JULY 2014

Editor: Mimi Lozano ©2000-2014


Walking, side by side,  shoulder to shoulder.

Animal photos sent by Don Milligan   donmilligan@comcast.net 
Table of Contents
United States
Historic Tidbits 
Hispanic Leaders
Latino Patriots
Early Latino Patriots
Surnames
DNA 
Family History

Education
Culture
Books and Print Media

Orange County, CA
Los Angeles County, CA
California
Northwestern US
Southwestern US
Texas
Middle America
East Coast
African-American
Indigenous
Sephardic
Archaeology
Mexico
Central & South America
Philippines
Spain
International

 

 

SELECTIVE PHOTO FOR ISSUE 

 

 
Somos Primos Staff   
Mimi Lozano, Editor
Mercy Bautista Olvera
Roberto Calderon, Ph,D.
Bill Carmena
Lila Guzman, Ph.D
John Inclan
Galal Kernahan
Juan Marinez
J.V. Martinez, Ph.D
Dorinda Moreno
Rafael Ojeda
Ángel Custodio Rebollo
Tony Santiago
John P. Schmal

Submitters to January 2014  


 

Letters to the Editor

Mayor Coontz,
Thanks for the nice compliment! The publisher is Mimi Lozano and you met her at the recognition luncheon for her 28 years of continuous service. The beautiful part of all this is that it is offered free to the public! I have enjoyed it through the years-very informative-very much the public pulse of the Hispanic Community in the U.S.!

Suggestion: Print it one page at a time and on the print box tell to print the current page! Try it!
Tom
On Wednesday, May 28, 2014 11:36 AM, Joanne Coontz <joanne.the1@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
 
How much does that magazine cost? I tried to print out the material on Jess, however my computer program does not indicate pages - you have to guess! Suggestions? That's such a superior magazine - beautifully put together, one important story after the other! Valuable for any permanent historical collection. jc

 

Hi Mimi, 
I just want to take moment to thank you for the updated information on the www.SomosPrimos.com. website. I was doing some research for a paper the other day, and I want to let you know that I still reference the www.SomosPrimos.com website.

It's hard to believe how much time has passed since the organization first began. I was remembering Dr. George Ryskamp, as I referenced some terms from one of his books on Hispanic ancestry.
The work that SHHAR has done and the information it continues to provide is most valuable. I don't know who the researcher Mary Brito is, but please give her a big thank you for the extensive research and stories on the Brito family.

Best regards, 
Catherine Luijt,  opzoeker@gmail.com 
1st Vice President, California State Genealogical Alliance

 

P.O. 490
Midway City, CA 
92655-0490
mimilozano@aol.com
www.SomosPrimos.com 
714-894-8161

 

 

 
Quotes of Thoughts to Consider 
“to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived—this is to have succeeded”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sent by Elva Gibson eagibson@cox.net 

 

"Experience hath shown, that even under the best forms of government, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny."   Thomas Jefferson
Democracy is a form of government that substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment byu the corrupt few."  George Bernard Shaw

 

 

 

UNITED STATES

I say Hispanic. You say Latino. How did the whole thing start? by Yasmin Anwa
Y a mi, qué? Who Does the Civil Rights Movement Belong To? by Eduardo Diaz  


Our Ancestors brought the horse to the Americas in the 1500s 

 

I say Hispanic. You say Latino. How did the whole thing start?

By Yasmin Anwar, Media Relations | April 29, 2014
Video by Roxanne Makasdjian and Phil Ebiner/UC Berkeley  

 

=============================================

=============================================

BERKELEY – From Hollywood actor Cameron Diaz to the late labor rights leader Cesar Chavez, the labels, “Hispanic” or “Latino” cover a strikingly diverse population of more than 50 million Americans.  

In her new book, UC Berkeley sociologist G. Cristina Mora traces the commercial, political and cultural interests that colluded in the 1970s to create a national Hispanic identity and, in turn, boosted the political clout of Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Salvadorans, Guatemalans and other Latin Americans in the United States.  

A Mexican American from Los Angeles, Mora completed her undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley and her graduate work at Princeton University, before returning to UC Berkeley in 2011 as an assistant professor of sociology.  Her incisive investigation into pan-ethnicity in her book, “Making Hispanics: How Activists, Bureaucrats, and Media Constructed a New America” (University of Chicago Press) – as well as her related article in this month’s edition of the American Sociological Review – is sure to position her as a player in the debate over racial, ethnic and national identity in the United States, especially as it pertains to Hispanic categories in the 2020 U.S. Census. Here’s what Mora has to say about the origins of the Hispanic category and where it’s headed.  

How has your personal background shaped your scholarship?  

Growing up Mexican American in Los Angeles in the 1980s and 1990s, I wouldn’t have been caught dead calling myself “Hispanic.” I called myself “Chicana.” It was not until I moved to the East Coast in 2003 and was around more Puerto Ricans, Cubans and South Americans that I realized that the Hispanic or Latino identity means something drastically different on the East Coast than it does on the West Coast. It was then that I started to think deeply about how this label can capture so many people who are so radically different from one another, and that story became my Ph.D. dissertation and my book.      

Cubans in Miami are a diverse group unto themselves and part of the larger Hispanic category  

What’s the gist of your book?  

It’s a story about people being disadvantaged, being a statistically reliable group and being consumers. All of these elements came together in an almost perfect storm in the 1970s when activists, the media and government bureaucrats learned how to work together to put out the pan-ethnic message.  

=============================================

=============================================

How did this movement start?  

It was the activists who first went to the Census Bureau and said, ‘You have got to create a category. You have got to distinguish us from whites.’ Up until that time, the Census Bureau mainly grouped Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans in the same category as Irish and Italian, and that became a real problem because it couldn’t show the government the poverty rates between Mexicans and whites. There was pushback on how large and how broad the category could be, but ultimately, a Hispanic category was established.  

How was the category sold to Latin Americans?  

The Census Bureau asked activists and the Spanish-language media to promote the category. The media created documentaries and commercials. There was even a Telethon where people called in, and were encouraged to identify as Hispanic on the Census form. We can see why the media executives were so happy and so quick to help the Census Bureau because, later on, it became in their interests to help grow that cooperation.  

Why was that?  

Until that time, Spanish-language media executives had been creating separate television stations and programming for Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans. Suddenly they were able to start using some of this broad Census data and go to advertisers like McDonald’s and Coca Cola and say, ‘Look, we’re a national Hispanic community and our consumer needs are different so invest in us and we will get you Hispanic consumer dollars.’ With that strategy, they were able to connect stations across the country, and over time, create a Spanish-language McDonald’s commercial that could broadcast to a national audience.  

Spanish-language media also became an important platform to get the Hispanic political agenda out to communities, and activists were a regular feature on Spanish-language newscasts. For example, if you need funding for bilingual education, you lobby the federal government, you testify before Congress. But if you can go on nightly network news and speak to your people in their language, the message really gets out.  

=============================================

=============================================

Weren’t Hispanics just being exploited to make a buck?  

Spanish-language media is key to keeping immigration reform in the spotlight.  

On the one hand, there were media executives selling the idea of a hot new consumer market. On the other hand, this hot new consumer market still has high poverty rates compared to other groups. But without the media, activists have a hard time getting the message out. If you look at Spanish-language media right now, it’s the perhaps the No. 1 means of getting out information about immigration policy reform. Whereas other networks have moved onto the next hot topic, it’s Spanish-language media that’s still reporting on the issue.  

How did they bring together such a diverse group?  

The Spanish-language media was key to creating a narrative about Hispanics. For example, one of the most popular Spanish-language programs at that time was the Miami-based El Show de Cristina, billed as the Spanish-language version of Oprah. On the set, Cristina might have a Colombian family, a Mexican family and a Puerto Rican family talking about the difficulties of raising second- generation immigrant children or passing on the Spanish language and traditions. This created an image that we were together, that we share the same problems, that we are a community.  

 

Weren’t there enough Mexican Americans to warrant their own category?  

In the 1970s, this was fine if you wanted to capture the California governor’s attention, but it wasn’t enough for capturing President Nixon or President Ford’s attention, and it certainly wasn’t enough for capturing the attention of East Coast politicians because many of them had never even met a Mexican. But when activists were able to cite the number of Cubans in Florida, Puerto Ricans in New York, Salvadorans in DC and Mexicans in the Southwest, and when they were able to argue that these groups were all connected and were all in need of resources for job training programs and bilingual education, then they were onto something. It was only then that activists could get federal attention – by making Latin American groups seem like part of a national constituency.  

What do Hispanics have in common other than the Spanish language?  

Cuban-American journalist Cristina Saralegui helped promote a Hispanic identity in a popular show that ran for 21 years until it was canceled in 2010.  

In many cases, they don’t even have that in common. You have the person whose great-grandmother came from Argentina, but has never visited Latin America, and does not speak Spanish, lumped into the exact same category as a Guatemalan who just crossed the U.S. border.  

=============================================

=============================================

One argument the book makes is that in order for all these government, market and political interests to come together, the category had to become broader in order to fit in all these ideas about Hispanics being consumers, or Hispanics being disadvantaged people.  

Over time, the Hispanic identity has become based on cultural generalities such as ‘We all love our families. We are all religious and we all have some connection to the Spanish language however far back that may be.’  That’s a weakness and a strength. It was because of that ambiguity that we have the large numbers who identify as Hispanic and who have made advances.  But when you have such a broad and opaque category it’s hard to elicit and sustain passion and commitment.  
Is the Hispanic category here to stay or is change in the air?  

When the category was first established, Latinos were a smaller percentage of the population, but now we’re the largest minority group with increased migration from central and South America and the Caribbean. Why does the guy with the grandmother from Argentina have more claim to the Latino category than, say, Brazilians or Haitians? These questions are going to be asked and we are going to need to develop a new narrative even if it means splintering the group in some ways.  

At the same time, I would advocate that we not forget the political origins of the Hispanic label, that we not forget there are real experiences of discrimination and disadvantage that started this story and that continue today. If we dangerously slip into just a narrative about culture, we forget that there is, within the population, a considerable number of people who

still face poverty and a lack of education that the larger community can mobilize help for.

There are still really important issues like immigration reform that this community can mobilize its strength toward, but it can only be done with an eye toward respecting diversity.  

What about Hispanic vs. Latino?  

Hispanic generally refers to the way that Latin Americans are united through their connection to Spain and their links to Spanish culture and tradition. Spaniards would be included in this formulation, but Brazilians would not. Latino, on the other hand, is usually used to refer to the way that Latin Americans are connected to one another via their common history of colonization. Spaniards, then, would not be part of this formulation, while Brazilians might. Yet for the most part, these labels and categories are ambiguous and lots of organizations and institutions invest in keeping these terms as ambiguous and as broad as possible.  

As for the breakdown, there is still a slight preference for Hispanic over Latino – 51-49 percent – and it’s more regional and less political. Urban areas on the coasts prefer Latino. Rural areas in states like Texas and New Mexico use Hispanic. Organizations have become adept at using both. The media prefers “Latino.” 

Which do you prefer to be called?

Latino.

Sent by Dorinda Moreno pueblosenmovimien

 

 

 

Y a mi, qué? Who Does the Civil Rights Movement Belong To?
Eduardo Diaz  

Director, Smithsonian Latino Center
Source: Smithsonian Latino Center Newsletter, June 2014 

=============================================

=============================================

I recently visited the Brooklyn Museum, eager to see Witness: Art and Civil Rights in the Sixties

The exhibition is organized into eight sections and features 103 works by 66 artists. 

It was organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and purports, according to the museum's press release, to "explore how painting, sculpture, graphics, and photography not only responded to the political and social turmoil of the era but also helped to influence its direction."

Although it's not clearly stated, the exhibition is entirely focused on the black civil rights movement. Witness is on view through July 6, 2014.

Let me say, first, that I believe Witness is an important exhibition and needs to be seen. The work, from a Who's-Who list of foundational American artists, is beautiful, powerful and well organized. Fortunately, Witness is scheduled to travel and I encourage readers to see it if it comes to your city. Vale la pena.

 

I have to say, however, that as a veteran of the Chicano movement, I was a little disappointed. If I were a supporter of the Young Lords Party, Red Guard Party or the American Indian Movement, I might be similarly disappointed. And if I was a former Puerto Rican activist, I might be more than disappointed. The Young Lords was a Puerto Rican nationalist organization, established in Chicago and New York in the '60s to address discrimination and disparities impacting their community in the areas of health care, education, housing and nutrition. It engaged in multiple mobilizations, including building takeovers and the establishment of health clinics and feeding programs. It drew the support of thousands and published its own newspaper, Pa'lante (Forward). The movement inspired countless Puerto Ricans to aspire and achieve. It underpinned the establishment of Puerto Rican studies programs, cultural organizations, legal defense centers and other entities that continue to advocate for the advancement of Puerto Ricans. I think it's important to note that many Puerto Rican activists closely associated themselves with the Black Civil Rights and Power Movements. Not surprisingly, the Young Lords became one of the leading targets of COINTELPRO, an FBI program designed to disrupt and dismantle what it identified as subversive groups.

=============================================

=============================================

Importantly, the Puerto Rican Civil Rights Movement inspired several artists. Where was the powerful work of artists like Juan Sánchez, Carlos Irizarry, Jorge Soto Sánchez and Frank Espada? I understand that the exhibition is mostly about work produced in the sixties, but there are several pieces from the seventies in the show, which would seemingly open the door for a photographer like Sophie Rivera. What about the work produced out of Taller Boricua, an early Puerto Rican arts collective? Could the organizers have consulted with Puerto Rican curators familiar with this historical period, like Yasmín Ramírez or Taína Caragol?

Brooklyn's population is 20 percent Latino. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but I'd venture to say that the majority of our population there is still Puerto Rican. My question then is: How can an exhibit in Brooklyn about the civil rights movement not include the history of the Young Lords, and the Puerto Rican political movement and the artists it inspired throughout the '60s and beyond? I was happy to see that the show included Raphael Montañez-Ortiz's assemblage, "Archeological Find #21, the Aftermath." Montañez-Ortiz is a conceptual, multimedia artist prominent within the destructivism art movement, and notable for his founding, in 1969, of El Museo del Barrio, an El Barrio (East Harlem) institution. El Museo is the oldest Latino museum in the country and its founding is directly attributable to Puerto Rican activism.

 

As someone who lived and breathed the Chicano movement, I question its exclusion in this exhibit. 

It's hard for me to understand how a well-documented social and political movement born in the '60s that inspired thousands, elevated the plight of farmworkers onto the national stage, led to the creation of university departments, birthed many community-based organizations advocating for a wide range of social issues, and inspired many trend-setting artists, including Rupert García, whose etching, "Black Man and Flag," is featured in Witness, is not mentioned. 

The list of Chicano movement-inspired artists and collectives is a long and distinguished one. It's unfortunate that the museum did not probe further.

My sense is that the Brooklyn Museum missed a golden opportunity to interpret and contextualize the entirety and true scope and complexity of the civil rights movement in New York and in this country. 

I'd really love it if they'd go back to the drawing board and give another shot at telling a more complete story for all of us to more fully appreciate.

Stay current with the Smithsonian Latino Center activities
Sign up: http://www.latino.si.edu/newsevents/sign_up.htm 

 

Projects at the Smithsonian Latino Center Newsletter

=============================================

=============================================

Young Ambassadors Program 
It's that time of year again where we welcome a select group of graduating high school seniors to join us in D.C. for our annual Young Ambassadors Program beginning June 23. This signature educational and leadership development program is now in its ninth year and continues to attract the best and brightest Latino youth from throughout the country. Our program offers an exciting week in D.C. where students meet Smithsonian scholars and Latino leaders throughout the U.S.  While here, they engage in a series of workshops, hands-on activities and interactive experiences at various Smithsonian museums and research centers. The week in Washington is followed by a four-week paid internship in various cities throughout the country and includes a summer reading activity in collaboration with local libraries. The Latino Center gratefully acknowledges major and continued program support from Ford Motor Company Fund, with additional in-kind support provided by PepsiCo. 

