Guest Column
A Glance at History
By
Dionicio Morales- A Glance at History
- By Dionicio Morales
For one who has been at the forefront in the fight for civil rights over seven decades, the present firestorm of misinformation on the issues of immigration form “shoot-from-the-hip” politicos has been acutely painful. The wave of hysterical, natives, and xenophobic rhetoric about the undocumented immigrant is deeply troubling.
It is unfathomable that in this “Era of the Latino,” truth and logic have been thrust aside to open a floodgate of vilification against Mexico and our people in the United Sates: the very words “immigrant” and especially “undocumented” have been branded with shame. I am also forced to remind those who band around the work that people are not “illegal”.
To many of us, this present hysteria and fear amounts to a wake of over-reaction, more expected from an angry mob, often seen in a western “B” movie than from a civil democratic “good Neighbor”
All too many complacent Americans act towards Mexico and her descendants here as though they hope Mexican might somehow “go away”.
Many Mexican Americans wonder what the reaction would be if other major or vocal minority group in the United States were subjected to such a constantly historical, blizzard of demeaning and contemptuous rhetoric. We continue waiting to see if more politicians will be as vocal in regards to other ports of entry, such as New York, Canada, the shores of Florida, or near a coast guard boat with a Chinese smuggler’s ship in the background.
Mexican Americans know how victims of racism on a rampage felt! Our memories recall the scapegoat and resultant mass forced “repatriations” of the depression years. Crowds of tearful humanity waited to be loaded for deportation in the railroad yards of Los Angeles. Also lingering in our memories are the so-called “Zoot Suit” riots which brought wandering trouble-makers in U.S. Navy uniforms into the barrios of East Los Angeles on a seemingly endless campaign of racial violence.
As we look back in history, we must not forget how México relieved hundreds of thousands of American troops for front line duty by deploying military forces to guard the thousands of miles of her coastline, in defense of our continent. Why is it not more widely known, that Mexico was our staunch and trusted ally in World War II. She declared war on both Germany and Japan, and sent Mexican Fighter Squadron 201 to the pacific to fight at our side.
Surely the Mexican American display of patriotic valor on World War II battlefields should live on in our memories and dispel recurrences of open insensitivity, hostility and racism. After all, Mexican Americans won more Congressional Medals for Valor percentage-wise than any other U.S. ethnic group. Today in Iraq, our Mexican American young men continue to fight and die valiantly for this country.
At President Franklin Roosevelt’s request, Mexico replaced the men and women who were among the 12,000,000 Americans called up in World War II with Mexican farm workers who came to the rescue gathering the crops to feed our fighting forces, country and allies.
To this day, the United States depends on their hands to feed this great nation and the globalized world.
Surely all this should earn 30,000,000 Mexican Americans immunity from the indignity of seeing incessant immigration bashing!
Even former enemy countries of the U.S. have been accorded the highest dignity and respect going so far as to receive the status of economic co-partners. We rebuilt Japan and made her the bastion of influence in the Pacific. We helped rebuild Germany, and then made her one of our strongest allies in Europe. We are careful to send diplomatic delegations ahead to explain our every decision that could affect their interest before taking action. We would never think of bashing their respective people or countries.
How could it be that we are so absorbed in immigrant bashing, militarizing the border, and creating walls of separation while the happy memory of the fall of the Berlin Wall was such an historical lesson for the world. If it was such an unnatural barricade that was universally condemned, why should it now be appropriate to build walls between Tijuana, Mexicali and Laredo? Why is that situating with Mexico so different?
Even with grave economic issues at stake, we were able to meet in peace and negotiate with Japan and Germany, when, however, was the last serious border summit convened and attended by President Bush and Condoleezza Rice? When was the last real bi-lateral effort to meet and negotiate a package of practical remedies for our border crisis?
It was only in the last century that this country still decreed total exclusion of all Asians, including all Japanese and Chinese! Adult Asians could not become citizens, but even then we had not sunk to depriving their children of citizenship… as has been proposed for Mexican children!
Asian children received their full birthright of citizenship, and could buy property, even though real estate ownership was denied their parents! Japanese Americans felt the full impact of the “Yellow Peril” fixation. Bigoted Americans referred to them as “Japs”. They were uprooted and entire families were moved under Army guard to special desert concentration camps. Since then, we have even apologized and compensated as much as humanly possible to right such wrongs. Only the survivors, of course, live to receive even that long delayed consolation! We Americans forget these things and then presume that there is no one among us who will recognize our old sins when they crop out, thinly disguised!
Today we are told that the U.S. will do everything in its power to set things right in far-off Iraq, but can we be assured that the United States is ready to make such a commitment to the critical issues regarding immigrating and the Mexican boarder.
It is folly to try to wish away the dictates of political geography, but history and nature has made México and the United States interdependent neighbors. In Los Angeles immigrant mariachis poignantly sing a prophetic refrain: “Aqui estamos y aqui nos quedamos” (We are here and here we will stay).
We then reserve the right to proclaim at the same time, that the future of this continent, and its two neighboring nations, will be profoundly affected by the choices that are made between wisdom and hysteria. We must face up to the urgent issue of our common border with the Republic of Mexico!
- We are determined that the spirit of the good neighbor must once more flourish among us, and penetrate our entire national consciousness. This then will extend the same opportunities especially to our good next door neighbor, the Republic of Mexico and will allow for bilateral consultation and peaceful negotiations on critical border issues as we offer all friendly nantions.
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- For information as to who this great American is - see:
- A Biographical Tribute by Sal Osio
- DIONICIO MORALES - THE MEXICAN AMERICAN LEGEND
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