Teaching and learning at the Wisconsin Book Festival

Two back-to-back workshops I co-hosted at the Wisconsin Book Festival on Saturday, October 22 were opportunities for me to share the knowledge I gathered while researching my novels -- and to learn from those attending the sessions and sharing the podium with me.

My co-host Mario Garcia-Sierra (last row, right) brought a group of Latino teens for a spirited session that covered history, current events and their personal dreams for the future.

The first workshop, Voices of Immigration, was co-hosted by community activist Mario Garcia-Sierra. The session encouraged Latino teens in the Madison area to nurture their dreams while coping with the challenges they will encounter in a society that often marginalizes them.

During the second workshop, I shared the podium with Professor Ruben Medina from the University of Wisconsin. 

The second workshop, Voices from the Border, gave a primarily mainstream audience two diverse perspective of the Latino experience. Professor Ruben Medina, chair of the Spanish and Portuguese department at the University of Wisconsin, read from his evocative and often sardonic poems. In contrast was the social commentary presented by my novels set in the thriller genre.

The Wisconsin Book Festival took place at numerous venues for over 200 authors in Madison.  

I want to thank the Wisconsin Book Festival for inviting me -- and the opportunity to teach and learn. The Festival team has done a marvelous job with the project, now in its tenth year. The carefully orchestrated event reflected the many, many hours spent in organizing dozens of venues for over 200 authors. I hope the Festival planners are proud of their work. I am certainly proud to be have taken part.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Political Theater At Its Worst

In 1963, before the cameras of the national media, Governor George Wallace struck a belligerent pose at the entrance to the University of Alabama to block the admittance of two African-American students. The governor's high-profile political theater came to a dramatic final act as President John F. Kennedy federalized the Alabama National Guard who escorted students Vivian Malone and James Hood into the school. His role in the kabuki drama complete, Governor Wallace stepped aside, having fulfilled his campaign promise: "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever."

Shortly after the announced release of Alabama's punitive new law targeting unauthorized immigrants, a federal judge in Birmingham has temporarily halted the ordinance. The authors of this law knew full well their legislation would be challenged in federal court. Sadly for the residents of an ailing Alabama, they will bear the brunt of legal costs for a law that will do little to improve their lot in life even if it were approved intact by the federal courts.

The paucity of need for this draconian law only proves its real intent: to scapegoat a minority as a distraction to real problems. Alabama ranks 31st among states in estimated number of undocumented immigrants. The total number of undocumented workers in Alabama is 120,000 or approximately 5% of the state's labor force according to the Pew Hispanic Center. At the same time, Alabama is a perennial cellar dweller in most social indices measuring health, education and poverty. The state is hardly a magnet for migration of any kind.

Like Governor Wallace's political posturing in 1963, this new law is another grandstand play pandering for the votes of the fearful, ignorant and insecure. The many fine people of conscience in Alabama will have to live down another act of political theater that will one day be as reviled as Governor Wallace's shameful 1963 performance.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Alabama joins the Hall of Shame -- again

The state of Alabama where Governor George Wallace once proudly claimed "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever," has enacted the nation's harshest anti-immigrant law, keeping alive a shameful tradition of unvarnished prejudice.

Anyone who doubts this law is little more than legislated prejudice should consider this: The total number of undocumented workers in Alabama is 120,000 or approximately 5% of the state's labor force according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Alabama ranks 31st among states in estimated number of undocumented immigrants. Moreover, unauthorized immigration has declined sharply across the U.S. since the mid-decade. So this is hardly a pressing economic or social issue in Alabama. This is about stoking xenophobia for political gain. 

The new Alabama law gives legal precendence to a widely spread nativist myth: It makes working without a visa a crime. In truth, working without "papers" is not a felony or even a misdemeanor. It is a civil violation, like jaywalking or simple speeding. 

But that inconvenient truth has not stopped Alabama's legislators from wading into the filthy pit of bigotry in hopes of pandering votes from the ignorant and hateful. 

According to the New York Times, the law "effectively makes it a crime to be an undocumented immigrant in Alabama, by criminalizing working, renting a home and failing to comply with federal registration laws that are largely obsolete. It nullifies any contracts when one party is an undocumented immigrant. It requires the police to check the papers of people they suspect to be here illegally.

The new regime does not spare American citizens. Businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants will lose their licenses. Public school officials will be required to determine students’ immigration status and report back to the state. Anyone knowingly “concealing, harboring or shielding” an illegal immigrant could be charged with a crime, say for renting someone an apartment or driving her to church or the doctor."

