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4 de Octubre, 2007
Yo Soy La Cultura Cambiando
Categorized under Cultura , Signs of the Sixth Sun | Tags: Defend the Honor, Ken Burns, mestizo, Mexicans, Xicanos
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN keeping up with the whole Ken Burns saga have watched a long series of events play out. From being excluded from any kind of representation in a war that many Latinos died in, to hearing it rationalized as "we wanted a universal appeal" (paraphrasing, but the word "universal" is verbatim, because you know, Latinos are from anotha universe!), to being told the contributions of the Latino WWII vets would be included seamlessly, to actually getting a few minutes tacked onto the end of the documentary, well—I'll let Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez catch you up.
From today's update:
Dear Friends,
Over the past 10 months, we have united to demand recognition of the contributions of the Latino WWII generation to our nation. Our focal point was the PBS/Ken Burns documentary, The War, which initially had NO Latino voices. So many months later, we can point to some progress: because of the pressure brought by many, including our grassroots coalition, The War did include the voices of two Latinos and one Native American WWII veteran.
However, the inherent weaknesses in many systems has been exposed. The fact that this documentary was in development for over six years before any alarms were raised (by Defend the Honor) signals serious and systematic problems. We can no longer tolerate being left.
Please join us for a Town Hall Meeting next Monday, Oct. 8th, at 6 p.m. East Coast Time (that's 5 p.m. Central; 4 p.m. Mountain and 3 p.m. on the West Coast) for a Webcast live from Washington, DC. Go to defendthehonor.org and see it there...
—Defend the Honor Update: 10/04/2007, Email Update
I've received all kinds of wacky anger in response to my post on this. Or just from free-floating Googlers who skate through to let me know how stupid "you people" are. Sometimes it comes as comments, sometimes it comes as email. Some go so far as to claim I am "racist" for wanting to see Latinos represented, for even bringing it UP, for singling us Latinos out (because it's all my doing). Why care if even one face is Latino in such a telling of history and USA and human sacrfice?
I guess these commenters/emailers get mad because I have forgotten that "white" is the default. And if someone is "white," then they stand for everybody. That is the "universal" face. To want to alter that is...racist.
It all makes sense, in a White Supremacist sort of way.
I can (intellectually) understand the faction of people in the USA who freak out to see the culture changing. Those who fear the census numbers, those who fear the Spanish language (and forget that most of the Southwest is named in Spanish), those who fear the markets aiming for new dollars, those who fear a loss in power or prestige.
I do understand that being able to claim one People, or One Way, or One Origin would entice a person to feel a false strength of "purity," to rely upon a false safety, a notion of stagnancy. To pick a side and accept no divide. I cannot deny that I have yearned for it. O...to be one or the other. O, to be so sure. O, to be so pure. So says the halfbreed sitting in the halflight. But I've always come from many places, am made of many seemingly contradictory things, feel more alliance to the flux and the road and the scene change than I am to the Scene. So I cannot relate to that resistance or fear. Fear of the changing culture.
How can I? I am physical evidence of the culture changing. I am the "Mexican world" meets the "white world." My family lines look as different as you can imagine. Half of my family looks like Indians a couple generations ago. And the other half, well. I don't know. They look...universal? I kid. They are Eastern European immigrants. My great grandmother came here on a boat. From what I'm told, a stowaway fleeing anti-semitic violence in Russia. And mi abuela? My grandmother on my paternal side? She was born en el D.F., in Mexico City. Mi abuelo was a campesino. They too, were migrants, migrant farmers in fact. I am the joining of two hunted and hopeful cultures meeting up midground, on a Los Angeles campus.
I am the culture, changing. There is nothing to fear.
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Comentarios (5)
Kai dijo:
Hehe, so you're half ethnic and half universal, huh?
You know, I was planning on checking out some of the Ken Burns documentary, but because of a combination of being busy and just having a bad aftertaste after having to go through all that struggle to get Latino voices included, I haven't ended up seen any of it. But I will try to catch the Defend The Honor town hall.
This whole idea of trying to remain pure and sure is, of course, a joke; understandable, as you point out, but a little juvenile, because it's really an attempt to deny the fundamental realities of change, fluidity, the impermanence of entities. It's like trying not to age. Doesn't work. Then again, we live in a culture full of people who are trying desperately not to age, so there you have it.
Palabras por Kai spat forth on el 5 de Octubre, 2007 at 02:13 PM
nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez
dijo:
you said it, bro.
i'm ethniversal.
Palabras por nezua limón xolagrafik-jonez
spat forth on el 6 de Octubre, 2007 at 04:23 PM
Eric Stoller dijo:
Great post! I've been collecting your stuff via Bloglines (I've been super busy with my new job) and I am sooooo glad I read this post. Thanks for writing.
PS: I love the sarcasm :-)
Palabras por Eric Stoller spat forth on el 7 de Octubre, 2007 at 09:48 AM
Anthony dijo:
Don't worry, they were afraid of us to (the Irish). Then they and we became US. pretty soon, we will all be US again. Nothing is lost, much is gained for everyone.
At least Latinos brought better food with them (sorry granma).
Palabras por Anthony spat forth on el 8 de Octubre, 2007 at 06:46 AM
Tom dijo:
I've been hearing that the campaign made some progress at least, and I'm glad to hear that.
This culture can't change fast enough for me.
Palabras por Tom spat forth on el 8 de Octubre, 2007 at 10:22 AM