr. Ramirez in the head, she said, and “that's when he started shaking and foaming out of the mouth.” Despite the witness statements, Borough Manager Joseph Palubinsky said he doesn't believe Mr. Ramirez's ethnicity was what prompted the fight: “I have reason to know the kids who were involved, the families who were involved, and I've never known them to harbor this type of feeling.” |
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Pa. teens charged in fatal beating of immigrant By Michael Rubinkam, Associated Press Writer July 25, 2008 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080725/ap_on_re_us/immigrant_killing_students |
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Three white teens were charged Friday in what officials said was an epithet-filled fatal beating of an illegal Mexican immigrant in a small northeast Pennsylvania coal town. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, were charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation in the July 12 attack on Luis Ramirez. A third teen, Derrick M. Donchak, 18, was charged with aggravated assault, ethnic intimidation and other offenses. All are from Shenandoah, where the attack occurred. Additional charges are expected in the case that has roiled Shenandoah, a small, economically depressed town where police have reported friction between whites and a growing Hispanic population. The suspects played football at Shenandoah Valley High School; Donchak, now enrolled at Bloomsburg University, was the quarterback last season. "As a result of this crime, a young man has lost his life. Many other lives have been devastated, and the borough of Shenandoah has been filled with tensions between many ethnic groups," Schuylkill County District Attorney James Goodman said. "Now that the criminal charges have been filed, we must let this case be handled in the criminal justice system," he said. According to a police affidavit, the defendants and three 17-year-olds encountered Ramirez, 25, and a teenage girl in a park the night of July 12. The youths goaded Ramirez and the girl, saying, "You should get out of this neighborhood" and "Get your Mexican boyfriend out of here," documents said. After Ramirez and the girl began walking away, someone yelled an ethnic slur at him, court documents said. He responded, "What's your problem?" A fight ensued, during which police said Walsh punched Ramirez in the face. The victim fell and hit his head on the street, leaving him unconscious, after which Piekarsky kicked him in the head, police said. All three suspects used ethnic slurs during the fight, which ended with Ramirez in convulsions and foaming at the mouth, authorities said. The attackers fled the scene; Ramirez underwent surgery but died July 14 of head injuries. Piekarsky and Walsh were being held without bail, while Donchak was held on $75,000 bail. Lawyers for Piekarsky and Walsh said their clients are not guilty and that there was no evidence to support the homicide charges. They also said they would try to have the case removed to juvenile court. Roger Laguna, Walsh's lawyer, said the police affidavit "pretty much describes chaos, and what you have then after the fact is somebody trying to sort through that and attribute certain acts to certain individuals." He said that although slurs might have been used, the fight was not motivated by ethnicity. "I think any time there's a fight and any time you have one ethnic group fighting another, there's going to be racial slurs," he said. "I've seen that since I was a kid on a playground 20 years ago, but they never called it ethnic intimidation until very recently." Frederick Fanelli, Piekarsky's lawyer, said he is "surprised and disappointed" that his client faces a homicide charge, attributing Ramirez's death to a "street fight that ended tragically." Donchak declined to comment. Ramirez, who entered the U.S. illegally about six years ago, worked in a factory and picked strawberries and cherries. Crystal Dillman, the victim's 24-year-old fiancee, who is white and grew up in Shenandoah, has said Ramirez was often called derogatory names and told to return to his homeland. The couple had two children together, and Dillman also has a 3-year-old who thought of Ramirez as her father. "I plan on moving out of this town as fast as I can. Not because I'm scared. I just don't want to see my children have to deal with what their father dealt with," Dillman said. Preliminary hearings for all three suspects were set for Aug. 4. Goodman said a fourth teen will be charged as a juvenile with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation and that charges also will be filed against a man who provided alcohol to the defendants hours before the attack. Click for supportive action underway.
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BIRTH OF A COLLABORATION |
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Dr.
Henry J. Casso on the left speaks with Clara Padilla Andrews, Pres.
of the National Assn of Hispanic Publications and Victor Mancilla, Victor Mancilla,
media documentarian. BIRTH OF A COLLABORATION Greetings, the NCLR 2008 Conference's 40th anniversary was the opportunity for the Co-creators of Witness to Heritage to finally meet face to face. After many months of discussing the concept of collaboration and cooperative, via conference calls and emails, the group finally met during the NCLR conference and settled on a loose structure and dedicated support, one to another. Happenstance brought the group together, each focusing on promoting Hispanic historical contributions through a different avenue or media. Good intent will carry the work forward. Witness
to Heritage is an organization dedicated to promoting an awareness of
positive Hispanic contributions to world history, with an emphasis on the
vital role played by Hispanics in the development of the United States with
the objective of developing more positive self image for younger
generations. Are
you engaged in promoting history and heritage. We
welcome your involvement as Witnesses to Heritage
in your city, neighborhood, or state. Let us know what you or a group
that you are associated with are doing to affirm our historical presence. We
would like to promote and assist you. We
invite and welcome you all to be Witnesses to our Heritage.
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HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH |
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2008 Theme: "Getting Involved: Our Families, Our Community, Our
Nation" Sample Proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month Latino Leaders websites Celebrating Hispanic Heritage, Teacher Materials |
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Sample Proclamation for Hispanic Heritage Month Posted April 23, 2008: National Council of Hispanic Employment Program Managers. Winning theme was submitted by Amy Shalom, Environmental Service, USDA, APHIS PPD in Riverdale, MD. |
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As we celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Month, we
applaud the accomplishments of Hispanic Americans and recognize the
contributions they make to our great land. To honor the achieve of
Hispanic Americans, the Congress, by Public Law 100-402, as amended, has
authorized and requested the President to issue annually a proclamation
designating September 15 through October 15 as "National Hispanic
Heritage Month." We encourage
all citizens to recognize the the strength and vitality
that Hispanics have contributed historically to
our Nation. WHEREAS, Hispanic
Americans are now the largest minority in the United States .
. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED,
that the Oranage County Board of Supervisors in Santa Ana,
California proclaim
September 15th through October 15th
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Latino Leaders websites |
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| WEB RESULTS Latino Leaders Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way © Latino Leaders is a publication of Ferraez http://www.latinoleaders.com National Community for Latino Leadership, Inc. Latino Leaders Network " Mickey Ibarra, Founder and Chairman
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Celebrating Hispanic Heritage, Teacher Materials
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Editor: Celebrating Hispanic Heritage is a companion website to Somos
Primos. The historical tidbits which were the first items included on the website could also lead to further research in history, social studies, Spanish, English, and ESL classes. Best wishes
to all classroom teachers and youth leaders who sense the urgency of
helping our youth . . . God bless, Mimi
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Military and Law Enforcement Heroes |
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Hispanics in the Navy,
with non-Hispanic surnames Latinos/Latinas – Ultimate – Sacrifice Part VII U.S. Latino and Latina World War II Oral History Project Luis Fenollosa Emilio: A Brave Hispanic Soldier In Memoriam: S1/c Sijifredo Salinas, 1922 - 1945. The Col. Juan Ayala Story, Department of Defense Heroes Elwood Richard Quesada, Lieutenant General, US Air Force China Burma India Theatre 2LT Francis Ildefonso Cervantes Honoring Forgotten Heroes Veterans History Project Air Force Memorial Foundation |
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Rear Admiral George E. Mayer Rear Admiral George
E. "Rico" Mayer (born
c. 1950) is a United States Naval officer who is the Commander of the
Naval Safety Center. On June 3, 2003, Mayer commanded the Carrier Group
Eight from his flagship USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) during the 31st annual
maritime exercise Baltic operations (BALTOPS). It was the first time in
BALTOPS history that included combined ground troops from Russia, Poland,
Denmark and the United States. Early years As an aviator, he was
first qualified in the A-7 Corsair aircraft and later qualified in the
F-18 Hornet, the United States first strike-fighter. 
A7 Corsair - type of aircraft Mayer flew Naval career:
Mayer served in the
following shore duty assignments: Executive Assistant to the Chief of
Legislative Affairs and as the Light Attack/Strike Fighter Junior Officer
Detailer in Washington, D.C.; Deputy Director of Operations, United States
Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida; Spanish Command and
Staff College in Madrid, Spain. He also attended the U.S. Naval War
College in Newport, Rhode Island, where he obtained a Master’s degree in
National Security and Stratigic Studies. He was serving as Deputy Director
of Operations, J3, at the U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base
when on February 15, 2002 Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
announced that President George W. Bush had promoted him to the grade of
rear admiral (Upper half). Mayer flew the A-7
Corsairs with the “Dambusters ” of VA-195 (Strike Fighter
Squadron-195), the VFA-25 “Fist of the Fleet”, the “Flying Eagles
” of VA-122 as an instructor pilot and the “Gunslingers” of VA-105
as a department head in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2001,
striking targets deep in Afghanistan. He was later assigned to the F/A-18
Hornet for his command tour with the “Rampagers” of VFA-83. His other
command tours included the VFA-106, the East Coast F/A-18 fleet
replacement squadron, Carrier Air Wing Seven, and Carrier Group Eight. BALTOPS
2003
USS Vella Gulf (CG-72) Mayer, Commanded the Carrier Group Eight, whose base of operations
is located in Norfolk, Virginia, in an international naval exercise known
as Baltic operations (BALTOPS) 2003 from his flagship USS Vella Gulf
(CG-72). Thirteen nations participated in the exercise, which included
more than 3,600 personnel, 36 ships, 3 submarines, over 40 aircraft, and 6
different ground forces from Allied and Partnership for Peace (PfP)
nations which included Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia,
Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the
United States. For the first time in
the history of the exercise, BALTOPS 03 included ground force elements
that trained in interoperability exercises, which included a combined
Russian, Polish, Danish and American amphibious landings in Poland and an
evacuation of role-playing non-combatants by both sea and air from
Bornholm, Denmark.[4] Other Commands In August 2005, Mayer
was assigned as commander, Naval Safety Center in Norfolk, Virginia. As
commander, he is his responsibility that the center complies with its
mission which is providing safety, assistance and advice to the CNO, CMC,
and the Deputy Assistant SECNAV for Safety in order to enhance the war
fighting capability of the Navy and Marine Corps, preserve resources and
improve combat readiness by preventing mishaps and saving lives. Mayer is an advocate
of Hispanic recruitment and active participation in the Armed Forces and
has been quoted as saying: "One of the
biggest strengths of the Hispanic community is its ability to produce
leaders in all facets of society and industry" Rear Adm. Mayer has
accumulated over 4,000 flight hours and has logged more than 1,000
carrier-arrested landings. Recognition Among Rear Admiral Mayer's military decoration are the following: Defense Superior Service Medal Legion of Merit with a Gold Star Bronze Star Medal
Rear Admiral Patrick H. Brady
By: Tony (The Marine) Santiago
Rear Admiral Patrick H. Brady Rear Admiral
Patrick H. Brady (born 1959) is
an American submarine commander who in July 2007 became the first person
of Hispanic descent to be named Commander of the Naval Undersea Warfare
Center. He is one of four Admirals of Hispanic descent who are currently
serving in the United States Navy.
Military career In 1995, Brady was on
the staff of Commander Submarine Force, of the U.S. Pacific Fleet as a
member of the Tactical Readiness Evaluation Team. During this period he
under took courses from the Air Force Command and Staff College via
correspondence.
USS Portsmouth In 1997, Brady was
promoted to the rank of Commander and he served as the commanding officer
of the USS Portsmouth (SSN-707), a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack
submarine. Under his command, the Portsmouth under his leadership received
various recognitions. Among the recognition's received after completing a
Western Pacific Deployment were the COMSUBPAC (Commander, Submarine
(forces), Pacific (Ocean)) Silver Anchor Award and the Squadron Battle
Efficiency, Engineering, Navigation, Communications and Damage Control
Awards. Brady served aboard the USS Portsmouth until August 2000 when he
became a member of the Acquisition Professional Corps. As a member of the
Acquisition Professional Corps, he served in various positions, among them
Deputy Design Manager and Warfare Requirements Manager; Program Manager
for the Virginia Class Submarine Program Office; Major Program Manager for
Submarine Combat and Weapons Control Program Office; Executive Assistant
to the Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command; and the Major Program Manager
for Advanced Undersea Systems. During this period of time Brady received
Level Three acquisition training and in 2002 a promotion to Captain. In April 27, 2007,
Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates announced that President George W.
Bush had nominated Brady for the rank of Rear Admiral. Upon his promotion
to Rear Admiral (lower half), Brady joined Rear Admiral's Albert Garcia,
Will Rodriguez and George E. Mayer as one of the four Admirals of Hispanic
descent who are currently serving in the United States Navy. In July of
that same year he beca Motivational speaker Among Rear Admiral
Brady's military awards are the following: * Legion of Merit with
one gold star (2 awards) Badges:
Rear Admiral Jay A. DeLoach
By: Tony (The Marine) Santiago
Rear Admiral Jay A. DeLoach Rear Admiral Jay A.
DeLoach born in 1955 was a American submarine commander who played an
instrumental role in implementing a visionary "Memorandum of
Understanding" between the Submarine Force Active component and the
Reserve component. He helped pioneer many key initiatives that have since
been adopted Navy-wide. DeLoach was the Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval
Operations for Resources, Requirements and Assessments. Early years: DeLoach was born in San Diego, California to Jesse Howell DeLoach and Berta Peña, a young woman from Texas of Hispanic-American descent. DeLoach's father was a Chief Yeoman when he met Ms Peña, who at that time (early 1950s) worked building F-102 fighters at the Convair plant in San Diego. DeLoach's father received a commission in 1960 through the Limited Duty Officer program and as a result, the family was in a constant state of relocation, with DeLoach attending schools in various states. DeLoach's family had a strong tradition of Naval Service. His grandfather was a Chief Machinist's Mate in the Navy and served for 23 years from 1922 to 1945. DeLoach received his first taste of what Navy life when he was a teenager and his father took him out on his minesweeper for two weeks. This experience plus, the fact that it was his family's tradition to serve in the Navy were influential factors when in 1974 he choose to attend the United States Naval Academy upon his graduation from First Colonial High in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Because of a permanent injury to his right shoulder from birth, DeLoach barely passed the entrance physical exam and medical screening to get into the Naval Academy. The type of shoulder injury suffered by DeLoach is known as Brachial Plexus Injury. The brachial plexus is an arrangement of nerve fibers (a plexus) running from the spine (vertebrae C5-T1), through the neck, the axilla (armpit region), and into the arm. DeLoach passed the physical as a result of his parent's early intervention and persistent exercising of his arm. He was able to make good use of his right arm even though it only had one-third of the strength of his left arm.