Portraiture Now
Staging the Self, a bilingual exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery, in collaboration with the Latino Center, opens August 22 in D.C. This partnership aims to raise awareness of Latino presence and contributions to our nation’s history and contemporary culture. The exhibit will investigate the process through which identity is constructed in portraits, presenting the work of artists of Latino background. Educational programming for visitors of all ages will be offered throughout the run of the exhibit, including a Hispanic Heritage Month Family Day on September 13. Earlier this year we were honored to offer a preview presentation of this exhibit in the home of New York-based art collector Jose Vídal with the goal of creating greater awareness and support for this collaborative endeavor.  

 

 

To support our work on this pioneering effort, please consider an online, tax-deductible donation today as we work to ensure that Latinos are well-represented at the National Portrait Gallery. (Please write “Portraiture Now” in the “Comments” field.) To become an exhibit patron and receive prominent recognition throughout the duration of the exhibit, please contact Gina Flores at floresgm@si.edu or (202) 633-9004.  

Margaret Salazar-Porzio talks Latino history at the Smithsonian
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP7UhS_lYvU&list=PLL71NEDhCwbF2t8h4avr1JLz9WoxcZ8WR


 

 
Latino Americans' Mi Historia projects
============================================= =============================================

The LATINO AMERICANS PBS project of last year is expanding.  It was the first major documentary series for television to chronicle the rich and varied history and experiences of Latinos, who have helped shape North America over the last 500-plus years and have become, with more than 50 million people, the largest minority group in the U.S. The changing and yet repeating context of American history provides a backdrop for the drama of individual lives. It is a story of immigration and redemption, of anguish and celebration, of the gradual construction of a new American identity that connects and empowers millions of people today.  http://www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en/about/

Now you can be part of the LATINO AMERICANS project. The Latino Americans' Mi Historia projects requests Latinos to make videos themselves describing what being Latino means to them.  They request that you share your family traditions, tell how you celebrate your heritage and culture, or who are your role models. Latino Americans producers say: Share your story and become part of ours.  http://www.pbs.org/latino-americans/en/

Sent by Sister Mary Sevilla.   marysevilla@mac.com   

 

 

Long battle to win recognition for the Borinqueneers reached far beyond DC

By Kevin Mead

kevin@caribbeanbusinesspr.com; cbprdigital@gmail.com

The Puerto Rican veterans of the 65th Infantry Regiment are poised to finally get some hard-won recognition when President Barack Obama signs legislation next week to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the battle-proven “Borinqueneers.”  

============================================= =============================================

The bill to grant the honor, the highest Congress can bestow on an individual or group for outstanding and enduring achievement, was pushed over considerable hurdles up Capitol Hill and on to the White House by Resident Commissioner Pierluisi, Florida Rep Bill Posey and Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal.  

But the effort to win the medal for the Borinqueneers extended far beyond Washington, D.C., stretching past the Beltway, across the United States and even reaching the highest diplomatic circles in Korea, where the fighting men of the 65th Infantry paid a high price for their reputation for bravery and competence in the face of adversity.  

Central to that effort was the somewhat unlikely team of Frank Medina, a West Point graduate and former Army captain who served in the Iraq War, and Raúl Reyes Castañeira, a 65th Infantry Regiment veteran of the Korean War whose three brothers and father were also members of the storied unit.  

Medina’s late grandfather had been a member of 65th Infantry, so the young West Point alum was aware of their service and sacrifice against the odds, which included racial discrimination that kept them off the front lines and in support roles through two World Wars until they finally got a chance to fight in Korea.  

“The nation was at a cultural juncture,” Medina told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS online in an exclusive interview. “The 65th Infantry rose above adversity. They exceeded expectations.”  

Medina, a Florida-based engineer, jumpstarted the drive to get the Congressional Gold Medal for the Borinqueneers in 2012 after attending an activity for minority graduates of the U.S. armed forces academies during which recognition was paid to the Montford Point Marines and Tuskegee Airmen, trailblazing African-American units that had been awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. It was there the Medina first met Reyes Castañeira.  

“Reyes Castañeira asked me how we could get one of those medals for the 65th Infantry,” Medina said. “And the rest is history.”  

What followed was a multi-front campaign to drum up support for the Borinqueneers that included a blitz of cold calling, the launch of a website and a flood of letters to officials and lawmakers including Pierluisi and the four stateside Puerto Rican members of Congress: Rep. José Serrano (D-N.Y.), Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-N.Y.) Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) and Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.).  

=============================================

=============================================

  Pierluisi, a national Democrat and head of the island’s statehood New Progressive Party, was the first to get the ball rolling on Capitol Hill with legislation filed in 2013. Posey, a Florida Republican, quickly got on board, adding bipartisan weight to the bill.  

Medina’s next task was helping find a sponsor in the Senate, with Democrat Blumenthal finally picking up the banner through the Hispanic-Americans Veterans of Connecticut in Hartford.  M

South Korea’s ambassador to Washington, Ho-Young Ahn, sent a letter to Capitol Hill supporting the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Borinqueneers.  

“The men of the 65th Infantry were part of the generation of Americans that answered the call to defend a little known country and people,” he wrote.  

=============================================

=============================================

Both chambers finally approved the legislation last month and Obama is scheduled to sign it during a ceremony at the White House next Tuesday.  

Medina, who spent years on the campaign, is quick to point out that people across racial and geographic lines pitched in to make the honor possible.  “This was a cumulative effort around the nation,” he said.  

While the grunt work was being done on the ground in far-flung corners of the country, it was Reyes Castañeira who served as the “inspirational spirit” within the movement, according to Medina, who refers to the aging Borinqueneer as his adopted grandfather.  

The San Juan-born Reyes Castañeira grew up as the self-described “Army brat” son of a father who was a career soldier in the 65th Infantry. He and his three older brothers — Carlos, Robert and William — followed their father into the ranks of the Borinqueneers.  

While his older siblings served in World War II and were sent to the front lines in Korea, Reyes Castañeira would have to wait his turn as Army brass kept him out of combat to keep the family name alive in the event that his brothers didn’t make it home alive.  

“He was like the ‘Saving Private Ryan’ of the 65th Infantry,” Medina said.  

When the older brothers emerged from Korea unscathed, Reyes Castañeira was pressed into duty, taking his place at the Borinqueneers vanguard from 1951-52. He served with the unit for three years, rising to the rank of sergeant.  

“My brothers were always in heavy fighting until they rotated safely back to Puerto Rico,”Reyes Castañeira said. “I served for several months in the front lines doing combat patrols and defending the line against the enemy who were constantly firing on us with artillery, mortars, and machine gun fire. We held the line.”  

The Borinqueneers were created by Congress in 1898 as an all-Puerto Rican segregated unit, and is credited with the final battalion-sized bayonet assault in U.S. Army history. Called upon to serve in support roles in World War I and World War II, the unit proved itself a potent fighting force in the Korean War.  

According to Medina, it was during military maneuvers on Vieques that the Pentagon brass took notice of the Borinqueneers and realized that they could be an asset on the front lines.  

=============================================

=============================================

During Korea, the Borinqueneers were awarded 10 Distinguished Service Crosses, 256 Silver Stars, 606 Bronze Stars, and 2,771 Purple Hearts. Deaths in Korea among the Borinqueneers numbered 750 men. Of these, over 100 are still listed as missing in action.  

As a unit, they earned a Presidential Unit Citation, a Meritorious Unit Commendation and two Republic of Korea Unit Citations, including personal praise from Gen. Douglas MacArthur when they were called to the front lines of the Korean War.  

“The Puerto Ricans forming the ranks of the gallant 65th Infantry give daily proof on the battlefields of Korea of their courage, determination and resolute will to victory, their invincible loyalty to the United States and their fervent devotion to those immutable principles of human relations which the Americans of the continent and of Puerto Rico have in common,” MacArthur said of the Borinqueneers. “They are writing a brilliant record of heroism in battle and I am indeed proud to have them under my command. I wish that we could count on many more like them.”  

Although primarily composed of Puerto Ricans hailing from Puerto Rico and mainland U.S., during the Korean War the 65th Infantry had minor elements of segregated African-Americans, Virgin Islanders, Filipinos and Mexican-Americans as part of a regimental combat team.

When Obama signs the bill, the Borinqueneers will join baseball legend and humanitarian Roberto Clemente, also from Puerto Rico, as the only Hispanics ever to be awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, which is the highest award Congress can bestow on an individual or group for outstanding and enduring achievement. Clemente received the honor posthumously in 1973 after he was killed in airplane crash while delivering food and other supplies to earthquake-ravaged Nicaragua.  

“I will die in peace knowing that the 65th Infantry got the recognition it deserves,” Reyes Castañeira told CARIBBEAN BUSINESS online.  

George Washington was awarded the first Congressional Gold Medal in 1776 —238 years ago — and the medal has since been awarded fewer than 160 times. The 65thInfantry Regiment will be one of only about 10 military units ever to have received this honor. That short list includes veterans who served in segregated military units, including the Native American Navajo Code Talkers, the African-American Tuskeegee Airmen, the Japanese-American Nisei and the African-American Montford Point Marines.  

After a Congressional Gold Medal bill has been approved by both houses of Congress and signed into law by the president, officials of the United States Mint meet with the sponsors of the legislation and representatives of the honorees to discuss possible designs for the medal. 

=============================================

=============================================

Engravers from the U.S. Mint then prepare a series of sketches of alternative designs for consideration and comment by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts and subsequently by the secretary of the Treasury, who makes the final decision on the medal’s design. Once the secretary of the Treasury has made a selection, the design is sculptured and the medal is struck at the Philadelphia Mint. The mint then notifies the White House and arrangements are made for a formal presentation by the president, typically held at the U.S. Capitol.  

The push for recognition for the Borinqueneers was somewhat of a race against time to ensure that at least some of its members who served so valiantly in Korea would live to see themselves honored.  

“We did our duty with honor and pride. We honor our comrades who died in that far away land to keep that country free. I hope the Puerto Rican people and the United States never forgets our sacrifice and the blood we shed there,” Reyes Castañeira said. “All my brothers are deceased. I dedicated the rest of my life to them, so that nobody forgets them.”  

In March, 24 mostly ethnic or minority U.S. soldiers — including four Puerto Ricans — who performed bravely under fire in three of the nation’s wars finally received the Medal of Honor that the government concluded should have been awarded a long time ago.  

The servicemen — Hispanics, Jews and African-Americans — were identified following a congressionally mandated review to ensure that eligible recipients of the country’s highest recognition for valor were not bypassed due to prejudice. Only three of the 24 were alive for Obama to drape the medals and ribbons around their necks at the White House ceremony.  

Reyes Castañeira intends to be there at the Capitol when the 65th Infantry finally gets its due, standing tall for the many of his former comrades who have passed away in recent years.

“This has been a long fight and I am very proud,” Reyes Castañeira said. “This isn’t just an honor for the 65th Infantry. This is an honor for all of Puerto Rico.”

http://www.caribbeanbusinesspr.com/news/borinqueneers
-battled-for-recognition-97482.html
 

Sent by Juan Marinez  marinezj@msu.edu 

 

AMERICAN LATINO HERITAGE FUND

Editor:  There are agencies and resources in place to allow, develop, and increase public awareness of the historic national presence of Latinos. We are being asked by the National Park Foundation to personally participate by initiating projects highlighting the Latino within the park system, and also in identifying new sites of  historic value.   The success of the 65th Infantry demonstrates that the Latino history can receive public visibility, but it requires the tenacity and dedication to whom that particular location and event is of importance.  I strongly suggest that you view the list of American Latino Historic Sites low.  If your family has a connection to one of those parks, consider a plaque being placed within the park, with information concerning your antepasados.  Honor them with recognition.  Be creative, be persistent, be proud of your ancestors.  They deserve your respect.  

============================================= =============================================

BACKGROUND
The 2010 census counted 54 million Latinos in the US. Latinos comprise 16.3% of the US population, an increase of 46.3% in ten years. Yet despite a 400-year history in North America Latino culture, heritage, visitation and stewardship are almost non-existent at national parks and historical sites. An estimated 4% of the 87,000 listed as Historic Places explicitly recognize and celebrate our country's ethnically diverse cultures.

MISSION: The American Latino Heritage Fund of the National Park Foundation seeks to immediately and strategically integrate and celebrate the cultural, economic and civic contributions of Latino communities in our American story.

GOAL: The Fund will focus on securing funding from individuals, foundations and corporations and parlay those funds into grants to support National Park Service initiatives to engage Latino audiences on heritage, history and national parks.

============================================= =============================================

ENVISIONING A FUTURE FOR ALHF

The Fund prioritizes three program goals and supports only those projects that demonstrate significant and measurable impact:

Preserve the full spectrum of American Latino history. ALHF will identify, help designate and celebrate new national parks and historic landmarks essential to understanding the impact of Latino heritage in the United States.

Guide our national parks toward a more complete telling of the American experience. ALHF will collaborate with Latino scholars and communities to help tell the complex and compelling history of American Latinos and bring those stories to our audience.

Create healthy, educational and stewardship pathways for Latino communities in our parks. ALHF will build on the traditional use and value of outdoor space by Latino communities to make national parks accessible destinations for recreation and enjoyment through establishment of Youth Engagement Grants and a Recreation Scholars Program.

For more information about the American Latino Heritage Fund and to learn how you can support its work, please visit: www.ALHF.org

c/o National Park Foundation 1201 Eye Street, NW- Suite 550B Washington, DC 20005

============================================= =============================================

AMERICAN LATINO HISTORIC SITES:
Cabrillo National Monument, California
Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, Florida
Chamizal National Memorial, Texas
Coronado National Memorial, Arizona
De Soto National Memorial, Florida
Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail, LA &TX El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail, NM El Mono National Monument, New Mexico
Fort Matanzas National Monument, Florida
The Forty Acres, California
Freedom Tower, Florida
Gulf Islands National Seashore, Florida and Mississippi
Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, AZ and CA Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area, Texas

Old Mission Dam, California
Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park, Texas
Pecos National Historical Park, New Mexico
Presidio de Nuestra Senora del Pilar de los Adaes, Louisiana
Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, New Mexico
Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve, US Virgin Islands
San Antonio Missions National Historical Park, Texas
San Juan National Historic Site, Puerto Rico
Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area, Colorado
Santa Fe National Historical Trail, Missouri to New Mexico
Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve, Florida
Trevino-Uribe Rancho, Texas
Tumacacori National Historical Park, Arizona
Ybor City Historic District, Florida
Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, Arizona

============================================= =============================================

 NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION
The National Park Foundation, in partnership with the National Park Service, enriches America's national parks and programs through private support, safeguarding our heritage and inspiring generations of national park enthusiasts. www.nationalparks.org

 

 

Cenotaph will be erected at the Texas State Cemetery to honor
José Antonio Navarro, Native Texas patriot

Casa Navarro, State Historic Site
228 South Laredo Street, San Antonio, Texas 78207

============================================= =============================================

Dear Friend of Casa Navarro! June 6, 2014

After 220 years on February 27, 2015, a fantastic event will take place! A cenotaph will be erected at the Texas State Cemetery in honor of José Antonio Navarro, our extraordinary native Texas patriot.

The celebration ceremony and unveiling will be held on Navarro’s 220th birthday anniversary at the historic Texas State Cemetery, Austin, Texas.

Only persons having made significant contributions to the State of Texas in history and culture are eligible to be buried or memorialized at the historic state cemetery.

We can take great pride in having a unique opportunity to honor a great Texas patriot and hero whose accomplishments have been overlooked for many years. This will be a unique opportunity to participate in a Texas history making ceremony that will garner statewide recognition.

The Navarro cenotaph will be where it belongs, among some of the most famous names in Texas history such as his close friend and confidant, Stephen F. Austin. The Navarro cenotaph unveiling will be a history making event with city and state officials officiating. Descendants, friends, and invited guests will be in attendance to honor the signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and drafter of the Texas constitution; a true native Texas patriot!

