By: Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
The images from Haiti compel us to look at the mirror and ask ourselves, if we have a heart and a face? What we see compels us to ask if we are the human beings that we profess to be. The answer moves us to act.

As Haiti bleeds, we don’t ask for proof of their humanity; we feel it.

We do not ask if we are related; we know it. As Haiti bleeds, we do not ask for their citizenship nor do we ask their religion. We… we realize that the world is we and we have become one. And so their children are our children and their elders are our elders. And all nations open up their borders.

As Haiti bleeds, we all open up our hearts. Celebrities freely lend their names, their words, their music and songs and we respond by sending ten dollars via a text message. Is that enough? Can we do more than simply send some bucks for a tax-break? Can we give of ourselves?

Can we give blood? Indeed, some do more.

Yet, deep down, we all know that no matter how much is raised, it won’t be enough. On the disaster scale, Haiti is 100 times Katrina.

Haiti is in danger of becoming one gigantic and permanent undignified Sally Struthers plea for assistance. Haiti does not need pity; it needs to be rebuilt. $100 million from the U.S. government and assorted charities will not suffice (This is 1,000 times less than the U.S. has spent on its current wars). Beyond that, Haiti needs to be brought into the family of nations, with dignity and a clear path to self-determination and self-reliance.

Haiti’s tragedy was not borne of a natural disaster; it was a tragedy before the quake. The U.S. imperial footprint is all over Haiti’s corridors of power and thus it cannot return to what it was. But that’s a narrative that will have to be written by Haitians, which may include the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide – Haiti’s first democratically elected president that has been ousted several times by U.S.-supported forces.

The other narrative that Haiti has already changed is that mirror that the rest of the world now wakes up to each morning.

Haiti’s Heavy Burden

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We now know that when Haiti bleeds, we too bleed. Perhaps people will come to understand that about Afghanistan and Iraq too. The people there daily bleed, not because of earthquakes or hurricanes, but because something has happened to dull U.S. minds and eyes. Something has prevented us from seeing our true hearts and our true faces. It is a smoking mirror. It is what has permitted illegal, immoral, senseless, costly and bloody wars to be waged in our names to the tune of over $1 trillion. And that’s but the short-term financial cost.

For at least a decade, U.S. bombs have been dropped all over those two nations with our names inscribed upon them. Our silence permits the carnage. Hundreds of thousands have been killed and maimed and millions have been displaced. Yet, we don’t have an actual count because the U.S. government doesn’t even bother; this is the meaning of dehumanization. As far as this government is concerned, everyone there is a potential enemy, a terrorist or collateral damage. And we all accept their deaths and this generalized and permanent war as necessary to maintain “our freedoms” and “our safety.”

Most of us know better, yet we’ve grown accustomed to looking the other way. Perhaps it is war fatigue. Most assuredly, there is no urgency, nor are there mass appeals to stop this destruction. If we protest the illegality and immorality of these wars, we are told that they are yesterday’s wars or yesterday’s news. But they are being fought today and tomorrow. But already, today and tomorrow is Yemen and Pakistan, Somalia and the Sudan. Possibly even Cuba and Venezuela.

We have found our collective humanity in Haiti and it now compels us to remove that smoke from our mirrors. It compels us to act, not just in Haiti and not just abroad, but even at home.

Perhaps we are not far off from the day when people will also feel compelled to demand from the U.S. government to put a halt to its draconian, anti-immigrant policies that contribute to the killing fields along the U.S. Mexico border. In this decade, more than five thousand corpses have turned up in the mountains and desert, yet where are the mass appeals? Where is our humanity?

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Beware of the new Sheriff in town; he’s actually an old coyote.
He denigrates, dehumanizes and belittles; he’s an eater of flesh.
pink underwear, pinstripes and ball and chains are his trademark.
He’s actually an old sheriff who lives in another century, in the Wild West.
This is Sheriff Arpaio, of Maricopa County, Apartheid Arizona,

Beware of lawmen who hide behind their badges.
Be aware of this man who abuses his badge.
Beware of men who flaunt the law.
Be aware of this man who takes the law into his own hands.
Beware of the most investigated lawman in the country.

Beware of this man who even gives apartheid a bad name.
He chases red/brown men, women and children,
but says he only hunts down the “illegals” amongst them.
He says he knows how to tell them apart…
by the way they dress and talk, and by where they walk.

He’s got a sixth sense for justice and a sixth sense for humanity.
He’s got a sixth sense for determining who is human…
er, he has a sixth sense for determining who is a citizen,
who is an American and who merits human rights, and who does not?
That’s what compels him to use barricades and mass dragnet raids.

It is this sixth sense that guides him: Round them up!
Round them all up wherever red/brown people congregate,
wherever they live, work, shop, eat, play and pray.
His sixth sense tells him that many among them do not belong…
in Arizona, this country or anywhere on this sacred earth.