Military
career
USS Patrick Henry DeLoach graduated with
a Bachelor of Science degree in Marine Engineering from the Naval Academy
in 1978 and commissioned an Ensign. He entered training and service in
submarines and made ten deterrent patrols on the USS Kamehameha in the
Mediterranean, USS Patrick Henry in
the South China Sea, and USS Lewis and Clark in northern Atlantic.
He served as Engineer Officer in the latter two and was awarded
three Battle Efficiency 'E' awards. In 1980, he was promoted to Lieutenant
Junior Grade and in 1983 to Lieutenant.
DeLoach, who received a spot promotion to Lieutenant Commander in
1984, was the Sonar Transducer Branch Chief at Naval Sea Systems Command
from 1987 to 1989. During this period of time DeLoach earned a Masters of
Arts in Management & Supervision degree from Central Michigan
University in 1987 and in 1988 was permanently promoted to Lieutenant
Commander. DeLoach played an
instrumental role in furthering the integration of the Submarine Force’s
Reserve Component with the Active component into a surge-ready force.
Under DeLoach's direction, the Submarine Force’s Reserve Component has
continued to lead this transformation to the new model of war fighting
wholeness. DeLoach's role in implementing a visionary Memorandum of
Understanding between the Submarine Force Active component and the Reserve
component is considered to have pioneered many key initiatives that have
since been adopted Navy-wide. On February 25, 2003,
then Captain Deloach was nominated
for appointment to the rank of rear admiral (lower half) while serving as
commanding officer, Naval Reserve, commander, Seventh Fleet Detachment
111, Fort Worth, Texas. That same year he earned a Masters of Arts in
National Security and Strategic Studies form the Naval War College. On
September 3, Deloach was promoted to Rear Admiral in a ceremony held at
the Navy Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Search for the USS Alligator
USS ''Alligator'' Last assignment Currently DeLoach is a Senior
Executive Service equivalent with the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety
Board in Washington, D.C.. He is also an adjunct professor teaching one
night a week for the Naval War College. He has been the
motivational keynote speaker in various Hispanic related conferences.
Among them the recently held Society of Mexican American Engineers and
Scientists, Inc. 18th Annual National Leadership Conference held at the
University of Texas in El Paso, Texas. Deloach retired from
the Navy on August 25, 2007, after 33 years of service. He resides in
[Herndon, Virginia with his wife Jodi whom he met in 1978 at a dance at
the Naval Academy. They have two grown daughters, Jessica and Jaclyn. Military awards and
decorations Badges:
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Latinos/Latinas – Ultimate – Sacrifice Part
VII By Mercy Bautista-Olvera
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In the coming months this series
“Latinos/Latinas Ultimate Sacrifice” will present the stories and
contributions of heroes who have sacrificed their lives for
Francisco
family immigrated to
Erik Silva was the youngest of four children, he
graduated from
Osbaldo Orozco was a star linebacker at
Jose
Gonzalez Rodriguez was a Mexican immigrant with a
large and supportive family. He attended
Atanacio
Haro Marin was born in
Pablo Manzano Jr., graduated from
Pfc.
Army Pfc. Analaura Esparza Gutierrez, engaged to be married to Army Sgt.
Jose Gomez of
(Army
Sgt. Jose Gomez 23, of Jose Gomez’ mother brought him to married the following year after Army Pfc. Analaura Gutierrez
returned from Jose Gomez joined the Army for college benefits; He met and fell in
love with Army Pfc. Analaura Esparza Gutierrez, and asked her to marry him
during his first tour in
Jose
Casanova graduated from Special thanks to Alan Lessig, Director of Photography, for the website,
“Military Times, Honor
the Fallen” (www.militarycity.com) for granting permission to reproduce
photos for this article. |
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Mike C Gomez
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| Luis F. Emilio was born in Salem MA, on the 22nd of December of 1844, the son of Spanish immigrants from Malaga, His father, Manuel Emilio, taught music there and his mother, Ysobel Fenollosa, was a homemaker. His grandfather served against the French in Spain with credit and wounds, and his own father fought against the first Don Carlos, receiving the Cross of Maria Isabella Luisa, one of the orders of chivalry. Apparently young Luis’ military heritage and the abolitionist and patriotic fervor that swept Massachusetts at the outbreak of the Civil war led him to enlist in the Union Army. Accordingly on October 19, 1861, just before his seventeenth birthday, he joined Company F, Twenty-third Massachusetts Infantry, from his native city of Salem, Massachusetts, Captain Emilio's ardor and activity placed him among the first of his regiment to penetrate the swamps of Roanoke Island and enter the enemy's entrenchment, and at New Berne to advance beyond the line with a comrade, where they acted as sharp-shooters. Thus early on he distinguished himself and was placed on the color-guard, and promoted to sergeant. He took part, under General John G. Foster, in the engagements at Southwest Creek, Kinston, Whitehall, and Goldsborough. After the severe losses of the 23d, at Whitehall, he volunteered to command the rescuing party in an effort to bring the wounded from under the enemy's fire, but was not permitted. Such services, combined with intelligent performance of every duty, pointed him out, despite his youth, as worthy of higher rank. The Secretary of War selected him to report for assignment and promotion; Governor Andrew, of Massachusetts, tendered him a commission in the first colored regiment raised in the North, under Colonel Robert G. Shaw, and his own regimental commander assured him of higher rank if he would but remain. However a personal letter from Colonel Shaw decided his choice. He reported at Boston, and was made a captain in the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry commanding Company E. Present at the maiden fight of his regiment at James Island, July 16, 1863, he also took a prominent part in the sanguinary night assault on Fort Wagner two days later, when the Fifty-fourth led the storming column. When most of the regiments senior officer were killed or wounded in that action he became the 54th Acting Regimental Commander, gallantly rallying the fragments of his regiment, and of many white soldiers from other units. Amid the chaos of defeat he advanced with this sole remnant of the leading brigades to the support of the only unbroken one, and held an important position until relieved. For his conduct that night he received the thanks of General Thomas G. Stevenson on the field. Soon after the battle he frequently command several elements of the Fifty-fourth, in General Gilmore’s expedition to Florida. He was in charge of the exposed outpost of Black Island with several companies; commanding Fort Greene against the James Island batteries; throughout General Foster's attack upon James Island in 1864; at Boyd's Landing, Devaux's Neck, and the Tullifinny, and during the march to Charleston, His last engagement was on February 7, 1865, when, with three companies, he drove the enemy's force of cavalry and artillery from before our advancing column all day. He accompanied his regiment to Savannah in March, 1865, and was mustered out after three and one-half years' honorable service. He was not yet 21 years old. His other assignments were: Acting judge-advocate, First Division, Tenth Corps; acting judge-advocate, Southern District; and acting provost-marshal, Coast Division, Department of the South. After the war Captain Emilio went to San Francisco in 1867, where he became prominently identified with real estate and building operations. In 1876 he married Mary Elizabeth Belden, of San Jose, California, Thee had three children but two of them died in infancy and the oldest, Luis Victor, died at age 15 in 1894 in New York City where his parents had relocated in 1881. Mary, died in 1903 while visiting in Atlantic City, NJ’ Captain Emilio was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion; Lafayette Post, Grand Army of the Republic; the United Service and Seventh Regiment Veteran clubs; the New York Real Estate Exchange, and other social and business organizations. Well known as a military authority, his writings include "A Brave Black Regiment, History of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry;" besides many published and unpublished papers and articles, among which are "The Occupation, Defense, and Fall of Roanoke Island," " Organization of the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts Infantry," "The Fifty-fourth Massachusetts in the Assault of Fort Wagner," "Siege of Fort Wagner," and "The Expedition to Florida." When A Brave Black Regiment was first published in 1891 the many literary critics refused to review it doubting military prowess of black soldiers. One notable exception was The Nation which lauded it. He was also a collector of military buttons and was a cofounder a group called "The American Buttonist”. In this regard, he wrote a book The Emilio Collection of Military Buttons that was originally published in 1911 by The Essex Institute (Salem, MA). This catalogue was considered, to be “the best authority on military buttons, and the collection itself the best of its kind in America.” Luis Fenollosa Emilio died in New York City at age 70 on September 16, 1918. His four brothers and sisters brought his body back for burial in Salem. His grave is at Harmony Grove Cemetery and the inscription on his tombstone reads: A Gallant Soldier LUIS FENELLOSA EMILIO Volunteered - October 15, 1861, 23rd Mass. Vol. Inf. Capt. May 22, 1863, 54th Mass. Volunteer Infantry THE BRAVE BLACK REGIMENT Mustered out March 27, 1865 Life's Battles Fought. The Victory Won VALE Sources: Officers of the Volunteer Army and Navy who served in the Civil War, published by L.R. Hamersley & Co., 1893, 419 pgs. Professor Gregory J. W. Urwin, Historian, University of Central Arkansas. (He portrayed Luis F. Emilio in the film Glory leading a recreated Company E in the film, Glory) Miguel Hernández Torres miguel.hdz@verizon.net |
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Memoriam: S1/c Sijifredo Salinas 1922- 9 January 1945 |
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Sijifredo Salinas was born to Eliseo Salinas and Maria de la Luz Cuellar-Salinas in 1922. He was born, lived and graduated high school (1940) in Pharr, Hidalgo County, Texas, in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Due to the improvised state of his family due to the effects of the Great Depression of the 1930's he immediately joined the Civilian Conservation Corp's (CCC) and was placed on a road and parks crew in the Colorado Rockies. In 1942 he resigned in order to join the U.S. Navy. After Boot Camp in San Diego, California he was transferred to Bremerton, Washington to join the crew off the USS COLORADO (BB-45). He was assigned to and trained in medium-sized gunnery. On his 7th campaign of the "island hopping" Pacific War he was badly burned by a Kamikaze that hit the gunnery mount next to his. This was 22 September 1944. There was no where to evacuate him too so he stayed aboard. On 8 January 1945 the ship's Commanding Officer asked for all volunteer's to man unoccupied gun mounts. He volunteered out of sick bay and took a lighter gun just under the bridge. As dawn was breaking on the 9th, another Kamikaze broke through the massive deployment of defensive gunnery surrounding the COLORADO and struck just below the bridge in the Lingayen Gulf in the opening hours of the second (northern) invasion of the Philippines. Sijifredo and 45 other men, including the ship's commanding officer, were killed instantly. Herein, he won his second Purple Heart. He was 22 and a Tribute to the Naval Services. He was buried at sea that evening. His memory continues on below a tombstone in an empty grave in the "Salinas Family Plot" of the Guadalupe Cemetery of Saint Margaret's Church in Pharr, Texas.
Mimi, Sijifredo was my uncle. We have alway's acted, and still
do, as
if he were still alive.