A place of honor at the state cemetery will give permanent recognition to José Antonio Navarro, one of the most prominent and influential figures of 19th century Texas. Every year, over 20,000 school children have guided tours of the cemetery and in addition, 5000+ adult visitors annually. These visitors will learn of Navarro, one of our foremost native Texas heroes! The cenotaph will serve as an educational teaching history tool for generations to come! Navarro’s major accomplishments will be engraved on all sides of the cenotaph.

============================================= =============================================

“Often, it takes a while for a people to grasp the significance of their own history. As a Texas schoolgirl, I learned names like Travis, Austin, Crockett, and Houston … patriots who deserve their place in our lore. But names like José Antonio Navarro, while they may have been mentioned, were not always given their proper due. We constantly hear that Tejanos, Latino Texans, are the future of Texas. But they are also an important part of its glorious past. This cenotaph honoring Navarro puts this true Texan in his proper company, among the heroes who built this great state.”

Senator Leticia Van de Putte: “Kids can come out here and in one day learn more about Texas history than in a whole semester in class.” Former Lt. Governor of Texas, Bob Bullock

We want to ensure that the Navarro cenotaph dedication ceremony is a momentous Texas event. Please spread the word and help make Navarro come to light in 2015!

Mark your calendar and please consider sending in a cenotaph donation! Be an integral part of this extraordinary event that will have an impact on visitors for generations to come. Navarro’s cenotaph will be the first momument dedicated to a native Texan/Tejano hero at the Texas State Cemetery!

I look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you, Navarro Cenotaph Committee Chair

 

Consultants to the Friends
Félix D. Almaráz, Jr., Ph.D.
Peter T. Flawn Distinguished University Professor of Borderlands History (Ret.)The University of Texas at San Antonio
Jesus F. de la Teja, Ph.D., Chairman of the History, Department Texas State University-San Marcos
Andrés Reséndez, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History, University of California, Davis
Tino Duran, Sr. Publisher and Owner La Prensa, San Antonio, Texas
David McDonald, Former Curator Casa Navarro, Historian and Author
Sulema Carreón-Sánchez, Senior Education Associate, Intercultural Development Research Association (IDRA) San Antonio, TX
Alfred A. Valenzuela, Major General (Ret.) U.S. Army, St. Mary’s University, School of Law
Jo Ann Andera, CFEE, Director of Special Events, Institute of Texan Cultures, University of Texas at San Antonio

 

Del Mar Historical Society in California hosted "An Evening at the Alvarado House".  The Alvarado House was built in 1885 in San Diego, CA. 
The house was moved in 1989 to the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The members of the society hope to relocate the historical house to a 5.3 acre site along Camino del Mar.
The event was intended to raise funds and raise awareness of the need for a permanent location.  Source: Carmel Valley News, June 12, 2014

 

============================================= =============================================

 

http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001-UBFL8BsoofR2MCUu9eFDcaEUBf7jAq3P_9rKwiopa1e8KE_N5aM6RgoUb0wTgjViznF4YYb08TUjiLH1OtKkQiGH_9QO4IQy9obUW8sewiRwW3I5SldqnagZ0avIfGSjqbScqSUSFzFNJW9RxpDeQW8OaD5nYd_E07eUpPtXZbgM-rCbnzhfx_-K10-nF1yRRWnewbG3DOvRX7e_5z2mU6poGzzxIFuSmy3U-RVbx1eE6bcJGmFBtzbKf46aw5AwTA5vYqanPBZSHuNudbMbgkBIQYjcnWe6GvnB5rzel-583B2-S0A-jEKR1SizHTR&c=X-gqKVqfTrhErHnU84Uj45JUggf8_nhLZIsJCk7G2Q4vxZONP7qpEw==&ch=kPaA3CnkTSyJXnOgiiBSlREVZswIyZURVmDKjbiJOrws3oApK6sGSg==

"Echoes of Incarceration"
Echoes Project - Relaunched

============================================= =============================================

We're excited to announce the re-launch of the Echoes of Incarceration Project. Back in 2009, a crew of young people with incarcerated parents went through intensive filmmaking training and created a short film exploring the impact of prison system on children.  The first 10-min film, called "Echoes of Incarceration" has since been shown in hundreds of screenings around the country, and has toured with the Media that Matters Film Festival.  Due to the overwhelming response, and a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, the project was revived last March, with support from with the Osborne Association and Downtown Community Television, and the National Resource Center for Children and Families of the Incarcerated.  We're currently training a new crew of young filmmakers with incarcerated parents, and producing a new series of short educational and advocacy films to dig deeper into the topic.  Our long-term goal is to develop a highly trained crew, then set out around the country to document both the hidden consequences of incarceration, as well as innovative programs that are fighting for change.

Newest film available for free: "Caring Through Struggle: Grandparents and Caregivers of Children of the Incarcerated"

For their first project, the new crew decided to tackle the issue of grandparents and caregivers raising children incarcerated

parents.  We worked with the NYC Department for the Aging to produce the 11-minute film "Caring Through Struggle." It's an intimate look at this growing and overlooked population. In the process the crew found surprising connections in their own lives.  

We're also making DVD's of the film available for FREE to social workers, educators, or advocates who would like a copy.  Just email Jeremy@ibisdocs.com with a mailing address.

For our next film, the crew is looking at the issue of visiting parents in prison.  Research has shown that a sustained relationship with a parent in prison is one of the strongest factors in both reducing a child's trauma, and also in reducing that parent's chance of going back to prison after they're released.  Yet, in addition to the incredible distances many families must travel, children often face huge resistance: from caregivers, schools, social workers, and even judges, who believe that visiting a parent behind bars is bad for a child.  This film will dig into the challenges, sorrows, and incredible joys of visiting a parent in prison, and address one of the deepest misconceptions that children with incarcerated parents face.  

 

 

George Esquivel, shoemaker and designer, sits in front of a pin board in his studio in Buena Park. Esquivel also is the creative director for Tumi luggage, bags and accessories.
The Sole of an Artist by Lisa Liddane
Orange County Register, June 3, 2014
Photo: Mark Rightmire

George Esquivel’s bespoke creations have led him down a path to high fashion, yet he remains grounded. 
How George Esquivel went from motel kid to fashion darling.

============================================= =============================================

Inside a nondescript Buena Park industrial building not too far from Knott’s Berry Farm, a half-dozen artisans wielding brushes, threads and small knives craft various parts of luxurious leather boots the old-school way – by hand.

At the Los Angeles County Museum of Art shop, a pair of limited-edition sandals in blue-green leather and mocha leather that’s part of the Wear LACMA fashion project pays homage to a Felipe Santiago Gutiérrez painting from the museum’s permanent collection.  In Tumi’s South Plainfield, N.J., headquarters, new Skittles-colored leather accents give the brand’s classic black ballistic nylon luggage a cheerful dollop of style.  The question isn’t what these seemingly disparate products have in common.  It’s who.  

As a boy, George Esquivel thought that dreaming of doing something wonderfully creative was beyond his reach. Today, he is one of the more prolific cordwainers and collaborators in the fashion universe, quietly dividing his work life between Orange County, where his studio/workshop for Esquivel handmade ready-to-wear and bespoke shoes is located, and New Jersey, where he marked a year as creative director for Tumi a few months ago.  

Along the way, he also embarked on a long-term collaboration with Fratelli Rossetti and created capsule collections with Zero + Maria Cornejo, Juan Carlos Obando, Timo Weiland and Irene Neuwirth. Last year, he designed special women’s pastel oxfords for spring for Chloe and men’s blue and grape oxfords for fall for Tommy Hilfiger. His most recent mashup, which debuted a few weeks ago at LACMA and net-a-porter.com, features a summer boot and the aforementioned sandals for women.  

He’s also designed custom shoes for many celebrities, including Janelle Monáe, Yao Ming, Taylor Swift, Ryan Seacrest and Google C-suite executives. Just last month, Madonna wore Esquivel white and black kilties for the cover of L’uomo Vogue.  

If it appears that there’s little to no fanfare accompanying Esquivel’s rise in the design ranks, it’s simply a reflection of the low-key manner in which the designer conducts himself. He’s painfully aware that his life could have turned out much differently, had he walked in his father’s crime-streaked footsteps instead of choosing the path that he’s on.  Thus, he is devoid of the self-importance and braggadocio that afflict some star designers. “To go from living in motels to here? C’mon,” he said.  

============================================= =============================================

Instead, he’s thrilled when he sees someone wearing his shoes, whether they’re a famous person or not. Even with a year under his belt at Tumi, he’s still awestruck about what he gets to do there.   “In my own brand, I have a design assistant, but I’m mostly solo,” Esquivel said. “At Tumi, I work with an amazing team of designers. I’m like a kid in a candy store. It’s a big brand. The things that I get to request and do, I don’t have that ease with my brand.”  

What Esquivel has done at Tumi is not so much to overhaul the offerings as much as it is to give the veritable luggage and leather goods giant steady infusions of his design DNA. The new Tumi Accents group, for example, enables customers to customize their wheeled bags with leather trimming in a choice of colors ranging from cobalt blue to camel to purple.  “I love color,” Esquivel said, grinning.  

The bright leather pieces are used for the luggage tag, handle wrap, patch and zipper pull ties. They’re not only a subtle way to add personality to a carry-on, they also make it easier to spot one’s checked-in bag at the airport luggage carousel.  

Esquivel also likes juxtaposing colors and textures. For example, Santa Monica, a relatively new elegant new bag group, mixes black leather and caramel leather or gray canvas with caramel leather, and has X-shaped accents on totes, briefcases and duffels.  

The Astor group features texture-coated heathered gray canvas trimmed with black Vachetta leather or a black-and-white spectator combo with retro-looking curved corners. Tumi already was making leather bags long before the designer came on board, but it’s since become chic rather than merely utilitarian, and Esquivelized.  

The walls of one work room in Esquivel’s studio illustrate how the worlds meet in his realm: They’re covered with fabric and leather swatches, inspiration photos, sketches of what’s to come for both Tumi and Esquivel shoes. Among the ideas on display: Tumi traveling flats that fold for easy packing, which are in the works; a piece of vintage fabric that the designer has had for many years, which now is the basis for a Tumi print for spring 2015; and golden Esquivel bedroom loafers with black “piping” for resort 2014.

============================================= =============================================

His current women’s shoe collection includes a silver penny loafer with a similar cobalt blue leather tie in the coin slot. There’s also an espresso mid-heeled lace-up shoe that’s been painted with gold dots to resemble an oxford, a tongue-in-cheek tromp l’oeil. Both the bright leather tie and the painted effect are the designer’s signatures.  

It’s been 20 years since Esquivel launched a small made-to-measure shoe business, and where he is now is that much more significant considering that he never studied design or fashion and grew up moving with his mother and siblings from one motel to another. Throughout his childhood, he lived under the shadow of a well-dressed father who dealt and did drugs, went to prison and alternated between leaving and returning to Esquivel’s mother.  

“I just wanted to get away,” Esquivel said. He could not even fathom dreaming of what he wanted to do with his life. He escaped from reality with music and by going to clubs at night and wearing vintage shoes.  

While driving a truck for a living and heading to Baja, Mexico, he spotted a sign that said “bootmaker,” and on a whim, asked the man working there if he could make shoes if Esquivel gave him a sketch. The bootmaker created a pair of black and white pointed-toe shoes that Esquivel wore to clubs in L.A.  “Everyone wanted them,” Esquivel said.  

The idea of making shoes stayed with him so much so that he sought out a shoemaker for about a year. He learned the fundamentals from Emigdio Canales, who ran a covert shoemaking operation out of his garage in Commerce. Esquivel started designing and making custom shoes. “I fell in love with shoes,” he said. “I fell in love with designing.”  

Bands and stores eventually discovered his custom footwear and his clientele grew to include No Doubt and Kings of Leon. But it was after he became a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2009 that others in the fashion industry sat up and took notice. 

============================================= =============================================

These days, Esquivel’s ready-to-wear collections are carried by about two dozen stores worldwide, including Amaree’s in Newport Beach, Colette in Paris, Matches in London, Pupi Solari in Milan and Studio Scarpa in Oslo. He also still makes bespoke shoes for a select group of clients, all of whom have their own custom lasts in Esquivel’s workshop.  

There’s no shortage of glamour and globe-trotting in Esquivel’s life. But he naturally gravitates toward the forces that keep him grounded: his respect for his humble beginnings, his love for what he does and the creativity that accompanies it, and his devotion to his family. “If I am at the shop, one day, I may box up shoes, another day, I may be vacuuming,” he said. “I love getting my hands dirty. I’m not above that.”  

To find the art that would inspire his recent designs for Wear LACMA, Esquivel toured the museum’s permanent collection galleries with Katherine Ross, fashion consultant to LACMA and a member of the fundraising Director’s Circle.  

“Suddenly, we were on our last stop, in the Latin American galleries,” Ross said. “As soon as he saw the painting (by Felipe Santiago Gutiérrez), I could tell that it spoke to him.”  

“He said, ‘I really like this one.’”  

“I said, ‘I know this is the one for you.’”  

That oil on canvas was “Indian Woman With Marigold,” which depicted a woman gazing at a marigold in her right hand. The painting of a beautiful but unrecognizable woman had a native quality to it, Ross said. Esquivel, in turn, interpreted the essence of the art by choosing simple shapes, natural colors and a distressed finish for the sandal, and a warm hue and touchable finish for the suede boot. At last, he’s enjoying the freedom to dream of doing something wonderfully creative – and seeing it become a reality.

 Contact the writer: lliddane@ocregister.com


 
Documentarian Trilogy Drug War in Juarez, Mexico
============================================= =============================================

Hello Mimi, I am writing to see if you could spread the word about this cause in case there is any interest at college libraries around the country.

I am a borderland documentarian who made a trilogy in Juarez, MX. about the devastating drug war which has claimed over 120,000 people across Mexico. I also donate money to victims in Juarez.

This trilogy is available for school libraries for the purpose of educating students about this overlooked tragedy. A lot of schools near Mexico have recently picked up these timely documentaries.

The films have received lots of local and even national attention. They have played at theatres all over the country. Here are the websites for the trilogy below.

www.8murdersaday.com
www.murdercapitalfilm.com
www.thenewjuarez.com

 

The Mexican drug war covers many areas of academic studies and could only help students as they move forward in their academic careers.

The pricing is as follows: 500 dollars per DVD.

If you purchase two DVDs, then the third DVD is FREE. So purchasing the trilogy gives the school the best deal.   

Please let me know if this trilogy is of interest to you.  

Thank you for your consideration and valuable time Mimi. Thank you for being such an inspiration to many people.  

Sincerely.

Charlie Minn, Director

646-323-0687

 

''Cesar Chavez,'' Conditions in the Fields and the Struggle over Memory

By Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, 31 May 2014

Cesar Chavez Day poster, March 31, 2010

============================================= =============================================

I did not write a critique of the movie Cesar Chavez when it first premiered because I felt somewhat conflicted, and I didn't feel like jumping on a bandwagon. There appears to be a cottage industry of those who love to critique Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers (UFW) Movement, by people who have little first-hand knowledge of the events in question. From reading the many reviews, most of them seem to be formulaic, critiquing the movie as a hero-worshipping biopic, with deeply flawed acting, etc., etc.  

Much of that critique comes from professional movie critics who know movies but who know little about Cesar Chavez and the UFW movement and know even less about the condition of farmworkers in this nation's fields. Some of the critique is along the same lines as that of his former enemies, many of whom are from the extreme far right and who always equated him or saw him as an enemy of capitalism and an enemy of the state. Some criticism is from the so-called far left, some of which is simply hypercritical, not necessarily wrong, but seemingly unaware of Chavez's larger role or value to society. Among these critiques, there is also valid and useful critique that comes from people with no ax to grind, primarily from human rights activists who lived that era or who are engaged in human rights struggles today.