He does not mind being photographed with racial supremacists,
because he says he will photograph with anyone.
This is America, he says, and it is his job to be everyone’s Sheriff.
It is his job to send them back to where they came from…
the brown hordes ? not the supremacists.

This is a man who defies the federal government,
who thinks he is bigger and greater than the law,
who thinks his number one job is to separates families,
and to create fear, hate and panic amongst us,
and to silence the rest of us.

Do not go near this man; he is rabid, rabid like a wild javeli.
He foams at the mouth, whenever he speaks of his duty,
to round up and deport the red/brown people in his midst.
If necessary, the lil Big man himself will drive them to the border,
especially if cameras are right behind in tow.

Do not go near this man; a man beloved by vigilantes,
a vain man who craves attention and aspires to higher office.
He is but a merchant of fear, ignorance and hate.
He is a man with a complex, but he is not complex;
he’s but a man with a big brown chip on his shoulder.

When you see this man and his posse, call 9-11.
When you see this sheriff running amuck and putting up barricades,
when you see and hear him yapping and wildly waving his arms,
when you see him engaging in his antics before the cameras,
Blow the trumpets and blow them loudly!

Blow the trumpets for his time has come.
Just as the time of Apartheid has also come and gone,
and just as CNN’s Lou Dobbs is now living in forced exile,
Arpaio will also surely be forced to flee, tail between his legs,
insisting on his constitutional right to racially profile.

When you see history marching by, know that Apartheid Man,
will be too preoccupied with trampling the Constitution,
to have time to march on by. Let that inspire you.
Like the undocumented who have lost their fear to march,
take the time to make an appointment with history.

Blow the trumpets loudly, for in the count of days,
his days and his nights are numbered.

* There was a National Call to Action Jan 16, 2010 to protest the
policies of Sheriff Joe Arpaio at Falcon Park in Phoenix, Arizona. For
more info: 602-314-5870 or www.puenteaz.org

The ‘NEW’ Lou Dobbs?: A ‘Kinder,’ ‘Gentler’ and ‘Wiser’ Lou Dobbs Admits Own Stupidity

O’Reilly helps rehabilitate “kinder, gentler” and “wiser” Lou Dobbs

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

   By: Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
Mahatma Gandhi was once asked by a journalist: “What do you think of Western Civilization?“

He responded: “That Would be a Good Idea?”

It is not certain that Indigenous peoples in the Americas have ever been asked the same question, though the response can probably easily be surmised. Yet, on this continent, the issue is not theoretical in nature.

In Arizona, for instance, a variant of this question is indeed being asked. Yet here, the issue is not whether Western Civilization has been good or bad for the original peoples of this continent. Rather, as framed by Tom Horne, the State Superintendent of Schools, the issue is whether people of non-European heritage are part of Western Civilization itself. In his ongoing campaign to eliminate Ethnic/Raza Studies in the Tucson Unified School District, he has made it a point to allege that what is taught in Raza Studies is outside of Western Civilization.

One can easily cede to him this purported fact – except for three small details: According to Horne (whose latest salvo was trumpeting a severely flawed study this November that showed that students in Raza Studies do not do better than their peers) the roots of Western Civilization emanate from the Greco-Roman cultures – cultures squarely situated in Europe. The knowledge taught in Raza Studies, on the other hand, emanates from ancient and living Indigenous cultures rooted on this very continent. Thus, according to his formulation, knowledge Indigenous to the Mediterranean is acceptable knowledge and can be taught in Arizona schools, but knowledge Indigenous to this very continent is unacceptable and cannot be taught in Arizona schools.

For Horne to be correct, a massive [geographic] dislocation would again have to take place. In effect, Horne’s project asks us, or demands from us, that the so-called West be allowed to finish its imperial project; the dislocation, displacement and disappearance of the original peoples of this continent. Which brings up the third detail: Indigenous peoples from this continent have never ceded the direction of “the West” to peoples from across the ocean.

Ironically, Horne’s project actually allows for the teaching of American Indian or Native American Studies, but what it also does, is not acknowledge the cultural roots of Raza Studies – a discipline based primarily on the thousands-of-years Maiz or Maya-Nahuatl cultures of this continent.

Through his actions and with one stroke, he becomes royal geographer and arbiter as to who is Indigenous. It is he who determines what knowledge can be taught inside Arizona classrooms, this while calling for the setting up of mechanisms, to ensure that Maiz or Mesoamerican knowledge is not taught here. Under his definition, presumably, knowledge from Andean cultures – South America – would also be banned.

Beyond arbiter of who or what is Indigenous, he in a much larger way, has actually positioned himself as the arbiter of who or what is American. In his formulation, the only thing worth teaching in U.S. or Arizona schools specifically, is what is American… or what the Greeks and Romans have bequeathed us.

