Leaders from 24 Latin American countries, including Spain and Portugal, criticized the U.S. for plans to build a 700-mile wall along the Mexican border. The Ibero-American summit expressed “deep concern” about the wall, and urged Washington to reconsider. [Read the full story here]

By Mikey Velarde

In El Paso, TX, on June 17, Ken Muise, head of the Texas Border Regulators of Fabens, debated former LULAC president, Belen Robles, concerning issues of border security and “illegal” immigration. Both agreed that increasing the former would “solve” the latter. Robles, however, disapproved of vigilantes and watch groups, explaining, “it is the duty of the government to secure our borders.” After the two concluded their speeches, the floor was opened to questions and comments.

When some audience members claimed that the Minutemen were racist, and by extension the TBR, Muise passionately responded. First, they are not a Texas chapter of the Minutemen, he said, but rather, just a “splinter-group” modeled after them. Second, he contested, “Anytime a group or an individual for that matter opposes the interests of a minority group, the first term they use is ‘racist.’ I object to that in the strongest terms.” Third, “We are not a racist organization. We are just simply a group of Americans who are interested in protecting our borders, which has not been done in forty years.” (From where he got this figure, I’m still not certain, since the U.S. in operational terms has never “controlled” its border.)

After all, “I don’t think you can afford to be a racist in the Southwest,” he said.

In response, someone wondered if there are any similar groups patrolling the Canadian border, and why people are so obsessed with the Mexican one. Muise explained that “reports of terrorist cells” have been circulating, and that terrorists can assimilate more easily in Mexico than Canada.

On that note, I inquired as to why exactly he thought so. “Well, terrorists look like Mexicans,” he asserted very matter-of-factly, “I mean, I can’t tell ‘em apart… It’s hard to tell the difference.” Several TBR supporters agreed. (As if “Saudi Arabians,” as one woman mentioned, or all Middle Eastern people, were terrorists. As if all Mexicans looked like them. And, as if terrorism for that matter was limited to an appearance – to a shade of brown.)

“And that’s not racist,” I retorted.

In a poor attempt to regain his footing in the argument, Muise asked rhetorically, “Is profiling really all that… all as bad as it’s cracked up to be?” To his surprise, several voices shouted, yes. One white woman – presumably from a mixed family – gave a chilling account of her moreno brother’s history of repeated abuse, from constantly being asked for his I.D. to getting his arm broken by racist cops. An older Xicano, reaffirmed this, telling of how bad he was treated while serving in the military.

Of course, Muise, nor any of his gung-ho compatriots could ever counter such testimonies. This is due, in part, to the fact that white folk are completely detached from the “debate,” and the consequences of its outcome. Their families, by and large, are not the ones being destroyed by deportation. Their mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends and other relatives are not the ones frying out in the desert, spilling blood on the fences, nor drowning in the river. Their citizenship and lives are not dependent on which side of the line they appear to be from. (Admittedly, those white people fighting for immigrant rights realize this.)

When Muise argued that he and his organization are simply just “Americans interested in protecting our borders,” and when he declared he cannot tell the difference between the stereotyped image of a terrorist and the stereotyped image of a Mexican, all he really did was lead me to doubt that all border watch groups – especially the Minutemen – were not just a bunch of racists… because, after hearing all that, It’s hard to tell ‘em apart.

Mikey Velarde was born and raised in El Paso, TX. He studies Latin American Latino/a Studies at Vassar College, and is also the Photography Curator and an occasional writer for Newspapertree.com. He can be reached @ mivelarde@vassar.edu.

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ & PATRISIA GONZALES
JUNE 19, 2006

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the body count continues to pile up daily. Meanwhile, the Minutemen patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and shameless politicians find it easy to denounce illegal immigration as the cause of all the nation’s problems – including linking it with “the war on terror.”

Amidst all the clatter, the only views not being heard are the ones that matter most. Thus here, we bring you a truly historic column, featuring the views of the nation’s only non-immigrants: American Indians:

“The immigration issues are many and are so very complex; however, we cannot have a productive dialogue about anything when we begin the conversation, thinking it is “us against them” or when the ‘truth’ is only half true or we only use rhetoric to back our claims. We can’t resolve any of these complex issues if we label our neighbor as an “immigrant” and not as a relative, friend or human”
–Nadine Tafoya, friend and colleague, Mescalero Apache, Salt River Pima, Maricopa

“I feel that as Native Peoples of the Americas, we have the right to be anywhere on this continent as we have for generations. To hear people telling my relatives that they are ‘illegal aliens’ and criminals and to get out of our own land is very disturbing!”
–Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, PhD, President/Director, The Takini Network

“Indigenous peoples haven’t known any borders. Colonial borders are new. It’s ironic that essentially white men of privilege who created the category of white - that it is they who determine who gets permitted into our lands.”
–Winona LaDuke, founding director, White Earth Land Recovery Project

“From the point of view of the laws of the indigenous nations of North America, the Europeans are the original illegal immigrants in the area of North America. The United States has for more than 200 years methodically and militarily violated indigenous law, and even solemn treaties, in order to take over and occupy the vast majority of the lands of Indigenous nations and peoples. It is hypocritical in the extreme for the people of the United States to now pretend that it is paragon of virtue, and a country that has always conducted itself on the basis of the rule of law.”
–Indian Law Scholar, Steven Newcomb

“The movement to try to force the Mexican people to learn the English language and the culture and traditions of America to stay in this country may not be totally successful. I can tell you from firsthand experience that when the federal government tried to strip me of my language and traditions, it did only a partial job, because of my resistance to being subdued. Today I am glad I have retained my culture, traditions and the Keres language, for that is where my heart and soul belong.”
–Katheirne Augustine, Laguna Pueblo, retired nurse, excerpts from Albq Tribune