What has been particularly troubling is that those who talk or write about the Chavez movie, almost never mention the conditions of farm workers today. It is within that context that I see/saw the movie. A 2007 book: The Farmworker's Journey, by Dr. Ann Lopez, gives us a glance not simply into the conditions in the fields, but examines the deplorable conditions that force migrants from their homelands to migrate to the fields in the United States. NAFTA, a trade agreement that permits goods, capital and executives to flow freely back and forth, but not workers, continues to be the cause of that migration.  

That the movie has failed to encourage a discussion regarding the current conditions of farmworkers is what I saw as its major drawback. Farmworkers today continue not simply to be exploited as in the past - in every respect possible - but also to be shamefully outside the 1935 National Labor Relations Act - a Congressional act that protects the rights of workers. They also continue to be inordinately exposed to cancer-causing pesticides. This should be the time to ask questions, but that has not really happened. Instead, the discussion is about whether the lead actor actually showed passion and whether the director actually understood who Chavez was, etc., etc.  

 

============================================= =============================================

Rather than focus on the lives of farmworkers, the movie appears to have been conceived as an opportunity to wax nostalgic or to rub shoulders with someone associated with the movie.  

At the moment, farmworkers are also a primary focus of proposed immigration reform. The Senate (bipartisan) version of the farmworker proposals barely passes the smell test because it actually weakens the protections of the current "guest worker" (H2-A) programs. The House (Republican) version seeks a virtual return to the infamous Bracero program; workers are welcome, but not with any labor or human rights protections.  Farmworker Justice provides a summary of these provisions.  

The problem with the entire reform bill, however, is that whatever is eventually signed will unquestionably create a legalized underclass without many rights and protections for many years . . . until yet-to-be-agreed-upon provisions that will permit workers to begin their quest for citizenship kick in.  

Writing about reality - whether in the past or present - versus a movie, is awkward. Like many from that era, I picketed and partook in many huelga actions, including boycotting lettuce, grapes and Gallo wines for many years and the sustained No

on 22 and Yes on 14 legislative campaigns etc. I was also privy to the controversy surrounding Chavez, the UFW and the tension with the urban migrants' rights movement.  

All these campaigns have a story, and much of it, written in blood. A movie, justice cannot make. The real flaw of the movie is that it stops where it should have started; the 1970s was an intense period for the UFW, which saw many battles and even several deaths among its members. In one sense, it culminated with the 1975 California Agricultural Labor Relations Act.  

When I first began to read the reviews prior to the premiere, I wanted to ask the critics: Did you ever picket for the UFW in the fields or in the cities? Do you know what it is to face right-wing mobs who hate everything about you and hate everything about farmworkers and everything that their movement stood for? Did you ever have to face riot sticks from law enforcement or intimidation by (anti-UFW) union goons? I would ask if they had ever worked in the fields, but that is unnecessary because the answer is already known and perhaps, at least for me, more important is whether they know about the conditions of farmworkers today.  

That's where the conversation should start and end.

============================================= =============================================

Realistically, unless one has many thousands of words, it would be difficult to meaningfully engage in any of the topics or campaigns mentioned above. Of course, the movie could have been better, in all respects. If anything, there is perhaps one topic that most critics missed and was not actually touched upon in the film.  Chavez was never part of the Chicano Movement . . . and yet, for many, this brown man and all that he represented was its inspiration. Twenty years after his death, it is his name that is most associated with that movement and era.

I teach at the University of Arizon,a and my students have made the same observation about Ruben Salazar, the famed Los Angeles Times journalist who was killed by an LA Sheriff's deputy on Aug 29, 1970. Neither was considered, nor did they consider themselves, to be part of the Chicano Movement, yet they are both viewed as historic icons of that movement.  

That may explain why Chavez is held in the highest esteem by many from this community; in a community that has so few historic figures to look up to - because the history books and the media literally whitewash their history away - Chavez stands out.  

Realistically, unless one has many thousands of words, it would be difficult to meaningfully engage in any of the topics or campaigns mentioned above. Of course, the movie could have been better, in all respects. If anything, there is perhaps one topic that most critics missed and was not actually touched upon in the film.  Chavez was never part of the Chicano Movement . . . and yet, for many, this brown man and all that he represented was its inspiration. Twenty years after his death, it is his name that is most associated with that movement and era.  

I teach at the University of Arizon,a and my students have made the same observation about Ruben Salazar, the famed Los Angeles Times journalist who was killed by an LA Sheriff's deputy on Aug 29, 1970. Neither was considered, nor did they consider themselves, to be part of the Chicano Movement, yet they are both viewed as historic icons of that movement.  

That may explain why Chavez is held in the highest esteem by many from this community; in a community that has so few historic figures to look up to - because the history books and the media literally whitewash their history away - Chavez stands out.  

============================================= =============================================

Realistically, unless one has many thousands of words, it would be difficult to meaningfully engage in any of the topics or campaigns mentioned above. Of course, the movie could have been better, in all respects. If anything, there is perhaps one topic that most critics missed and was not actually touched upon in the film.  Chavez was never part of the Chicano Movement . . . and yet, for many, this brown man and all that he represented was its inspiration. Twenty years after his death, it is his name that is most associated with that movement and era.

I teach at the University of Arizon,a and my students have made the same observation about Ruben Salazar, the famed Los Angeles Times journalist who was killed by an LA Sheriff's deputy on Aug 29, 1970. Neither was considered, nor did they consider themselves, to be part of the Chicano Movement, yet they are both viewed as historic icons of that movement.  

That may explain why Chavez is held in the highest esteem by many from this community; in a community that has so few historic figures to look up to - because the history books and the media literally whitewash their history away - Chavez stands out.  

Realistically, unless one has many thousands of words, it would be difficult to meaningfully engage in any of the topics or campaigns mentioned above. Of course, the movie could have been better, in all respects. If anything, there is perhaps one topic that most critics missed and was not actually touched upon in the film.  Chavez was never part of the Chicano Movement . . . and yet, for many, this brown man and all that he represented was its inspiration. Twenty years after his death, it is his name that is most associated with that movement and era.  

I teach at the University of Arizon,a and my students have made the same observation about Ruben Salazar, the famed Los Angeles Times journalist who was killed by an LA Sheriff's deputy on Aug 29, 1970. Neither was considered, nor did they consider themselves, to be part of the Chicano Movement, yet they are both viewed as historic icons of that movement.  

That may explain why Chavez is held in the highest esteem by many from this community; in a community that has so few historic figures to look up to - because the history books and the media literally whitewash their history away - Chavez stands out.  

============================================= =============================================

Realistically, unless one has many thousands of words, it would be difficult to meaningfully engage in any of the topics or campaigns mentioned above. Of course, the movie could have been better, in all respects. If anything, there is perhaps one topic that most critics missed and was not actually touched upon in the film.  Chavez was never part of the Chicano Movement . . . and yet, for many, this brown man and all that he represented was its inspiration. Twenty years after his death, it is his name that is most associated with that movement and era.  

I teach at the University of Arizon,a and my students have made the same observation about Ruben Salazar, the famed Los Angeles Times journalist who was killed by an LA Sheriff's deputy on Aug 29, 1970. Neither was considered, nor did they consider themselves, to be part of the Chicano Movement, yet they are both viewed as historic icons of that movement.  

That may explain why Chavez is held in the highest esteem by many from this community; in a community that has so few historic figures to look up to - because the history books and the media literally whitewash their history away - Chavez stands out.  

Realistically, unless one has many thousands of words, it would be difficult to meaningfully engage in any of the topics or campaigns mentioned above. Of course, the movie could have been better, in all respects. If anything, there is perhaps one topic that most critics missed and was not actually touched upon in the film.  Chavez was never part of the Chicano Movement . . . and yet, for many, this brown man and all that he represented was its inspiration. Twenty years after his death, it is his name that is most associated with that movement and era.  

I teach at the University of Arizon,a and my students have made the same observation about Ruben Salazar, the famed Los Angeles Times journalist who was killed by an LA Sheriff's deputy on Aug 29, 1970. Neither was considered, nor did they consider themselves, to be part of the Chicano Movement, yet they are both viewed as historic icons of that movement.  

That may explain why Chavez is held in the highest esteem by many from this community; in a community that has so few historic figures to look up to - because the history books and the media literally whitewash their history away - Chavez stands out.

============================================= =============================================

I once told a harsh right-wing critic of Chavez - who masquerades as a progressive at times - that he knew very little about the inner workings of the UFW, and thus his criticisms were way off. Anyone with knowledge of the UFW could be even more critical toward Chavez and the union, but why? I still feel that way today. Anyone can criticize, but toward what end?   

The one area where I never held back was the UFW's policies regarding the migra (immigration police). Chavez always explained that the UFW policy had little to do with being anti-immigrant, but rather, with being anti-strike-breaker, often explaining that he would oppose his own mother if she were to cross a picket line. Many of his members, after all, he argued, were undocumented, so he wasn't being anti-immigrant. Those of us in the migrant rights movement of that era were uncompromising about the issue. Labor leader Bert Corona, a giant in the history of the Mexican, Chicano and labor rights movement mediated, and things eventually got settled.

It is true that after that, and to this day, Chavez is seen as someone who fought for the rights of all workers, especially

migrants. One quote attributed to him and still in use today is: "The migra is the gestapo of the Mexican people."  

There is much more to tell. And many more books will most likely be written . . . perhaps about all the violence inflicted upon the UFW, the lives lost and all the interracial organizing that took place in the fields and in the picket lines.  

Several other things need to be added. It was Dolores Huerta who created the concept of "Si Se Puede" ("We Can Do It"). That is a concept that even the president has "borrowed," I believe, not always with attribution. There will be many books and hopefully many movies about Dolores Huerta one day. She has an incredibly powerful story to be told. But here, one last story about Chavez. I was present when this story was told to family members and close friends. One of the very last things Chavez spoke about right before he passed away was the need for the farm worker's movement to align with American Indians. That was triggered when he read a book on the coffee table of the home where he was staying in Arizona. Right after that, he went to bed and did not wake up.  

============================================= =============================================

It is said that 50,000 people went to his funeral. I was there. I traveled over 1500 miles to be there. I saw the all-night vigils. It was a pilgrimage. Yes, he had many faults. But how do we choose to remember him? Solely for his faults - or for being part of a movement that permitted workers to raise their heads a little higher? Missing today are not heroes, but a mass movement that focuses on that same objective . . .  of not simply improving the deplorable conditions in the fields in the 21st century, but also of bringing about dignity to the same workers and their children who daily put food on our tables.

 

 

The truth is, the movie indeed is a battle over memory. The question is, who should be in charge of telling that narrative: movie critics or people who actually took part in those historic struggles?  

Copyright, Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission. Roberto Cintli Rodriguez: Roberto Rodriguez, an assistant professor in Mexican-American studies at the University of Arizona, can be reached at xcolumn@gmail.com .

Sent by Roberto Calderon, Ph.D.   beto@unt.edu

 

http://extras.mnginteractive.com/live/media/site525/2012/0908/20120908__0909-F2-blessme_GALLERY.jpg

 



Terms of Identity: What’s in a Name?  

By Felipe de Ortego y Gasca  

 

Dr. Felipe de Ortego y Gasca, Emeritus professor, Texas State University System–Sul Ross, is currently Scholar in Residence (Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Public Policy) at Western New Mexico University .  Courtesy photo, 9.20.12, El Paso Times First version published in Latino Suave Magazine, December/January 2005-06, reprinted in Pluma Fronteriza, 
Feb 17, 2006. Updated, June 2, 2014.       

============================================= === =============================================

Everything in the world of language has a name—the Greeks called this phenomena “onomastics.” When we encounter something new in “our world” we seek to establish immediately its name. If there is no name in our lexicon for what we’ve encountered, then we label it–most often–with a term from our lexicon that embodies some essential characteristic of the item. For example, in French a “potato” is called a “pom­me de terre”–an “apple of the earth.” That’s the process of all languages—naming things.    

If we have trouble coming up with a name in our own language, then we simply borrow a word from the language where a term already exists for whatever we’ve encountered. In struggling with his theory of psychoanalysis, Freud turned to Greek for many of his terms. “Psyche”, for example, is the Greek term for “mind.” This syncretic process is what makes language so dynamic and so essential to the human experience.  

It’s not inappropriate to think of languages in contact as “consenting adults”–the new words they engender reflect their parentage. In the United States, for instance, speakers of Spanish have created the word “troca” for “truck.” In midst of this historical phenomena at the moment, we’re experiencing 

a growth in language–present at the creation, so to speak. In like manner, speakers of English in the Southwest of the 19th century transformed the Spanish word “vaquero” into “buckeroo.”  

The English language is enriched by the countless terms borrowed from the Spanish language. Indeed from all the languages spoken in the United States. Thanks to Yiddish, Americans shlep things from here to there. Most often these terms endure. Some terms don’t. But all languages are enriched by contact with each other. Consider all the words in American English that come from Spanish. And vice-versa.  

What about terms of identity? Some terms that describe groups of people are pejorative, reflecting the despective view of people who use those terms to describe specific groups. “Spic,” for example, was a term widely used until our time to describe Hispanics both in the United States and at large.   

There is a global lexicon of disparaging terms to describe pretty much all of the peoples of earth. Such terms are not specific to any single group. How did the term “Hispanic” come to be used to describe such a diverse spectrum of people who are thought to be linked to each other by language, culture, ethnicity, and religion.  

============================================= =============================================

What is the term “Hispanic”? What does it mean? Where does it come from? Why is it used to identify particular peoples of the Americas? Is the term “Hispanic” the same as the term “Latino”? Both the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino” have been used for some time. More recently, however, the revivified term “Latino” has resonated with contemporary American Hispanics, many of whom perceive the term “Hispanic” as a label imposed on them by the bureaucracy of the U.S. Census Bureau.  

The term “Hispanic” actually cropped up in the early Spanish colonial period in the Americas to designate persons with a biological tie to a Spaniard. In Spanish the term was “Hispano.” Later the term evolved into “Hispano-Americano” to emphasize that Hispanos were also Americans since they were of the Americas. Historically, the United States appropriated that term for its own identity, so that few Americans realize that all the populations of the Americas are Americans.  

The word "Hispanic" is one of those large rubrics, like the word "Catholic" or "Protestant." By itself, the word refers to all Hispanics (persons whose cultural and/or linguistic heritage derive from historical origins in Hispania– Roman name for Spain), attesting to a common denominator, conveying
information that the individual is an off-spring or descendent of 

a cultural, political or ethnic blending which included at its beginning at least one Spanish root either biological or linguistic or cultural.  

Talking about people in terms of labels can be misleading. For example, a person may be an His­panic in terms of cultural, national, or ethnic roots. Nationally, Colon (Columbus) was a Spaniard, though born in Genoa; Werner Von Braun became an American national, though born in Germany. In Argentina there are Hispanics who have no "Spanish blood" (as we use that term) but who, nevertheless, consider them­selves Hispanics, speak Argentine Spanish and are fluent in Italian or German, the languages of their immigrant forebears to that country.  

Put another way, the term "Hispanic" is comparable to the term "Jew" which describes the religious orientation of people who may be ethnically Russian, Polish, German, Italian, English, etc. There are also Chinese Jews, Ethiopian (Falashan) Jews, Indian Jews, et al. So too the term "Hispanic" describes a cultural-linguistic orientation of people who may be Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Cubans, Venezuelans, Chileans, Argentines, Spaniards. Additionally there are Afro Hispanics, White Hispanics, Asian Hispanics, Indian Hispanics and a congeries of other mixtures. There is an array of Chinese Hispanics, Lebanese Hispanics, Pakistan Hispanics, Hindu Hispanics, Jewish Hispanics (Sephards), et al.  

============================================= =============================================

This all points to the fact that Hispanics are far from a homogeneous group. In the main, though, their common characteristics are language (Spanish or a derivative version of Spanish as well as a distinctively derivative version of English often times called Spangish), culture (Hispanic), and religion (most are Catholic, though there is a growing number of Hispanic Protestants). There are large exceptions, of course.  