Generally, in the realm of knowledge, what the Greeks and Romans have taught the world has indeed benefitted the world. No one who teaches Ethnic or Raza Studies advocates eliminating Greco-Roman knowledge from the curriculum. Quite the reverse; Ethnic and Raza Studies teachers simply want the knowledge that is Indigenous to this continent – maiz knowledge – to also be taught in the classroom. In part, maiz knowledge – represented by what archeologists and anthropologists have designated as knowledge that emanates from Mesoamerica – does have a direct connection to what is today the United States. One: the presence of maiz and maiz knowledge can easily be documented in the United States. Maiz, created in the south somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago, has been here in Arizona and New Mexico for at least 5,000 years. Second: because of massive migration over the past 100 years from the south, we also know it continues to be a part of the ancient and lived knowledge and part of the daily reality and nutrition, of the many millions of peoples who have migrated here from Mexico and Central America.

These educators within Raza Studies need not romanticize the cultures of this continent, just as no one needs to romanticize the warfare of the Greeks & Romans. It is counter-intuitive, however, that teachers and students be deprived the right to teach and learn the culture and knowledge that has been here for many thousands of years… especially when all peer-reviewed studies do indeed demonstrate that students in Raza Studies far outperform their TUSD classmates.

Perhaps the actual debate should be about where on the world map does Pachamama or the Americas reside in?

* This week’s Huehuetlahtokan & In Xochitl In Cuicatl (Elder Gathering & Floricanto) events in Tucson precisely will celebrate both the success of Raza Studies, but also, shine the light on the creative talent and research learned by students from elders.

–
Thanks & Sincerely
Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
Column of the Americas
PO BOX 85476
Tucson, AZ 85754

————————————————————————————————————————————————–
•    Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com or PO BOX 85476 – Tucson, AZ 85754

•    NEW AMERICA MEDIA COLUMNS — http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/

•    ARCHIVED COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS — http://web.mac.com/columnoftheamericas/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html
————————————————————————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————————————————————————–

It’s way too early to tell whether the United States under President-elect Barack Obama will restore realism, sanity and lawfulness to its immigration system.

If Mr. Obama’s team is confirmed, the country will have a homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, and a commerce secretary, Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who understand the border region and share a well-informed disdain for foolish, inadequate enforcement schemes like the Bush administration’s border fence.

If you uphold workers’ rights, even for those here illegally, you uphold them for all working Americans. If you ignore and undercut the rights of illegal immigrants, you encourage the exploitation that erodes working conditions and job security everywhere. In a time of economic darkness, the stability and dignity of the work force are especially vital.

| Read Full Editorial Here: In a time of economic crisis, it is especially vital to uphold workers’ rights, even for those here illegally. Exploitation erodes working conditions and job security everywhere. |

——————————————————————————

——————————————————————————

References:

1. Republicans on Immigration: The War Within
2. Immigrant Deaths in U.S. Detention ‘Gulags’ Go Unnoticed — In U.S. jails and detention camps, immigrants are dying of gross mis-treatment including medical neglect
3. Immigrants Dying In America’s ‘Detention Gulags’
4. Legionnaires’ Disease — American Legion Pushes Nativist Falsehoods
5. CNN’s Lou Dobbs – The Minister of ‘Propaganda and Enlightenment’

Immigration Hate Crimes Across America!

——————————————————————————

Writes: Mary Beth Marklein

Illegal immigrants face threat of no college

Some states are making it harder for illegal immigrants to attend college by denying in-state tuition benefits or banning undocumented students.

In the past two years, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia and Oklahoma have refused in-state tuition benefits to students who entered the USA illegally with their parents but grew up and went to school in the state. That represents a reversal from earlier this decade, when 10 states passed laws allowing in-state rates for such students.

This summer, South Carolina became the first state to bar undocumented students from all public colleges and universities.

North Carolina’s community colleges in May ordered its 58 campuses to stop enrolling undocumented students after the state attorney general said admitting them may violate federal law.

“The new trend is to kick illegal aliens out of college altogether,” says William Gheen of Americans for Legal Immigration Political Action Committee, which opposes taxpayer subsidies for undocumented immigrants.

Josh Bernstein of the National Immigration Law Center, an illegal-immigrants advocate, says sweeping anti-immigration bills are “a very serious threat” to the overall illegal population.

Georgia, which barred undocumented students from in-state tuition rates in 2006, enacted laws in May preventing them from receiving state scholarships and certain student loans.

This fall, the University of Arkansas will require students to submit Social Security numbers and proof of residency. In May, Arkansas Department of Higher Education Director Jim Purcell warned that students without documentation “will not be considered as legally enrolled students” when determining an institution’s state funding.

Opponents say students shouldn’t be penalized for their parents’ actions. Helping them is “the right thing to do even if it’s unpopular,” says North Carolina state Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Democrat who introduced a bill that would prevent state institutions from asking about students’ immigration status.