In 1966 a Tucson AZ report at a conference of the National Education Association task force on education in the Southwest described the Latino community as an “invisible minority.” The powerful publication along with the United States Office of Civil Rights reports on teacher expectations of Latino children in the schools helped to spark a national effort to make Bilingual Education a priority.
These activities reinforced the development of the Chicano Movement that sought social, economic and political change in the country. Most of all, the Movement was about forging space in the national landscape so that the community could find place and partnership in the pursuit of our American destiny.
The rebuilding of ethnic pride and the image of uniqueness formed the inner part of the search for a living identity. The challenge was to take a course of action that would wipe away the clutter of a confused world condition and manifest again an image that had been buried by history.
Throughout the process however, the community never saw itself in any way other than as a minority looking for equality within the context of the Constitution. The will of the majority was always the point of departure to advocate adjustment to our social contract.
What happens however, when certain elements of the majority go on a grievance path and seek to reassert the civil rights they already enjoy? We can only characterize something like that as an overkill that creates institutional confusion and instability.
August 15, 2017 saw demonstrations by regimented White groups in Charlottesville, Virginia that sought to violently reverse a decision to remove the statue of General Robert E. Lee. While this type of intervention has been part of our historical reality, it is what happened next that changed the nature of its meaning.
The action found a champion in the President of the United States who expressed sympathy for the actions despite the fact that they were violent and had caused a death. The “some very fine people” comment by President Trump implied that the racist oriented groups he supported were in their right to do what they did. This set the tone for the Trump years in the White House as his rallies featured symbols of the Confederacy and the presence of the guardians of White superiority. The loss of the presidency at the ballot box seemed to accelerate a kind of violent civil rights movement by Trump followers that got as far as invading the Capitol in the fashion of the Boston Tea Party against the British and more in order to overthrow a presidential election.
It appears that the same tone is continuing in the cam- paigns for the midterm elections and the farther away 2024 contest for president. For example, the former President’s last major speech in Arizona doubled down on this very concept. When speaking of COVID he said: “The left is now rationing lifesaving therapeutics based on race, discrimination against and denigrating, just denigrating, white people to determine who lives and who dies. If you’re white you don’t get the vaccine or if you’re white you don’t get therapeutics.”
This says it all. The advocacy for White rights is a clear appeal to a type of civil rights structure that amounts to tyranny because to advocate for something you already have is more a message of exclusivity.
America is changing and the fear of losing something in the process can lead to wrong choices. This is one of them.
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of la Voz bilingüe. Comments and responses may be directed to news@lavozcolorado.com.
