| The right to choose your own heroes |
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As the rising number of Latinos meld into the sweltering heat of América’s military war machine, joining the warrior ranks following high school graduation, preparing to enter the fray in Iraq, the war at home continues.
In Longmont, a semi rural community located in Northern Colorado, the pillaging of youth cultural self esteem has struck again. This too is a war; but a different kind of war, a war to preserve nuestra historia y cultura; a war that seemingly never ends.
In a citywide program designed to engage youth in civic responsibility, the city’s youth created a mural illustrating Colorado’s indigenous leader, Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales, national union organizer César Chávez and the revolutionary figures of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. City administrators, unhappy with the final product, apparently ordered city workers to paint over the mural. What remains is the angry spirits of those heroes whose silhouettes will fade in and out of oblivion until justice is served.
The only remnant lingering in the mind of the youth whose wounded spirits have been permanently damaged when an atrocious event like this occurs is freedom of choice. In this case it is the right to choose your own heroes. No one should be able to dictate who they should be and why. That choice still remains. You cannot toy with free will without resistance from the oppressed.
The bureaucratic culprits who gave the orders to paint over the mural will never erase the scar that will be left as a result of this unscrupulous act. Nor will they ever be able to erase the history of the struggle of La Raza in the 21st century as la gente confronts despicable immigration policy, cultural wars over language rights and treaty land struggles.
Longmont’s history with the Latino community is filled with horror stories about violence and death, only the deaths are not symbolic like the annihilation of the mural, they are real. One only has to remember the shooting of García and Cordova, two Chicano youth shot in the back by Longmont’s finest in the 1980’s.
The scars tell the history of a people who have overcome insurmountable odds for cultural survival.
The mural, although painted over, will be haunted by the ghosts of the past who want to their stories to be told.
Throughout history revolutionary artists have dug out the collective conscious of the people through the creation of images and metaphors. The images represent the deep seated pain that lies at the lowest level of the soul, sulking in morose conditions, waiting to be exposed. In return for sharing their artistic expression, artists were punished.
To think that painting over a mural will destroy the spirit of young people is ignorance at best and collective disrespect at worst. As famous poet Lalo Delgado said in his poem “Stupid América,” when poets do not have pencil and paper to write on “they will explode.”
The same exists for muralists and painters. They too, will explode. The real message from the City of Longmont City Administration in the 21st century is that youngster’s heroes are limited to what mainstream society continues to dictate.
The Latino community’s heroes are seldom discussed in literature and history designed to perpetuate educational hegemony. One of the predominant characteristics of hegemony as defined in Webster’s Dictionary is, “preponderant influence or authority over others.”
Mexican heroes do not fit the stereotype of the American hero. Many Mexican historical figures were at odds with American heroes. Black Jack Pershing, the military commander from West Point, spent many months hunting and tracking down Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution. He never captured him. All of his West Point military training became useless as he stalked this Mexican peasant. Pancho Villa was guided by a historical spirit that rose from la tierra.
I spoke with Nita Gonzales, the daughter of Corky Gonzales, regarding the incident. She simply “wants an apology from the city administration made to the youth who painted the mural.” Perhaps, an apology to the family is also in order.
Incidentally, the mural wars must be on the horizon. Leo Tanguma’s education mural, a creation used at Mayor Hickenlooper’s Latino Summit, is being warehoused in the basement of Baker Middle School. It was taken out of the public’s sight because youth who had been invited to participate in its creation painted a swastika. The naysayers felt that this image was not acceptable. Perhaps, the swastika painted by the youth is a message that crept out of their hidden consciousness, reflecting a reality that exists in their world.
Hiding swastikas used by the oppressor and painting over murals doesn’t hide the live culprits who guard the borders. It doesn’t hide the prejudice personality waiting to strike again. It doesn’t hide the institutional racism printed in our daily newspapers.
It only exposes the contradictions in society.
Dr. Ramon Del Castillo is an Independent Journalist.
© 2006 The Weekly Issue/El Semanario
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