“Too bad WE didn’t think of insisting that European arrivals speak OUR language. We’d all be speaking Ojibwemowin right now.”
–Patty Loew, Assoc. Prof., UW-Madison

“In an important and emphatic way, the indigenous peoples of the Americas are reclaiming their continent, whether with the ballot, by boat, by air, or on foot. Let us call it repatriation on the march.”
–Shirley Hill Witt, Coauthor, El Indio Jesus

“The white supremacists masquerading as patriots are building a fence at the southern border to keep out the brown people. Notice that they aren’t building a fence at the northern border. Recall too that the 9-11 terrorists were here legally, complete with freakin’ flyer numbers. I’m for all the Native people to have cross-border privileges up and down our hemisphere, and would close the borders against all the peoples from other places who look down on us.”
–Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee, Dir., Morning Star Institute

“The argument used by the Minute Men, that their mission is to keep terrorists out of the U.S., cannot be ignored: With terrorist training camps recently found just north of the U.S.-Canadian border, their mission makes little sense and gives weight to my belief that the Minuteman movement is clearly racist. So is the new U.S. policy to keep our southern relatives out by militarizing the border to the south. Not that troops are wanted on the northern border either, but why send 6,000 troops to the southern border when no terrorists ever have been detained there?”
–JoKay Dowell, Quapaw-Peoria-Cherokee, OK, Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance

“Indigenous peoples are brothers and sisters, regardless of which side of the line drawn in the desert sand they are from. Our historic relations pre-date any European conquest. Our ‘free trade’ was much less conflictual, and was on more of an equal basis. Corporate ‘free trade’ is the driving force behind American politics and international actions…. It continues to be, contradictory to the interests of humanity.”
–woliwon chi miigwech, Karen S., Ypsilanti

“Are ‘immigrants’ the appropriate designation for the indigenous peoples of North America, for enslaved Africans and for the original European settlers? No. Are ‘immigrants’ the appropriate designation for Mexicans who migrate for work to the United States? No. They are migrant workers crossing a border created by US military force. Many crossing that border now are also from Central America, from the small countries that were ravaged by US military intervention in the 1980s
and who also have the right to make demands on the United States. So, let’s stop saying ‘this is a nation of immigrants.’”
–Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, mixed-Cherokee activist, professor, writer

“False and violent borders have been imposed upon our many peoples and upon the landscape, dissecting our Mother Earth, our home continent, in two and attempting to sever our deep connection with the land, and with each other. We maintain our recognition and respect for all our Indigenous brothers and sisters of the Western Hemisphere, with whom we traded, learned from, loved and laughed with for a millennia. We are Indigenous, of this place on Mother Earth, called Turtle Island, the Middle Place, Abya Yala and the Fourth World. And we remain bonded together forever, knowing ourselves as the K’iche and Karuk, Saraguro and Cheyenne, the Cherokee, Xicano and Chumash, we are all relations.”
–Tia Peters, Zuni, Seventh Generation Fund

“If America is a shining beacon of hope for legal immigrants perhaps the laws should be adjusted to make it a reality for the illegal immigrants. They also see America as a place where dreams can be lived. Ironically, most of the illegal immigrants are Indians, or Indios as they are known in Mexico, and in Central and South America.
Most of their ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower or on the Spanish galleons. They were indigenous to the Western Hemisphere.”
–Tim Giago, president Native American Journalists Foundation

“Americans can say, surely not with pride, that our country knows from centuries of personal experience how unchecked immigration devastates life and why it’s an issue that deserves the best of our thinking and empathy. These are thoughts that cross some of our minds when we hear rhetoric about the so-called invasion of illegal immigrants (many of whom are — gasp — Indians) and calls to protect “our” land. If we smile in response, it’s not so much out of agreement. We see a payback
coming home to roost.”
–David House, mixed Cherokee/Scots-Irish, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

“It’s never been clear to me why animosity exists toward today’s immigrants, considering the founding fathers arrived as immigrants. Are today’s anti-immigration voices afraid of a new Manifest Destiny? Many Native prophecies foretell the demise of U.S. indigenous people from European invaders. But the stories also speak of a time when the land will be reclaimed by indigenous people.Perhaps the time has come.”
–Jodi Rave reports on Native issues for Lee Enterprises.

On Haudenosaunee citizenship & naturalization:

“Naturalization was not race-based as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) granted citizenship to other ethnic groups. Once a person became a Haudenosaunee citizen they were expected to discard any previous connection to their birth nation. They had to speak an Iroquoian language, dress as Iroquois, contribute to the security of their host nation and provide for the well being of their new families and communities though a host of activities ranging from hunting, fishing, food preparation and home building. They took part in the elaborate ceremonies which defined Haudenosaunee spirituality and were given extensive instruction into the history, customs and beliefs of their new nation. In the end, the Haudenosaunee people expected the new citizen to undergo an almost complete transformation; physically, mentally and spiritually. This process worked extremely well… [it] secured our survival and provided for our prosperity….”
–Doug George-Kanentiio, Mohawk writer

The Popul Vuh– one of the most important books ever written on this continent offers us a valuable lesson and roadmap about migration disputes. The volatile conflicts among the Maya finally ended when those who were new to the land accepted those who were here before them as their guides. In this spirit, we do the same. So too should the general public, Congress and the president.

2006 (C) Column of the Americas

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or 608-238-3161. Our bilingual columns are posted at: http://hometown.aol.com/xcolumn/myhomepage/
Info regarding our Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan documentary and origins/migrations research can be found at: http://hometown.aol.com/aztlanahuac/myhomepage/index.html

The anti-immigrant “Minutemen Civil Defense Corps” organization has begun the construction of a “security fence” along the Arizona border, a fence that includes barbed wire, razor wire and steel rail barriers. Read the full story here.