Debra la tardita–among others–still here

by Rudy Ch. Garcia

Everything's connected, whether or not we recognize it. Some connections are obvious, some subtly disguised through our filtered interpretations of what's around us. Sometimes we need others to help remove the filters.

In response to my post last week about Debra la tardita, two of my fellow La Bloga contributors Michael Sedano and Melinda Palacio disagreed with my notion of removing myself from voter registration.

Sedano's post: "not voting though you can is letting that half of the rest of them win." My take on this is that voting for "change" in fact helped "that half of the rest of them win." Bank & mortgage co. bailouts, our new spreading wars, Guantanamo's continuation, massive legally-sanctioned arrests and deportations by that President show that "they" won. Our votes insured that, rather than our "winning." So, recent history tends not to support Sedano.

Melinda's post: "This story is important, as is your vote. We have to keep believing." I will keep believing. And I would register again when I felt there was something to vote for. Something hugely different. Not just "change" as in another President, though of a different skin color, apparently as dark on the inside as his lighter skinned predecessor. I think Debra la tardita would agree with me.

I did hear that during a non-writing time this week during her school day, she requested permission to write a letter to her dad. I don't know the letter's contents. However, the act itself--a request outside of the normal curriculum schedule--and the risky confidence of a child wanting to put her thoughts down with paper and pencil, neither of which she has mastery of, is something to believe in, draw some inspiration from.

To my same post last week, where I included my statement about Occupy my country, Esteban Chavez wrote: "Does Occupy Aztlan ring any bells? History is moving against the 1%." I do agree with Chavez's second point; his first point appears to have been bypassed by gente and people going beyond it, spreading the Occupy to more than the Southwest and Mexico. As it should be.

I watched the news this week about China moving to cover bonds for the Greek debt-crisis that the Greek people have already Occupied Greece over for some months. Apparently the international 1% seem to be willing to take write-off loses to salvage their European/Western/worldwide economic system. People in the U.S. who didn't believe the 60s and 70s anti-war protests didn't do any good to ending our invasion of Vietnam might be some of the same people who today might not think the Occupy actions have had anything to do with the 1% acting to save the existing economic system in Greece.

I'd suggest we all think again. I can't explain the Occupy movement better than anyone else, but Occupy does stand out in one obvious way: there's no list of demands. Occupy goes beyond getting rid of any current despot/tyrant/ruler/democratically elected President. It goes beyond 99% of the Greeks refusing to pay for their country's economic crisis. Beyond ending corruption or profiling of latino-looking people or just lowering a country's college-debt load before young people have gotten their first job.

By not having a list of demands, Occupy just says: ya basta. If that sounds familiar, it might be because it's been used before. Think Zapata or the Chicano Movement or thousands of other times in history. Voting wasn't usually a major strategy.

Debra la tardita's father will assumedly receive her letter sometime in Nov. Whatever she wrote probably won't include advice to her father about making sure he registers to vote. Nor would it include anything about her being ready to Occupy, though I wouldn't doubt she has the heart for it. At least, she might not be including it her letters, just yet.

Below I reprint a piece from Frontera NorteSur about Occupy Tijuana. It's followed by an appeal from Frontera so they can continue providing alternative news about what's really going on in the Southwest and Mexico. Frontera probably won't cover the return of Debra la tardita's dad, should he lose in deportation hearings.

But consider supporting Frontera, since your local newspaper and broadcasting doesn't usually cover enough of what goes on in our country. You'll want to be one of the first to know how the Occupy Tijuana/Aztlán/my country movement goes. Or comes and goes. Or maybe one day just stays. And lets working people like Debra la tardita's dad stay.

Occupy Tijuana tests rights

October 22, 2011 – Inspired by the Occupy Wall Street movement, a protest in Tijuana is shaping up to be a test between the right of citizens to assemble peacefully and the desire of authorities to maintain public order.

