From the blog of Luis J. Rodriguez–www.luisjrodriguez.com/blog

It will be thirty seven years today after the Chicano Moratorium against the Viet Nam War was first held in East Los Angeles — at the time the largest anti-war demonstration in a community of color in the country. Some 30,000 people came from all over Los Angeles, the Southwest, and other parts of the country to proclaim, “Ya Basta”–that’s enough. It also became the scene of one of the worse police abuse cases in the country when LA County sheriff’s deputies attacked the mostly peaceful crowd at Laguna Park, enacting hundreds of arrests, causing hundreds of injuries, and resulting in at least three dead. One of those killed was Chicano reporter Ruben Salazar — the only national media voice Chicanos had at the time.

This was as significant as the murders of anti-war protestors by National Guardsmen at Kent State University in Ohio and Jackson State University in South Carolina earlier that year of 1970.

I was sixteen years old at the time. I was a gang member, a heroin (and other drugs) user, and quite lost. Still I took part in the march and protest. This demonstration awakened me to the vital struggle for justice, peace, and the possibilities of a new society, something I had only glimpsed at but never really understood. I didn’t expect to be taken in by this–I had only come to party. Soon I got swept up in the chants, the songs, the ardor for revolutionary change.

I was also one of the cholos arrested early on in the so-called riot that ensued. Hundreds were arrested, but the cholos (at the time, cholo meant Chicano gang member) were separated from the others, held in different facilities, and held for much longer than other protestors. Eventually I was placed into two adult jails (even though I was a juvenile), including the murderer’s row of the old Hall of Justice jail in downtown LA. I had a cell next to Charles Manson. The reason: we were threatened with possible charges in the murders of those who died in the rioting. Of course, they really couldn’t charge us for this. But the punishment was what they were after. I was placed in a cell with two murderers — one of whom put a razor blade to my neck. But I stood up to them, as I had learned to do from my many years in the streets (since the age of seven I had been stealing, and since 11, I had been in a gang), and I survived. I was even involved in a lightweight cellblock disturbance when we heard that Ruben Salazar had been killed.

I was eventually released — but I was never the same after this. It took me another two to three years, but I eventually left the gang, the drugs, and the jails to dedicate myself to revolutionary study, organizing, and action. In a few more years, I committed myself to becoming a writer. I’ve learned a lot since then, but the initial spark of my own purposeful life had been during the Chicano Moratorium.

This year, more than 35 years later, we are still at war. This year we must protest the US role in Iraq and Afghanistan — we are not winning anything over there, but we are losing many of our men and women (and many more civilians).

Tomorrow we must protest these wars. We have not stopped terrorism — in fact, terrorism around the world has increased since we first invaded Iraq. We cannot win a war against terror with more terror. That’s a lesson we seem to have not learned in more than thirty years. There are many ways to protest — the Internet is one of those places. If the streets still call you then join with others as much as you can against these wars that only really benefit the rich and powerful among us (it’s the working class poor, of all colors, who are dying in Iraq).

Use poetry, song, dance, film, and story. But do something. In concert with others. With millions. With dignity. With creativity. And with all the moral authority we can muster. No more dead for Bush/Cheney or the ruling class of thieves they represent. Ya Basta!

From the weblog of Luis J. Rodriguez:

All good things must come to an end. Today, I ended my week of guest hosting on the Front Page talk show with Dominique Di Prima on KJLH-102.3 FM. It was a wonderful experience. According to Dominique, I was the first Latino guest host on the show. I commend her and KJLH for having me and allowing me this opportunity to speak on some crucial issues confronting both the African American and Mexican/Latino community.

Yesterday, I was able to address key concerns about Black & Brown unity—including the value of working together when the interests of our communities converge. It’s not about unity for unity’s sake. We have common issues of poverty, bad schools, bad police relations, gangs, domestic abuse, disproportionate health problems, and disproportionate rates in prisons. We cannot move fully forward in these areas unless we forge important strategic aims and actions mutually beneficial to both communities.

It must be a principled and purposeful unity, not a makeshift or superficial one.

I’ve had a lifetime of working in this area. Including from living in South Central LA as a child, then working on police abuse actions with people like Michael Zinzun, may he rest in peace, to the coalition for Harold Washington for Mayor in Chicago (I lived there from 1985 until 2000), and the work I’ve currently done for many years with gang intervention/prevention and street peace, particularly in Chicago and LA.

Even now, as we move to bring developmental and policy changes in the poor working class community of Pacoima in the Northeast San Fernando Valley, which has a large Mexican/Latino population and a significant African American population, I’m involved in a Community Benefits Agreement process with the old Price Pfister Brass Foundry site that is slated to become a new mall/park/community gathering place. I’m also working through Tia Chucha’s Bookstore and Cultural Center to bring in more diverse aesthetics to our current workshop, events, and cultural expressions with African Americans as well as other communities.

Today, we had Marqueese Dawson Hawkins of the Community Coalition in studio to speak on the Coalition’s work in South Los Angeles concerning the lack of clean and adequate grocery stores (many that came in after the 1992 Civil Unrest have now left), school exit exams, and more. The Coalition has had an organic Black and Brown organizing process since its inception.

Historically Mexicans and Central Americans (who are mostly of indigenous descent) and African Americans have a long history of slavery, peonage, colonialism, and capitalist exploitation. We have more in common as far as working for the advancement of economic, social, and cultural well being than differences. I understand that there is a lot of ignorance, prejudice, and fear in both communities about each other. I have condemned the racially-based attacks against Blacks by Latinos in Los Angeles and elsewhere, and whenever this happens to Latinos from Blacks. There is already enough hate in this world—I personally don’t want to contribute any more or do anything to perpetuate it.