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The Col. Juan Ayala Story Hometown: El Paso, Texas Awarded: Legion of Merit Interviewed: Dec 26, 2007 Links to: Sent by Rafael Ojeda |
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and national army. In Iraq, U.S. commanders have helped achieve stability in former hotbeds of violence by building up Iraqi Security Forces, thanks to the creative efforts of soldiers and Marines, such as Marine Corps Col. Juan Ayala. During his third tour in Iraq, from January 2006 to January 2007, Col. Ayala served as the Senior Advisor to the 1st Iraqi Army Division, based at Camp Habbaniyah. Numerous challenges faced Ayala and his 29-man team, as they operated daily in tandem with the Iraqis. The Division lacked soldiers, trained officers and equipment. The surrounding terrain proved hostile as well. In early 2006, Anbar province remained volatile, and the Iraqi Army often found itself engaged in battles with civilians allied with insurgents. Over time, under Ayala’s guidance, the Iraqis increased their areas of responsibility and gained credibility among the population. Specifically, Col. Ayala revamped the staff functions of the Division, drawing up missions that fit its skill set. He collaborated with local imams and sheiks to obtain approval for operations. As a result of the built-up trust, the flow of actionable intelligence to the Division increased, as did the number of formerly hostile Sunnis to the Division’s ranks. So many ended up joining the Iraqi forces that they eventually gained a title: the “sons of Al Anbar.” Ayala helped plan and execute 52 direct action patrols in the area, which yielded 25 captured insurgents. Ayala’s input resulted in the creation of a 24-hour joint Iraqi/Advisor Combat Operations Center, which helped obtain situational awareness on the ground. Other positive developments under Ayala’s tenure included equipment improvements and the purging of hundreds of bogus soldiers from the Division’s ranks. Under Ayala, the implementation of a Unit Tracking Program (UTP) was influential in maintaining accountability among the Iraqi soldiers in the Division. Ayala often went on patrols, serving as a vehicle and convoy commander. He was hit twice by IEDs, but kept going out on missions to assess the Division’s ability in the field. He led 17 teams and 225 advisors at different levels of command, to improve the capabilities of the Division. Today, two of the Division’s Brigades, the 3rd and the 4th, function without coalition assistance. For his efforts in building up the 1st Iraqi Army Division, Col. Ayala earned the Legion of Merit with Combat Distinguishing Device. |
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General Quesada became commanding general of the 9th Command and the 9th Tactical Air Command in Europe in November 1943. In April 1944 he became a major general. Quesada returned to the United States in June 1945 as assistant chief of air staff for intelligence at Headquarters Army Air Forces. General Quesada went to Tampa, Fla., as commanding general of the Third Air Force on March 1, 1946. This group soon became Tactical Air Command. As head of TAC he was promoted to lieutenant general in October 1947 and in November 1948 became special assistant for reserve forces at Headquarters U.S. Air Force. |
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Americans were in combat in China, Burma, or India. CBI was important however to the overall Allied war effort because of early plans to base air and naval forces in China for an eventual assault on Japan. Allied forces, mostly British, Chinese, and Indian, also engaged large numbers of Japanese troops that might have otherwise been used elsewhere. America's major contribution in CBI was war materials and the manpower to get it to where it was needed. Army Air Forces flew supplies to China while Army Engineers built the Ledo Road to open up a land supply route. Except for stories of "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, Merrill's Marauders, and a few others, CBI did not often make headlines in the newspapers back home. The early importance of CBI quickly faded as the war progressed. Thus the Forgotten Theater label that remains to this day. My name is Elmer Bukey and I was a member of the 396th Air Service Squadron with the 12th Air Service Group attached to Gen. Chennault's 14th Air Force In China during 1944 and 1945. This page was created to allow easy access to sites related to the C.B.I. Theatre Of Operation during the years of 1942 thru 1945 in World War 11. I take no credit for any of the great sites on this page with the exception of my Home Page China Days and my Tribute To The 14th Air Force Site. These sites are included on this page strictly for your enjoyment and information. If anyone objects to my having his site on my page please advise me of such and I will take steps to correct the problem. Enjoy your visit to the C.B.I. Theatre: The CBI Shoulder Patches And The 14th Air Force Emblem My Home Page China Days 1944-1945 A Tribute To The 14th Air Force The Home Page Of The 308th Bomb Group The Home Page Of The 341st Bomb Group New Web Site "Remembering Shared Honor" By Pat Lucas And His Crew With Lots Of CBI Photos And Other Materials The Official Home Page Of The China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC) A Memorial Site To Donald Kiefer And The 21st Photo Recon Squadron Combat Cargo Group Of The C.B.I Theatre Steven Porath's Tribute To His Dad Ben Porath And The 308th Bomb Group Home Page Of The 23rd Fighter Group Web Site Of The 69th Depot Repair Sq.~14th Air Force~CBI Chris Kelly's Tribute To His Grandfather In The C.B.I. Carl Weidenburner's Tribute To His Dad Warren In The CBI USAAF 27th Troup Carrier Squadron Robert Holtz Pictorial Tribute To His Dad R.C.Holtz In The C.B.I. Theatre Pics Of Calcutta & More By Glenn Hensley Of The 40th PRS CBI Order Of Battle~Units History And Lineages John Mongel's Tribute To His Dad And The Flying Tigers The 25th Fighter Sq.-51st Fighter Group-China 42-45 The Saga Of The Yamamoto Shoot-Down A.V.G Flying Tigers Annals Of The Flying Tigers 374th Airdrome Squadron In The C.B.I. A Tribute To The 10th Air Force Chinese~American 1st Provisional Tank Group In The C.B.I. Theatre Michael Hernendez Tribute To His Grandfather Dad's C.B.I. Page Neil Gardner's Tribute To His Dad The Sino- American Aviation Heritage Foundation Must See Web Site Carl Weidenburner's Tribute To The Builders Of The Ledo Road ~ CBI Theatre~ Carl Weidenburner's Remembering The Forgotten Theatre~China~Burma~India ~World War 11 Official Home Page Of The 14th Air Service Group And The 987 Signal Company Sent by Rafael Ojeda |
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Alfonso
Bernard Perez War: World War II, 1939-1946 Branch: Air Force Unit: 9th Bomb Squadron, 7th Bomb Group Service: China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel Place of Birth: El Paso, TX |
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Sharing his experiences with a classroom of special education students, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Alfonso Perez, who served throughout the China-Burma-India Theater in WWII, recalls his most difficult take-off: “We were all lined up. The first plane went to take off. He didn’t have the speed and exploded. On the next plane, apparently the pilot was nervous. He started putting on the brakes, and he exploded.” Perez recalls losing twenty of his friends while waiting to depart. “And then we were next to take off. And the pilot just decided we were going to make it all the way -- we were going to have full power. I remember that. Thanksgiving Day, 1943.” http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp-stories/loc.natlib.afc2001001.34427/
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My father was born on November 6, 1922, in New Orleans. He was the first-born child of Mexican immigrants and had two younger sisters. His father, Francisco, was a veteran of the Mexican Revolution who had come to this country seeking a better life. My father's dream was to become an aeronautical engineer. He was a sophomore at Tulane University when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He wanted he to immediately join the service but his parents pleaded with him to stay in school. He reluctantly agreed to postpone his enlistment, but only until the completion of the school year. He eventually enlisted in the USAAF on June 12, 1942. He met my mother, Paula Andrade while stationed in San Antonio, Texas. He was assigned to Navigator School and she was serving as a volunteer hostess at the downtown USO. They fell in love and were married on Christmas Eve in the base chapel on Brook Army Air Force Base. She followed him throughout the West as he underwent flight training as a B-24 Liberator crew member. She still remembers the dust at Wendover, Utah, the mosquitoes at Mountain Home, Idaho, and the beauty around Casper, Wyoming. They last saw each other in Wichita, Kansas just before he flew off to England in the spring of 1944. Their aircraft was named "Back to the Sack" and featured a painting of Donald Duck in a nightshirt and nightcap, holding a candle and yawning. Upon arrival in England, this crew was asked to volunteer for the elite 492nd Bombardment Group (Provisional), the now famous Carpetbaggers. This was a unit under the command of the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), not the USAAF. The OSS was the forerunner of today's CIA. All crews were volunteers, and were under strict orders to maintain secrecy about their missions, under penalty of death. Their mission was to fly into the occupied countries and drop spies and supplies to the resistance fighters. They would also, when possible, land behind enemy lines and extract downed Allied airmen. Most of their missions were flown at night, alone, and at low level to avoid German radar. Casualty rates, as expected, were very high. Some crews simply disappeared, probably crashing at sea. They were under strict orders to maintain radio silence, even when in trouble. If captured and identified, they were treated as spies and executed by the nazis. Several excellent books have been written about the exploits of the Carpetbaggers. Among these are: "They Flew by Night, Memoirs of the Carpetbaggers" as told to Col. Robert W. Fish, "Carpetbaggers-America's Secret War in Europe," by Ben Parnell, and "The Bedford Triangle, US Undercover Operations in Europe in W.W.II", by Martin W. Bowman. After the liberation of France in December, 1945, my father and his crew again volunteered to fly similar missions in Eastern Europe, this time out of Italy. On February 9, 1945, while on a mission to drop supplies to the partisans fighting the nazis in Yugoslavia, their aircraft exploded in midair as they crossed the Adriatic coast over present day Croatia. There were no survivors and the cause of the explosion was never determined. Their remains were initially interred in the American Cemetery in Belgrade, and eventually re-interred in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery near St. Louis, Missouri. The individual remains could not be identified and they were buried in a group as comrades-in-arms. They are: 1st Lt. Robert W. Maxwell, pilot 2nd Lt. Frank E. Marcus, copilot 2nd Lt. Francis I. Cervantes, navigator 2nd Lt. Robert C. Jackson. bombardier S/Sgt. Lionel A. Tetzloff S/Sgt. William P. Kavanaugh S/Sgt. Kyle B. Jones Pvt. William W. Elliott I was born three weeks before my father died, and he knew of my birth. Although I never felt his touch or heard his voice, a day seldom passes that I don't think of him in some way. Like many war orphans, I would often dream that he would someday walk back into our lives and tell us it had all been a mistake- that he had been lost, or taken prisoner, or on a secret assignment. I was about ten when I finally realized he really wasn't coming home. Once I dreamt I was standing by his grave, and I remember I awoke in tears. I don't think my mother ever got over losing him. She never remarried. I am extremely proud of my father. He was and is my hero. He was loved, admired and respected by those who knew him. He was somewhat serious, hard working and quiet, but fun loving and gregarious at the right moments. He once went to pick my mom up for a date, but got too involved in a baseball game with her younger brothers and sisters in the street in front of her home and they never got to go out. He loved making things and was an award-winning model builder. I have a newspaper clipping of him receiving an award for a scale model of the Queen Mary that he built. That model is still in our family. Dad, I've always loved you and missed you. I have tried very hard to live my life in a way that would have made you proud of me. You have a beautiful daughter-in-law and granddaughter who I both love deeply. Thank you for your sacrifice. -- Frank Cervantes -- Sent by Rafael Ojeda RSNOJEDA@aol.com Rafael & Mimi, Rafael, |
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VETERANS HISTORY PROJECT 435 NASM, Hispanic Military http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/vhp/html/search/browse-race.html |
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Military Heroes in their classrooms are in their local libraaries and
City Halls when they request their local city,county and state "Proclamations"
Please remind people that if they want a Presidential Proclamation they
must write and request a copy at least by the first of August or
throught their U.S. Senators or Congressional Reps.
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Air Force Memorial Foundation http://www.airforcememorial.org/registry/index.asp |
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The Air Force Memorial Foundation was incorporated in
January 1992 to pursue the development of a Memorial that would honor the men and women of the United States Air Force and its heritage organizations. After almost 15 years of project development the Memorial was dedicated and accepted on behalf of the American people by President George W. Bush on October 14, 2006.
Browse the database alphabetically: |
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Patriots of the American Revolution |
| Granaderos
de Gálvez Celebrate Independence Day Spanish Patriots of Peru During American Revolution, Part 10: (L-Ll) |
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The
Order of Granaderos y Damas de Gálvez celebrated the 232nd
anniversary of our country’s independence on July 4, 2008 at the The
Granaderos believe Independence Day is a special day of the year to thank
our Creator for the precious gift of freedom we enjoy.
They also believe Independence Day is a most appropriate time to
honor our founding fathers, and our more recent patriots: the soldiers who
have defended our country through the years, that we may continue living as
a free nation. These tenets form
the foundation of the Independence Day celebrations sponsored by the
Granaderos every year.
This
year’s ceremony began with a symbolic “shot heard round the world”
representing the incident in The
procession was led by members of the Granaderos Color Guard and Distinguished
visitors in the audience included: Maj. Gen. Russell Czerw, commanding
general Ft. Sam Houston; Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson; Robert
Thonhoff, Historian, author and Past President of the Texas State Historical
Association; Lt. Col. Robert Culp, US Army North Executive Officer; Command
Sgts. Maj. George Nieves, US Army North, and Howard Riles, Ft. Sam Houston. The
invocation was inspiringly delivered by Rev. Dr. J. Knox Duncan of the
Bourne, Texas Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Phillicia Lopez, incoming freshman at Incarnate Word High School aptly led
the audience in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and a beautiful rendition
of the Nation Anthem was sung by Ms. Danielle King, of the Renaissance Guild
of San Antonio. Mitchell
Cruz and Staphany Lopez, upcoming seniors and top achievers at A
“Roll Call of the 13 Colonies” followed.
In this segment, the name of the thirteen colonies was announced over
the public address system in the order that each had ratified the
constitution, and a musket was fired after each colony was called.
Joel Escamilla, Master of Ceremonies and Governor of the Granaderos
Founding Chapter, called the roll of the colonies.
Granaderos participating in the Firing Party were Joe Perez, Gus
Martinez, and Peter Baron. They
were flanked by Larry Kirkpatrick carrying the Betsy Ross flag, and Antonio
Perez carrying the Burgundian Flag.
He added, “It is right that we highlight the
contributions of our Spanish allies today on this sacred ground where the
Soldiers, Lft.
to Rt. Front row: Staphany Lopez, Phillicia Lopez;
Lft.to Rt. Military Services
Detachment (MSD) Michael P.Hoffman (MSD
Joel Escamilla
Governor, Founding Chapter Granaderos y Damas de Gálvez San Antonio, Texas 210.364.2391 www.granaderos.org Photos courtesy of:
First Item:
In Picture 6, the names of the members of the Military Services Detachment
(MSD) are as follows (from left to right): Michael P. Hoffman (MSD
Commander), Santiago G. Tello, Robert T. Doyle, Joaquin R. Faz, Gilbert
Najera, Rudy G. Munoz, Fermin Gutierrez, and Richard T. Francis.