In the wee hours of the morning of Tuesday, October 18, dozens of state, municipal and possibly federal police officers raided Occupy Tijuana’s encampment in the border city’s Plaza Rio zone and arrested 27 people, mostly young professionals and students, for violating city ordinances like urinating in public and allegedly possessing drugs. Some of the detained individuals were then paraded in front of a judge and either slapped with fines amounting to be about $80.00 each or ordered to perform community service.

Tijuana Mayor Carlos Bustamante Anchondo later defended the police action, arguing that if protesters wanted to demonstrate they should have picked a safe place and not be in a position to physically expose themselves in public. Bustamante contended that the site of the protest encampment, a median across from Plaza Rio, was a congested, public thoroughfare. “The criticism is that (protesters) could cause an accident or worse,” Bustamante said.

The Tijuana mayor rejected contentions that excessive force was used in removing the demonstrators, adding that some of the young people camped out were consuming alcohol. However, Bustamante confirmed that he was not present at the scene of the eviction.

“We are students, lawyers, anthropologists, sociologists, artists, workers; we are the 99 percent,” the protesters said shortly after last week’s break-up of their encampment. “We are not paid killers, delinquents, bums or ninis (Mexican slang for young people who do not work or study).” Stories and video clips covering the eviction and the Occupy Tijuana movement have been posted on You Tube.

In a press statement, the non-governmental Northwest Citizen Human Rights Commission protested that Occupy Tijuana’s rights to peaceful assembly, redress of grievances and due process of law were violated by the police raid. While carrying out the eviction, some officers were hooded and did not display official identification, the Mexican human rights advocates charged. In addition to trampling on constitutional guarantees, the October 18 police raid violated international treaties, the statement asserted.

“It’s worrisome that the civil authority reacts in this way to citizen protests, inflicting an injury that is added to the climate of violence and insecurity which the country is going through,” the citizen commission said. “We don’t know the motive which prompted the authorities to repress the rights of assembly and association, but it is noteworthy that there was a convergence of the three levels of government to carry out the eviction of the demonstrators.”

The Northwest Citizen Human Rights Commission demanded a legal investigation of eviction, and called on the official human rights commissions of Mexico and Baja California to likewise probe the matter. The group also urged Baja California Governor Jose Guadalupe Osuna Millan to uphold the constitutional rights of the citizenry and punish those responsible for human rights violations. Copies of the press statement were addressed to other state and local officials, as well as to Javier Hernandez Valencia, Mexico representative for the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights. Heriberto Garcia, Baja California human rights ombudsman, has initiated an investigation of the October 18 incident.

Occupy Tijuana was expected to resume its protest against global economic policies and war on the weekend of October 22.

Additional sources: El Sol de Tijuana, October 22, 2011. Frontera.info, October 21, 2011. La Jornada, October 19, 2011. Article by Antonio Heras. Signonsandiego.com, October 18, 2011. Article by Sandra Dibble.

Frontera NorteSur: on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM

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October 25, 2011 – You may know what an important role Frontera NorteSur (FNS) plays in filling the information gap during these critical times along the US-Mexico border. Whether FNS delivers stories about the drug war, immigration, Mexican politics, or the effect of the border wall on the natural environment, here you read the stories you won’t find elsewhere. FNS news service provides a unique blend of press summaries, original reporting and seasoned analysis to help you make sense of the realities of the border region during these turbulent times. Never has an independent news service been more necessary, and FNS is proud to be here.

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es todo, hoy,
RudyG

Debra la tardita in her America, of late

un pensamiento por Rudy Ch. Garcia

I know of a little girl whom I call Debra here who struggled to get to school on time. Her record on tardiness steadily grew worse. From a minute or two to five and ten minutes and then half an hour; soon she didn't show up to school at all some days. But not because she was sick.

She inevitably came in with disheveled hair, sometimes displaying frustration and helplessness over her lateness. Her teacher had talked with her and her older sister about what was going on. From the little I'd heard, Debra seemed to be a very capable student who loved learning about the world around her, and threw herself into improving her academic skills. Despite whatever went on in her life that made her late, she maintained an optimistic smile and seemed a happy child.

