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1 de Mayo, 2007

Black and Brown. Together. Then, and now.

Categorized under Signs of the Sixth Sun | Tags: Hope, resistance, Revolutionaries

LET THE BROWN AND THE BLACK come together in solidarity. Let us not be torn apart by those who would pit us against each other in order to maintain the dominant power structure. It is a trick, and a lie, and if we feed into it, we oppress each other. Our combined numbers are great, and our historical suffering and current struggle not so different. United, we can move over much ground, and work for a day when those of us with greater amounts of melanin and prettier features have the same rights as the bluest-eyed, fairest-skinned humans. Let Debbie Johnson kick it:

There is a long history of Mexicans welcoming and assisting Blacks fleeing American slavery. The fact of the matter is that when white “slave-hunting” militias would come into Mexico demanding that their “property”—the enslaved workers—be returned, many Mexicans rejected these pleas and were angered at the fact that these slave hunters would have the audacity to enter Mexico and attempt to impose their laws in a nation that had already banned slavery for moral and religious reasons. As early as 1811, the Rev. Jose Morelos—a Mexican of African descent—led an all-Black army brigade to help fight for Mexican independence. In 1855 more than 4,000 runaway slaves were helped by Mexicans in Texas to escape and find freedom in Mexico. The Underground Railroad was not just into Canada. It went south as well. Indeed, throughout three centuries, African slaves were joined by Mexicans in opposition to the exploitation of Africans by European “immigrants—settlers—on the North American continent.
—Black Electorate.com, Africa and Aboriginal Tuesdays: History of Mexican-Black solidarity by Debbie Johnson

The old day is dying. The old lie is dead. Where will you invest your energy today? What will you feed? Will you use your words and energy to tell the new truth? Or to frantically attempt a reinforcement of the old lie? Those who choose to walk into the new day as equals will do so. Those who cling to the diseased and fraying chains and whips and bars and locks of yesterday condemn themselves to a prison of their own making. And they will rot there while the rest of us welcome the dawning of the Sixth Sun.

 The Unapologetic Mexican has been known to scribble a few things besides meandering, verbose, self-congratulatory blog posts. However, they are rarely as fun. Finally, let it be known that Nezua first dared bust out this Habanero of Truth at exactly 6:44 AM.  | Top | View blog reactions

Comentarios (12)

Sylvia dijo:

In solidarity, hermano. Great post. :)

Palabras por Sylvia spat forth on el 1 de Mayo, 2007 at 12:15 PM

Nanette dijo:

I'm with you all the way, except... I think that second article (the one under "lie") is just as bad in its way as the SPLC article was (which I think badly needs debunking and contextualizing) and sadly does not appear to have been written in the spirit of solidarity, especially. Or at all, really. I find much of the article problematic, but more so since he seems to be advocating the separation of the (poor) races.

Maybe I'm completely naive but I grew up in a poor, primarily Black and Mexican (and a sprinkling of Chinese and Japanese) neighborhood in LA. While there was some conflict (mostly among stupid kids who were friends the next day), there really was no barrier to us all being poor together and helping each other out while we were at it. Everyone watched everyone else's kids, depending on work schedules and what they had to do and so on, visited each others homes and gossiped and, in general, were just neighbors. This was, of course, before the crack cocaine invasion.

Still, where I live now is a mixture of poor and not quite as poor, and the apartment complex I live in has a wide variety of people - in fact, the entire neighborhood is like that... just in my little fourplex, my (very good, I hope none move) neighbors are black, latin@ and middle eastern. So far, we all still live! :)

Anyway, I agree that the only way out of this mess is to stand arm in arm, united.

Palabras por Nanette spat forth on el 1 de Mayo, 2007 at 04:42 PM

nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:

hmm. i'm sorry to say i may not have read it as closely as i should, i'll go back to it. thank you. if it doesn't fit where i thought it did, i'll edit the link.

i think a lot of it is stirred up. this infighting. between us all. and that misconception feeds the friction, it's like ouroboros. here's hoping he's about full by now.

Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 1 de Mayo, 2007 at 05:23 PM

nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:

yes, nanette. you are right...in the context of my post here, it goes against the grain. i was remembering it different...it was needed at the point i read it, it was a strong lashback when i was hearing how mexicans were the big threat against against blacks, doing them all wrong, and at that point it felt as if it was dispelling that interjected poison, i filed it away, but my emotion at the time helped me miscategorize the overall theme. thanks.

Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 1 de Mayo, 2007 at 05:41 PM

Nanette dijo:

No worries, I figured you'd not absorbed that part. And I can see how it would be comforting or at least sort of, um... cleansing, in the heat of the moment, but the guy definitely has issues.

I wish there was another article on that topic to put in its place... I really, really didn't like the SPLC one because it seemed, from what I remember, to start with a conclusion and then proceeded to fill in the blanks with stuff that supported it. A very distressing and unfair article.

All's good, though... I learned a new thing! Ouroboros.

Palabras por Nanette spat forth on el 1 de Mayo, 2007 at 05:55 PM

nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:

yes. the article really jumped out at me, too. but hey. we all have blind spots.

yeah. ouroboros!

Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 1 de Mayo, 2007 at 06:05 PM

dana dijo:

"United, we can move over much ground, and work for a day when those of us with greater amounts of melanin and prettier features have the same rights as the bluest-eyed, fairest-skinned humans."

how is this not fighting racism with racism? what is that ever going to accomplish?

Palabras por dana spat forth on el 2 de Mayo, 2007 at 02:51 AM

nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez dijo:

Hi Dana. Please define "Racism," so that I know what terms we are referring to before we begin, presuming we are using the same definitions. I will answer you after this.

Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez spat forth on el 2 de Mayo, 2007 at 06:43 AM