The Pachuco has been an enduring icon from the American Southwest. His dress, the Zoot suit imported from Black culture with its “high-waisted, wide-legged, tied-cuffed pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders” was the symbol of rebellion that invited abuse in the downtown streets of our cities.
The Pachuco attraction comes from a historical character that personified an outsider, neither Mexican nor American, with its own language and exaggerated way of life. Part of the Pachuco personality was tied to the use of marijuana as a continued expression of differentiation.
Pachuco delinquency included deliberate exposure to violence especially by authorities. This was their way of taking responsibility for a human condition of their own making.
In our day and age, taking responsibility for the purchase and use of drugs of all kinds appears to be seen as making one look like a bad person in a world that is supposedly good. That does not jive with the notion on the part of many that the nature of a fast-moving and complicated environment full of enemies forces a search for relief in drugs.
In other words, according to this notion, it is not the purchaser and user that is blamed, rather, it is a condition created by someone else. It is the cartel, the drug trafficker, the drug vendor.
Politicians run with this because it is easier to blame others than face our shortcomings. We have seen it in other circumstances like blaming the upstart women that are becoming our leaders, the voices of minorities that are getting louder, the immigrants that come to work and the lower echelons of society.
Donald Trump who was elected in 2016 began his campaign doing just that. According to him, voiceless immigrants from Mexico were contaminating the United States with drugs and other things.
It is true that Mexican cartels are supplying Americans with drugs of every kind because the customers and consumers demand it and have lots of money to pay for them. However, the cartels would not exist if people stopped the illegal abuse or change the laws so they can do their powder or pills in comfort.
It was Al Capone who said, “When I sell liquor, it’s bootlegging. When my patrons serve it in a silver tray on Lakeshore Drive it’s hospitality.”
Perhaps we can consider working to either change the laws or get the rich, middle-class and poor drug consumers and addicts off drug dependency. Perhaps we need to go more forcefully against the causes of drug use.
In Mexico, the government has decided that drug trafficking is America’s problem. They have also decided to attack the lack of economic opportunities that have driven their youth to the cartels.
To do this, the government is requiring corporations to pay their taxes, something that many had found a way to avoid. They are using part of that revenue to offer scholarships for attendance at every level of the educational system, including universities.
The drug culture is, in large part, an American invention. Therefore, it is for our country to find a way out of this dilemma. We experienced this type of situation during Prohibition and its accompanying era of corruption. Illicit drugs and drug trafficking is creating a similar period of scapegoating, blaming others, political gamesmanship and corruption.
To begin to solve the drug problem in this country, we should stop blaming others, whether it is people or countries. We should take a moment and look in the mirror.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
