Someone on the plane just said it is 103 degrees in Tucson. That's a joke right? It was like 50 degrees, wet and raining when I left Kimball Township this morning. That's a serious difference. But that's the point isn't? Serious differences? Let us not get into cliched phrases about the fierce heat of oppression and/or the blazing sun beating down on the backs of the downtrodden. It's all true. That is why they are cliche.
Far above the ground looking down hurtling toward 103 degrees the gridded landscape is another reminder to me of humankinds desire to impose meaning, drawing lines on a blank canvas. The lines and ideal of ownership we so unquestioningly obey after centuries of capitalist orthodoxy. The lazy puffy clouds throw there shadows down to the ground and I really wonder what type of shade there is in Tucson?
The idea for this project sprang from an causal remark made during a school presentation. I didn't really think I would end up on a trip to Ground Zero this summer. By Ground Zero I mean for the Xicano movement in the United States. The full power of the state seeks to reassert hegemonic control over a renegade Mexican American Studies program that had the audacity to be wildly successful.
The outright warfare being waged by both the official and unofficial structures of the colonial power is daunting.
Armed vigilantes roam the desert hunting people while unarmed vigilantes roam the hallway of government and education hunting people. The new indian wars - 'grab your gun/pen johnny we're gonna go shoot/flunk some greasers.' Wasn't it Clausewitz that said "War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will."
It's tough to be brown in Tucson. It's tough to be brown in Lansing, MI. it's tough anywhere. BROWN is not a fashionable color unless it comes from a bottle or a booth. But it is an idea worth exploring, I quote Richard Rodriguez the reviled assimilationalist from his book "Brown: the last discovery of America"
“BROWN AS IMPURITY.Arizona is a strange place inhabited by a whole bunch of people from other places that are causing a lot of problems for the people from there. One of the sisters I met last night told me her office is full of people from Lansing, MI., who married Mexicans and move to Arizona. Many of them probably think Joe Arpaio is a great American. The contradictions of life are delicious. Just like coming home...
I write of a color that is not a singular color, not a strict recipe, not an expected result…
I write of brown as complete freedom of substance and narrative.
I extol impurity,"
Tucson's freedom summer comes at a strong moment. One that is certainly full of possibility for RAZA in Tucson and around the country. It seems that over the past 2 decades we have suffered defeat after defeat - Prop. 187 and 209 starting the ball rolling with all of the affirmative action propositions around the country. And yet in spite of the big defeats, we keep racking up impressive smaller victories. Each one evidence of a new way of thinking, a broader acceptance of who we are as a community deepening our understanding of ourselves as indigenous mending our spiritual, ideological and physical relationship to each other and the land.
I believe we have to keep telling ourselves these little battles we all fight everyday are a prelude to the big show. Tucson is one of the big shows. The uniqueness of this battle is what we are fighting for. It's not just a studies program - it is much more that that. In Tucson we are fighting for an ideology. A different way of thought (or at least the evolution of an old thought) has come to light. An evolution in resistance. How else could this MAS program graduate almost 100 percent of their students? These teachings of the 4 Tezcatlipocas can and will change the way we approach our understanding of our place in the world, by building a fundamental self esteem not only for individual but for community. These four teachings give hope and that is why they have been outlawed.
The battle in Tucson centers on what is the best way to teach young Xicanos (young people in general) to embrace their full potential as human beings.
Seems fairly simple right? I mean who can argue with that? We hear all the time, how public schools are failing, how teachers are no good. Yet the message in Tucson appears to be we don't care how good you do success can only be measured by one standard - ours.
There are times when struggles erupt. We have to be ready for them because they are important. They will fundamentally change who we are as a people and as individuals. This is one of those moments. I believe we can win in Tucson. We can win if we give this crazy racist Mexican hating structure that exists here the good hard shove it needs to fall. Make no mistake. Change is coming to America. Those willing and able to fight for their nation - think about coming to Tucson this summer. Be a part of it. Length of stay is unimportant. There is work to do. You will never regret being able to say - I was there.
Tucson Freedom Summer
June 1, 2012