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Francisco Labado. Capt, Mil Urbanas Cab de Huamalies, 1800. Leg 7288:XVII:10. José Labarra. SubLt, Inf Real de Lima, 1796. Leg 7287:XXIV:58. José Ladaga. Cadet, Inf Real de Lima, 178 8. Leg 7283:II:150. Isidro Ladron de Guevara. Lt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Dragones de Huambos, partido de Cajamarca, 1792. Leg 7284:XIV:20. Juan Nepomucino Ladron de Guevara. Lt, Mil de Ind Española de San Juan de la Frontera de Chachapoya, 1792. Leg 7284:VI:19. Vicente Lafona y Tudela. Capt, Escuadrón de Dragones de Pacasmayo, 1800. Leg 7288:XXVIII:2. Juan José Lagos. SubLt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIII:47. Casimiro Lainez. SubLt, Mil Discip de Pardos y Morenos de Inf de Lambayeque, 1797. Leg 7287:XXIII:14. Miguel Lainez. SubLt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIII:45. Joaquin Lamadrid. SubLt, Mil Prov Discip Inf de San Miguel de Piura, 1800. Leg 7286:XXV:18. Domingo Lamasuade. Col, Mil Urbanas de Inf de Huancavelica, 1800. Leg 7288:XVI:4. José Lanao. Adjutant Major, Inf, Real de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXII:46. Basilio Landa. Sgt, Mil Urbanas de Dragones de Palma, Partido de Juaja, 1800. Leg 7288:XXI:33. Agustin Landaburu. Sgt Major, Mil Prov Urbanas de Dragones de Carabayllo, 1800. Leg 7288:IV:4. Domingo Landazuri. Cadet, Inf Real de Lima, 1794. Leg 7285:IX:110. Fermin Landazuri. Ayudante Mayor, graduate Capt, Inf Real de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXII:32. José Landazuri. Cadet, Inf Real de Lima, 1796. Leg 7287:XXIV:131. Salvador Landeira. Capt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Cab de Huanta, 1794. Leg 7285:III:6. Francisco Larra. Alf, Mil Discip de Dragones de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIV:44. Jean de Larramendi. Capt, Agregado, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1794: Leg 7285:VIII:20. Juan Miguel de Larraondo. Capt de Granaderos, Mil Prov Discip Inf de San Miguel de Piura, 1800. Leg 7286:XXV:7. Domingo Larrea. Capt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Dragones de Carabayllo, 1797. Leg 7287:VII:11. José Larrea. Capt, Mil Discip de Cab de Huaura, 1797. Leg 7287:XIX:4 Faustino Larreamendi. Lt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIII:28. Valentin Larreamendi. Lt, Inf, Real de Lima, 1788. Leg 7283:II:56. José Francisco Larreta. Capt de Granaderos, Mil Prov Urbanas Dragones de Celendin, Partido de lCajamarca, 1797. Leg 7287:IX:7. Matías Larreta. Lt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Dragones de Carabayllo, 1797. Leg 7287:VII:23. Francisco Larrua. Capt, grad, Comp sueltas de Inf y Cab, Morenos Libres de Lima, 1788. Leg 7283:V:2. Manuel Lasarte. Cadet, Inf Real de Lima, 1793. Leg 7284:IX:121. Juan Lascurin. Abanderado, Mil Prov Urbanas de Inf de San Antonio de Cajamarca, 1797. Leg 7287:III:23. Juan Ignacio Laso. Portaguión, Mil Prov Discip de Dragones del Valle de Majes, 1797. Leg 7287:XXV:20. Lorenzo Laso de la Vega. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip de Cab, Ccuzco, 1792. Leg 7284:XVII:48. Melchor Laso de la Vega. Capt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Inf de Urubamba, 1797. Leg 7287:XXXVIII:12. (It is possible this is the same person as the one listed next.) Melchor Laso de la Vega. Capt, Inf del Real Asiento de Paucartambo, 1798. Leg 7286:XIX:16. Manuel Lastra. Capt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Cab de Huánuco, 1797. Leg 7286:VI:4. Faustino Laurrunaga. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip Cab del Valle de Chincha, 1797. Leg 7287:XII:35. José Antonio Lavalle. Capt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1794. Leg 7285:VIII:26. Simóon Antonio Lavalle. Capt de Granaderos, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIII:16. José Casimiro Lavalle y Zugasti. SubLt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1794, Leg 7285:VIII:43. Juan Lavalle y Zugasti. Lt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1800.. Leg 7288:XXIII:33. Mariano Lavalle y Zugasti. SubLt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIII:41. Baltasar de Laya. Lt, Mil Prov Urbanas Dragones de Carabayllo, 1800. Leg 7288:IV:17. Ambrosio Lazo de la Cruz. Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Calca, 1797. Leg 7287:V:13, (no rank listed.) José Patricio Lazon. SubLt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Huanta, 1800. Leg 7288:XVIII:49. Pedro José Lazon. Capt de Granaderos, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Huanta, 1800. Leg 7288:XVIII:5. Tadeo Lazon. Capt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Huanta, 1800. Leg 7288:XVIII:12. Felipe Leaño. Lt, Mil Discip Dragones de Acari y Chala, 1796. Leg 7286:I:11. Nicolás Lecaroz. Sgt, Mil Urbanas Inf Miquegua, 1797. Leg 7287:XXVI:32. José Ledesma. Alf, Mil Discip Cab Ferreñafe, 1797. Leg 7287:XIV:31. Lorenzo Ledesma. Sgt, Mil Discip Dragones de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIV:66. Antonio Lefdal. Lt de Granaderos, Inf Real de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXII:31. Carlos Leguia. Sgt, Mil Urbanas Inf de Andahuaylas, 1801. Leg 7286:XXII:24. José Leiva. Alf, Mil Discip Dragones de Acari y Chala, 1796. Leg 7286:I:25. Miguel Leiva. Sgt, Mil Pardos Libres de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXV:11. Tiburcio Leiva. Sgt, Mil Urbanas CabnlSan Pablo de Chalaquez, 1798. Leg 7287:XI:45. Salvador Lentisclan. Capt, Inf Real de Lima, 1797. Leg 7287:XXIV:26. Cipriano Leon. Sgt, Mil Pardos Libres de Lima, 1796. Leg 7286:XII:47. Diego de Leon. Sgt, Inf Fijo Cartagena de Indias, 1800. Leg 7282:III:73. Ignacio Leon. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip Cab de Cuzco, 1792. Leg 7284:XVII:40. Mateo Leon. Capt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Abancay, 1793. Leg 7284:II:9. Mateo Leon. Sgt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Abancay, 1793. Leg 7284:II:74. Miguel de Leon. Lt, Mil Pardos Libres d3e Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXV:5. Salvador de Leon. Sgt, Mil Cab Pardos Libres de Lima, 1796. Leg 7286:XII:64. Tomás de Leon. Capt, Mil Urbanas Cab, San Pablo de Chalaquez, 1798. Leg 7287:XI:6. Pedro Leon Valdes. Cadet, Mil Prov Discip Inf de San Miguel de Piura, 1800. Leg 7286:XXV:35. Pedro Leon de Villanueva. Lt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Inf de San Antonio de Cajamarca, 1797. Leg 7287:III:13. José Lersundi. Alf, Mil Discip de Dragones de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIV:47. Juan Matías Lesaca. Ayudante Mayor, grad Capt, Mil Discip de Dragones de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIV:24. Francisco Liendo. Capt, Mil Discip de Dragones de Arica, 1800. Leg 7288:II:7. Domingo Ligarda. Lt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Abancay, 1793. Leg 7284:II:18. Juan Ligero. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip de Cab del Valle de Chincha, 1797. Leg 7287:XII:33. José Linares. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip de Arequipa, 1797. Leg 7287:II:62. Eduardo Linche. Alf de Granaderos, Comp sueltas de Mil Discip de Inf de Trujullo, Peru, 1800. Leg 7288:XXX:8. José Liñan. Sgt, Mil de Pardos libres de Lima, 1796. Leg 7286:XII:44. Antonio Lira. Capt, Mil Prov Discip de Dragones de cCCaraveli, 1797. Leg 7287:VIII:9. Francisco Lira. Sgt, Mil Dragones de Acari y Chala, 1796. Leg 7286:I:34. José Lizardi. Capt, Escuadrón de Cab Mil Urbanas de Moquegua, 1797. Leg 7287:XXVIII:4. Santiago Lizarve. Alf, Mil prov Urbanas de Cab de Huanta, 1798. Leg 7286:XVII:19. Manuel Lizarzaburu. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip de Cab del Valle de Chincha, 1797. Leg 7287:XII:32. Francisco Lizarraga. Lt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Inf de Calca, 1797. Leg 7287:V:9. Jerónimo Loaisa. Lt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Huanta, 1800. Leg 7288:XVIII:19. Mariano Loaisa. Lt, Mil Prov Discip de Cab de Cuzco, 1797. Leg 7287:X:21. Pedro Loaisa. Capt, Mil Prov Urbanas de Dragones de Quispicanchi, Cuzco, 1798. Leg 7286:XX:4. Agustin Lobaton. Capt, Mil Discip de Cab de Huaura, 1797. Leg 7287:XIX:6. Antonio Lopez. Capt, Mil Discip de Pardos y Morenos de Inf de Lambayeque, 1797. Leg 7287:XXIII:1. Gregorio Lopez. Sgt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Abancay, 1793. Leg 7284:II:31. José Lopez. SubLt, Inf Real de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXII:57. José Antonio Lopez. Lt, Mil Prov Discip Inf de San Miguel de Piura, 1800 Leg 7286:XXV:14. Juan José Lopez. Lt, Mil Urbanas, Inf de Moyobamba, 1797. Leg 7287:XXIX:14. Juan José Lopez. Alf, Mil Prov Urbanas de Dragones de Carabayllo, 1800. Leg 7288:IV:22. Julian Lopez. SubLt, Mil de Inf Española de San Juan de la Frontera de Chachapoya, 1792. Leg 7284:VI:27. Pedro Lopez. Sgt, Escuadrones Mil Urbanas Dragones de Moquegua, 1797. Leg 7287:XXVII:13. Pedro Lopez. Lt, Inf Real de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXII:38. Ramon Marcos Lopez. Ayudante Mayor, grad Capt, Inf Real de Lima, 1794. Leg 7285:IX:80. Tiburcio Lopez. Lt, Comp de Cab de Mil del partido de Santa, 1799. Leg 7286:XXIII:10. Victorino Lopez. Lt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1792. Leg 7284:VIII:30. Silvestre Lopez de Alvarado. SubLt, 1st Comp, Mil Urbanas Inf de Moyobamba, 1797. Leg 7287:XXIX:22. Martin Lopez Barrena. Capt, Mil Prov de Inf de Cajamarca, 1797. Leg 7287:IV:5. Francisco Lopez Bustamante. Lt de carabineros, Mil Discip de Cab de Trujillo, Perú, 1800. Leg 7288:XXXI:12. Antonio Lopez del Campo. Lt Col, Mil Prov Urbanas de Inf de Cajamarca, 1797. Leg 7287:IV:2. Juan Lopez del Campo. Sgt Major, Mil Prov Urbanas de Inf de Cajamarca, 1797. Leg 7287:IV:3. Manuel Lopez Geri. SubLt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Huanta, 1800. Leg 7288:XVIII:32. Baltasar Lopez de la Huerta. Lt, Mil Discip de Dragones de Arica, 1800. Leg 7288:II:30. Manuel Lopez Romaña. Cadet, Mil Prov Discip Inf de Arequipa, 1800. Leg 7288:I:93. Francisco Lopez del Romar. Sgt, Mil Urbanas Inf de Huamanga, 1797. Leg 7286:IV:37. José Antonio del Romar. Sgt, Mil Urbanas Inf de Huamanga, 1800. Leg 7286:XV:31. José Segundo Lopez Saavedra. Capt, 4th Comp, Mil Urbanas Moyobamba, 1797. Leg 7287:XXIX:9. Pedro Lopez Velasco. Lt, Mil Prov Discip de Dragones del Valle de Majes, 1797. Leg 7287:XXV:13. Fernando Loredo. SubLt de Bandera, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Cajamarca, 1797. Leg 7287:IV:26. José Loredo. Alf, Mil Urbanas Cab San Pablo de Chalaquez, 1798. Leg 7287:XI:37. Juan Pascual Losa y Mais. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip Cab de Cuzco, 1797. Leg 7287:X:41. Dionisio Losada. Sgt, Mil Discip de la 8th Comp Cab dee Pardos Libres de Trujillo, 1797. Leg 7287:XXXVII:5. Francisco Losada. Alf, Mil Prov Urbanas Dragones de Chota, 1797. Leg 7287:XIII:26. Juan Pedro Lostaunao. Cadet, Inf Real de Lima, 1789. Leg 7283:II:98. José Lostaunao. Cadet, Inf Real de Lima, 1788. Leg 7283:II:147. Juan Pedro Lostanau. Lt, grad Capt, Mil Discip de Dragones de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIV:26. Juan Pedro Lostaurian. Lt, grad Capt y Ayudante Mayor, Estate Mayor de la Plaza de Lima, 1792.. Leg 7284:X:2. Juan Lovera. Capt, Mil Prov Discip Cab de Ica, 1795. Leg 7285:XV:6. Juan de Dios Lovera. Alf, Mil Discip Cab de Ica, 1800. Leg 7288:XX:29. Toribio Lovera. Sgt, Mil Discip Cab de Ica, 1797. Leg 7287:XX:37. Ventura Lovera, Sgt, Mil Discip Cab de Ica, 1800. Leg 7288:XX:32. Mateo Loyola. Sgt, Partida Asamblea Inf de la dotación de Chiloe, 1798. Leg 7286:XVI:4. Antonio Lozano. Ayudante Mayor, Mil Prov Discip Inf de Arequipa, 1800. Leg 7288:I:25. José Lucero de Villacorta. Capt, Mil Inf Española San Juan de la Frontera de Chachapoyas, 1792. Leg 7284:VI:12. Jacinto Ludeña. Capt, Mil Urbanas Inf de Andahuaylas, 1799. Leg 7286:XXII:6. José Manuel Ludeña. Sgt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Huanta, 1800. Leg 7288:XVIII:57. Pascual Lueque. Lt, Mil Discip Inf Española de Lima, 1800. Leg 7288:XXIII:31. Juan Lujan. Sgt, Mil Discip Cab de los Valles de Palpa y Nasca, 1797. Leg 7287:XXXI:37. Agustin de Luna. Capt, Mil Pardos Libres de Lima, 1796. Leg 7286:XII:26. Jacinto Roque de Luna. Sgt, Mil Prov Urbanas Dragones de Quispicanchi, Cuzco, 1798. Leg 7286:XX:36. Valentin Luna. Capt, Mil Pardos Libres de Lima, 1796. Leg 7286:XII:24. Joaquin Luna Victoria. Comandante, Comp sueltas Milicias Discip inf de Trujillo, Perú, 1800. Leg 7288:XXX:1. Cristobal Luque. Sgt, Mil Prov Urbanas Inf de Huanta, 1800. Leg 7288:XVIII;63. Gregorio Llanos. Sgt, Mil Urbanas Inf de Moquegua, 1792. Leg 7284:XXIV:26. Juan Llanos Guevara. Alf Mil Prov Urbanas Dragones de Chota, 1797. Leg 7287:XIII:29. Julian de la Llave. SubLt, Mil Discip Inf de Ccuzco, 1800. Leg 7286:XXIV:33. José Antonio Llerena. Sgt, Mil Prov Discip Inf de Arequipa, 1800. Leg 7288:I:76. Bruno de la Llosa. SubLt, Mil Discip Cab de Aredquipa, 1792. Leg 7284:XXIII:31. Francisco de la Llosa. Lt Col, Mil Urbanas Cab de Moquegua, 1800. Leg 7288:XXVII:2. Juan José Llosa. Capt, Mil Discip Cab de Arequipa, 1792. Leg 7284:XIII:14. Pedro de la Llosa. Capt, Mil Urbanas Cab de Moquegua, 1800. Leg 7288:XXVII:5. Bruno de la Llosa y Segarra. Lt, Mil Prov Discip Cab de Arequipa, 1797. Leg 7287:II:33. Manuel Llovet. Cadet, Inf Real de Lima, 1788. Leg 7283:II:149. (to be continued.) |
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| Memoir Writing Tips Tim Crump and Family Remembering Guy Gabaldon La Familia De Alvaro |
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| Put pen to paper and write something down, anything at all. Start small. Describe a small scene, a single memory, an ex-change between two people or a feeling. Write the stories that occur to you, as they occur to you. You can organize and edit them later. Keep a journal and a small notebook with you. The entries and notes become archives of thoughts from which you can later draw to develop stories. Join a class Source: Beverly Gandall, adjunct instructor, Irvine Valley College Emeritus Program Orange County Register, 3/11/07 |
Tim Crump and Family, a Special Memory |
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Memories of Guy Gabaldon by Walter Kenna Documentary: East L.A. Marine: The Untold True Story of Guy Gabaldon can be purchased through www.artsallianceamerica.com The Hollywood film, "Hell to Eternity" DVD may be purchased from: http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/product.asp?sku=D97660 |
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I worked for the Maritime Prepositioning Ships out on Saipan from 1988-1989 and 1994-1999. I left the ships in 1995 to work for Pacific Island Aviation as an aircraft mechanic. I met Guy Gabaldon while working for
PIA. He would come in the hanger to get his airplane worked on. He was a pilot and owned a couple of aircraft on island. I got to know Guy pretty well. We talked about his days in Saipan during the war. I mentioned to him that I came from a Marine Corps background as well and served a hitch in the Marines. We even celebrated our first Marine Corps Birthday on island with former Marines as he was the OLDEST Marine that had the honor of cutting the cake.
