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| Duardo Paz-Martinez |
/DP-MOctober 9, 2012 4:14 PM
Well, this comes after some thoughts on whether doing it was worthwhile. But you chose to throw me in with people I don't associate with, as you know. I take issue with your assessment that all I do is characterize Brownsville as a "dusty, backward and Third World town." There's some truth in that, but there is so much more to my criticism of Browntown. My points always went to style; that is, how the city governed itself mainly. I am as Mexican as the next Mexican, and I do take pride in all that entails. I just wish the entire Rio Grande Valley would grow, would plunge at least into the 1990s. I look at San Antonio and see a Hispanic mayor - Julian Castro. He is the son a woman who marched with La Raza Unida, which remains a blight on our culture in the eyes of non-Hispanics. Yet, there was Castro, a lawyer and graduate of Stanford, at the recent Democratic Party convention in Charlotte, alongside party bigwigs. Castro is a leader leading a city. He advocates for better education and less dropouts and his program aimed at avoiding teen pregnancy within the Hispanic community has drawn raves. Castro is going places and that makes me proud. I look at the Valley - and I wrote about most of its cities & towns in my blog, as you also know - and I don't see a Julian Castro. I see a collection of self-serving Chicanos out to fatten their wallets or those of their friends. I don't see vision or accomplishment. Yes, I don't live there, but name me accomplishments by your mayor in line with what his San Antonio counterpart is doing. And Tony Martinez has social problems of the sort that would make him a name if he only tackled them and solved a few. Yet, it never happens. What you get in its place is patronismo, which is how someone like Melissa Zamora turns herself over to career politician Rene Oliveira. Only, she's not alone. That's the tragedy. Brownsville moves like some battered clunker knowing the incline will not require stepping on the gas. As for why I no longer blog, well, you know I did it for many years in a variety of formats. My life these days is more settled and, yeah, I am wont to say that blogging is "so ten minutes ago." The world is moving faster than ever as it relates to news and information. A blog simply wasn't satisfying my own needs, and I did it well, better than most, if I can say it. Critics will boil, as they did for a dozen years. Perhaps it was cheap entertainment for the collective anonymous. I don't worry about it. as I've said many times before, there are times when the artist has to disappear. This, for me, is one of those times. Happy blogging, my friend...
/DP-M
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| Mean Mister Brownsville |
/DP-M,
Please consider your linking with those above as not reflective of your talent or skill level, but merely a chronological association: those bloggers who left us last year, not unlike the obligatory stories at each year's end about those who have passed. Think of the "Jeopardy" question "Musicians born in 1940" as including both Ricky Nelson and John Lennon.
Yes, Jerry's odd article pretending that Quintanilla had kicked Wightman-Cervantes butt got my mind to wandering. Of course, Mr. Q can't verbalize his way out of a wet paper bag, but Jerry was trying to light a fire under Bobby as he attempted to do by writing the blogger's obituary a few months back. Bobby, though, must light his own fire.
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| April Flores |
The Robert Duvall film crew threw nickles around like manhole covers, adding several dollars to local economy. The snack shop they paid ten dollars to keep their lights on all night for effect during a scene at the old market square, is now closed. The "La Movida" bar still features Natural Light in the can for a dollar and a hanging naked pinata with dollars attached at appropriate places of the anatomy.
We have a new bus station, I mean multi-modal facility downtown, built with 80% federal funding, giving winos and street ladies clean restrooms and a number of entry level jobs for window polishers and broom pushers. Unlike many architecturally classic old train stations who had their heyday, this is a state-of-the-art facility with electronic information boards that may never have its day, unless downtown takes off and Mexico detoxifies.
Anyway, enjoy the freedom of living life without the burden of chronicling it on the fly. Blogging and Facebook are parallel universes that exist only in cyberspace, soap operas that can be resumed any time without missing a beat. Take care.
Jim
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I don't remember him as a reporter here, but he seems to be an intelligent man. Good post, Jim.
ReplyDelete60-70 year old men tooting their own horn a good post? How irrelevant one must feel to write write and write and never really accomplish anything. Must suck to be you guys.
ReplyDeleteHave a nice day!
You're in the wrong place, boy. Romper Room is down the hall. LOL!!!
DeleteJake.
Well thought out articles genrates responses and actions. Wether people believe this or not blogs do make a difference.
DeleteIt is always a pleasure to read messages and articles from DP-M. He did an excellent assessment of our local political leaders and the lack of true leadership within those of us to gainfully achieve the best for our community. DP-M states that he see "a collection of self-serving Chicanos out to fatten their wallets or those of their friends." Indeed our community is full of corrupt individuals who only seeks things that benefit them. However, I do not agree with DP-M when he describe those individuals as "Chicanos". Those individuals may be Hispanics, Latinos, Mexican Americans, or whatever but not Chicanos. Jose Angel Gutierrez, Corky Gonzalez, and Julian Castros'mother were Chicanos. They were individuals that fought for the civil rights of their community and gave individuals like Julian Castro the opportunity to achieve great things in their lifes and to give back to their community.