Unfortunately, it's likely we will see more of these laws. Arizona, Utah, Indiana and Georgia have already joined the Hall of Shame and passed similar hate-mongering legislation. At a time when we should be recognizing and embracing our diversity, many mainstream Americans are building barricades to protect what they mistakenly perceive as a threat to their primacy. 

This knee-jerk reaction has been repeated numerous times throughout U.S. history. Beginning with Benjamin Franklin's tirades against the newly-arriving Germans in Pennsylvannia, through the hatred and violence heaped on subsequent immigrant groups from Ireland, Italy and Eastern Europe, everytime the U.S. foreign born population tops ten percent, it spawns a round of nativist backlash. 

Perhaps most astonishing is the consistency of the nativist laments. Without fail, each newly-arriving group is accused of being unwilling to assimilate, of breeding faster than the native born, and of bringing disease, crime and corruption. 

Sadly, it seems we will suffer through another shameful spasm of fear and hatred once again.  

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Is the turmoil in England a glimpse into our own future?

The roots of the turmoil in England are a combination of demographics, an economic downturn and short-sighted government policies. The U.S. is potentially headed for a similar perfect storm and the rapidly growing Latino youth population will likely be at the center of it.

One quarter of the children under 18 in the U.S. today are Latinos. It is not hard to imagine that generation reaching their late teens and early twenties alienated by prejudice directed against the undocumented (which by extension tars all Latinos). Should the economy continue to tank, this growing number of young people will find themselves frustrated and bored, another volatile element. Finally, without humane government policies which seek to nurture our human resources rather than condemn the less fortunate, they will be left wiith little hope or opportunity.

What we are seeing in England could be a glimpse of our own future -- unless we act sensibly and humanely.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

The idea of a National Latino Museum stirs bigotry -- and demonstrates its need

The public comments to a recent New York Times editorial segment debating the need for a National Latino Museum quickly descended into predictable xenophobic diatribes. Here are just a few examples:

"...it's inherently racist in and of itself, towards a mostly white population who rightly regard the immigration epidemic from south of the border as a national crisis. "


"Next someone will propose a museum to illegal immigrants."


"What have latinos done to contribute anything to the US. I'll tell you. Nothing, nada. They pour over our borders, pump their women full of new born babies who instantly become US citizens just because they were born here."


"...while there have been some contributions [by Latinos to U.S. society], they are not substantial enough to warrant any major mention within the whole."


"It is unfortunate that the majority of Hispanic contributions are in the area of pop culture."

Seeing the overt ignorance and bigotry toward Latinos in these comments (and in countless other venues) along with the confusing ideas of what "Hispanic" really means is ample evidence that we need a National Latino museum.

To begin with, Latino or Hispanic is not a race. In fact, it's an identity that exists solely within the borders of the United States. The only "official" definition of Hispanic is that of the U.S. Census Bureau. It clearly states Hispanics may be "persons of any race." Yet, every day the media carries reports that divide the U.S. into four quasi-racial categories: White, Black, Asian and Hispanic. Examining each of these in detail only underscores their absurdity.

White: People with similar phenotypes with origins from a vast number of countries speaking different languages

Hispanic: People with a vast variety of phenotypes with origins from Spanish-speaking countries

Asian: People with similar phenotypes from nations speaking different languages -- except for those from India who have completely different phenotypes but are still included as Asian.

Black: Anyone who has a single ancestor of Sub-Saharan African descent, regardless of any other ancestry -- except when the ancestor is from a Spanish-speaking nation, which then makes them Hispanic.

At one time, Jews, Irish, Italians and even Germans were considered "non-white" in North America. Today, all these groups have lost their outsider status and have been transformed into "whites".

If properly curated, a National Latino Museum would help dispel many of the myths surrounding the Hispanic identity and reduce mainstream fears of becoming a minority. We need to know more about who Hispanics really are -- not less. Because there is one fact we all agree on: The people labeled Latinos will soon be a significant portion of the United States.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Teacher calms kindergarten students as bullets fly outside

On May 27 in Monterrey, Mexico a gunfight between rival cartels erupted in the street outside the kindergarten class taught by Martha Rivera Alinas. As they had been trained, the teacher and the children took refuge on the floor.

With the sounds of automatic weapons shattering the air, Martha calmed her frightened pre-school students, reassuring them with terms of endearment and leading them in a song.

"Nothing bad is going to happen here, precious ones," Martha told the class. "Put your little faces on the floor."

Five people were killed in the shootout outside. Thanks in no small part to the steady reaction of this teacher, none of the children were hurt.