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LA FAMILIA
De ALVARO (El Pollo) HERNANDEZ By: Raul G. Garza. A Friend November 2000 |
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We lived in the barrios of la calle Lee (Lee Street) There were sub-barrios on Lee Street depending on certain landmarks in the area. For example, those who lived in the east 200 block, lived near the Creamery (La Cremeria) thus they were from the barrio de la Cremerio. Those in the 600-700 block lived near S.F. Austin School thus they were from the barrio de la Austin. The Hernandez's and I lived in the 400-500 blocks of East Lee and we came from the Barrio de la Garra. It was not unusual not to
remember someones's given name right away, especially if he or she had a
nickname. Thus when Alvaro "El Pollo" passed away recently it
did not dawn on me who he was until some one from the barrio told me it
was "El Pollo." The Hernandez Family lived in the middle of the 500 block of East Lee. The House in front belonged to Mr. Luis Mendez. who was a "Lenero," an insurance agent for the Woodmen of the World Insurance Company. This was sort of a Fraternal Organization. To the left lived the Mata's who were plumbers. Across the street lived the Lozano's, the Barbours, and Napoleon Saldivar and Gumecinda who were raising another of the Palomilla, Eloy Buitron. El Pollo came from a one parent family. The father. Atanacio Hernandez worked for the Missouri Pacific Railroad as did about 80% of the "Mejicanos" in Kingsville. He had a very distinctive characteristic. His nickname was "El Sancudo" (the mosquito). Where the name came from I do not recall. I do know that everyone knew El Sancudo because every afternoon after work he would put on his white shirt and white pants, black Fedora Hat. and his cigar. He owned a bicycle and rode it every where. He, I understand, was a respected billiard player. Most good billiard (pool) players gathered on Richard Street next to B Royal Cafe at El Manzano's Pool Hall. I knew the oldest boy.
Alejandro. the youngest son. Angel, and Alicia. As for Alejandro, he moved
away from Kingsville in the late 40's or early 50's to the Chicago area.
Alejandro never forgot where he came from. Everytime he visited Kingsville
he would look up La Palomilla he grew up with. He always visited Marcela
Castro, the aunt that raised me. He was a good friend of my cousins,
Manuel and Fred Castro. On one visit to Kingsville, and after a long conversation and visit, Pollo took off his Seaman's Union Pin from his belt. He gave it to me and said. Here C-----! This is to remember me, El Pollo, if something ever happens to me. I have no one else to give it to. This was over 30+ years ago. I still have it saved in one of my jewelry boxes. I was also especially connected to another member of the Hernandez family. Alica H. Rios married Natividad Rios. They settled on East Richard Street across 14th Street. His Children Ooroteo and Mary went to T. M. Colston Elementary School where I came to teach after 1955. Both Alicia and Mr. Rios, as we always called him, were very much involved in the school activities. The best thing I remember about Alicia was that she. like my Aunt Marcela. baked cakes from scratch, a lost art. She could bake the best cakes ever. I always managed to get a cake for one reason or another. Mary was studious and quiet.
Her personality, respect for all people has not changed over the years.
Doroteo was an outstanding athlete for me in elementary school sports,
then at Gillett Junior High School, finishing his athletic career at H.M.
King High School where he was All District in football. He played all
sports. Olga
Lozano lives in the Corner, Tonche Lozano lives next door, then the
Barbours, and Elda & Eppi Calderon. Rebecca Montalvo moved
away, but lives in Kingsville. She is in her late 80's. Jose Angel 6arcia
still lives in the same corner. I live on the next corner; Rudy Longoria,
A Korean wounded vet and an "alky" still lives like a hermit.
The only old lady left in the barrio is Chahuita Perez. Everyone else is
gone or has passed away.
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| The Plagues of Colonial Mexico Cervantes y America The Sun Is Gracious . . Bondadoso es el sol Meditations in Preparation for the Summer Solstice |
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Between the arrival of the Spaniards in 1519 and the first years of
the 1600s Native Mexicans were hit by a series of diseases brought
from Europe and Africa. The Indigenous lacked immunities and
succumbed at fearful rates. Whereas a census in 1646 counted
1,200,000 Natives, there had been 25,000,000 at Spanish arrival by one
demographer’s count, 20,000,000 by another and 9,000,000 by another.
Whichever figure one chooses one has to consider what happened in
Mexico was a holocaust. In his short story, "La Peste,"
Vicente Riva Palacio described the wave of plague that hit in the year
1576.
First published in his 1870 anthology “El Libro Rojo,” the story
tells of authorities responding to a social disaster with great acts
of charity, and Riva Palacio mentions that this story is unusual for
that book, which features acts of oppression by the rulers.
Positive or negative, the tales are gripping enough to earn “El
Libro Rojo” fifteen known reprints This series for
“Somos Primos” has so far included from the book “Pedro de
Alvarado,” “Xicotencatl,” and “Los 33 Negros”(story of
Yanga).
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LA PESTE
By Vicente Riva Palacio
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love
for one another.
Gospel of John XIII
The year of our lord 1575 passed uneventful.
New Spain, governed with care by Don Martin Enriquez de Almansa,
fourth viceroy, was the picture of a contented nation.
The inhabitants appeared to forget their pains and their desires for
independence, and they suffered, without murmur, the yoke of the
conquistadors. Commerce was active, the mines announced even
greater bonanzas, and the arts and the sciences began their rise in
the capital of the colony. Already founded was the college of
the Jesuits, that later would be called San Gregorio: the Seminario
of
San Pedro y San Pablo, that later had the name of San Ildefonso. And the learned Franciscans had established the training college of Santos on Acequia street that is celebrated for more than a title, above all for its unusual construction and because of the many illustrious individuals of the sciences in Mexico who have lived in it..
Nothing, then, appeared to disturb the peace of the colony, and Don
Martin Enriquez wrote with satisfaction to his King depicting a
happiness and contentment through all of New Spain.
One night, over a dark yet clear Mexican sky dotted with stars, there
suddenly appeared a comet.
To the descendants of Moctezuma such a sighting was a terrible signal of great misfortune. Who could not forget that a comet had also announced to their parents the arrival of the Spaniards, the fall of the powerful Empire of the Aztecs, and the enslavement of the race.
A disturbed outlook consumed the people. Black and
sinister worries were voiced by the more forceful men, while a cloud
of sadness enveloped all from the first moment.
Everyone agreed that a comet was a messenger of great calamity, the only question being over what it would be. Some believed it announced bloody wars, others thought it indicated starvation, and others imagined it would bring the pestilence.
From that moment no one had a tranquil heart, nor a calm spirit.
The premonition of a fall was unanimous.
The comet remained on the horizon three days before disappearing, and
after it disappeared life remained undisturbed.
One morning, around eight, through the foggy sunlight their appeared
three suns.
Three suns, but equal, three suns that walked through the sky, causing
the most terrible terror among the Mexicanos, until at one in the
afternoon the light went out for two of them.
The shock and terror had no limits, such phenomena had already been
forecast to announce a universal cataclysm, a celestial announcement
of the coming end of the world.
Thus, in the midst of anguish and terror the year 1575 concluded.
The Spring of 1576 had scarcely begun when, without the slightest
warning, the natives of New Spain were hit with the most terrible and
destructive pestilence of all those registered in the annals of
history.
The symptoms of this dreadful infirmity did not appear among
foreigners, while on the other hand, not a one of those inflicted
could save one’s self, and neither medicine, nor other remedies
alleviated the effects.
The vile event announced itself with a strong headache, and
immediately added a fever, not ordinary but voracious, one that drove
the agitated unhappy victims to throw off all but the lightest of
clothing.
Some unfortunates, as if fleeing the fire in their bodies that
devoured them, ran with horror from their homes, and others, nude and
like crazies, wandered the patios of their houses, or through the
streets, and there exposed to the weather, and without help of any
kind, and carrying a constant an inexplicable misery, expired, after
nine days of suffering, in the last of which they had great
hemorrhaging from their noses.
The calamity spread in a frightening manner without anything containing it. “It had,” said Padre Cabo, “a malignant character, that no one could explain...having the singular contagiousness to almost all the natives, while the Spaniards and their children enjoyed good health.”
With the peste there came the starvation; the contagion had
penetrated all the houses of the Mexicanos; those that remained free
fled with horror of the infected: a profound sadness, terror and panic
filled their hearts, and they neither attended to the sick, nor
bothered to carry with them food, so that although not succumbing from
the disease they died victim of hunger and abandonment, while fear
brought death to many other unhappy souls.
The residents out the outskirts of the capital, the barrios that were outside the boundary that was the city center, that was destined exclusively for the Spanish inhabitants of the colony, presented a picture of death and desolation impossible to describe.
In the doors of the houses and in the streets, mounds of cadavers;
cadavers in the patios, cadavers in the canales, in the canoes, in the
fields, in the roads, cadavers in which ever and all places.
Entire families died together, children passing in the embrace of the bodies of their parents, mothers dying that had on their lap the lifeless heads of three or four of their children, innocent babies who sought comfort and food passing while clutching the bodies of their parents. Such was the horror that there was confusion over the corpses as to their sex and age; their nudity exposed to the light of the sun, their bodies twisted and rotted, covered with blood, disfigured, sickly pale, and wasted. Alone before death, after death the race stayed unhonored with burial, and all was dismay and terror. Sometimes the dying made a supernatural efforts to drive off the dogs, wolves and birds that gathered expectantly at the body of the child in the presence of the dying mother, or the husband by the remains of his wife, or the young man over his fiancee. Viceroy Don Martin Enriquez and the archbishop Don Pedro Moya de Contreas thought at first to establish hospitals, but quite quickly the peste had become so general that it was impossible to use this method of aide, both because of the number of the effected and for the absence of a remedy.
In vain the help of science was enlisted: in vain did the doctor Don
Juan de la Fuente, one of the medical experts most celebrated in those
times gather in the royal hospital corpses of the infected for study.
The origins and cause of the plague were not revealed. Diagnosis
was impossible, but the prognosis was certain, death.
When a sick one momentarily got better, that caused the later death to be more violent: and temptation to give assistance to the inflicted was rejected. Scarcely had those who constantly dug graves filled them than fresh cadavers appeared in the streets and fields, and many to become food for animals. The Mexicans believed that already their race had disappeared from the earth, and the Spaniards looked on with fear that they were along in the middle of an immense desert. In the extensive territory of Mexico one finds all climates, all temperatures and one finds people living at almost the elevation of perpetual snows, and people who live below the ardent sun of the tropics. And the peste fed implacably the same on the inhabitants of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as on those who lived in the cold valleys of Toluca and Puebla, or on the slopes of Tancitaro, Ixtazihuatl or Citlaltepetl. But where the destruction was most horrifying was in the capital, in part because of its visibility among the great number of inhabitants, and in part for the sad condition in which the people there had remained after the conquest.
Finally, there came a day in which no one was looking after the
afflicted.
Then, the archbishop Pedro Moya de Contreras called to the leaders of the church and religious orders and they went out in mass to care for the sick and hungry.
Dominicans, Jesuits, Augustines and Franciscans spread themselves out
through the streets, the barrios, carrying medicines, food, clothing,
the advice of religion, and above all, saintly and sublime
charity.
From this moment a bright pure sun illuminated the city and the earth, over which God had made to pass such a horrendous calamity; and the history of the weeping and tribulation for the unfortunate Indigenous became a page of glory for the clergy of Mexico, who earned the halo of light for those saints and apostles who present themselves at the gates of eternity to reclaim their positions among the chosen of the Man God. A few of the sick they cured with their own hand, others listened to confessions and administered the viaticum and the extreme unction, others collected corpses from the houses and the streets and buried them, and all, full of an admirable spirit of love and brotherhood, that would be hard to comprehend in the normal world without Christ coming to explain it. They lavished counsel and hopes and assuaged the thousands of victims who succumbed daily. The black night of the desolation had lit the pure star of charity that was carried into the terrible battle. A triumph of care was owed, then, to the religious communities. The example of the clerics and the friars of the capital was followed with enthusiasm by the clerics of the provinces and by the families of the Spaniards.
The principal women came out to stroll through the shacks of the ill,
caring for sickness and bringing clothing and food.
The priests of the villages did not rest an instant in their evangelical labors. For one who has written a work such as “El Libro Rojo” in which each step taken trips over a crime or upon an action originated in the evil passions of men, it brings an inexplicable feeling of well being to encounter noble actions delineated in eternal memory, because one has a true pleasure to describe certain characteristics of humanity that reveal themselves to our eyes, not so much as life is, but as it ought to be, full of abnegation, love and charity.
The year 1577 began and the peste still ravaging New Spain; but
against it were tireless, invincible gladiators, the friars and
priests working arm and arm.
On top of the problems for the Indigenous the rains appeared to
conspire against them in this year. At the beginning of
April the rainy season entered with a force never before seen.
Somehow, it was little problem for those who cared for the sick. During the stormy nights when the tempest threw its fury upon the city, when the waters fell in torrents and gave fantastic illumination to the valley and ridges with the bright light of lightening, and the thunder echoed through the canyons and forests, from distant and inundated and dangerous corners there shown continuously, as if a little lighthouse that advanced and retreated, that lost itself in one house only to return to brighten another, and traveling low to the ground, then stopping to light something with sparks of clarity certain black shadows on the walls of the houses. They were the friars that searched for the sick to cure them, for
the near dead to sooth them, for the corpses to provide them burial,
for the orphaned children and the abandoned to collect them so that
they not die of hunger and cold.
The canals of the city were terrible and pathetic scenes.
The canoes crossed back and forth and friars rowed most of them.
