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PDF versionThe notion of "my country"
by Mario T. García on Jul. 25, 2011
A young Mexican American middle school student in the Big Bear Valley Unified School District in California has filed a lawsuit supported by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). The lawsuit alleges that Coral Aviles, 13, was subject to racial harassment by her teacher because of her Mexican background and that the school and school district did not respond adequately, the Los Angeles Times reported.
According to Aviles, in June 2010, the teacher asked her if she was Mexican because she was wearing a soccer jersey with "Mexico" on it. Aviles replied that she was of Mexican background whereupon, according to Aviles, the teacher just lost it:
"Why are you here? Why are you in my country?" the teacher is alleged to have said. "Because this is my country. And because of people like you, I pay high taxes, and because of people like you, my insurance is sky high."
According to Aviles, she fled the room crying and went to see the principal, but apparently nothing was done. The teacher, according to the lawsuit, denied Aviles entrance to her classroom.
The principal told the Los Angeles Times that she disputed Aviles' account of the incident.
Whether this case happened as the lawsuit alleges, the fact is that we have been witnessing during the last few years, especially during the economic crisis, the unfortunate growing of anti-Mexican and anti-Latino sentiment in this country.
More and more people are expressing their economic insecurities and frustrations in nativist ways that regrettably do little about the economic problems. The causes of this Great Recession are not people of Mexican descent, the majority of who are U.S. born citizens as probably Aviles is. In fact, unemployment is higher in Mexican American and Latino communities than it is in white ones.
If Aviles' side of the story is correct, what good does it do for a teacher to berate a 13 year old? How is that going to deal with the economic issues? Teachers have a responsibility to treat their students with respect and to work to teach them irrespective of their backgrounds.
Moreover, what is further troubling, if Aviles' account is correct, is this notion of "my country" that the teacher is alleged to have said.
We have heard too many other people such as in the Tea Party movement cry out that they want to take "my country" back. What do they mean by "my country?" A country of only white people? Perhaps. A country of only U.S. citizens? But what about their ancestors who faced the same cry of older stock Anglo-Americans crying out that they were losing "my country" because there were too many Irish, Italian, Poles, Jews, Hungarians, etc. entering as immigrants?
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The United States is not exclusively any one groups' country. It belongs to all those who have been here over the years, as U.S. born and as immigrants (even without documents) contributing to the wealth of this country, economically, culturally and politically.
What we need is tolerance and consensus today and not ignorant flashes of anger based on nothing but groundless fears.
What a teacher. I have a
What a teacher.
I have a t-shirt with L.A. Lakers on it. It doesn't mean I want them to win the NBA championship. Sometimes it's because we're behind in laundry.
I like the gospel message that we are not of this world. That's a strong warning against feeling ownership.
Since the Catholic Church has
Since the Catholic Church has so many with Mexican and Irish roots, I would suggest two books to read. After reading these books ask yourself how many attitudes that present a hundred years ago are still present in each of our families today. We know that parents do the same baby talk that their parents used. Child abuse is passed through generations as if it was DNA. So read and examine. See of some of these attitudes still exist in your family.
The books are:
How the Irish Became White by Noel Ignatiev and
The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction by Linda Gordon.
Also, take college level classes on history of Mexico and the various border states such as California. Learn what was not taught in elementary and high school courses.
Then ask yourself, "Whose land is this really?'
Well said, Charles R. with
Well said, Charles R. with your suggestion:
“Also, take college level classes on history of Mexico and the various border states such as California. Learn what was not taught in elementary and high school courses.
Then ask yourself, "Whose land is this really?”
And for those “United State’ers” like myself, now with more than 83 years on your shoulders and so are hardly eligible for a “college-level-class on history of Mexico and the various border states” permit me to recommend an alternate plan.
Go to your public library and ask for the book: “Voices of a People’s History of the United States”, (published in 2004) by Howard Zinn - who died just a bit more than a year ago - and Anthony Arnove. READ Chapter 7: INDIAN REMOVAL and Chapter 8: THE WAR ON MEXICO. All together it is a mere 33 pages, but probably an honest enlightenment well worth the effort for people who have never lived outside the continental USA or who have the serious limitation of being able to to read and speak only USA English.
“Manifest Destiny” probably might still fit into the plans of terrorists like those of “9/11 in Santiago,Chile 1973”, or “9/11 in New York 2001” , or in Oslo Norway last week, but certainly not in the mind of anyone believing in “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name, THY KINGDOM COME, THY WILL BE DONE on earth as it is in heaven.”
Justiniano de Managua
The ruling elite has managed
The ruling elite has managed to get much of the public to blame Hispanic immigrants for our economic woes, rather than the ruling elite. Very clever, but very unfair.
This is terrifying, in the
This is terrifying, in the context of what happened in Norway, with the same sentiments behind it.
The irony is that America is
The irony is that America is not the country of white elites. It is the country of the native Americans. White people are descendants of white immigrants... oh actually to be historically accurate, white people are descendants of white invaders.
You are correct, some white
You are correct, some white (actually, lighter brown) people are descendants of invaders. But others are just immigrants. I don't really know the circumstances of my great grandparents' entry onto the continent, but I would guess they hid in barrels of herring or dumplings or something. I can't imagine any legal entry would have been provided for the likes of us.
I thank God for the great
I thank God for the great grace and mercy of working in this little school a few miles from the border, and the ability to receive my students each morning at the border and accompany them back each afternoon to the border.
I thank God for this great grace and mercy of working with the greatest students in the USA, who live for whatever reason with their families in Mexico, while having the right to a US education, for whatever reason, I do not ask, I simply gratefully receive them, and who still bear the culture and dignity and respect for elders we see nowhere else in the USA, affectionate respect and appreciation for an old teacher. Where do we find such a concept now in action in anglo America?
My students are the best in the nation because they are Mexican.
Amen, and THANK GOD!
Now let's go a few miles south and have the best guacamole you can ever find anywhere
and struggle to avoid those delicious Chihuahuan flour tortillas . . .
just one, maybe . . .
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