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| Mike Hernandez III at El Jardin Hotel (Photo by Miguel Roberts, Brownsville Herald) |
That article motivated Mike to start the OP 10.33 group and soon there were billboards around Cameron County with that cryptic title, then a Facebook page of platitudes and mission goals, proposing a $2 million dollar bequest to United Brownsville, a now defunct, unelected shadow government, $1 million to BISD, a school district with an annual budget exceeding $500 million and another $1 million to Guadalupe Middle School. The battle cry was: "Bring Brownsville out of poverty by October 2033."
In Mike's first official visit as "the prophet," he tours downtown, assessing the damage, notices the historic El Jardin in ruins, and, like every Winter Texan visiting for the first time, wonders why it hasn't been restored. A structural engineer gives Mike the explanation and he moves on.
Putting his money where his Facebook site mouth is, Mike throws $160,000 in contributions at six candidates in the Port of Brownsville and TSC, losing five of those races.(We're told his primary focus was to unseat Ralph Cowen.)
Next, the old Kawasaki building is purchased on FM 802, where OP. 10.33 sets up "technical training," not accredited. Thus, students, you have the skills, but no one acknowledges it or pays you accordingly! Whoop-de-doo!
Still orbiting slightly off center, Hernandez buys a four-page ad in last Sunday's Brownsville Herald, following on the heels of Cesar de Leon's resignation brouhaha.(The ad contains 3,000 signatures.)
"Now, more than ever," Hernandez says in the ad, "we need to set aside our differences, and unite. . "
Hernandez then plays the race card in the most obvious, juvenile way: "We are tired of being called a "Mojado" or "Meskin" and told we should go back to Mexico; and that we need to build an expensive wall to keep us and our families out."
What the hell? It gets worse:
"We are tired of outsiders using a local politician's inappropriate use of the N word for political purposes, when they haven't done anything or care enough to address the serious racial discrimination and economic injustice we and our families face every day just to survive."
That last lament was aimed at Attorney Michael Cowen, who took out an ad in last week's Herald, signed by 312, calling on Commissioner Cesar de Leon to resign. Mike considers Michael an "outsider," because, although he was raised in Brownsville, he currently lives in Fair Oaks Ranch, near San Antonio.(Mike Hernandez, the "insider," was also raised in Brownsville, but after many years in the DFW area, now resides in South Padre Island.)
And you thought Donald Trump was the only demigod using racial fears to rally his base!
Still orbiting slightly off center, Hernandez buys a four-page ad in last Sunday's Brownsville Herald, following on the heels of Cesar de Leon's resignation brouhaha.(The ad contains 3,000 signatures.)
"Now, more than ever," Hernandez says in the ad, "we need to set aside our differences, and unite. . "
Hernandez then plays the race card in the most obvious, juvenile way: "We are tired of being called a "Mojado" or "Meskin" and told we should go back to Mexico; and that we need to build an expensive wall to keep us and our families out."
What the hell? It gets worse:
"We are tired of outsiders using a local politician's inappropriate use of the N word for political purposes, when they haven't done anything or care enough to address the serious racial discrimination and economic injustice we and our families face every day just to survive."
That last lament was aimed at Attorney Michael Cowen, who took out an ad in last week's Herald, signed by 312, calling on Commissioner Cesar de Leon to resign. Mike considers Michael an "outsider," because, although he was raised in Brownsville, he currently lives in Fair Oaks Ranch, near San Antonio.(Mike Hernandez, the "insider," was also raised in Brownsville, but after many years in the DFW area, now resides in South Padre Island.)
And you thought Donald Trump was the only demigod using racial fears to rally his base!
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The 3,000 are nobodies who probably don't vote or aren't even citizens of Brownsville.
ReplyDeleteThey're sheep at best or pendejos at worst for being pawns of the car salesman from north Texas.
I give him credit for trying to drain the swamp before it was a cool thing to say. We will never get anywhere until we rid ourselves of bike lane politicians and bring jobs that will pay more than $8.00 an hour.
ReplyDeleteIt hurts to see the way our city has fallen into disrepair. JUST 17 YEARS AGO DOWNTOWN BROWNSVILLE WAS A BEAUTIFUL GEM. It was always full of international shoppers who had so many packages they needed carts to carry their goods back across the bridge. Now, look what has become of Downtown Brownsville! Used clothing and dollar stores have taken over our town. The city needs to do more to make sure people living here have money in their pockets. We all live on bread crumbs because the corruption ran too deep.
The corruption in this town is strong. Stronger than the voters, even stronger than the law enforcement and as we have seen recently it got strong enough to ruin everything you've ever worked for. Credit should be given to everyone who is willing to stand up against the corruption that holds us back.
hernandez still paying Juan Montoya $400 a month? Must be.
ReplyDeleteThe current state of brownsville can be credited to decades of corrupt democratic leadership. The citizens of bville, both legal and illegal, identify themselves with the mexican culture rather than the United States. Corruption is the norm, not the exception along the border.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with your first sentence as someone who almost always vote democrat. But the rest is BS. I travel and work all over the country, corruption is the norm. A U.S. Senator from NY is currently under a criminal trial for bribes. Abramhoff corrupted so many Anglo Republicans. Dallas and FTW are major bastions of corruption.In NY the township where my neice the county government calls Crookhaven instead of Brookhaven. It is mostly upoer middle class and upper class Anglos. I give you the Democrats and will put a blank ballot in the box in november 2018. But you need to get out to see just how bad the corruption really is in this country. You have heard of Chicago and Washington DC right?
ReplyDelete