Some brought hope for the living, others were piled with piles of
cadavers.
Such an effort should have had its martyrs among the soldiers of charity, and there were. The rector of the Jesuits and a large number of Dominicanos, Augustinos and Franciscanos succumbed, not from the peste, of which they were not contagious, but the results of terrible fatigue and of the emotional effects caused by continuous presence in sad and overwhelming scenes. History has passed down none of the names of these heroes and martyrs who deserve acknowledgment of their deeds. We are left only to repeat the sublime words of the Crucified. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.
Such a horrifying pestilence, which some called matlatzahuatl, that
left great sad deserted and florid country sides, ceased almost
immediately at the end of 1577. The Viceroy, through the conduct
of his regional governors and corregadores scrupulously gathered
data on the event, that guarded in the archives of the city,
testified to the number of deaths, and they were more than two
million.
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------------------------------------------------- LA
PESTE
Vicente Riva Palacio
En
esto conocerán todos que Sois
mis discípulos, si tuviereis amor los unos con los otros Evangelio, Pasaba
tranquilamente el ano del Señor de 1575 La
Nueva España, gobernada a la sazón por don Martín Enríquez de
Almansa, cuarto virrey, presentaba un cuadro en verdad halagüeño para
su metrópoli. Los
habitantes parecían olvidar sus penas y sus deseos de independencia, y
comenzaban a sufrir, sin murmurar, el yugo de sus conquistadores; el
comercio era activo, las minas anunciaban ya grandes bonanzas, y las
artes y las ciencias empezaban a tener su asiento en la capital de la
colonia. Estaba ya fundado
el colegio de los jesuitas, que después se llamó de San Gregorio, se
abrió el Seminario de San Pedro y San Pablo, que luego tuvo el nombre
de San Ildefonso, y el canónigo tesorero den Francisco Santos estableció
un colegio de pasantes nobles, que fue el conocido por colegio de
Santos, y estuvo situado en la calle de la Acequia, célebre por mas de
un título, y sobre todo, por lo extraño de sus construcciones y porque
en él vivieron muchas personas ilustres en Mexico por su ciencia. Nada,
pues, parecía turbar la paz de la colonia, y don Martín Enríquez
escribía satisfecho al rey, pintándole la felicidad de que se
disfrutaba en toda la Nueva España. Una
noche, sobre el oscuro cielo de Mexico, puro y tachonando de estrellas,
apareció repentinamente una cometa. Aquella
era una terrible señal de grandes males para los sencillos
descendientes de Moctezuma, que no podían aun olvidar que un cometa había
también anunciado a sus padres la llegada de los españoles, la caída
del poderoso imperio de los aztecas y la esclavitud de su raza. Los
ánimos comenzaron a turbarse, negras y siniestras preocupaciones se
apoderaron de los hombres más audaces, y una nube de tristeza y
desconsuelo pareció envolverlo todo desde aquel momento. El
cometa era para todos el mensajero de grandes calamidades; sólo que
todos se perdían en conjeturas, creyendo unos que anunciaba guerras
sangrientas, otros pensando que indicaba hambres, y otros suponiendo que
traía la peste. No
hubo desde entonces un corazón tranquilo ni un espíritu sosegado; el
presentimiento de la desgracia era unánime. Duró
el cometa algunos días sobre el horizonte, y luego desapareció, pero
no con esto tornó la calma. Una
mañana, a cosa de las ocho, brillaron repentinamente también en el
firmamento tres soles. Tres
soles, pero iguales’tres soles que caminaron por el cielo, causando el
más terrible espanto a los mexicanos, hasta la una de la tarde, en que
dos de ellos se apagaron. El
terror y el sobresalto no tuvieron entonces limites, y aquellos fenómenos
se interpretaban ya, como el anuncio de un cataclismo universal, y como
el aviso celestre del próximo fin del mundo. Así,
en medio de angustias y de temores, concluyó el ano de 1575. Los
síntomas de aquella espantosa enfermedad nada tenían de extraños, y
sin embargo, ninguna de los atacados llegaba a salvarse, ni había médico
ni remedio alguno que pudiera darles alivio. Anunciábase
el mal por un fuerte dolor en la cabeza, e inmediatamente sobrevenía la
fiebre; pero una fiebre voraz, que agitaba de tal manera a los infelices
epidemiados, que lo les permitía cubrirse no con el vestido más ligero. Aquellos
desgraciados, como huyendo del fuego interior que los devoraba, salían
con horror de sus habitaciones, y así desnudos y como locos, vagaban
por los patios de sus casas o por las calles, y allí expuestos a la
inclemencia, y sin auxilios de ninguna clase, y en medio de una
constante e inexplicable inquietud, expiraban, después de nueve días
de padecimientos, en el último de los cuales trían una gran hemorragia
por las narices. Aquella
calamidad cundía de una manera espantosa, sin que nada bastara a
contenerla, y “tenía – dice el padre Cabo – tan maligno carácter,
que no se puede explicar… teniendo la singularidad de que contagiándose
casi todos los naturales, los españoles e hijos de ellos gozaban de
salud.” Con
la peste llegó también el hambre; el contagio había penetrado en
todas las casas de los de los mexicanos; los que quedaban libres huían
con horror de los apestados; una
tristeza profunda y un terror pánico se apoderaron de todos los
corazones; ni había quién atendiese a los enfermos, ni quién
procurase llevarles algunas alimentos; el que no sucumbía por la fuerza
de la enfermedad, moría víctima
del hambre y del abandono, y el miedo hizo también morir a muchos
infelices. Los
alrededores de la capital, los barrios que estaban fuera de la traza,
que era el centro de la ciudad, destinado exclusivamente para las
habitaciones de la colonial española, presentaban un cuadro de muerte y
desolación imposible de describir. En
las puertas de las casas y en las calles, montones de cadáveres; cadáveres
en los patios, cadáveres en los canales, en las canoas, en los campos,
en los caminos, cadáveres por donde quiera y en todas partes. Familias
enteras morían agrupadas, hijos expirante que se abrazaban con el
inanimado cuerpo de sus padres, madres moribundas que tenían en sus
regazo las cabezas yertas de tres o cuatro de sus hijos, niños
inocentes que se arrastraban entre los cadáveres de sus padres buscando
el abrigo y el alimento. Aquello
era horrible’aquella confusión de sexos y de edades en los cadáveres;
aquella desnudez expuesta a la luz del sol; aquel hacinamiento de
cuerpos en repugnantes posturas, cubiertos de sangre, pero demacrados, pálidos,
contraídos, aquella soledad ante la muerte; aquella raza que moría
toda y quedaba insepulta, todo, todo era sombrío y espantoso. Algunas
veces los moribundos tenían que hacer un esfuerzo sobrenatural para
ahuyentar a los perros, a los lobos y a las aves que se arrojaban
ansiosos sobre el cadáver del hijo, en presencia de la expirante madre,
y sobre los restos de la esposa, al lado mismo de su agonizante
prometido. El virrey don Martín Enríquez y el arzobispo don Pedro Moya de Contreras pensaron al principio en establecer hospitales; pero muyt pronto la peste se hizo tan general, que fue imposible usar de este arbitrio, tanto por el número de los enfermos como porque no había ya quien los asistiese. En
el extenso territorio de México se encuentran todos los climas, todas
las temperaturas, y se hallan pueblos situados casi a la altura de las
eternas nieves, y pueblos que viven bajo el ardiente sol de los trópicos. Y
sin embargo, las peste se cebaba implacablemente lo mismo en los
habitantes de los costas del Atlántico y del Pacifico que en los que
vivían en los fríos valles de Toluca y d Puebla, o en las faldas del
Tancita roo, del Ixtazíhuatl o del
Citlaltépetl. Pero
donde aquellos estragos se hacían más espantosos era en la capital,
tanto por el mayor número de habitantes, como por la triste condición
a que habían quedado reducidos después de la conquista.
Domicanos,
jesuitas, aguistinos y franciscanos se distribuyeron por las calles y
los barrios, llevando las medicinas, los alimentos, las ropas, los
auxilios de la religión, y sobre todo, el santo y sublime consuelo de
la caridad. Unos
curaban con sus mismas manos a los enfermos, otros escuchaban sus
confesiones y los administraban el viatico y la extremaunción, otros
sacaban de las casas y recogían de las calles los cadáveres para
darles sepultura, y todos, llenos de ese admirable espíritu de amor a
sus hermanos, que no pudo ser comprendido en el mundo hasta que el
Cristo mismo vino explicarlo, todos prodigaban consuelos y esperanzas, e
inspiraban la resignación entre aquellos millares de victimas que
sucumbían diariamente. La
noche negro de la desolación hizo brillar la estrella pura de la
caridad; aquella era una terrible batalla que se daban la desgracia y la
reina de las virtudes. El
ejemplo de los clérigos y de los frailes de la capital fue seguido con
entusiasmo por el clero de las provincias y por las familias de los españoles. Las
damas más principales andaban en las chozas de los infelices, curando a
los enfermos y llevándoles ropa y alimentos. Los
curas de los pueblos no descansaban tampoco un instante en sus evangélicas
tareas. Cuando
se escribe una obra como “El libro rojo,” en que a cada paso se
tropieza con un crimen o con un acontecimiento originado por las malas
pasiones de los hombres, se tiene un inexplicable sentimiento de
bienestar al encontrarse con acciones nobles y con hechos dignos de
memoria eterna, porque hay un verdadero placer en describir ciertos
rasgos en que la humanidad se muestra a nuestros ojos, no tal como es,
sino como debiera ser, llena de abnegación, de amor, de caridad. El
año de 1577 comenzó, y la peste seguía asolando a la Nueva España;
pero como incansables, como invencibles gladiadores, los frailes y los
clérigos seguían luchando con la desgracia brazo a brazo. En
aquel año las estaciones parecían haberse conjurado también contra
los desgraciados indígenas, porque aconteció que desde principios de
abril, cosa hasta entonces nunca vista, la estación de las aguas comenzó
con toda su fuerza. Pero
esto no era un obstáculo para los que velaban por los apestados.
Durante aquellas noches tempestuosas, cuando la tormenta
descargaba su furia sobre la ciudad, cuando el agua caía a torrentes, y
se iluminaba fantásticamente el valle y las serranías con la roja luz
de los relámpagos, y el trueno se repercutía en las cañadas y entre
las selvas, por los lejanos y oscuros callejones, inundados y peligrosos,
se podía continuamente distinguir la incierta luz de un farolillo que
ya avanzaba, ya retrocedía, ya se perdía en una casa para volver a
brillar de nuevo, ya bajaba hasta el nivel de la tierra, deteniéndose
allí como para alumbrar algo, dibujando con su indecisa claridad
algunas sombras en las negras paredes de las casas. Eran
los frailes que buscaban a los enfermos para curarlos, a los moribundos
para auxiliarlos, a los cadáveres para darles sepultura, a los niños
huérfanos y abandonados para recogerlos, para evitar que muriesen de
hambre y de frío. Misión
heroica, que debió hacer llorar de ternura a los mismos ángeles. En
los canales de la ciudad se representaban escenas terribles y patéticas. Pero
aquella lucha debía tener también sus mártires entre los soldados de
la caridad, y los tuvo. El
rector de los jesuitas y un gran número de dominicanos, de agustinos y
de franciscanos, sucumbieron, no por la peste – con la cual no se
contagiaron – sino de resultas de la terrible fatiga y de la afección
moral causada por la continua presencia de escenas tristes y
conmovedoras. La
historia no nos ha transmitido ninguno de los nombres de aquellos héroes
y de aquellos mártires al referirnos sus hazañas, y nosotros al
recordarlas sólo podemos repetir las sublimes palabras del Crucificado:
“En
esto conocerán todos que sois mis discípulos, si tuviereis amor los
unos con los otros.” Aquella
horrible peste, a la cual algunos llaman el matlatzáhuatl, que dejo
desiertas y tristes grandes ciudades y floridas campiñas, cesó casi
tan repentinamente a fines de 1577.
El virrey, que por conducto de los gobernadores y corregidores se
había informado escrupulosamente de cuanto acaecía, hizo que se
guardara en el archivo de la ciudad el testimonio del numero de muertos,
y eran… más de dos millones. |
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Cervantes, hastiado de su labor como comisionado real, primero en
las sacas de trigo, cebada y aceite para el abastecimiento de la que
pomposamente se bautizó Armada
Invencible, y después con el encargo de cobrar pechos y alcabalas en
diversos pueblos y ciudades de Andalucía, decide dejar estas misiones que
sólo sinsabores le han ocasionado, con excomuniones, prisión y riesgo de
perder la vida, como ya le había ocurrido a sus compañeros, Francisco
Benito de Mena, Iñigo de Lezana, Pedro de Gárate y Pedro López de León,
que en 1592 fueron ahorcados en la cárcel del Puerto de Santa María,
acusados y convictos de estafar a
No sólo teme verse, como ya se ha visto, involucrado en los casos
de abuso y rapiña, robo y extorsión, o falsificación de documentos que
a cada momento se denuncian e investigan, sino que, además, los
beneficios económicos no aparecen por ninguna parte , dejándolo tan
pobre como estaba y encima cargado de deudas.
Ante tan lamentable situación, se le ocurre que la solución se
encuentra en las Indias, en América, siguiendo el ejemplo de Felipe
Carrizales - El celoso extremeño
– que, «viéndose, pues, tan falto de dineros, y aun no con muchos
amigos,, se acogió al remedio a que otros muchos perdidos en aquella gran
ciudad (Sevilla) se acogen, que es el pasarse a las Indias, refugio y
amparo de los desesperados de España, iglesia de los alzados,
salvoconducto de los homicidas, pala y cubierta de los jugadores a quien
llaman “ciertos” los peritos en el arte, añagaza general de mujeres
libres, engaño común de muchos y remedio particular de pocos».
Sin duda, en la novela
Cervantes se disfraza de Carrizales para expresar el desesperado estado de
ánimo que en aquellos cruciales instantes le embargaba; además, cuenta
con un pariente, Juan de Cervantes que ostenta el cargo de Tesorero mayor
de
Decidido a atravesar el
charco, es informado de que existen plazas vacantes en diversos
territorios de *
«Señor: Miguel de
Cervantes Saavedra dice que ha servido a S.M. muchos años en las jornadas
de mar y tierra que se han ofrecido de veintidós años a esta parte.