In addition, Mexicans have African ties from when the Spanish first brought African slaves to Mexico in the 1500s. The Native population of Mexico was greatly and quickly decimated by wars, hunger, tortures, and disease. The Valley of Mexico—the most populous area in the hemisphere before the Spanish arrived—had an estimated 25 million inhabitants when Cortez and his conquistadors first set foot there in 1519. In 50 years, only 2.5 million survived. In fact, most of the continent lost from 80 to 95 percent of their populations shortly after the Europeans came. The Spanish numbers reached a height of 150,000 during the colonial period; African slaves were believed to number around 300,000. In addition, some 100,000 Malaysians (from the Spanish colonies of the Philippines and other Asian areas) were also brought in.

In fact, Mexico had the first recorded African slave uprising in the Americas in 1546. Later rebellious slaves established the first free African pueblo in the Western Hemisphere in 1609. It was called Yanga, located in the present-day state of Vera Cruz, Mexico.

A leader of the Mexican war of independence from Spain in 1820 was Vicente Ramon Guerrero—an African-Mexican. He also became Mexico’s second president (Benito Juarez, of Zapoteca Indian, became the first full-blooded native president in the 1860s). And then Mexico eventually lost Texas and later half of its national territory in the US invasion of 1848 after Mexico refused to return runaway slaves to US slave masters after Mexico had abolished slavery in the 1820s.

Still, with all this history, the remaining native population of Mexico is the main root and source of the Mexican character and makeup. Today there are 240 native languages in Mexico. Many of the newer so-called immigrants are coming from highly Native areas of central and southern Mexico, including tribal members of Mayans, Huicholes, Raramuri, Yaquis, Mixtecos, Zapotecas, and more. There are an estimated 2 million full-blooded Mayans in the US, almost as many as the whole Native American population (believed to number 3 million, with a majority of mixed blood). Many of these tribal peoples don’t even speak Spanish, let alone English.

Now things have turned on their heads. Now the brown-red indigenous peoples of these lands, with connections here that go back tens of thousands of years, have become the “foreigners,” “immigrants” and “illegals”—mostly by people of European descent who have only been in the US areas a little more than 300 years. This is how man-made and superficial borders, created by conquerors, colonialists and capitalists, have now determined who we are, our relationships, and who we unite with and who we fight with.

To find out more about this history, the racial/cultural make up of Mexico, and the African American/Mexican/Native connections, please look up the following publications:

Occupied America by Rudy Acuna
Anything but Mexican by Rudy Acuna
The Fifth Sun by James Russell
The American Holocaust by David Stannard
1491 by Charles Mann
Cycles of Conquest by Edward Spicer
Indian Givers by Jack Weatherford

This is a beginning list. There are so many great books and articles that spell out our common historical, cultural and strategic ties. On the World Wide Web, there are now many sites and informational links. It’s important for all of us to be armed with knowledge, books, history, and stories as we move forward to better all of our communities.

I also recommend, to those who are interested, to visit the website of Xispas Magazine; I am a co-founder and now editor of this online Chicano magazine. You can check it out at www.xispas.com.

A’ho.

The United American Indians of New England (UAINE), is a Native-led organization of Native people and their supporters who battle against racism and support Indigenous struggles - not only in New England but throughout the Americas. They have organized against the Pilgrim mythology perpetuated in Plymouth and protested the use of racist team names and mascots in sports. In 1970, United American Indians of New England declared US Thanksgiving Day a National Day of Mourning. In the words of UAINE activists;

“The first official ‘Day of Thanksgiving’ was proclaimed in 1637 by Governor Winthrop. He did so to celebrate the safe return of men from Massachusetts who had gone to Mystic, Connecticut to participate in the massacre of over 700 Pequot women, children, and men. About the only true thing in the whole mythology is that these pitiful European strangers would not have survived their first several years in ‘New England’ were it not for the aid of Wampanoag people. What Native people got in return for this help was genocide, theft of our lands, and never-ending repression.”

Over the years, participants in the National Day of Mourning have buried Plymouth Rock a number of times and boarded the Mayflower replica - placing ku klux klan sheets on the statue of William Bradford. The Indigenous people’s tradition of mourning on ‘Thanksgiving Day’ continues, and this year will be the 37th annual National Day of Mourning. A march and protest has been called for Nov. 23rd, 2006, to take place on Cole’s Hill, directly above Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, MA. UAINE activists have released a statement regarding the event:2006 National Day of Mourning:

Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered at noon on Cole’s Hill in Plymouth to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the US thanksgiving holiday. Many Native Americans do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. Thanksgiving day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, and the relentless assault on Native culture. Participants in National Day of Mourning honor Native ancestors and the struggles of Native peoples to survive today. It is a day of remembrance and spiritual connection as well as a protest of the racism and oppression which Native Americans continue to experience. Join us as we dedicate the 37th National Day of Mourning to our brother, Native political prisoner Leonard Peltier. Add your voice to the millions world-wide who demand his freedom. Help us in our struggle to create a true awareness of Native peoples and demonstrate the unity of Indigenous peoples internationally. Help shatter the untrue glass image of the Pilgrims and the unjust system based on racism, sexism, homophobia and war.

Since 1970, the National Day of Mourning has been a solemn, spiritual and highly political day. While most of us will not be able to travel to Plymouth Rock to join with our Indigenous sisters and brothers - we can still offer our support. Show your solidarity with the first people’s of this land, by joining them in fasting and prayer. Since it is a time when families and friends gather, take the opportunity to rededicate ‘Thanksgiving’ to all Indigenous peoples - acknowledging their humanity, bravery and contributions to civilization [ You can read more about UAINE at their website - www.uaine.org ]