Someone once said courage is grace under pressure. That could not be more true of Martha Rivera Alanis. Moments like these reminds us that for every ruthless cartel gunman there are many more decent, caring souls like this brave teacher.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Social Media resurrected story about Marine slain by AZ SWAT team

The shooting death of Jose Guerena at the hands of a Pima Regional SWAT team happened on May 5. At first, the Sheriff's office reported that some of the SWAT team members had seen muzzle flashes and claimed Jose Guerena fired first. This was later proved false. Four days after the questionable killing, details of the incident were sealed by a judge, barring any further investigation. The story appeared to fade.

But late last week, the story hit critical mass on social media sites. Using Twitter, Facebook and hundreds of blogs across the U.S., outraged citizens asked for answers, unwilling to accept the apparent cover-up of the facts by the Pima County Sheriff's office. Yesterday, the Sheriff's office released over 500 pages of documents and a video that attempts to exonerate their actions on May 5th. Today, the major news sources listed below are covering the Jose Guerena story. Hopefully, more will soon follow.

ABC News

Fox News

CNN

New York Daily News

Forbes

I applaud everyone on social media who spoke out. You helped shed the light of justice into this case. But this is not the time to let up. We need to press for a federal investigation. This questionable incident demands that unbiased outside observers examine the actions of the Pima Regional SWAT team on May 5th.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

Why was Latino Former Marine shot 60 times by Arizona SWAT team?

Another Latino has been shot dead in an Arizona home invasion – and the national media is once again ignoring the story. It happened on May 5 and the news is only now surfacing outside the Arizona media through citizen journalism on blogs, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

According to the Arizona Daily Star...

Jose Guerena, 26, a former Marine, was sleeping after the graveyard shift at Asarco Mission mine about 9:30 a.m. when his wife woke him saying she heard noises outside and a man was at their window. Guerena told his wife to hide in a closet with their 4-year-old son, his wife has said. He grabbed an AR-15 rifle and moments later was slumped in the kitchen, mortally wounded from a hail of gunfire.

Jose was shot 60 times by members of the Pima Regional SWAT team. His bullet riddled body was found by his wife Vanessa and their four-year-old son, Joel.  “Mom, my dad was a bad guy? What did my dad do?'" asked Joel according to Vanessa. Her desperate 911 call to save her husband’s life was recorded on a chilling YouTube video.

The explanation by the Pima County Sheriff’s office for the home invasion has changed since the May 5 shooting. First reports by the Sheriff’s office were that the SWAT team’s mission was to break up a suspected drug ring and that Jose fired his weapon before the SWAT team fired back. That story was later reversed when it was discovered the safety on Jose's AR-15 was still locked. The motive for the SWAT team’s mission was then changed by the Sheriff’s office, which now says that "someone in the home" had been suspected of a connection with a home invasion robbery ring. The search warrant and court documents that would reveal what the SWAT team was looking for in Guerena's home have been sealed by a judge and are unavailable to the public.

No drugs, cash or criminal evidence of any kind were found in the home. Neither Jose nor his wife Vanessa has a criminal record.  In an attempt to discredit Guerena’s character, a lawyer for the AZCOPS law-enforcement union, Michael Storie, told the media that rifles, handguns, body armor and a portion of a law-enforcement uniform were found inside the house where Jose Guerena was shot. However, Storie was forced to admit that if SWAT members had entered the home without incident, those inside "probably ... wouldn't have been arrested."

Ironically, Pima County Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik was highly critical of right wing talk radio following the Tucson shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in January, saying that Arizona had become "a mecca for prejudice and bigotry" thanks to the “vitriol” spread by far-right pundits.  Sheriff Dupnik is now stonewalling requests for more details about the case but implied Guerena should not have resisted.

Although virtually ignored by the national media, most Latinos in Arizona know about the 2009 home invasion by Shawna Forde and her Minutemen accomplices posing as Border Patrol agents that led to the shooting death of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father. So it’s not surprising José Guerena would have reached for his rifle to defend his family.

Jose served two tours of duty as a decorated Marine in Iraq. He returned from service no doubt grateful to have survived the firefights in that war-torn nation. In a cruel twist of fate, he would die in a hail of bullets in his own home.

This tragic story is shocking and sad. Sadder still is that this tragedy has found no "bounce" in the national media. Had this two-hitch Iraq veteran been named Grady instead of Guerena, I think it would have made headlines across the country.

No federal investigation of the actions by the Pima County SWAT team is planned at this time. And without any significant national media coverage of this questionable incident, that is likely how it will remain. 