To avoid confusion between Hispanics who are citizens of countries other than the United States and Hispanics who are U.S. citizens, we can refer to the former as Hispanic Americans and the latter as American Hispanics, that is, Hispanics who are American citizens with roots in one or more of the Spanish-language countries of the American hemisphere—and elsewhere. Another way to differentiate U.S. Hispanics from Hispanics in Spain and other Hispanic identified countries in the Americas and elsewhere is to keep in mind that American Hispanics live and work legitimately in the United States. Unfortunately, the public at large tends to use these terms synonymously, creating thus confusion. Important to note here is that those of Portuguese origins are not considered Hispanics, but are Latinos under that rubric.  

The United States has the largest Hispanic popu­lation in the world exceeded only by Mexico. Who are these peo­ple whose presence in the Amer­ican population will have such a major force in the future? Whose demographic presence in the United States is expected to be one-third of the population by the year 2040? Essentially, American Hispanics may be grouped into five categories: (1) Mexican Americans/Chicanos, (2) Puerto Ricans/Boricuas, (3) Hispanos (U.S. Hispanics who identify themselves as "Spanish"), (4) Cuban Americans, and (5) Latinos (Hispanics from countries other than those already mentioned in this matrix).  

In the total mix of U.S. Hispanics (45 million counting the population of Puerto Rico), two-thirds (66%) of U.S. Hispanics are of Mexican American stock, many of whom identify them­selves as Chica­nos, an ideological designation that identifies their generation. All together (counting Puerto Ricans on the island and the mainland), 18% of U.S. Hispanics are Puerto Ricans, many of whom identify themselves as Boricuas, an ideological term comparable to the term Chicano.  

============================================= =============================================

Mexican Americans/Chicanos and Puerto Ricans/ Boricuas make up almost 85% of the total U.S. Hispanic population. Hispanos comprise a statistically small number of the U.S. Hispanic popula­tion; and Cuban Americans make up almost 5% of U.S. Hispanics. Latinos make up the remaining percentage of U.S. Hispanics (almost 10%). However, in the aggregate none of the Latino groups—with the exception of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans—is larger than 1 percent of the total American Hispanic population despite large congregations in specific parts of the United States.  

Surprisingly, most Americans tend to think of U.S. Hispanics as a loose aggrega­tion of "immigrants" who speak only Spanish, some­what aware that the largest number of them live in the Southwest, a fair number in the Upper Middle Atlantic states and New England, and a growing group in Florida.  

In the 19th century, in two swift "actions" within 50 years of each other the United States "acquired" a sizable chunk of its Hispanic population, not count­ing the Hispanic Jews of New Amsterdam before it became New York nor the acquisition of New Orleans (and its Hispanic residents) in 1803 from the French (who took it originally from the Span­iards) and Florida (and its Hispanic residents) from Spain in 1819.  

The first "action" was the U.S. War with Mexico (1846-1848), out of which came the Mexi­can Americans of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, parts of Wyoming, Oklahoma and Kansas. No one is sure of the numbers of "Mexicans" who came with the dismembered territory (almost half of Mexico), but figures range from 150,000 to as many as 3.5 million (including Hispanicized Indians).  

The second "action" was the U.S. war with Spain (1898), out of which came the Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Filipinos, Guamani­ans, and others from Spain’s Pacific territories acquired by the U.S. A fair number of Cubans came to Florida with this "action" between 1898 and the First World War (Cuba gained formal independence from the United States in 1902. Under the new Cuban constitution, however, the US retained the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations. Under the Platt Amendment, Cuba also agreed to lease to the US the naval base at Guantánamo Bay). The population figures for these groups range variably as well. This history attests to the fact American Hispanics are of the United States, but we've tended to confuse them with Hispanic Americans, the 300 million who populate the Spanish-language countries of the American hemisphere.    

============================================= =============================================

The categories of Hispanicity I've proffered here are actually pretty easy to remember and they do help to pinpoint where we fit as Hispanics in the Hispanic galaxy. A Puerto Rican friend of mine explains that he's an Hispanic of mainland Puerto Rican stock and subscribes to a Boricua perspective of  life  in the United States. Another friend of mine tells me he's an American Scandinavian of Norwegian stock who is a registered Republican. I don't find that confusing at all. We're all Americans, rich in cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity.  

 

What's in a name? Everything. That's why my name is Felipe and my friend's name is Sean. Names help to tell us apart. They also reflect heritage and background. Unfortunately, many Americans tend to think the word Hispanic refers to a homogeneous group of people—which it does not, anymore than the word German, say, (as in German-American) refers to a homogeneous group of people. At best, the term “Hispanic” is a convenient way to talk about a diverse group of people, much the way we use the term American to talk about an equally diverse group of people.  

Copyright © 2014 by the author. All rights reserved.

 

Casa Navarro, Texas Essay Winners

============================================= =============================================

1st Award winner:
Claudia M. Rocha - Earl Warren High School

The essay contest was open to San Antonio high school students.  The contest required the contestant to visit Casa Navarro, a historic site in San Antonio. The essay topic was to write about how the experience affected them, new insight, changed feelings, greater understanding.  Below are abstracts from their essays, selected by President Sylvia Navarro Tillotson, descendent of Jose Antonio Navarro.

============================================= =============================================
1st Award winner:
Claudia M. Rocha - Earl Warren High School
Quotes from her essay:
After visiting Casa Navarro and witnessing his devotion to bettering the lives of the people around him. I once again encountered this feeling, reassuring me that my future endeavors will somehow make a difference.
Navarro's home along with his legacy left behind, remains a constant reminder that challenging new ideas and relentlessly pursuing advancements is never dying.
Navarro's life and aspirations embody so much of what I intend to do with major and future occupation. His story reminded me that fighting for your people, while it may be a daunting task, will reap rewards far greater than one's self.
Claudia goal is to major in Latino Studies and political science and eventually do policy work. She's been accepted at Boston University.
Activities:National Honor Society;Spanish Honor Society; Math Honor Society; Debate; World Soccer Cup Team; Accapella Vocal Group; plays the piano; Choir; Vacation Bible School counselor for special needs children; 2014- Outstanding and Talented Young Latino; founder of the Earl Warren Chapter of The National Hispanic Institute; works part time - Hyatt Regency; will graduate salutatorian of her class.

2nd Award Winner:
Kassandra (Kassy) Y. Rendon - John Paul Stevens High School
Quotes from Essay:
I learned many things from my visit to the Casa Naarro State Historic Site. Not only did I learn how much of an influential leader José Navarro was, but I found a deep appreciation for my Hispanic roots.
I came to realize, as I toured Casa Navarro, the significance of being a Tejano with Hispanic roots which hadn't impacted me so significantly until I encountered Navarro's story and learned about his contributions.
The devotion he had for the "land of his birth" changed the course of Texas history to the independent state we know today. his contributions made the change, but his legacy will forever be represented by Tejanos everywhere.
Activities: National Honor Society;Spanish Honor Society; Pep - Squad; Art Club; Class of 2014 Organization, class president & on executive board; Dell Scholarship; 2013 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring Program;Clinical neuropsychology Independent Mentoring Course in high school; 2013 Big Event Award for Volunteering; Award for Pre-Freshman Engineering Program; internship at UTSA electrical engineering lab as a research student; worked as computer Processor/Secretary for International Credit Consultants; volunteer at Food Bank
Kassandra has been accepted to UT at Austin.

 

 

Knights of Columbus submitted to congress that the words "Under God" should be added to our pledge of allegiance, 1954. 

============================================= =============================================

As many of you are aware, the Knights of Columbus submitted to congress that the words "Under God" should be added to our pledge of allegiance.  Both Houses of Congress passed the law and it was signed by President Eisenhower  in 1954.

The information below was based on a poll taken by NBC on what percentage should keep the words in our pledge verses the percent who want it removed.  Official versions:

============================================= =============================================

1892: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."

1892 to 1923: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."  

1923 to 1924: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States  and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."  

1924 to 1954: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America,and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all."  

1954 to Present: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America , and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Sent by: Odell Harwell
odell.harwell74@att.net

 

López: Preserving Tejano Texas is not an option; it’s a must!

By José Antonio López
June 1, 2014    

López: The Tejano Monument erupted like an explosion of   molten rock magma, changing the Austin landscape forever.  

 

============================================= =============================================

SAN ANTONIO, June 1 - No one knows exactly why after 1848, our Spanish Mexican ancestors were unable to maintain their long. well-documented chronicle as the founders of Texas. What is known is that some tried.  

However, Tejanos who challenged the anti-Mexican culture bulldozer at that time were brutalized, murdered, and/or hounded out of Texas by Anglo vigilantes. (The list of Tejanos who suffered this last particular indignity includes Colonel Juan Seguín, the hero at the Battle of San Jacinto.) In short, Tejanos looked like the enemy, worshipped as Catholics like the enemy, spoke Spanish like the enemy, and so were treated as the enemy.  

By deliberate design then, Anglo historians wiped the slate clean of New Spain history of Texas and the Southwest. In its place, they force-fitted the history of New England. From that point on, they began to write Texas history with a pronounced Anglo Saxon slant. Now, over 150 years later, that ink is beginning to fade, exposing the early Texas history record beneath, written indelibly in Spanish.  

The question is why would seemingly intelligent historians choose to tear off the pages of early Texas history to write an artificial Anglophile adaptation? More recently, why does the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) insist on perpetuating that myth by making Texas school children believe that Texas history begins in 1836 with the arrival of Anglo immigrants to Mexico?  

It’s only within the last two decades that a diverse group of modern-day historians have tackled those and similar questions. The Tejano Monument in Austin represents a giant step to recover pre-1836 Texas history. However, in the words of Winston Churchill, the Tejano Monument “…is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end; but, it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”  

Following are short summaries of early Texas people whose stories are left out of Texas classroom curricula. In truth, Texas school children should know their names, but sadly, they don’t. Aficionados of pre-1836 Texas history will recognize some of them. Others are less well known.

============================================= =============================================

Juan Sabeata. He was a Native American Jumano tribe leader. In the 1680s, he first invited the Spanish to set up missions in Texas. From that very first moment, he proved to be a one-man chamber of commerce, tour guide, and visionary. He was responsible (more than any other indigenous tribal leader) in encouraging Spanish missionary work, exploration, and trade in Texas. He was an enterprising, results-oriented man who led the Spanish to the “Kingdom of the Tejas”. He envisioned a trade network to set up a better environment among Texas indigenous people.  

Alonso de León. He is one of Texas’ foremost explorers. Traveling extensively in early Texas in the late 1600s, he is credited with a key role in establishing what later became known as the Camino Real. Starting in Monclova, Coahuila, it stretched through the Texas brush country reaching the tall pines region of East Texas. In East Texas, de León established the first Spanish mission, San Francisco de los Tejas. Earning great respect from the King of Spain he became the first governor of Coahuila. De León was successful in finding the remnants of the illegal, ill-fated LaSalle Colony. De León gets credit for naming most Texas rivers.  

Captain Blas Maria Villarreal de la Garza Falcón. He was an early colonizer of South Texas and Tamaulipas and the first settler of Nueces County, Texas. He spent his childhood at Hacienda Pesquería Chica near Monterrey. In 1747 Blas Maria led fifty men to the mouth of the Rio Grande where he set up seven settlements along the river. He was named chief justice of Camargo, the first town. In 1752 Falcón established Rancho Carnestolendas, now Rio Grande City, Texas. In 1766 Falcón established Santa Petronila by the Nueces River (Nueces County, Texas). He and his family started another rancho that served as a camp for the Spanish soldiers from Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto. In 1767 Falcón returned to Camargo, where he died and was buried in his private chapel, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. After his death, his family received land grants extending from the Rio Grande to the Nueces River in South Texas.  

 

============================================= =============================================

Rosa Maria Balli. Rosa Maria is part of the influential Balli family in early Texas history. She was a pioneer rancher. At one time, her land holdings covered over one-third of the present-day Lower Rio Grande Valley. She represents a fact that is not well known in history. That is, many pioneer women led the early success of the ranching industry. They either worked side-by-side their husbands or managed large ranchos on their own. (Note: As with many early Tejano families, the Ballis lost their vast land holdings twice. Once, when they were confiscated by the government after the war with Mexico. The second time occurred when after winning them back in dubious land courts, they lost them again to unscrupulous attorneys and land agents. Only recently, the Ballis won their case and awarded some payment for their lost lands.  

Captain Antonio Gil Ybarbo (Father of East Texas). He was born in Los Adaes, the Capital of Texas in 1729. He became an East Texas rancher-merchant who enjoyed a fair amount of freedom in trading with Native Americans and the French. As part of a Spanish reorganization program, the East Texas missions closed and its citizens moved to San Antonio. Because they dearly missed their homes, Don Antonio petitioned the viceroy to allow Los Adaes settlers to return home. His request was approved and led to the settlement of Nacogdoches, Texas.  

De los Santos and Chávez. In the late 1700s, Cristóbal de los Santos was the co-founder of the first road from San Antonio to Santa Fe. Albeit, mainstream Texas historians credit Pierre Vial, a French-born Spanish subject. Also, New Mexico-born Francisco Xavier Chávez, a Comanche captive since childhood, used his unique skills to provide Vial with key direction-finding help.

============================================= =============================================

Readers, please realize that the above is only a partial list. There are many more courageous stories sure to inspire; especially Mexican-descent students in Texas classrooms. With the rapid re-browning of Texas, SBOE members and other critics should be reminded that learning about Texas’ Spanish Mexican past is not a modern-day development caused by recent immigrants. Long ignored, the lost pages of early Texas history have been there all along. Acting as smoldering smoking chasms in volcanic fissures, all they need is oxygen to re-surface into the light of our Texas classrooms. Ignorance feeds intolerance; knowledge feeds understanding.  

Finally, remember this. In 2012, the Tejano Monument erupted like an explosion of molten rock magma, changing the Austin landscape forever. That unstoppable burst of energy is a sign that the Tejano Renaissance has already begun! The beacon is lit; now let’s follow its lead.  

José “Joe” Antonio López was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and is a USAF Veteran. He now lives in Universal City, Texas. He is the author of three books: “The Last Knight (Don Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara Uribe, A Texas Hero,”, “Nights of Wailing, Days of Pain (Life in 1920s South Texas)”, and “The First Texas Independence, 1813”.  Lopez is also the founder of the Tejano Learning Center, LLC, and www.tejanosunidos.org, a Web site dedicated to Spanish Mexican people and events in U.S. history that are mostly overlooked in mainstream history books.

 

LOST BAGS IN PAKISTAN AND A THATCHED BROTHEL OF BANGLADESH  

By Jose M. Peña[i]  
Part 4

  

Introduction.  As I explained in my previous articles (Parts 1, 2, and 3), many good and rough things happened to me and my family during my 35-years of work, as Foreign Services Officer (FSO), with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), as a Director of a Health Project in Guatemala, an International Consultant with private contractors, and as a contractor with the Organization of American States (OAS).  Although at times there were extremely harsh experiences, this was a most productive period of our lives.  As an Organization, USAID is exceptional; some Offices within it were, at the time (20 years back), in need of better selection of managers.  In any event, it was a time when my family and I were assigned – and lived – in eight different countries.  I lived in three countries by myself.  And, I went on Temporary Duty Assignments (TDY) to 26 other countries.   

For this reason, I would like to tell some of my many professional and personal stories in a series of installments over a period of months.  For professional reasons, I will try to stay away from the highly technical side of my work – although citing some examples and parts of my experiences.   

Part 4. This is the fourth part in my series of stories.  These few stories took place during my first three months of my tour of duty in the Regional Inspector’s Office in the Middle East.  To be more precise, when I first arrived in Karachi, Pakistan, I was there only three days.  I was immediately sent on Temporary Duty (TDY) to Bangladesh, where I stayed for the next 3 months.   

Assignment to Pakistan.  As explained in the previous Part, an assignment to Pakistan was the equivalent of being assigned to Siberia.  No one wanted to ever volunteer to go there.  The travel factor, at 85% to 95%, was awful.  The countries that were then covered were the most backwards.  Moreover, two “memorable” and “difficult” guys were in charge of the regional office – Jack R. and John E.    