Unfortunately, in the real world, Debra's mom worked two low-paying jobs, like a lot of Spanish-speaking and other parents, with or without papers. One job required the mom to leave the house at four a.m., with Debra's siblings responsible for somehow getting everything ready and everyone to school on time. It hadn't been working out well.

In that same world, Debra's dad hadn't been born in the U.S. He'd gone through hells to relocate here from another country, like so many on the planet these days. He didn't come to sell drugs or covet and steal others' possessions nor to underbid millions of Americans also desperate for meaningful work. He finally found some manual labor that he worked hard at, often as many hours or more than Debra's mom.

Debra's teacher, whom I've known for years, never considered the child an "at-risk" student. She became instead a bright spot in that teacher's day, a child who often giggled as she wrote small stories, who orally expressed herself quite remarkably for a six-year-old, and eagerly tackled math and more, especially her learning of English.

Her teacher told me that one morning she pulled attendance up on the computer and there stood an X by Debra's name, indicating she'd be missing school again. The sidebar explanation read, "Dad arrested."

Debra's teacher cried.

On the other hand, Obama's minions carved one more notch on their hundreds of thousands of deportees list, more even than his supposedly more evil predecessor Bush had extradited from their workplaces and homes and communities and families. The Republican-Democrat political machine added one more statistic to their tally of see-how-many-illegals-we-catch? And the millions of ignorant American citizens who blame Debra's dad instead of American politicians and corporations for their unemployment, college-loan bills and underwater mortgages, went to bed thinking that arresting Debra's dad would magically turn their own plunging lifestyles around.

Debra's life certainly got turned around; more like, upside down. Getting to school on time will not be the major problem in her life anymore; worrying about her dad replaced that. Wondering how well she is learning English may no longer be an immediate goal for her; that will depend on where she winds up attending school. Why butterflies can fly and how many colors there are in a rainbow might become relegated to the back of her small, growing brain. And I dread to think how long her giggles will be overshadowed by new burdens in her life.

I didn't know Debra well enough to cry. But I have taught children from her background for many years. Most good teachers in this country know that all the Debras and Daniels can and do learn and succeed, if given the educational opportunities. The biggest thing they are at risk of here is being tested to death.

Anyway, not that politicians will care much, anymore than they worry about the human repercussions of their money-driven acts, but I'm using this occasion to remove my name from the registered voter list. Our citizenry is committed to following self-destructive bills, amendments and political parties that are eviscerating our souls. Very little on this year's ballot, and nothing in the next presidential ballot is aimed to stop our dive into deeper mediocrity. However, I'll keep myself on the listservs that might announce when it's time to Occupy Our Country.

I don't hope Obama reads this. Nor will I send it as part of any letter/Email/twitter-sending campaign. Those who know better, are already informed. Those who don't, shouldn't be cause for wasting time. But despite my remarks above, I don't feel sorry for Debra. My empathy for her, and abstractly with millions of U.S. immigrant children in similar straits, also makes pity inappropriate.

So I can't end this on a sad note, however dismal Debra's future may sound. I've seen too much of children's regenerative powers, their instincte for finding new cause for giggling in situations where we adults might fall into depression. No, it doesn't always happen that way.

But every morning, children in the millions rise from their bed, sofa, mattress or blanket on the floor or ground, and using their powers of some magnificent magic, push aside the fact that the country they're growing up in lacks so much humanity that it prides itself on legally taking their parents from them. Although children sense at many levels if they're of the "wrong" color, speak a "lesser" native language and live more impoverished than the majority who can afford to text-and-twitter, their eagerness to chase a butterfly into the pages of a book or scan a rainbow for magic bigger than themselves doesn't cease beaming from their developing minds. And makes some teacher somewhere remember why all the searches for truth can't be stifled. Nor for some kind of justice.

Even if the child rises as collateral damage in a nation so far from where her father now struggles.

Que viva! our species' capacity to reconstruct ourselves, even if not as magically as all the Debras innately create new dreams to keep themselves giggling, and surviving. And even if they sometimes can't help being late for school.

es todo, hoy,
RudyG

Putting it all together drawing by S.D. Hillberry, of which I own a print.