Particularmente en
La
incomprensible respuesta del Consejo de Indias fue la siguiente: «Reunido
el Consejo, se acordó denegar la petición, añadiendo, busque
por acá en que se haga merced».
Humillante tratamiento a un historial de servicios y sacrificios
extraordinarios que, al menos en la forma, son menospreciados de manera
vergonzosa; desde entonces, los nombres de los consejeros están
esculpidos en el oscuro bronce de Alberto
Casas (albertocasasr@yahoo.es)
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The Sun Is Gracious (blessing in case of doubt)
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Bondadoso es el sol |
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So may it be with you, unutterably sure, knowing that gracious is the sun, in flower, until they, full grown, burst into seeds, feathered envoys flung afar,
each a token that you are loved.
© Rafael Jesús González 2008
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La hierba veraniega crece
creándose así mismo en ti, en flor, hasta que
mensajeros emplumados esparcidos,
cada una recuerdo de que eres amada. © Rafael Jesús González 2008 |
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Meditations in Preparation for the
Summer Solstice
An unusually hot day, having done sacrament, I
come to César Chávez Park to prepare for the Ecology Center's Summer
Solstice Celebration tomorrow at which I have been asked to read my
poetry. (As did my ancestors before me, I hold Speaking in public to be
a sacred act.) I walk the long way by the water's edge, encircling the
little peninsula, to the summit of the hill where the beginnings of the
Solar Clock to honor César Chávez are in place. It is here that I
await the Summer Solstice.
I make my offering of water instead of burning the usual copal or sage; the grasses are tall and dry and the danger of fire is great. First to the East, direction of knowledge, wisdom, illumination, direction of the men. Then to the South, direction of love and growth and trust, direction of the children. Then to the West, direction of strength, maturity, introspection, direction of the women. And Then to the North, direction of cleansing, healing, purification, direction of the elders. I walk to the center, offer water up to our Father Sun, source of our all, down to our Mother Earth, life of us all. All our relations, the other animals, the plants, the minerals. Sacred space is created. I look around me across the jade bay, the silhouette of the city of San Francisco, the spider web of the Golden Gate Bridge, due almost North, blue in the distance, holy Mt. Tamalpais where for a decade I led the Wakwa Society's Medicine Wheels to celebrate all the Equinoxes, almost all the Solstices, and, once, a bit more than twenty years ago, the Harmonic Convergence (a time of both hope and warning, a time for celebrating the Earth, the Sun, the Cosmos - human consciousness.) Often I would lead a Solstice Medicine Wheel here on this spot where I now stand to consecrate this land which then was the site of the city dump. Here my friend John and I would take evening walks to see what life this place bore, sometimes hearing, seeing a great horned owl, gray in the dusk. I like to think that I helped to heal this land in my work with the Friends of the North Waterfront Park, a group made up of members of Urban Ecology intent on turning the dump into a public park. (The opposition from yacht clubs, wind-surfing clubs, restaurants, developers was great.) One of our strongest recommendations was for a permanent Medicine Wheel to which people could come to meditate and celebrate the sacred stations of the year. This Solar Clock to honor César Chávez is a good fulfillment of our recommendation.
I remember beginning the Wheels with a reminder that there is no place
on Earth, no matter how blasphemed, that is not sacred. No matter, or
perhaps because of, the dump beneath us which held the shards of
generations, their histories, undelivered letters perhaps, letters full
of pain or joy, perhaps a lost wedding ring, surely the fragments of
broken heirlooms, the remains of what was once useful, the waste of our
living. I look down about me now, grasses turned golden by the sun and
yellow lupine. The shadow of the Sun Clock has drawn nearer to marking
the exact moment of the Summer Solstice on this holy spot.
It was forty years ago, the summer of 1968, that I came to live by holy San Francisco Bay. It was the Summer following the Summer of Love and the great celebration of my generation, my generation not by birth, but by affinity of spirit. It was then that I came to teach at Laney College in Oakland for the next thirty years. From that summer on, San Francisco Bay would be my home. Ten years before that, Summer 1958, stationed on Treasure Island awaiting to be discharged from the U. S. Navy after four years serving in the Hospital Corps, two of them with the Marine Corps, I fell in love with San Francisco Bay and knew in my heart, without words, that someday it would be here that I would live. That it was often foggy did not make it less beautiful, indeed it was made more beautiful by the haunting sound of the fog-horns like mythic sea-serpents courting each other with their lonely calls echoing through the swirling mists. San Francisco was a more beautiful city then, a white city whose highest point was Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill. Approaching from Yerba Buena Island by the Oakland bay bridge, the view of the streets fanning from the Ferry Building and its clock tower was unobstructed and one could clearly see that San Francisco, like Rome, was built upon seven hills - a cityscape as beautiful as that of Toledo seen through the eyes of El Greco. I remember visiting the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, and upon entering, seeing from across the large court, beyond a Spanish plateresque façade (brought by Hearst from some 16th century church in Spain), El Greco's painting of St. Francis for whom the bay is named. Saint of the birds and every living thing who would call the Sun brother and sister the Moon. Fit patron of this holy place. Fifty years later, Earth priest that I have become, I sit here in contemplation of the bay, preparing for the Solstice, invoking the spirit of Saint Francis and all the healers that ever lived that what I speak tomorrow in the few minutes allotted me will not offend the gods, honor the Sun, the Earth, and celebrate all that is (and perhaps is not.) This Summer Solstice 2008, 222nd year of the States, for the very first time, a man of African descent (as in fact are we all, immigrants or descendents of immigrants from that place of our origins), a man of vision and of heart, is candidate for the Presidency of the nation. There is much to celebrate - and work for. But too, the salmon diminish in our oceans, our rivers and our streams. The four sacred elements, Air, Fire, Water, Earth are poisoned by our lack of care, our lust for power and for wealth. The Earth is wounded. And the nation wages another cruel, unwarranted, illegal, immoral war in the Middle East. There is much to lament - and work for. How to speak to celebrate and to exhort? Every blesséd spot upon the Earth is sacred. The Sun is resplendent in the heavens and the glorious Earth bears us still. What we speak must celebrate life, honor it, heal ourselves, invoke the protection of the Earth, and heal her wounds. What we speak must be kind and healing - even our anger must be rooted in our love and our joy. What we speak must be for justice and peace. To bless us all and all that is. For truly, If we do not speak in celebration of life, it is best we keep silent. © Rafael Jesús González 2008 |
Meditaciones en Preparación para el Solsticio
Veraniego
Un día inusualmente calurosa, habiendo tomado sacramento, vengo al Parque César Chávez para prepararme para la Celebración del Solsticio Veraniego del Centro de Ecología mañana en la cual se me ha invitado leer mi poesía. (Como mis ancestros, tengo el hablar en público por acto sagrado.) Emprendo el camino largo por la orilla del agua que rodea la pequeña península, a la cumbre de la loma donde los principios del Reloj Solar en honor de César Chávez están puestos. Es aquí donde esperaré el Solsticio Veraniego. Hago mis ofenda de agua en vez de quemar el copal o salvia tradicional; la hierba está alta y seca y el peligro de incendio es grande. Primero al Este, dirección del saber, sabiduría, iluminación, dirección de los hombres. Luego al Sur, dirección del amar, el crecer, el confiar, dirección de l@s niñ@s. Luego al Oeste, dirección de la fuerza, madurez, introspección, dirección de las mujeres. Y luego al Norte, dirección de la limpia, el sanar, la purificación, dirección de l@s ancian@s. Camino al centro, ofrezco agua hacia al Padre Sol, principio de todo nuestro, hacia a la Madre Tierra, vida de todos nosotros. Toda nuestra parentela, los otros animales, las plantas, los minerales. Se crea el espacio sagrado. Miro a mi alrededor a través de la bahía de jade, el silueta de la Ciudad de San Francisco, la telaraña del Puente del Portal de Oro, casi hacia al norte, azul en la distancia, el sagrado Monte Tamalpais donde por una década conduje las Ruedas Sagradas de la Sociedad Wakwa para celebrar todos los Equinoccios, casi todos los Solsticios, y una vez, poco más de veinte años, la Convergencia Harmónica (un tiempo de ambos esperanza y advertencia, un tiempo para la celebración de la Tierra, el Sol, el Cosmos - la consciencia humana.) Muchas veces he conducido Ruedas Sagradas del Solsticio aquí en este lugar donde ahora paro para consagrar esta tierra que en aquel entonces era sitio del basurero municipal. Aquí mi amigo John y yo tomábamos paseos por el atardecer para ver que vida este lugar sostenía, a veces oyendo, viendo un gran buho cornudo gris en el crepúsculo. Me gusta pensar que he ayudado a sanar esta tierra con mi labor con los Amigos del Parque North Waterfront, grupo compuesto de miembros de Urban Ecology (Ecología Urbana) dedicados a hacer un parque público del escorial. (La oposición de los clubs de yates, clubs de surf vela, restaurantes, urbanizadores era grande.) Una de nuestras recomendaciones más firmes era de una Rueda Sagrada permanente a la cual la gente pudiera venir a meditar y celebrar las estaciones sagradas del año. Este Reloj Solar en honor de César Chávez es buena realización de nuestra recomendación. Recuerdo haber comenzando las Ruedas con un recordar que no hay lugar en la Tierra, no importa que tan violado, que no sea sagrado. No importa el basureo, o tal vez por él, bajo nuestros pies que contenía los tepalcates de generaciones, sus historias, cartas no entregadas tal vez, cartas llenas de dolor o de alegría, tal vez un anillo de matrimonio perdido, seguramente los fragmentos de reliquias rotas, los restos de lo que una vez fue útil, los desperdicios de nuestro vivir. Ahora miro hacia abajo a mi alrededor, hierbas hechas doradas por el sol, lupina amarilla. La sombra del Reloj de Sol se ha acercado más hacia marcar el momento exacto del Solsticio Veraniego en este bendito lugar. Hace cuarenta años, el verano de 1968, que vine a vivir a orillas de la bendita Bahía de San Francisco. Fue el verano después del Verano de Amor y la gran celebración de mi generación, mi generación no por nacimiento sino por afinidad de espíritu. Fue entonces que vine a enseñar en el Colegio Laney en Oakland por los siguiente treinta años. Desde ese verano, la Bahía de San Francisco sería mi patria chica. Diez años antes, el verano de 1958, estacionado en Treasure Island esperando ser licenciado de la Marina del los EE. UU. después de cuatro años de haber servido en el Cuerpo Médico, dos de ellos con la Infantería de Marina, me enamoré de la Bahía de San Francisco y sabía en mi corazón, sin ponerle palabras, que un día sería aquí donde viviría. Que a menudo fuera llena de neblina no la hacía menos bella; de hecho, se hacía más bella por el sonido inolvidable de las bocinas de niebla como míticas serpientes marinas cortejándose con sus llamadas solitarias haciendo ecos por la neblina turbulenta. San Francisco era un ciudad más bella entonces, una ciudad blanca cuyo punto más alto era la Torre Coit en la Colina de la Telegrafía. Llegando de la Isla de Yerba Buena, por el puente de Oakland, la vista de las calles abanicando de la Torre del Edificio de la Barca (Ferry Building) no era obstruida y uno podía ver claramente que San Francisco, como Roma, fue construido sobre siete colinas - una vista de ciudad tan hermosa como la de Toledo vista por los ojos de El Greco. Recuerdo visitar el Museo De Young en el Parque Golden Gate, y al entrar ver a través de la gran corte, más allá de una fachada española plateresca (traída por Hearst de España de alguna iglesia del sigo XVI), la pintura de El Greco de San Francisco por quien la bahía fue nombrada. Santo de las aves y todo lo que vive que llamaría al Sol hermano y hermana a la Luna. Digno patrón a este bendito lugar. Cincuenta años después, sacerdote de la Tierra que me he vuelto, me siento aquí en contemplación de la bahía, preparándome para el Solsticio, invocando el espíritu de San Francisco y todo sanador que jamás haya vivido que cuando hable mañana en los cuantos minutos que se me han otorgado no ofenda a los dioses, honre al Sol, a la Tierra y celebre todo lo que es (y tal vez lo que no.) Este Solsticio Veraniego de 2008, el 222º año de los Estados, por la primera vez, un hombre de descendencia africana (como de hecho somos todos, emigrantes o descendientes de emigrantes de ese lugar de nuestro origen), un hombre de visión y corazón, es candidato para la presidencia de la nación. Hay mucho que celebrar - y por cual trabajar. Pero también, el salmón desminuye en los océanos, los ríos y los arroyos. Los cuatro elementos sagrados, el Aire, el Fuego, el Agua, la Tierra son envenenados por nuestra falta de cuidado, nuestra hambre por el poder y la riqueza. La Tierra está herida. Y la nación hace otra guerra cruel, injustificada, ilegal, inmoral en el Medio Oriente. Hay mucho que lamentar - y por cual trabajar. ¿Cómo hablar para celebrar y exhortar? Cada bendito lugar de la Tierra es sagrado. El Sol es resplandeciente en los cielos y la gloriosa Tierra aun nos sostiene. Lo que digamos debe celebrar a la vida, honrarla, sanarnos, invocar la protección de la Tierra, sanar sus heridas. Lo que digamos debe ser bondadoso y sanador - aun nuestra ira debe ser arraigada en nuestro amor y regocijo. Lo que digamos deber ser por la justicia y la paz. Para bendecirnos todos y todo lo que es. Verdaderamente, si no hablamos en celebración de la vida, es mejor que guardemos silencio. © Rafael Jesús González 2008
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© Rafael Jesús González 2008
Solsticio Veraniego, Berkeley, Alta California, 2008 Rafael Jesús González
P. O. Box 5638
Berkeley, CA 94705 U. S. A
rjgonzalez@mindspring.com
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Excelsior Surname Column Series Rodriguez/Rodrigues Peter Carr, Cuban Genealogical Researcher The Mendez Family |
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EXCELSIOR |
| Editor: In 1992, a friend, Teresa Maldonado
Parker, advised me to contact a new Spanish language newspaper that the
Orange County Register was in the process of starting up, the
Excelsior. Teresa, a friend of the publisher was sure that he would
be very interested in running a weekly Spanish surname column.
