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| Next mayor should focus on political healing |
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Political campaigns can turn into very dirty games. During the melee, ethics are bent and stretched ad infinitum to accommodate vendettas, paybacks and a historical patronage system that rules. Finger pointing, blaming, miscommunication and name calling are used in what some would believe are sophisticated techniques; but what demonstrate the worst in human beings. These kinds of strategies can be root causes of division in communities and rift between and among constituent groups and at the end of the day result in more harm than good. The mudslinging contest that has been going on during the mayoral election should cease.
After the Hickenlooper/Mares campaign wherein Hick was victorious, in one of my columns I challenged the mayor to bring the groups together to heal. To my chagrin, I received a telephone call to consider joining his Latino Advisory Council. Both winners and losers were at the table. There was only defacto reconciliation; it was never formalized. The lesson taught is that good leaders need to develop communication skills that bring groups together during good times and during stormy seasons. However, this requires a mature political populace willing to find common ground. It requires a commitment, authentic dialogue and truth and honesty as core values in a dialogical process.
During the current mayoral campaign, megabucks have been spent on advertisements, window dressers, billboards, commercials and comical ingenuity with the aim of derogating “the other,” as if “the other” is an enemy. That is not to say that there are not politicians with bad intentions, they do exist. Only the naïve would believe otherwise. I hope that the new mayor puts as much energy into a reconciliation process. Negative energy weakens the strong while the vulnerable become prone to intense gullibility. The power of the pen is transformed into yellow journalism as words become weapons; many times without good ethics. That is a historical process that only human beings can change.
Political analysts continue to conduct research why Latinas/os have such a low voter turnout. Perhaps, grassroots voters have better insight than we give them credit for and can see through the thin veneers of the political game and choose not to participate. After all, the barrio profundo is a place where you can keep your consciousness intact. Lollygagging to the voting polls exists because politics is full of tangled contradictions, a multiplicity of ideologies at odds with each other and a potential trap to lose focus. Ask the common person and he/she will provide you with a simple response about why he/she doesn’t vote and may respond, “¿Pa que?” By the way, I borrowed this phrase from our beloved anciana leader, Gerry Gonzales. The powerless sit in an abyss while those with the dollar pour sour vintage into their wine glasses.
For whoever becomes the next mayor of Denver, he will be challenged to provide the gracious space to help the community heal. That is what will demonstrate profound leadership. Anything short of this will result in politics a usual as winners and adversaries retreat to their camps. As citizens of the world, we should stop this madness. Politics needs a radical restoration of those prime values being subverted by in this campaign. The importance of people has descended down the hierarchy of values as political warfare claims another victory.
I was invited to speak at Diana Velazquez’s memorial last Friday at Su Teatro. Diana was one of our community’s great curanderas. The memories of the many lessons she taught me guided my spirit to write this column. As I reflected upon those lessons I had learned while under her tutelage, I realized that a tad of introspection, with a sprinkling of self-criticism might not be a bad idea. Those who espouse immunity from the mudslinging contest ought to be commended or maybe look a littler deeper and get in touch with his/her complicity. We should call upon the community’s healers to conduct una limpia before this political tussle causes more damage.
The Latina/o community should restore integrity into a system that has lost its pizzazz. In the final analysis when all is said and done, all should be represented at the table. This is what preserves democracy. It may be too late to call a truce but is never too late to engage in humanistic dialogue.
Dr. Ramón Del Castillo is an Independent Journalist.
© 2011 The Weekly Issue/El Semanario
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