Jack R. had a very nice wife and no other family in Pakistan.  She was tall, brunette, friendly, a very pretty face, and a nice figure.  Jack was a tall person, maybe in his 50’s.  However, he had a very serious alcohol problem.  He would come into the office, in the mornings, grab a coke from the refrigerator, lock his office door, and by ten o’clock, his face would be red as a beet, and he was zonked.  He was one of those “mean drunks.”  To talk to him, you would have to knock on his door and carrying a conversation with him was a challenge.  His efforts to intimidate you were evident.  Perhaps, it might have been that he did not have the best of technical capabilities.  In any event, one would feel very uncomfortable with him.  Given my “docile personality,” he and I “tangled” a couple of times; so, I avoided him as much as I could.  Our technical briefings and conversations were normally with his deputy (John E).  After I left Pakistan, Jack R. was transferred to Panama.  With his mean disposition, he quickly experienced all kinds of trouble with the staff.  At times, he pursued members of his staff and tried to get them fired.  People in his staff banded together, conducted a “covert strike,” and confronted him until he backed down.  As in Pakistan, morale problems, in Panama, became extremely low. Jack R. eventually opted to or was asked to retire. I heard later that, within a couple of years, he died of alcoholic damages to the body.  May he Rest in Peace.

When Jack R. left Panama, he left a very negative working environment.  For instance, one person (Marc B) got so relied up that he “disrespected” a top notch and nice supervisor (Dean H.).  I knew Marc B well because he had worked for me in Colombia.  By nature, Marc was a strong and temperamental person.  He had been a boxer, an actor, a painter, and a weight lifter.    Although Marc B would later say that his show of anger was just “an act,” I was told that he flipped a heavy desk to demonstrate his temper.   Soon after this incident, the Panama Office was once again shut down and transferred to Washington D.C

·         When the Panama Office was moved to Washington D. C., Dean H – a real fine person and a fine manager, who had been the Deputy in Panama -- was appointed as the Regional Inspector General for all of Latin America (RIG/LA).  And, I, who was then a functional Deputy Regional Inspector General for Egypt, was transferred as the Deputy RIG/LA to establish a peaceful environment in the office.  This is a separate story that will come later on.  

Getting back to Pakistan, the Deputy in Pakistan was John E.  John E had a very wealthy wife and they had no other family in Pakistan.  John’s wife was an exceptional stock market analyst, invested in only six stocks, had timing on those six stocks down to a science, waited for the stocks to hit low, bought, and got out when stocks hit high.  Whenever, she went to New York, members of the Stock Market would fully host her stay.  She developed Cancer and died a few years later.  But, John E. was very different.  He had an excellent technical background, but was a very negative person.  He would be agreeing with you and, at the same time, he would be shaking his head in a negative manner.  He frequently acted as Monday Quarterback and arguing with him almost always became heated.  He was a hard task master.   In sum, those two Office Managers were extremely rough.   Once I was transferred to Egypt, I never again knew what happened to John E.

However, to be fair, this RIG/Middle East had many backward and difficult countries to cover, the travel factor was 85% to 95%, and some of the 10 people on the staff had long before reached their highest level of capabilities.  Thus, this was to be another of my assignment to “Siberia” for complaining to the Auditor General against his assignments, education policies, and a lack of a career ladder.

Tour in Pakistan.    Within two months of my talk with Gene (the EXO in Washington), I had packed only my air freight items, bought and shipped an old Chevrolet Vega, and, I was on my way, in Pan Am Airways, to Karachi, Pakistan – all alone.

Arriving in Karachi with a carry-on bag, I found that Pan Am had lost my two bags.  I was greeted at the airport by Gino P, a very jovial Italian friend of mine, and his wife. Gino and his wife were past-middle age and he loved to smoke and chump on cigars.  His garrulous manner and funny contagious laughter were well known.  He was a great friend, died a few years later, and is sorely missed.  Anyway, he was, aside from the two Chiefs, the only person in the office at the time.  His greeting to me was “Joe, you came alone, huh!  What do you want me to fix you with:  a little boy or a female lamb…” and then burst out laughing.  It was a reference that all countries covered by the Office were very conservative Islamic; thus, getting a girlfriend would be next to impossible and I was going to lead a very lonely and caste life -- which I did.

They put me up in a huge beautiful house, where I left my carry-on bag, and went to the office.  The greetings by Jack R and John E were quick and to the point.  “Glad you are here.  We have a lot of work where you can help…we have received a bunch of allegations that family planning commodities (condoms, oral pills, and others) are being diverted, converted into other things, and sold in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India...we need to find out where this is happening, what commodities are being converted, and what is going on….get ready because you are traveling to Bangladesh, on your first job, two days from today. Give us your passport so we can get you a Visa and the air tickets.” 

Since Pan Am Airways could not find my bags, it gave me $100 (or thereabouts) to buy some clothing.  Buying clothing in Karachi is not as easy as going to a shopping mall in the U.S.   Gene P loaned me a bag, I bought some mismatch of shirts, trousers, and underwear and I was on my way to Bangladesh on the third day – as planned.  (Note:  Pan Am eventually found my bags, made efforts to return them back to Virginia, and finally delivered them to Karachi.  I was not to see my two bags until I returned from Bangladesh close to 3.0 months later.)

My assignment to Bangladesh was urgently needed because there had been a series of allegations, rumors, and other classified information relating to Family Planning commodities and services (condoms, pills, sterilizations, etc.) being diverted between countries and/or converted into different forms of commercial properties.   My assignment was to determine which commodities, what countries, and what new commercial forms were taking place.   Although I will not get into the real technical aspects or specific conclusions of my work, this article tells some of the things that happened to me in Bangladesh.  

The Memorable Beggar.    In 1977, Bangladesh was quite a backward country; Dhaka, its Capital, only had two half-decent hotels.  So, I stayed in one (maybe The Parbani Hotel).  It was not the best; but, for me, it was adequate.  In fact, I was to stay in worse hotels, in Bangladesh and other countries, later on.  Anyway, I had brought a bottle of Johnny Walker with me “(just in case a Cobra bit me).[ii]  All alone in the hotel the afternoon I got in, I got a little ice, unpurified water – which later on gave me a gift of amoebae’s  --  and had a few drinks.

Night was coming fast.  So, before it got too dark, I decided to walk around the center of Dhaka and then eat.  As I walked outside the hotel, looked at the little shops that were now closing, and milled with the huge multitude of people, I got tapped on the shoulder a couple of times.

As I turned around, I faced the most frightening sight that I had ever seen.  It was obviously a man.  However, he had no face, his nose was destroyed, his bare eyes stared at me, and the fingers of his hands and feet were nothing but stumps.  If you have seen Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” you will remember the scene where people, in thorn clothing and zombie-like appearances, are coming out of the graves.  This will give you a good idea of what I was seeing in front of me.  It was a beggar, in tattered clothing, who wanted me to give him money.  And, for the first time in my life, I was staring at the face of a human being in the last stages of leprosy.  Pieces of skin seem stuck in places where his face and hands had been.   I had never expected to see anything like that.  Needless to say, the sight terrified the daylights out of me. Talk about hallucinating, my mind began to work overtime.  I began to search my memory on whether I had taken a drink too many.  Boy, I sobered up fast.  Scared stiff, I got some money, gingerly passed it to him, without touching him, and hurried back to the hotel.  I was to see this beggar and other similarly deformed people affected by leprosy many times after that.  Knowing I was an easy target, they would wait and follow me until they got my donation.  I was terrified each time, but felt great compassion for them.  Even today – close to 40 years later -- I still see those faceless beggars in my mind.  Sometimes I have nightmares where I walk among the most deprived or there are visions of the total isolation that those poor souls probably live in.

Leprosy is a horrible illness.  However, we now know a few more things that I did not know then.  The disease, also known as Hansen’s disease, is caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium Leprae.  For some reason, this disease has a very high incidence of occurrence in such countries like India, Brazil, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Tanzania, Mozambique, others).  Leprosy in Bangladesh has fluctuated from 11,500 in the Year 1996, to 14,500 in Year 1999, and 10,000 in Year 2003.  According to scientific writings and the World Health Organization, it is, in most cases, easily curable – when diagnosed early -- and there is a definite decline in the world-wide rate of infections – from 753,262 in Year 2001 to 296,499 in the Year 2005.  Let’s hope that Leprosy can be completely eradicated from this earth.[iii]

The Bengali President’s Visit.  Although I soon found friends – that I had met in Vietnam -- who would invite me to their home for a drink or a meal, the days that followed were intense with activity at the U.S. Embassy, the USAID Offices, and a number of other related Offices.  Just trying to get a background and a feel for such a huge health activity – and coming up with theories and approaches to the study -- was a real challenge. 

However, since I was doing the job by myself, my working patterns were as follows: Most of the time, I would work late, go back to the hotel, at night, continue to review more material, write as I went along, have a couple of drinks, go to a restaurant to eat, and come back, have a few drinks, and go to sleep.   

 

One late afternoon, when I came down the hotel elevator, the doors opened, and I saw the lobby basically vacant with only an extremely well-dressed high-ranking military man coming into the hotel.  As I stepped out of the elevator, two men in uniform pointed a rifle, spoke to me in Bengali (which I did not speak or understand), grabbed me by the arm, turned me around, placed me against a wall, and did a body search.  Confused, bewildered, and not knowing what was going on, I readily cooperated.  One of the Hotel Clerks came to my aid, told the Security people that I was an “Americani.”  I finally had the senses to ask what this was all about and was told that the President of Bangladesh (maybe Shahabuddin Ahmed) was in front of me.  I was quickly put back into the elevator, sheepishly went back up to my room, and ate much later that night.  Security was tight because the previous President (maybe Abdur Rahman Biswas) had been assassinated two years earlier.

Regression Analysis.  During the next few weeks, I analyzed all international agreements, reports, documents, talked to many people, accumulated all kinds of statistical information – population by villages, commodities being sent there, etc -- and developed a type of statistical analysis known as “Regression Analysis” which gave me a lead on disproportionate commodity assignment by areas.   Regression Analysis is an exceptional tool that I used frequently throughout my career; here is a very simplified example: 

 

 

 

Village

Commodities

Population

Factor

Regression

A

1000

400

2.5

37.2%

B

1500

500

3.0

44.7%

C

2500

800

3.1

46.5%

D

3500

950

3.7

54.9%

E

6000

250

24.0

357.3%

F

8000

450

17.8

264.7%

Total

22500

3350

6.7

100.0%

 

 As shown, the above example includes names of the villages, number of commodities (separate for condoms, Pills, Foam, etc) and number of people in the village.  The Factor (commodities divided by village population) represents the number of units per each person in the village.  The Regression Factor (each individual factor divided by the above 6.7) identifies villages receiving disproportionate amounts of commodities.  Here are the conclusions of the above example.   The proportion of commodities being sent to Villages A, B, C, D are – at below 100% -- within acceptable ranges and thus can be discarded.   However, Villages E and F -- with 357% and 265% -- represent possible problematic proportions which deserve closer scrutiny.  

This is how I identified 21 (of numerous) places that showed a disproportionate amounts of commodities and which needed to be personally visited. 

Sterilization of Women.  USAID assigned a vehicle and a driver/translator to me.  Over the next few days, I visited all kinds of health facilities in Dhaka and close-by villages.  One facility was carrying out a Voluntary Sterilization Program in addition to other related family planning programs.  As in other facilities, doctors were very open with me.  At the time of my visit, there were about 10 - 12 women waiting to be sterilized.  The doctors asked me if I was willing to see the procedure.  Since I had seen how IUD’s are positioned in Costa Rica, I said I was game.  The sterilization of women is very different than the IUD.  The doctors made me wash my hands and arms.  I then put gloves and a sterilized doctor’s gown.  Then I saw how the laparoscopic tubal ligation procedure, i.e., closure of the fallopian tubes works.  The sight of the two small belly cuts, a little blood, and the inside of the belly of two women made me somewhat woozy.  In fact, my knees became weak. 

 

But, at least I was able to get a feel for the sterilization process.  By doing so, seeing the clinic, looking at records, and talking to the doctors, I could now discard this area from my overall objectives.  There was no possible way that commodities or services could be diverted through a women’s womb.  Also, the doctors gave me a firsthand seminar on how many condoms were defective, broke easily, and how easy it would be to turn condoms into latex gloves and for pills to be sold in the market.

Visit to Villages.  It was time to go to the villages outside of Dhaka.  The first series of trips I took were to a number of places near the border with India (maybe Comilla, Narayangnan, Rajshahi, Nawabgani, Santahor). Some of these trips were done by car, rickshaw, and sampan – and they were rough.  For instance, to get to the village of Heskhal Bazar, in the Comilla district, the driver and I had to start at 6 AM, travel by road, rickshaw, and sampan and then return to Comilla to sleep.  When I visited some of the villages (one example was Heskhal Bazar) -- which were very close to the Indian border -- I felt most uncomfortable.  What I saw in those villages was the great disproportion between condoms sent to the village, the small number of population, no physical inventory of condoms, an absence of accounting records, and no warehousing facilities in the village.  People (only men) acted odd; they looked rough; and, they did not want either to cooperate or provide information.  For the first time since Vietnam, the back of my hair stood up and I became afraid for our lives.  I saw a number of villages having the same characteristics.  We saw the places and left real fast.  There was something about those villages that was not right.  Even the driver was nervous.  We did not stay in them long enough to find out what it was – and I certainly was not going to stay around to see the smelting or techniques used to convert condoms to latex gloves, balloons or whatever.  Once out of the village, the driver/translator would tell me “…this type of work is dangerous…”  When we got back to Dhaka, the USAID Experts debriefed me and agreed with me that commodities were being channeled through those villages and sent to India or other countries for conversion into commercial products. 

Human Rights Abuses.  The second series of trips were to places that were very close to the border with Myanmar or Burma (maybe Cox Bazar and others).  That is sure a beautiful part of the country – very green vegetation, a lot of water, huge palm trees, little islands, shacks and people living in the mist of them (this is probably the reason why so many people die during monsoons and cyclones season).  Sometimes, we would stop and I would go by sampan to nearby villages – in the little island-like areas – which seemed to have been forgotten by modern age, i.e., silence, no electricity, etc.  As we traveled by sampan through the many rivers, women (with their children) would come out from their shack and look at us.  They would quickly go back inside, cover their faces, hide their children, and then peek at us.

We eventually got to the Guest House (a real nice cabin) in the middle of nowhere.  When we were there a short while, a helicopter began to circle close by.  The driver/translator ran quickly inside the house; I did not understand why.  So, I sat in the balcony of the cabin and witnessed the things that were taking place.  The helicopter came down and hovered around four feet from the ground.  All of a sudden, a number of prisoners, with their hands tied behind their back, began to be thrown down from the helicopter.  Without thinking, I took some pictures.  All of a sudden, a Bengali Colonel came up to me, asked who I was and what I was doing there.  I told him and tried to explain that I was not interested in his military operations.  He took the camera, destroyed all my valuable film, and told me to leave the area immediately.   What I had just witnessed was a gross human rights violation by Bangladeshi soldiers who had captured Burmese people, and were now dropping them from the helicopter with their hands tied.  When I got back to Dhaka, there was great interest – and debriefing -- of this particular incidence.

 

The Thatched Brothel.  That day must have been one of the craziest I have ever had in my life.  I left the area without a word and arrived in port of Chittagong (the second largest city of Bangladesh) very late that afternoon.  The hotel was much better than the two in Dhaka.  That night I wound up going to a house of ill-repute.  Let me say this; going to any red-light district or a brothel is not my style.  But it did happen.  So let me tell you about it.