I met with Miguel Jimenez, the editor/publisher. He was delighted with my offer to produce a weekly Hispanic surname column. Mr. Jimenez requested that I write on Spanish surnames which were the most popular with the goal of appealing to the largest number of readers, plus to include the appropriate shield for that surname. My personal mission was to educate and emphasize our historical
presence in a personal way. My outline was to give a general history
of the surname, the first time that surname appeared in the Americas, and
find locals carrying that surname, and/or who had traced a family lines
back to the 1600 or 1700s that included that
surname. |
| 1992 Lyman D. Platt, Ph.D. research data 1 Rodriguez 2 Gonzalez 3 Garcia Martinez Hernandez Lopez Perez Sanchez Ramirez Diaz |
Place Position in current US Population 8 Garcia 9 Rodriguez 11 Martinez 15 Hernandez 21 Lopez 23 Gonzalez 29 Perez 33 Sanchez 42 Ramirez 50 Torres |
| This book published in 1996 includes the position and differences between Spanish speaking countries. Excellent source: Hispanic Surnames and Family History by Lyman D. Platt, Ph.D. (c) 1996 Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, MD | |
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RODRIGUEZ/RODRIGUES |
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As with other patronymics, RODRIGUEZ means the son of Rodrigo. Rodrigo itself is a very ancient surname from the areas of Aragon, Huesca, Zaragoza and Navarra, Spain. Originally, it may have been derived from the German Roderic. Its English equivalent is Rudolph. Rodriguez is the most common surname in the United States and the seventh-most common in Spain. The Portuguse version is spelled with an "s" at the end. Since it has always been a common surname, many of the early explorers of the Americas carried it. One of the more famous ones was Juan RODRIGUEZ BERMEJO better known as Rodrigo DE TRIANA. He was a seaman aboard the Pinta in Columbus' small fleet. He was the one who first sighted land on the 12th of October 1492. Gonzalo RODRIGUES DE LA MAGDALENA, who was from Seville, Spain, was in Cuba by 1519. The following year he joined Panfilo de Narvaez in his expedition. Gonzalo RODRIGUEZ later became an encomendero in the area of Puebia, Mexico. A coat of arms was granted to him in 1538. Another early explorer was Pedro RODRIGUEZ DE ESCOBAR. He was from Valladolid, Spain and by 1517 was in Cuba. In 1519, he became a member of Heman Cortes' expedition to Mexico. He was a resident of Guatemala even though he had received an encomienda in Mexico from CORTES. Peter E. Carr, a resident of Highland, California traces his earliest Rodriguez ancestor to Juan RODRIGUEZ bom circa 1775 in the Canary Islands. His granddaughter, Maria Dolores RODRIGUEZ Gonzalez married Francisco RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ on the 9th of December 1852 in Moya on the island of Gran Canaria. On the 6th of March 1868, their daughter, Maria Dolores RODRIGUEZ RODRIGUEZ, was bom. She emigrated to La Habana, Cuba sometime about 1888 with two of her sisters. She gave birth to Debora, Mr. Carr's grandmother. After the Cuban Revolution of 1959, Mr. Carr and his younger sister Carmen, immigrated to the United States as part of a larger exodus of children which became known as the "Peter Pan Operation". Their escape became necessary when the Cuban regime began sending Cuban children to Eastern Europe and Russia for indoctrination in Communism. For a year and a half both children lived in an orphanage in Saginaw, Michigan until their mother was finally able to leave Cuba. Two and a half years later their father finally joined them. As Mr. Carr says, "only recently have I felt the full emotional impact of "our exodus". Though historically nondescript, Mr. Carr is very proud of his RODRIGUEZ ancestry and in 1990 visited the town of Moya which is perched on one of many volcanic peaks present on Gran Canaria, As he says, "you can't know where you're going, if you don't know where you came from". Other surnames in this line: Gonzalez, De La Fe, Luaces, Pita, Mederos, Sarmiento, Rencurrel and Ramos. Compiled by Peter Carr.
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| Peter Carr passed away January 9th of this year. It is an honor to start this Excelsior series with his article; the first of the series. He was a friend and supporter of SHHAR, a frequent presenter and submitter. |
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| Aside from been an author, teacher, historian
and professional genealogist, Mr. Carr was also an archeologist and
anthropologist, obtaining his degree in Anthropology from California State
University, Long Beach. Confronted with the difficulties of securing Cuban
genealogical documentation, Peter Carr charged himself with writing the
definitive "how to" book on genealogical research in Cuba: Guide
to Cuban Genealogical Research, published in 1991 and winner of the
American Society of Genealogists' Scholar Award for 1997. His second book, Censos, Padrones y Matriculas de la Poblacion de Cuba, Siglos 16, 17 y 18, published in 1993, contains a wealth of names and information on the population centers of Cuba during these centuries. From 1993 to 1998, he was publisher and editor of the quarterly "Caribbean Historical & Genealogical Journal", offering clues and genealogical data from the many islands of the Caribbean. In 1992, he compiled THE CUBAN INDEX, a database of Cuban records abstracted from newspapers, city directories, and other data covering the period from 1840 to 1939. Mr. Carr helped to edit Spanish translations at the Colonial Spanish Quarter Museum, in St. Augustine, Florida, and has been featured in Who's Who in Genealogy & Heraldry, and Who's Who in Writers, Editors, and Poets. In addition to contributing articles to a variety encyclopedic projects, magazines and newspapers, Peter has also lectured at many conferences and seminars such as the 20th International Congress of Genealogical & Heraldic Sciences, 1992; NGS Conference, 1994; Hispanic Genealogical & Historical Society Conference 1995, 1996, 2001; Federation of Genealogical Societies, 2002, 2003, and many, many others. Source: Cuban Genealogy Club of Miami, Florida Raices de la Perla Winter/Spring 2005 For an article by Peter: Using the Printed Official Government Records of Cuba, click. |
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The Mendez Family |
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| This web page is a work in progress. Please send any additions, corrections, or additional information to me at:
mike@mikemendez.org
The origin of the Mendez family can be traced back to the Visigoth people, who were a Germanic tribe that eventually settled in what is now Spain. As far as I can ascertain, the Mendez line started in the principality of Asturias, in the far North-Western part of Spain. The Visigoths were one of the two major branches of the Goths, the other being the Ostrogoths. The origin of the Goths is disputed, but the ancient Roman maps show them located, along with the other Germanic tribes, on the Russian Steppes. This vast "sea of grass" is most probably where they formed into a coherent and distinct tribe. Spain was the very first Empire with global reach. In the 1500s and 1600s, Spain had colonies all over the globe, from the Philippine Islands in the Pacific ocean, to the "New World" in the Western Hemisphere. The Mendez family was very involved in the exploration and colonization of these new lands. Our branch of the family settled on the Western side of Puerto Rico very early in the colonization of this island by the Spaniards. So far, we have not been able to determine exactly who and when was the Patriarch of our line. The best efforts of family members have determined that there were at least four different Mendez families that immigrated to Puerto Rico. Hurricanes, Fires, and disasters have destroyed records which might have given us solid answers. I can go back by name for the previous five generations. If you are a member of this branch of our family and are not listed in the family tree, please contact me so that we can include you. Very soon, a contact page will be established here. If you would like your contact information listed, please let me know. I will not list your contact information without specific authorization from you, so if you prefer not to be listed for the entire world to see, I will keep it off of the web page.
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August 23, Mariachi for Gringos, SHHAR quarterly meeting. New: Summer Mariachi Kinder Program Accredited Mariachi Program at Southwestern College The Orange County Register's Latino Life Serving his country on horseback Anaheim group honors 8 for community contributions |
 Sent by Jerome Kocher geronimo80@hotmail.com |
Mariachi for Gringos |
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The workshop at the SHHAR quarterly meeting on August 23rd will feature "Mariachi for Gringos" and its author, Gil Sperry. The fast paced educational, informative, and entertaining interactive presentation will utilize Power Point, CDs, archival DVD footage, live music, audience participation, and pertinent handouts. Areas to be discussed include, but are not limited to is why the author is so passionate about mariachi and why the music is being hailed as 'the bridge between the cultures" Gil's expertise is being well recognized. On June 28th, Gil served as the MC at the Queen Mary Mariachi Festival,
held adjacent to the classic ship in Long Beach. It was a huge success.
Gil sent the following notes received from two of the performers.
They illustrate that we are all related...whether we are black (and a classically trained Haitian violinist with a B.F.A. degree in Music from the prestigious California Institute of the Arts), brown (and a self taught singing 'cachinilla' from TJ who resides in Stockton and was recently voted 'Best Mariachi Voice' of Northern California) or white (and the author of 'Mariachi for Gringos").The music is definitely, as my late son so accurately described, "...a bridge between cultures."
First, letter from Michelle Anglade of 'Mariachi Nuevo Generacion":
Letter from Ricardo Simenthal of Stockton, manager of Berta Olivia:
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New: Summer Mariachi Kinder Program |
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 Age
Range: 3 to 5
years old.Duration: 4 weeks course. Class Length: 1 hour and 30 minutes. Instructor: Gabriel B. Zavala Rhythmo Mariachi Kids ocmariachi@pacbell.net 714-778-4356 Sent by Larry Luera luckylarry77@earthlink.net What they’ll
Experience in Class:
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Accredited Mariachi Program at Southwestern College
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Dr. Jeff Nevin, author of "Virtuoso Mariachi" seeing the emergence of mariachi programs around the United States, frequently led by people without mariachi experience, Nevin is at work on a method book that will give both instructors and students insights into mariachi history, traditions and style. He's created an accredited program at Southwestern College to give band and orchestra teachers background and experience in the mariachi. "It's not a substitute for experience but it's the best I can do." On the performance front, Nevin is blazing new trails in the mariachi world, writing mariachi arrangements of classical fare and merging the two worlds. He has several recordings out, including "La Forza Del Destino" with Mariachi Champaña Nevín and "Romances Mundiales" with singer Florencia and Mariachi Champaña Nevín. You can purchase his recordings, the book, and learn more at his Web site, www.virtuosomariachi.com . http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/projects/mariachi03/festival/4_24_03nevin.html |
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| From our reader stories: The flood of 1938 in south Placentia as recalled by Eddie Castro, flood survivor Who's blogging in our Latino communities? Leadership Meet softball's Yoda: Coach - philosopher teaches how to hit National champ works out of Huntington Beach warehouse, shaping pupils into players. Culture & arts Cuban masters on display at Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach Works by Wifredo Lam and Carlos Luna illustrate cross-cultural aesthetics. Father-son gallery opens A banner year for an O.C. woman The Chicano movement carries on through art Laguna Hills woman pens book about her Mexican American roots A voice for the afflicted: Play gives voice to women with AIDS Steeped in tradition O.C.'s Eden Espinosa tackles 'Flora, the Red Menace' with mixed results in L.A. O.C.'s Eden Espinosa goes from 'Wicked' green to 'Flora' red Flores part of a long Hispanic tradition in popular-music industry Mexican day laborers as comedy? Just ask Culture Clash Athletes Fastest man in O.C.? David Whiting: Santa Ana man runs as a personal journey of self-discovery, but then finds himself in a unique place. David Whiting: Novice runner proves we all can be marathoners Youth High school student-scholars learn, grow over year 2 Simon Scholars from Santa Ana tell their stories. CSUF art student inspires others School's Mendez Family Bookshelf tells story of inclusion Sharing the dream Simon scholarships help turn adversity into opportunity Heroes Remembering Normandy: Augustine Martinez's story Military: A former soldier and his family from Santa Ana retrace his steps from Normandy to the forest where he fell prisoner. (Originally published June 6, 1998) Korean War hero shares story Artwork portrays war memories Serving his country on horseback Veteran looks ahead to Colonia Indepencia reunion Frank Mejia's service in World War II took him from the Philippines to the occupation of Japan. La Habra man fought in island danger zone Reader anecdotes and comments about this series Communities Laguna Hills school embraces growing Latino population San Joaquin Elementary helps Spanish-speakers master English. English-at-home program aims to increase adults' skill DNA test reveals neither parent is hers A quest and a test redefine family ties Tiny Peña's Restaurant serves up huge flavor Study: Vietnamese, Mexicans – O.C.'s largest immigrant groups – assimilate in different ways Mariachis battle for #1 in Capistrano Cinco de my, oh my! Four days of fun for Cinco de Mayo Landmark Santa Ana bookstore fights to stay open Pepper spray and endless pushups is what it took Coffee with a Cuban flair served in Anaheim Latino Notebook: Latina bloggers in online tour Commentary: Helping the homeless over the gaps Yvette Cabrera: A new nonprofit foundation launches its first effort to raise funds that will pay for basics like bus passes and motel vouchers to help the homeless in crisis. Yvette Cabrera: Hospital workers want their voices heard Yvette Cabrera: Tackling Costa Mesa's 'terror' problem Yvette Cabrera: Stamp honors journalist who fought racial injustice Yvette Cabrera: War not over for protesting veterans From our past Plaques for the pioneers Cities Santa Ana's Delhi neighborhood has ties that stretch back almost a century, and residents plan an honor. |
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Serving his country on horseback For James Ortega Perez, enduring basic training kept him prepared for the worst. By Laura Bucio, The Orange County Register http://www.ocregister.com/slideshow/
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James Ortega Perez rode 18 hours on an injured horse. That was his last ride in Fort Reilly, Kan., on the same horse he had trained with and kept throughout his stay there. The ride would write the final chapter of his life as a military man and leave an indelible mark that forever etched the memory of the war. |
On July 25, 1996 my father Hector P. Garcia died.
For information, contact:
Date of Birth:
01-09-1925 
The
mission of the organization is to help inform the public about 
In the ceremony’s keynote speech, Lieutenant
General Thomas R. Turner, Commanding General US Army North, noted that,
“In February 1776, John Adams had written two tasks to accomplish in his
march to freedom: to form alliances with France and Spain, and to work on a
Declaration of Independence.”
The
Ft. Sam Houston Military Services Detachment then fired three volleys to
salute our nation, our founding patriots, and all military men and women who
have served in defense of our nation.
The
children here in 1973 in order of age, youngest in the front on my motorcycle, in Anaheim,
California. Their mom, Rosa and I had just barely gotten married at that time.
Guy gave me his book titled SAIPAN SUICIDE ISLAND and he autographed it for me for my father when I saw him in the Saipan Airport working on his airplane. I send the book to my father to read.