Raul Ramos y Sanchez

A review of “Black in Latin America” Episode Four

Episode four of “Black in Latin America” by Harvard’s Henry Louis Gates, Jr. focuses on the identity and history of those of Sub-Saharan African descent in Mexico and Peru. Like the previous three episodes in this breakthrough series, Dr. Gates takes viewers into new territory for most in the United States.  For those of us who have been swimming against the powerful tide of Latino stereotypes in the U.S. media, the series is a welcome counter-current.

With a focus on Mexico and Peru, episode four of the series traces the African ancestry in two nations where even many Latinos are unaware of the existence of people with African roots. While this episode accomplished its mission in raising awareness of the black presence in these nations, the historical background was covered in very broad strokes and lacked nuance, understandable in a 51-minute documentary.

One of the most salient features of episode four takes place in the Costa Chica region which Dr. Gates reports as Mexico “blackest” population center.  As we watch footage of the locals, it’s much more difficult to find people whose outward appearance indicates Sub-Saharan African ancestry than, say, Brazil or Cuba.  No mention of this phenomenon is made by Dr. Gates nor is any explanation given. This scarcity of African phenotypes seems especially striking as Dr. Gates accurately reports that nearly a half-million African slaves were imported into Mexico until 1833 when slavery was abolished. Here is where a greater insight into Latin American history would have helped.

Spanish colonization of the Americas stands in sharp contrast to that of the English. The Spaniards began colonizing the Americas nearly a century earlier than the English. More significantly, Spaniards were looking for the largest – and wealthiest – concentrations of native people to conquer and convert to their religion. After exploring the Caribbean along with North and South America, the Spanish conquistadores found these prizes in the civilizations of the Aztecs in Mexico and the Incas of Peru. In 1521 Hernan Cortes overthrew the Aztec rulers in Mexico, setting the pattern for a society consisting of large numbers of indigenous people dominated by a minority of Europeans.  Cortes was soon copied by Francisco Pizarro with the Incas in Peru in 1533. These historical facts explain why Sub-Saharan phenotypes are less prevalent in Mexico despite its importation of over 500,000 African slaves. The reason is sheer numbers.

Unlike Cuba, Brazil and other Latin American regions where indigenous populations were sparse (and further decimated by European diseases), the genes of a half-million African slaves were absorbed into the millions of Native American people living in Mexico. Today, the descendants of those Mexican slaves are much more genetically mixed than in many other parts of Latin America.

English colonists, arriving along the coast of North America because it was the shortest route from England across the Atlantic, typically came in family groups from all walks of life. Unlike the Spanish conquistadors who were mostly single men, the English had little use for the indigenous people as sources of brides or labor. What the English wanted most from the natives was their land. As a result, Native Americans were pushed westward through war and treaties by racially-segregated Anglo communities. Later, as lucrative plantation crops like tobacco, rice and cotton increased the demand for cheap labor, the English colonists entered the African slave trade on a large scale. This was the basis of the black-white racial dichotomy that would become the norm in the U.S. until late in the twentieth century. It is against this yardstick that Dr. Gates often measures race relations in Latin America during the series. This preconception is one of the shortcomings of the series.

Another recurring weakness marring “Black in Latin America” is an abundance of mistakes in cultural references. Throughout the series there are errors in indentifying music, places and food. In addition, Dr. Gates often slaughters Spanish pronunciations, something which could have been easily avoided with the help of a consultant. In truth, there are other U.S. scholars of African descent who are fluent in Spanish as well as Portuguese and have a much deeper understanding of Afro-Latino history and culture who might have been better hosts for the series. (Dr. Franklin W. Knight of Johns Hopkins University comes to mind.) 

All the same, “Black in Latin America” is a landmark television event. Dr. Gates has used his considerable media acumen to help enlighten the U.S. public about a topic woefully ignored. I hope the series is the start of a growing awareness and discussion about the diversity of Latinos, our African roots, and the racism that still haunts all the nations of the Americas.


Raul Ramos y Sanchez 

Bon Voyage! (Please leave your possessions for the needy).

For those leaving by way of Rapture today … Bon Voyage! 

Before you go, though, I’d like to make a small request. You see, those of us who will be hanging around here on earth could use some of those worldly possessions you won’t need as you ascend into heaven—particularly the needy.

So instead of giving any more of your cash to the likes of Harold Camping (who will be leading you into heaven), how about you make some last minute cash donations to charity? It is the Christian thing to do, after all.

If you don’t have a favorite charity, Charity Navigator is great source for finding charities you can trust. Or just invite your neighbors in to take whatever they want from your home. With all the earthquakes, floods and whatnot we can expect back here on earth, every little bit will help.   

Thanks and have a pleasant trip.