When I got to Chittagong and got to the hotel, I met a guy from another U.S. Agency who was stationed in Dhaka.  We had a couple of drinks in the hotel, chatted, ate, and then decided to take a walk.  Walking along a street close to the hotel that night, some guy on a rickshaw (a three wheel pedal bicycle with a seat for two on the back) asked us “…you want to see Chittagong?”  Not having anything else to do, we hopped on the rickshaw and he started pedaling.  My friend said something in Bengali or Urdu and the guy smiled.  He took us to this place.  Let me describe the setting, and then use your own imagination.  It was a place where the floor was muddy and filthy; the stench was just like a pigpen; the roof was thatched; there might have been 40 to 60 small (cubby) rooms in a very limited space; each individual room seemed to have only enough space for one bed; and, the rooms were separated by wall paper or thatched mats.  Very young girls (12 to 15 years of age) went in and out of those rooms with unkempt and dirty clientele.  Strange sounds and moaning could be heard all over.  Walking half naked, sweaty, and dirty, were two or three bearded and disheveled men wearing nothing but a thong-like – Tarzan style—piece of clothing covering only their private parts and obviously stoned, zonked, and/or in some sort of a trance.

I took one look; saw the horrors of young children stolen, sold and/or forced – by family needs or circumstances -- into prostitution, the possible existence of multiple diseases and potentials for contracting leprosy, or penises to fall off.  (HIV/AID’s was not yet in the vocabulary.)  So, I decided right there and then that I would merely ask for a Coca Cola.  The young girls would come over in bunches of 10 to 15.  They would touch and feel me all over.  By then, my friend had disappeared into one of the rooms with one of those young girls.  So, here I was asking for a Coca Cola and the girls kept trying to convince me and touching me every place.  The “Madam” – a fairly nice looking Oriental (maybe Vietnamese) woman in her 30’s -- kept eying me in a funny way.  I kept asking for a Coca-Cola in English and they kept jabbering in Bengali or Urdu.  So, communication was nil. The madam kept pointing to one or another young girl and talking to me (maybe expounding their virtues); I kept asking for a Coca Cola.   Finally, the Madam pointed at me and to her temple (like saying, yeah I got an idea), went out, and came back in a short while.  She motioned for me to follow her.  I thought to myself: “.. at last, I am getting my Coca-Cola.” She took me to another room where some seemingly romantic music was playing and in the center of the room were two gay guys dancing up a storm….

The Madam’s power of deduction was fantastic.  She had seen that I did not seem to like girls.  So the next obvious conclusion was that surely I must be gay.  For the next hour or so, I sat in a corner, on a stool, just needing a dunce hat to look more stupid, feeling completely out of place, desperate to get back to the hotel, afraid to leave by myself (muggings and murders were common especially in a port city), hearing all kinds of noises, watching strange going-on, smelling the crud, anxious to take a shower and rinse the scene away, and sipping at the Coca-Cola that I eventually got.   As I sat there, the Madam passed me a few times; each time, she would look at me and shake her head; and, I kept wondering what was going through her mind.   Here was a virile man who had rejected the girls, and then he had rejected the boys, and now sat on a stool, drinking a Coca Cola in a “first-class” house of ill repute.   Was she impressed, bewildered, or did she think I was some sort of a weird Freak getting his kicks from listening to the sounds and/or enjoying the smell of the place?  I have you laughing now. 

In all seriousness, however, the conditions that these poor under aged girls and children are forced to endure are horrendous and an affront to any society.   Some of these children may be – due to necessity -- voluntary sex-slaves; others are victims of human trafficking.  “…Annually, between 700,000 and 4 million people are bought and sold as prostitutes, domestic workers, sex slaves, child laborers, and child soldiers….”[iv]  

Whatever the case, they are all exposed to the HIV/AIDs Pandemic and other diseases.  They need help and you would think that the U.S. Government (through USAID) would be anxious to help all victims.  But, this was not the case until June 2013.  Here is why.  On May 2003, two well-intended, but ill-designed U.S. laws were passed which prohibited assistance to organizations that help any process associated with human trafficking.  These laws were: the “Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000” and the “U.S. Leadership against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Act of 2003.” 

Under such laws, USAID could no longer provide assistance to just any organization that may be involved with the HIV/AID pandemic.  In order for an organization to receive USAID funds, in its fight against the pandemic, it had to have “…(1) a policy explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking, and (2) a certification of compliance with the “Prohibition on the Promotion and Advocacy of the Legalization of Practice of Prostitution or Sex Trafficking” which applies to all organization activities, including those with funding from private grants….”  These provisions, which were called “the Prostitution Pledge Requirement,”[v]  are highly controversial.  Countries, like Brazil, with its many brothels, have refused assistance amounting to over $40 million; and some organizations have sued the U.S. laws on the basis that they violate the constitutional rights of persons who want to exercise their freedom of expression. 

At the time I wrote this section, a couple of years ago, it was my opinion that the laws were not well designed and should be changed.  I was right.  On June 20, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the “Anti-Prostitution Pledge” to be in violation with the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.   The Court also made a distinction between “Prostitution” and “Sex Trafficking.”  [vi]  On this basis, I hope that USAID will be able to provide needed help to these poor souls in the future.   

In any event, that was the first and only time I ever visited a house of ill repute in a developing country -- and as you have seen, my Machismo was probably questioned.  But, Machismo is such a relative term – when viewed in the Middle East and the West.  Perhaps in another article, I will tell you about the cultural customs of men holding hands, hugging and kissing other men on the cheek, and dancing with them at weddings.  I have done all that out of diplomatic and cultural necessities.  

Return to Pakistan.  I worked around the city of Chittagong for a few more days.  I also went to the market places in Chittagong, some villages, and Dhaka, looked around, bought samples of condoms, latex gloves, pills, and others.  The latex gloves had been made locally – perhaps from rubber condoms.

Then, two to three weeks later, I was on my way back to Karachi.  I had been in Bangladesh nearly 3 months.  Because of the type of information and confirmations I had gathered, my friend Gino P.(now deceased), and later Eimer were assigned to help me and we continued doing this type of work in Pakistan and other countries for 4 more months (we worked 7 months).   

One odd situation took place in Pakistan.  During the work there, we identified some persons who were responsible for an organized type of diversion.  Of course, they were not about to admit the crime because it either meant jail, chopping of hand, and/or death.  The Pakistani Lawyer assigned, as consultant, to help us told us several times:  “…Oh, hell, don’t fuss too much about it, we can make him or them talk and confess very quickly.  All we do in Pakistan is strip the person nude,  hang him by his feet, whack him a few times all over the body and at the soles of his feet and all will confess in a matter of an hour….”   We gently explained that this type of investigative coercion is pure and simple Torture.   Of course, we did not accept the offer.  But, it gives the reader some ideas how some countries extract confessions from people.  Are all those that are executed really guilty?

Concluding Remarks.  We found very complex problems in both Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the other countries and eventually wrote a number of classified and unclassified reports, gave the needed information to other “special” offices to pursue the criminals at higher country levels.  I never saw the final disposition of the cases because I was transferred to Egypt within six months after we completed the work. 

At the end of the family planning assignment, I was still somewhat perturbed that I had been sent to Bangladesh only 3 days after arriving in my Pakistani assignment and without my own clothing.  But I was nevertheless happy over my accomplishments.  I had seen a great deal of Bangladesh and Pakistan.   I had learned a lot about family planning tools and how pills can be commercialized and/or condoms converted into latex gloves, sold, diverted, and smuggled to other countries.  I had seen some memorable sights, some of which would haunt me for the rest of my life.  And, oh, yes, how can I forget – I had been to the best thatched house of ill-repute of Bangladesh.

My next article continues with some of the work that I did while in Pakistan and ends when I was transferred to Egypt.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[i]  Jose M. Pena is author of a book entitled “Inherit The Dust From The Four Winds of Revilla” and a number of articles. He worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development for nearly 30 years and served as its first Hispanic Regional Deputy Inspector General in two regions.  He was also a Director for a Health Project in Guatemala and a Financial Consultant for the Organization of American States

[ii] Yes, I used to like Scotch and Water.  I drank “like a fish,” but stopped drinking nearly 25 years ago

[iii] Statistical and other information come from Internet www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_leprosy-ti.html.

[iv] An Internet Article called “USAID Combating Trafficking in Persons,” www.usaid.gov/our_work/cross-cutting_programs/trafficking/

[v] An Internet Article entitled “The US Anti-Prostitution Pledge: First Amendment Challenges and Public Health Priorities, www.medscape.com/viewarticle/560914_print

[vi] An Internet Article Called Supreme Court Strikes Down Anti-Prostitution Pledge for U.S Groups.  http://www.thenation.com/blog/174910/supreme-court-strikes-down-anti-prostitution-

 

No. Of

Village

Commodities

Population

Factor

Regression

A

1000

400

2.5

37.2%

B

1500

500

3.0

44.7%

C

2500

800

3.1

46.5%

D

3500

950

3.7

54.9%

E

6000

250

24.0

357.3%

F

8000

450

17.8

264.7%

Total

22500

3350

6.7

100.0%

 

 

 

Big Hospital Finally telling the truth about Cancer, Johns Hopkins

============================================= =============================================
AFTER YEARS OF TELLING PEOPLE CHEMOTHERAPY IS THE ONLY WAY TO TRY AND ELIMINATE CANCER, JOHNS HOPKINS IS FINALLY STARTING TO TELL YOU THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE WAY …
1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.
2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person’s lifetime.
3. When the person’s immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.
4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.
5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastro-intestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.
7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.
8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.
9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.
10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.
11. An effective way to battle cancer is to STARVE the cancer cells by not feeding it with foods it needs to multiply.

 

============================================= =============================================
12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines will become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.
13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body’s killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.
14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body’s own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body’s normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.
15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor.
Anger, unforgiving and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.
16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.
What cancer cells feed on:
a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Note:Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute

 

would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg’s aminos or sea salt.
b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk, cancer cells will starved.
c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.
d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes t o nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells.
To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).
e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer-fighting properties. Water–best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

Sent by odell.harwell74@att.net

 

 

HISTORIC TIDBITS

For all those whose families originated from South Texas/Northern Mexico
Including those from Old Guerrero and Old Zapata
 
5/30/2014  usaeagle6@aol.com
http://www.wearecousins.info/2014/05/the-kingdom-of-zapata/
Sent by Ernesto Euribe Euribe000@aol.com

Put below under culture.. .

 

Why Was this Taco Fundraiser Deemed Offensive?

Sent by Erasmo Riojas who comments: "Stupid is as Stupid does. They said the Pi Beta Phi sorority was minimizing the full significance of Latino heritage and history by using a taco as an artifact that didn’t fully represent their culture.  Thereby making tacos offensive… "

 

============================================= =============================================

The national sorority Pi Beta Phi is a longstanding and highly involved sorority that has over 200 chapters in America.  Every year several of the chapters hold a taco themed fundraiser around Cinco De Mayo.

The aptly named “Pi phiesta” is used to generate money for charitable purposes and does nothing more than provide all-you-can-eat tacos for those willing to donate.

This year, one of the organizations was approached by groups of concerned Latinos and asked to end the practice of all-you-can-eat tacos because it is “culturally insensitive.”

The group at Stanford quickly tucked tail and put the kibosh on their customary celebration and decided to do something more “neutral.” So they chose to have a fun “beachy” affair.

Keep in mind, the tradition held by these chapters happens to occur on Cinco de Mayo… the “non-official” holiday that celebrates Latino heritage and all things Hispanic… in the U.S.A.

Furthermore, the “Pi phiesta” is in no way meant to be derogatory. Rather, by attaching itself to Cinco de Mayo, the fundraiser is actually designed to celebrate the tradition and spirit of the large Latino influence we see in this country.

Unfortunately, this trend of saying celebrating certain parts of Hispanic culture is “insensitive” isn’t just limited to tacos.

As the College Fix observed, other universities’ attempts at tipping a hat (or a sombrero) to recognize Latino traditions were slammed as offensive.

“A sign at UCLA this month offered students a guide to a ‘racist-free Cinco de Mayo,’ advice that included warning students not to speak their shoddy high school Spanish on the day.

At North Carolina State University, its dining services officials had to apologize for handing out “offensive” chocolate mustaches for dessert on Cinco de Mayo.

============================================= =============================================

A similar kerfuffle also occurred at the University of Maryland after two Latino students were offended when the university’s dining services staff voluntarily wore fake mustaches and sombreros during its Cinco de Mayo dinner.”

So why exactly was this group of Latinos offended by tacos on Cinco de Mayo?  

They said the Pi Beta Phi sorority was minimizing the full significance of Latino heritage and history by using a taco as an artifact that didn’t fully represent their culture.

Thereby making tacos offensive… Essentially, it’s culturally insensitive to eat a taco and claim you’re celebrating Latino history because you’re not including the whole breadth and depth of what it means to be of Latino descent.

To carry this line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it would also mean we should probably say goodbye to Sushi, Kung Pao chicken, BBQ, Kielbasa, and you know what else? — ALL foods that represent a culture in any way shape or form.

Of course, it’s easy to see how ludicrous the request is. If these things continue to happen, then all forms of cultural expression and celebration will eventually be curbed, and we’ll live in a boring, gray world.

Source:  http://preservefreedom.org/why-was-this-taco-
fundraiser-deemed-offensive/
 

Sent by  Erasmo “Doc” Riojas
docrio45@gmail.com

 

 

Main Heading Goes Here
Subheading Goes Here

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

 

 

 

[José




Preserving Tejano Texas is not an option; it’s a must!
By José Antonio López

The Tejano Monument erupted like an explosion of molten rock magma, changing the Austin landscape forever.

============================================= =============================================

SAN ANTONIO, June 1 - No one knows exactly why after 1848, our Spanish Mexican ancestors were unable to maintain their long. well-documented chronicle as the founders of Texas. What is known is that some tried.  

However, Tejanos who challenged the anti-Mexican culture bulldozer at that time were brutalized, murdered, and/or hounded out of Texas by Anglo vigilantes. (The list of Tejanos who suffered this last particular indignity includes Colonel Juan Seguín, the hero at the Battle of San Jacinto.) In short, Tejanos looked like the enemy, worshipped as Catholics like the enemy, spoke Spanish like the enemy, and so were treated as the enemy.  
By deliberate design then, Anglo historians wiped the slate clean of New Spain history of Texas and the Southwest. In its place, they force-fitted the history of New England. From that point on, they began to write Texas history with a pronounced Anglo Saxon slant. Now, over 150 years later, that ink is beginning to fade, exposing the early Texas history record beneath, written indelibly in Spanish.  

The question is why would seemingly intelligent historians choose to tear off the pages of early Texas history to write an artificial Anglophile adaptation? More recently, why does the Texas State Board of Education (SBOE) insist on perpetuating that myth by making Texas school children believe that Texas history begins in 1836 with the arrival of Anglo immigrants to Mexico?  

It’s only within the last two decades that a diverse group of modern-day historians have tackled those and similar questions. The Tejano Monument in Austin represents a giant step to recover pre-1836 Texas history. However, in the words of Winston Churchill, the Tejano Monument “…is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end; but, it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”  

Following are short summaries of early Texas people whose stories are left out of Texas classroom curricula. In truth, Texas school children should know their names, but sadly, they don’t. Aficionados of pre-1836 Texas history will recognize some of them. Others are less well known.  

============================================= =============================================

Juan Sabeata. He was a Native American Jumano tribe leader. In the 1680s, he first invited the Spanish to set up missions in Texas. From that very first moment, he proved to be a one-man chamber of commerce, tour guide, and visionary. He was responsible (more than any other indigenous tribal leader) in encouraging Spanish missionary work, exploration, and trade in Texas. He was an enterprising, results-oriented man who led the Spanish to the “Kingdom of the Tejas”. He envisioned a trade network to set up a better environment among Texas indigenous people.  

Alonso de León. He is one of Texas’ foremost explorers. Traveling extensively in early Texas in the late 1600s, he is credited with a key role in establishing what later became known as the Camino Real. Starting in Monclova, Coahuila, it stretched through the Texas brush country reaching the tall pines region of East Texas. In East Texas, de León established the first Spanish mission, San Francisco de los Tejas. Earning great respect from the King of Spain he became the first governor of Coahuila. De León was successful in finding the remnants of the illegal, ill-fated LaSalle Colony. De León gets credit for naming most Texas rivers.  

