Guest Column

Another form of Cultural Genocide

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ & PATRISIA GONZALES
June 13, 2005

What do you call it when you disappear an entire people or act as though they're  irrelevant? And what do you call a process that purportedly accepts all peoples into their midst, but only under the condition that they shed their past and assimilate into U.S. culture?

The first question was triggered by the recent announcement by CNN that they are awarding $1 million to three journalism organizations (Black/Latino and Asian) that are part of a historic alliance of four journalism organizations called UNITY. The fourth is the Native American Journalists Association. Why was NAJA left out? Does the explanation matter?

The crime here isn't that CNN left out one organization per se. The crime is that not unlike society as a whole, they chose to ignore the part of society that is foundational to these lands that are called America. NAJA, in effect, represents memory and in this age of information, something that happened yesterday is no longer news. It has to be instant. Everything else is passé. That's why children grow up not knowing the history of the continent, nor its original peoples and cultures.

This is why “Indians” are better off remanded to museums and John Wayne movies and why society thinks nothing of desecrating all things indigenous, including the dehumanizing practice of naming sports teams with names such as Redskins or Braves (or using incredibly offensive team logos such as the buck-tooth Cleveland Indians).

CNN should know better… and yet, it is the very same place that is home to Lou “blame illegal aliens every night” Dobbs. It was also home to Pat Buchanan, Dobb's legitimate predecessor. It's also the same news organization that in 25 years has never seen fit to showcase red-brown anchors. (This is where the excuses go).

To wipe out indigenous peoples, to denigrate or to act as though they do not exist is to do no better than what the conquistadors did some 500 years ago.

This is completely inexcusable. Yet this point is conceded: they did no different than what everyone else always does… dance all over sacred sites and poison the earth and our minds by ignoring thousands of years of memory and most of all, ignore the voices that most need to be heard. There is nothing in these lands we walk upon whose foundation is not indigenous. For society to continue to act otherwise is to continue the practice of cultural genocide.

The second question is related: What culture are migrants supposed to assimilate into? Into this administration's culture?

We are at a crucial point in history in which one nation is determining the future course of humanity. This is not a positive development because this is an administration that with open arms welcomes the return of the dark ages. No one has forgotten that even before 911, the U.S. backed out of the Kyoto environmental accords - based on pseudo-science. Unquestionably, on all matters related to science (including stem cell research), this administration is intellectually dishonest. We now know about the Cooney effect (NY Times 6/8/05) - the administration guy that changes words to change the meaning of scientific reports. The world is now at extreme ecological risk because profits for the president's cronies are seen as more important than the health of the planet or its peoples. On top of this, the president is the world's leading promoter of the oxymoronic precept of peace through war. This nation's  foundation - as gauged by current administration policies -- is clearly no longer rooted in truth.

Instead, the root is unbridled profits. The culture that is being created is one that demands that the people suspend their rights for the sake of national security. It demands conformity and censorship and no accountability. And it is always greased by fear.

One of the byproducts of fear is the constant need for scapegoats. The prospects of permanent war requires the stroking and exacerbation of those fears. Enter “illegal aliens” and we have a dangerous confluence. The future threat is not from bigots per se (who will always be amongst us), but rather from the codification and expansion of illegal and subhuman categories.

At least we can be reassured that the bigots are not anti-Mexican, but simply anti-illegal immigration. Here's proof: “IT IS SO SDAD THAT SO MANY PEOPLE OF ALL RACES COME TO AMERICA AND LEARN OUR LANGUAGE AND ADAPT TO OUR CULTURE. YOU ARE THE ONLY GROUP NOT ABLE TO DO THIS. IT IS SO DISGRACEFUL.”

Adapting to his culture is certainly not a good thing.

© Column of the Americas 2005

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