ReplyDeleteWriting is a fight, with words and definitions. You are correct in your definition of "Chicano," although your definition is one of many. I concur that Chicanos of the 1970s and 1980s (re: the ones you mention) fought social battles against oppression and acceptance that should be honored and perhaps enshrined. Maybe Brownsville can erect a statue of Gutierrez, Gonzalez or any of a dozen other leaders of La Raza Unida. But you should know that their activism was not as clinically accepted as it now is; Gutierrez, who later became a professor at my school (U.T.-Arlington, of Chicano Studies, I believe) and Gonzalez were hounded by the mainstream media as communists and by law enforcement as eternal lawbreakers. Time is a wonder, however. Today, as with Cesar Chavez, we wish to remember only the abstract image of the struggle, the photos of dog-tired Chavez and the California farmworkers, the red & black flag of La Raza Unida flying in the scorching South Texas winds. I do not refer to those Chicanos. The word has a clear pejorative meaning these days, when used in modern times, I mean. It goes to under-achievement and failed promises. Are Chicanoes solely to blame for what is current Brownsville? No, of course not. But Hispanics dominate the city. They have gained positions of power, because of time and maybe the fight waged by La Raza Unida. But what can you point to as a result of the ascension? I do not live in town, so I have no idea what school has been named after what Hispanic state legislator, or what park has been named after a worthwhile Hispanic, or what social program/project has been spearheaded by a Hispanic. I'm sounding like some racist here, but it is the topic at hand. I wish to one fine morning log-on to the Brownsville Herald's website (or to this Blog or my ally McHale's or maybe even Montoya's) and read that action has come out of city hall or the county courthouse to push forward the quality of life and not again plow through a story about how the city bus system is corrupt or about the loss of millions to a phantom bridge, or about the arrest of the sheriff, or about the mayor giddily depositing a $26,000 check meant for someone else into his personal bank account. Those are the "Chicanos" I am referring to in my criticism. The word "Chicano," unlike so many others, allows for that wide of a range of definition. As for a solution, well, a little pressure from the community would go a long way. And, who knows, maybe Brownsville would inspire a young resident to dream the same dream that, say, a Julian Castro is dreaming. I'm getting old. It does my heart and mind good to see young people being tended to, not talked-down to or let-down by government bureaucracies that ought to do more for them. The wallets at City Hall and the county courthouse are not necessarily just the leather ones for devious adults; there is a "Hell-o, Kitty" one for the innocent children, as well. Or, there should be...
Delete/DP-M
Hispanics dominate the city. They have gained positions of power, because of time and maybe the fight waged by La Raza Unida. But what can you point to as a result of the ascension? ... how the city bus system is corrupt or about the loss of millions to a phantom bridge, or about the arrest of the sheriff, or about the mayor giddily depositing a $26,000 check meant for someone else into his personal bank account.
DeleteThe worst of the worst crimes against our own race. Hispanics like Ernie hernandez steal votes from our own elderly and mentally disabled. The most vulnerable among us, some of whom fought in WWII or with the chicanos to help the younger generations make it to where we are now. Their votes stolen, in their old age, to benefit the shit sucking Conrado Cantu's and Hernandez's even Hispanics are embarassed to call one of their own. It is a crying shame. They say racism begins at home. If we tolerate such little respect by Hispanics towards our own race why be surprised when other races trample on us.
It's odd you bring up Jose Angel Gutierrez I was just reading a book he gave my dad called "A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans". Most of the "tricks" he describes anglos pulling on mexiamericans are now being perpetrated in the Valley by Hispanics against Hispanics. But even back then, Gutierrez wrote that the Democrat party was corrupt to the core, and when an illiterate Hispanic person went to vote the Democrat in the polling area would redirect them to pull the straight ticket democrat lever, knowing they couldn't read what it was they were doing. Just like what happened in this race, the illiterate being lied to about which candidates they had voted for, Erin Hernandez, Masso, Gomez. Suppose, some things never change!
DeleteThis post is to thank DP-M for responding to the posting on the meaning of Chicanos. I like you am getting old and would also like to read worthy news of young community leaders achieving great things not only for themselves but for the community of Brownsville. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of young intelligent individuals in this community that given the opportunity could achieve great things for the people of the Rio Grande Valley. In another time, instead of saying or writing “for the people,” I would have written “por la raza.” Gutierrez, Gonzalez, and La Raza are things of the past that few remember or understand what they represented in the 60’s and 70’s. Therefore, I won’t go there to describe the meaning of the word Chicano as it relates to those of us that experience oppression and injustice in the land of freedom many years ago. For those individuals that you stated that they only wish to fatten their wallets, please call them by another name. I am sure that they do not call themselves Chicanos.
DeleteIt is a shame that most of our high school programs do not offer Mexican American Studies. History help us understand the past, the present and lead us to the future. " A Gringo Manual on How to Handle Mexicans" was written by Jose Angel Gutierrez from his experience living in Zavala County. The Democrat Party was the only political party in the County and it was control by the Anglos. The Republican Party was nonexisten in Zavala County. If the Republican Party had existed in Zavala County, I am sure that Gutierrez would have included them as the other corrupt party in the County just like the Democrats. In fact, Gutierrez founded his own political party, La Raza Unida Party. So that brings us to the question, is the local Republican Party the noncorrupt political party or is the local Republican Party the noncorrupt political party because they are not in control of the major elected offices?