 

Captain Blas Maria Villarreal de la Garza Falcón. He was an early colonizer of South Texas and Tamaulipas and the first settler of Nueces County, Texas. He spent his childhood at Hacienda Pesquería Chica near Monterrey. In 1747 Blas Maria led fifty men to the mouth of the Rio Grande where he set up seven settlements along the river. He was named chief justice of Camargo, the first town. In 1752 Falcón established Rancho Carnestolendas, now Rio Grande City, Texas. In 1766 Falcón established Santa Petronila by the Nueces River (Nueces County, Texas). He and his family started another rancho that served as a camp for the Spanish soldiers from Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto. In 1767 Falcón returned to Camargo, where he died and was buried in his private chapel, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. After his death, his family received land grants extending from the Rio Grande to the Nueces River in South Texas.  

============================================= =============================================

Rosa Maria Balli. Rosa Maria is part of the influential Balli family in early Texas history. She was a pioneer rancher. At one time, her land holdings covered over one-third of the present-day Lower Rio Grande Valley. She represents a fact that is not well known in history. That is, many pioneer women led the early success of the ranching industry. They either worked side-by-side their husbands or managed large ranchos on their own. (Note: As with many early Tejano families, the Ballis lost their vast land holdings twice. Once, when they were confiscated by the government after the war with Mexico. The second time occurred when after winning them back in dubious land courts, they lost them again to unscrupulous attorneys and land agents. Only recently, the Ballis won their case and awarded some payment for their lost lands.  

Captain Antonio Gil Ybarbo (Father of East Texas). He was born in Los Adaes, the Capital of Texas in 1729. He became an East Texas rancher-merchant who enjoyed a fair amount of freedom in trading with Native Americans and the French. As part of a Spanish reorganization program, the East Texas missions closed and its citizens moved to San Antonio. Because they dearly missed their homes, Don Antonio petitioned the viceroy to allow Los Adaes settlers to return home. His request was approved and led to the settlement of Nacogdoches, Texas.  

De los Santos and Chávez. In the late 1700s, Cristóbal de los Santos was the co-founder of the first road from San Antonio to Santa Fe. Albeit, mainstream Texas historians credit Pierre Vial, a French-born Spanish subject. Also, New Mexico-born Francisco Xavier Chávez, a Comanche captive since childhood, used his unique skills to provide Vial with key direction-finding help.

Readers, please realize that the above is only a partial list. There are many more courageous stories sure to inspire; especially Mexican-descent students in Texas classrooms. With the rapid re-browning of Texas, SBOE members and other critics should be reminded that learning about Texas’ Spanish Mexican past is not a modern-day development caused by recent immigrants. Long ignored, the lost pages of early Texas history have been there all along. Acting as smoldering smoking chasms in volcanic fissures, all they need is oxygen to re-surface into the light of our Texas classrooms. Ignorance feeds intolerance; knowledge feeds understanding.  

Finally, remember this. In 2012, the Tejano Monument erupted like an explosion of molten rock magma, changing the Austin landscape forever. That unstoppable burst of energy is a sign that the Tejano Renaissance has already begun! The beacon is lit; now let’s follow its lead. 

José “Joe” Antonio López was born and raised in Laredo, Texas, and is a USAF Veteran. He now lives in Universal City, Texas. He is the author of three books: “The Last Knight (Don Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara Uribe, A Texas Hero,”, “Nights of Wailing, Days of Pain (Life in 1920s South Texas)”, and “The First Texas Independence, 1813”.  Lopez is also the founder of the Tejano Learning Center, LLC, and www.tejanosunidos.org, a Web site dedicated to Spanish Mexican people and events in U.S. history that are mostly overlooked in mainstream history books.

 

 

 
Texas Day by Day  
Source: Texas State Historical Association
============================================= =============================================

San Antonio merchant killed by Apaches

May 31 1783
Source: Texas Day by Day 

On this day in 1783, San Antonio merchant and alderman Fernando Veramendi was killed by Mescalero Apaches near the presidio of San Juan Bautista in Coahuila. Veramendi, born in Spain in 1743 or 1744, came to Texas around 1770. He married into a family of Canary Islanders in San Antonio in 1776. Once established in San Antonio, Veramendi's business thrived. He opened a store, acted as moneylender, and bought extensive tracts of agricultural land. His success allowed him to build an opulent house on Soledad Street that later came to be known as the Veramendi Palace. He served in the city's militia, was alderman in the ayuntamiento of 1779, and was elected senior alderman for the year 1783. He was killed while on a business trip to Mexico City. His son Juan Martín de Veramendi served as governor of Coahuila and Texas in 1832-33.  
 

U.S. Congress established the United States Border Patrol

May 28
1924

On this day in 1924, the U.S. Congress established the United States Border Patrol as part of the Immigration Bureau, an arm of the Department of Labor. Its duties included the prevention of smuggling and the arrest of illegal entrants into the United States. During Prohibition smuggling absorbed most of the attention of the border patrol, as bootleggers avoided the bridges and slipped their forbidden cargo across the Rio Grande by way of pack mules. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt united the Bureau of Immigration and the Bureau of Naturalization into the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and in 1940 the patrol moved out of the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice.From 1942 to 1964, the border patrol recruited Mexican nationals, called braceros, authorizing them to visit the United States for specific periods of time as legal agricultural workers. In 1954, however, as illegal immigration along the Mexican border soared, the patrol inaugurated Operation Wetback, a large repatriation project. The 1980s and 1990s saw an influx of thousands of immigrants, both legal and illegal, from Mexico and Central America to the Rio Grande Valley.  



HONORING HISPANIC LEADERSHIP

 
 

Main Heading Goes Here
Subheading Goes Here

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

 

 


Latino soldiers
 Cebu, Phillipines, WW II

USA LATINO PATRIOTS

 
 
 
TO ALL “MEN OF COMPANY E” AND “GUY GABALDON...AMERICAN HERO” SUPPORTERS. GOOD NEWS
============================================= =============================================
On Thursday, May 29, 2014 9:59 PM, Alfred Lugo alfredo.lugo@verizon.net  wrote:
Subject: "The Men of Company E: Tejanos Who Battled the Nazis"
To All, This book, The Men of Company E is based on my documentary, “The Men of Company E” which I produced back in 1983. I went on tour with the author and attorney researching for the book throughout Texas. El Paso, San Antonio, Austin. I am told that the book will be available sometime in July. I have been invited to join Mr. Arnulfo Hernandez, Attorney and Mr. Samuel Ortega, author on their book signing tour in July. They want to help promote both of my documentaries, “The Men of Company E” and “Guy Gabaldon...American Hero.”
Proud to announce that I was awarded the “Veteran of the Year” by the California LULAC State Conference, thanks to Kathy Jurado, Chairwoman and presented with the New Mexico “Medal of Valor and Excellence” at the New Mexico LULAC State Conference last week thanks to Mr. Paul Martinez and LULAC Council 120.
Feel good that my productions are finally getting noticed and used to teach about our Latino Veterans and our Heroes. Thanks for your support. Please see the video on the interview. They have received 1,300 hits so far.
Thanks, Alfred Lugo  alfredo.lugo@verizon.net 

Hello Alfredo:
After seeing the video, Arnulfo and you are to be congratulated for your most significant contribution. Metaphorically, Arnulfo and you "have captured a hill" and demonstrated that the historical military contributions of Chicanos/Mexican Americans in World War II are an integral part of the American fabric. Additionally, you have demonstrated a most critical aspect, which is that is up to us, Chicanos/Mexican Americans, to "tell" our stories about how we have contributed to American history and that it should not be limited to military history. Kudos to Arnulfo and you!!!! Continued success.......
 
Peace, Richard M. Ramirez, Ed.D.

From: Medina, Frank MAJ RES <frank.medina@us.army.mil>

May 31, 2014 
Subject: "Saving Private Ryan" Borinqueneer Interview with Jorge Ramos's "Al Punto"
To: Frank Medina <frank.medina@us.army.mil>

Greetings Borinqueneers CGM Alliance Members and Contributors, Please watch the following video interview with Borinqueneers Victor Colon and Edwin Avilez in the English-speaking show “America with Jorge Ramos”: http://fusion.net/America_with_Jorge_Ramos/video/
borinqueneers-step-closer-congressional-gold-medal-721080
 

Also, TOMORROW at 10AM (Eastern), TUNE IN to Univision’s “Al Punto” show with Jorge Ramos and watch the "Saving Private Ryan" Borinqueneer, Mr. Raul Reyes Castañeira, speak on his experiences with the 65th Infantry and the Korean War.  RAUL REYES CASTANEIRA is the INSPIRATIONAL SPIRIT that ignited the Congressional Gold Medal initiative. He is the younger of four brothers who fought with the 65th Infantry in the Korean War.   This is well circulated show among Hispanic medial television and Jorge Ramos is dubbed the Latino “Walter Cronkite”.  We are still waiting for President Obama signature of the 65th Infantry CGM legislation. Thank you for all of your support so far.

In Solidarity,Frank Medina
National Chair
Borinqueneers Congressional Gold Medal Alliance
239-530-8075

 “Like” our Facebook Page:  http://facebook.com/BorinqueneersCGMAlliance
FOLLOW US on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CGMBorinqueneer 
isit our Website:  http://www.65thCGM.org
Sent by Juan Marinez marinezj@msu.edu

 

 

Reminiscences of a Naval Aviator, a Group of Short Stories

by Daniel L. Polino

FIGURE EIGHTS
pg. 22

============================================= =============================================

While training at the Glenview Naval Air Station, north of Chicago, I became acquainted with another cadet who had, because of a flying accident, been set back at least four months in his schedule. Apparently, while flying dual with his instructor, he had lost lift and spun in, killing his instructor and severely injuring himself. The resultant fire caused some facial burns that required plastic surgery, but he was fortunate enough to be able to recuperate and pick up on his training. It was at that point in time that we met.

The maneuver he was involved in at the time of the accident was called figure eights. It is a type of training that is intended to give a flyer experience in low-level maneuvers, such as approach to a landing, and to take into account the effect of crosswinds. To practice figure eights, you'd select two landmarks, such as a pair of trees a few hundred yards apart, lined up at a right angle to the prevailing wind. The figure eight would therefore be flown with a tree being used for the centerpoint of each loop in the eight. The crosswind would be taken into account by varying the angle of bank so that the resultant track over the ground would be a properly traced figure eight. Since this maneuver was generally practiced below 500 feet of altitude, there was no room for error such as a stall. It was during this type of exercise that the cadet had spun in.

Months later, he found himself once more practicing figure eights with a new instructor, who had no knowledge of his previous crash and the loss of his instructor. As with his previous experience, he was still having trouble doing the figure eights to the satisfaction of his new instructor. When the cadet returned from his dual flight, his instructor proceeded to tell him what he was doing wrong and how he was dead-set on making a pilot out of him. In his talk to the cadet, he used a phrase that went like, "I'll teach you how to fly good figure eights if it kills me." At that point the cadet explained to him the history of his last crash and how his previous instructor lost his life trying the same thing. It's not very often that a cadet has the last word in a conversation with his instructor, but in this case, he did.

I had to teach another naval aviator how to fly an SNJ-Texan later in my reserve flying experience. Once was enough. I have the greatest admiration for the instructor who spends each day trying to teach a cadet, who may not know how to drive a car, how to fly. You have to have nerves of steel to keep from overriding the controls everytime you suspect he's in trouble. The phrase so often heard screamed into the gasport at such times by the instructor, "Cadet, are you trying to kill both of us," comes to mind more often than I'd like to admit.

 

 

Poetry of Yesterday and Today
Poems about People and History by Raul Garza

Korea, The Forgotten War (The Story)

============================================= =============================================
Former Marine Sgt. Clarence Calaway brought to mind many memories of Pre-Korean War days. The attitude of our nation and people was of Peace, not War. Hadn't we just finished the "War to end all Wars," five years ago?

A lot of young men joined the Army, Navy and Marine Reserves to assure themselves an opportunity to get their education or begin their post high school lives. And.... then a bomb dropped in the form of a letter or notification that in part said, " You have been involuntarily called and/or recalled to Active Duty." It was worded in this manner to cover all the new reservists and the Vets, who chose to join a Reserve Component after World War II.

It also brings to mind, that the Marine Reserve Component that met at NA5, Corpus Christi was under the command of a college professor, Major James McCrocklin, USMCR. Yes, many youngsters high school age and college freshmen from the area of Corpus Christi and the Coastal Bend, Alice, San Diego, Bishop, Kingsville, Falfurrias, etc. belonged to Company 3 and saw service in Korea. Some came back with one or two Purple Hearts. Yes, many came back home having had experiences that changed their lives forever. Many like my brother spent 50 years trying to get his medical benefits because records were lost, burned, or had errors in the information.

Sgt. Calaway's story in the newspaper (The Corpus Christi Caller - Times) was the inspiration for my latest poem. I dedicate it to U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Company B and all other Korean Vets, especially those Marines and GI's who experienced the ground battles of Korea.

 

The Forgotten War (The Korean War)

There sat a lonely concrete bench,
In a well traveled path,

To the Unknown Soldier's Tomb
To memorialized the Forgotten War.

After World War Two, The War to end all wars,
Just a "Police Action," Not a war in any fashion.

Into a strange treacherous terrain,
Young Soldiers and Marines entrenched,

Fighting the ills of Nature,
And the mentality of a frustrated nation.

Their first experiences in reality,
Fierce fighting in the mud and snow,

Leaving holes in ranks like a cavity,
But....the top we must go!

Chosin Reservoir was a harsher Iwo Jima,
Statistics proved it in Korea,

Marked by the blood and strife,
Of our Marines and GFs.

Twenty-one who became Turn-Coats, Led to the Fighting Man's Code,

To be tested once again, In the political web of Vietnam.

Quietly men returned home,
To heal the mental and physical Wounds of war.

A lonely Bench to mark their name, Until a new Memorial honors All valiant heroes the same.

 


 

 

EARLY LATINO AMERICAN PATRIOTS

 
 

Main Heading Goes Here
Subheading Goes Here

============================================= =============================================

 

 

Main Heading Goes Here
Subheading Goes Here

============================ ============================ =============================

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDUCATION

Zuckerberg and his wife donate $120 Million to Schools 

 

 

Zuckerberg and his wife donate $120 Million to Schools 

Facebook CEO Zuckerberg walks with wife Priscilla Chan at the annual Allen and Co. conference at the Sun Valley


Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg walks with his wife Priscilla Chan at the annual Allen and Co. conference at the Sun Valley, Idaho Resort,  
July 11, 2013. Photo: Rick Wilking —Reuters

Rhodan@m_rhodan  AP
Source: http://time.com/2797142/mark-zuckerberg-donation-schools/ 
May 30, 2014

============================================= =============================================

Facebook power couple Mark and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are continuing their philanthropic efforts with a pledge to donate $120 million to Bay Area schools over the next five years.  The couple spoke to the Associated Press about the hefty gift to San Francisco-area public schools, all of which is derived from the couple’s donation of $1.1 billion in Facebook stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. 

“Education is incredibly expensive and this is a drop in the bucket. What we are trying to do is catalyze change by exploring and promoting the development of new interventions and new models,” Chan told the AP. 

The couple’s donation, which will start with a $5 million gift to San Francisco, Ravenswood, and Redwood City schools for classroom technology and principal training, follows a $100 million donation Zuckerberg made to Newark, New Jersey schools four years ago. The Newark donation was criticized in a recent New Yorker article where an Urban League president is quoted as saying “everybody’s getting paid, but Raheem still can’t read.” 

Zuckerberg told the AP Thursday that the Newark school’s progress can’t quite be measured so soon after the donation, but says the experience has influenced their decision-making process in San Francisco.

 

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

 

 

 

 

Main Heading Goes Here
Subheading Goes Here

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

============================================= =============================================

====================