DeleteIt is sad, that they fought so hard to overthrow our white suppressors, only to allow brown suppressors to take their place. It is no improvement.
DeleteWhat a disgrace to see an Ernie Hernandez slug in office, no better than the KKK, stealing from the poor mestizo, rigging elecions and giving the county jobs to their own idiot family rather than the most qualified. No progress. Like the mexican crabs, holding their own down and keeping all the money in thier own pocket. That's why they're probably under investigation like Villalobos who knows where all that money has gone. That's why we can't even get our streets fixed after 30 years, we have massive corruption where the rest of the country doesn't want to waste time or resorces on us anymore.
So that brings us to the question, is the local Republican Party the noncorrupt political party or is the local Republican Party the noncorrupt political party because they are not in control of the major elected offices?
DeleteWell my personal experience with local Republicans is that no, they do not support voter fraud the way the Cameron county Democrats rely on it. The Republicans here run on their merits. That may not be the case in other parts of the country but here in S. Texas the Republicans by far run clean races out of principle.
You never hear about a Republican candidate having an election judge disappear for 2 hours on election night with an unsealed box of ballots to go visit Ernie Hernandez. It's always the Democrats. It's always a Democrats involved when ballot boxes go missing or voter fraud trials or people come forward to describe their votes being stolen or bought. Well the Texas Democrats are famous for being fraudulent this goes back to LBJ and setting the elections warehouse on fire after they miraculously declared him the winner so the ballots couldn't be checked. Also the KKK Dixie Democrats are their origins
The Republican party is just as crooked as the Demos.
DeleteI'd like to believe the Republican party is just as crooked, but seriously, the Democraps just elected GILBERTO HINOJOSA their party chairman. The guy whose probably under investigation like his friend Villalobos. Demos: the corrupt leading the blind.
DeleteIf you are sincerely intersted in the history of the Democrat party in Texas, they were an extension of the KKK and suppressed hispanics and blacks from voting for years.
DeleteYou can see the results of this legacy in the way the local Democrat party endorses corruption, encourages voter fraud against decent, honest Hispanic candidates. Notice how the left wing Democrats are always seen supporting the most barf inducing, corrupt Hispanic cheaters and pilferers for office. It is no accident.
it took 4 direct Supreme Court orders to end the Democrat's "white primary" system, and after that it took countless additional orders, several acts of Congress, and a constitutional amendment to tear down the Jim Crow codes that preserved the Democrat's white primary for decades beyond the final Supreme Court order ruling it officially unconstitutional.
Hispanics in South Texas were treated especially poorly by the Democrat Party, which relied heavily on a system of political bosses to coerce and intimidate Hispanics into voting for Democrat primary candidates of choice. Though coercion is illegal, this system is still in use to this day by local Democrat parties in some heavy Hispanic communities
This is very interesting guys, please keep the dialogue open as few of us may be able to benefit from it.
ReplyDeleteThanks!!
Mary S Rey
Mary, I don't understand how you want to benefit from this. As a Hispanic woman that you are, what are you trying to convey here? Are you saying that you have seen the side how these Mexicans operate and have almost fallen for the okie dokie when you served BISD via Quintanilla, but smelled the Mexican manipulative stench...just sayin!
Deleteit is beneficial for all to learn a little bit of our history and political legacy in South Texas
DeleteThe Mexican race is the only race that oppresses it's own for the betterment. It's like just because you grow poor and know nothing, but living a hard life should be the norm. Do not apply yourself to better yourself for it does not resemble the Mexican way of thinking or living. Therefore, the underachievers in life who know no better and bring their tricky and manipulatly ways to the table thats were the Mexican downfall begans. Don't get me wrong here, there have been Hispanics who have scarifice themselves for a better way of life, and their future generations, but they are the minority, within a minority, and don't fit in the Mexican way by way of Mexico standards...eg., stealing votes, no vision, lack of leadership,out to swindle the hard earning taxpayers monies, self entitlement, etc., So it is hard to show the future generations the real way of earning what you reap by honesty, integrety, and a positive role model to your family and the community. This way of thinking is no where to be found by the Mexicans in office today, and they are the CANCER that is brining down the community, and shaming the the honest Hispanic race.
ReplyDeleteJimmy, completely agree with Mr. Paz Martinez, the Valley is corrupted to the tilt. Just look at all the corruption in Cameron County. The county can't maintain 3 swimming pools. Now it is reported that the constables are not reporting cash flow in a timely manner. To be truthfull,chicanos, latinos, hispanics, or whatever we want to call ourselfs, are "NOT" doing a very good job, when elected into key positions.
ReplyDeleteSo true,
DeleteF u Dom
ReplyDeleteBunch of Haters here! The political problems are not the result of politicians being Hispanic, they are the result of greed, uncontroled power and good old classism. "Chicanos" from the old days understood that, and realized the biggest danger was in becoming like "them".
ReplyDeleteIt's not about Race!