Hard Economic Times and Immigrants

My husband, Héctor Ericksen, who is involved in the Lemon Grove Oral History Project, and I recently attended a screening of “The Lemon Grove Incident” (Paul Espinosa, 1985; EspinosaProductions.com) at San Diego’s Centro Cultural de la Raza. 

The Lemon Grove incident refers to the first legal challenge to school segregation, argued and won in 1931. For a full narrative, see: lemongrovehistoryproject.info

The Lemon Grove PTA, school board and Chamber of Commerce decided to build a substandard “Americanization” school. They attempted to send the town’s Mexican and Mexican American children to it, so they could be taught at their purported low academic and linguistic achievement levels, without holding the white children back. 

Times were hard in the 1930s. This was the time of the Mexican Repatriation, which forcibly sent up to a million people to Mexico, whether they had been born in the United States or not. A great treatment of this era can be found in “Decade of Betrayal: The Mexican Repatriation of the 1930s” (2006) by Francisco Balderrama and Raymond Rodríguez.

Times are hard now, too, and the issue of immigrants is at the forefront of our ugly political discourse. 

Mexican immigrants are the focus, again because they are easy to spot and the closest to us, beyond simple geography. Now the concept is “self-deportation,” a term coined in the mid 1990s by satirist Lalo Alcaraz (pocho.com) in reaction to California’s infamous Proposition 187. The term is not being used satirically today.

Here in the U.S. racism surges in direct relation to the difficulty of the economy. Maybe this reaction has an evolutionary basis. For example, hunter-gatherer tribes would have to visually identify those who threatened their well-being. They likely selected mates based on similarity of physical traits, thus perpetuating the insular mentality of the tribe.

Contemporary human beings continue to self-select for similar traits, whether it is for a mate or for co-workers. 

It’s funny how we haven’t completely evolved out of our vestigial structures, either. We still have, and have to deal with, our appendix, wisdom teeth and coccyx, which were useful to hunter-gatherers, but not to us. 

Perhaps useless vestigial structures of racism lie deep within us, too, and rupture when irritated.

Next time you’re faced with bigotry, ask the person how their tailbone is doing.

Review of ¡Rob! pilot, CBS sitcom

If you’re going to use stereotypes, at least get the stereotype right. 

Linguistically speaking, the accents in this awful sitcom were all wrong. The Mexican-American characters, Papi (Fernando), Cheech Marin’s character, claims to have migrated from Mexico, but he sure sounds American – specifically Chicano, from East L.A. Diana María Riva’s character, Mami (Rosa) has somewhat of an accent, so maybe she came over as a teenager. Her “m’ija”, however, comes out more as “mi hija”, which is not how Mexicans refer to their daughters. Maggie, (Claudia Bassols, from Spain), their U.S. born daughter, is supposed to be a “smart book translator”. Being fully bilingual in Spanish and English would be a testament to her parents’ tenacity, but in the U.S. educational system any foreign accent would have been erased from her English by the first grade. 

As the show opens, she’s at her new husband’s house, no discernible accent at all in English. After the first commercial break, she’s at her parents’ house, speaking in full-on soft consonants and open vowels, as if being there makes her tongue revert a couple of generations. Her grandmother, Abuelita, played by Lupe Ontiveros, does not speak any English, and therefore is mute during most of the show.

Cheech Marin gets the most laughs, but his presence and demeanor seem forced. Why would actors of the stature of Cheech Marin and Lupe Ontiveros stoop to the low level of sexual jokes and sloppy writing in this show? 

Maribeth and Cheech Marín at the "Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge,"

Smithsonian Institution, July 2002

The most offensive scene has Rob in Abuelita’s room, straightening the image of her deceased husband, causing the church candles to attack his genitals. During the ensuing confusion, he tackles the grandmother in his boxer shorts, ending up with her in a sexually suggestive position. Not content to “show, not tell,” he has to repeat (and repeat) that his genitals were burnt by the falling candles. Later he doesn’t serve his in-laws any food at his house, and gives a big gringo speech to make it all better. And Schneider’s maternal grandmother was Filipina?

As for the crazy uncle stereotype, who in the world was Eugenio Derbez playing? Is he supposed to be gay? A drug addict? Is he monocultural white America’s worst dream? “I’m your best friend.” “Lend me $7200.” “I’m staying here f-o-r-e-v-e-r.” Really?  Who is this guy and what is he smoking? Maybe Cheech knows.

A clue to the dismal writing comes from the writers and producers of the show, some of SNL fame. Didn’t Rob Schneider run the script by his Mexican-American wife? He and Lewis Morton co-wrote it, and were executive producers along with Eric and Kim Tannenbaum. Adam Sandler and John Schneider produced. Short-guy jokes and sexual humor just don’t translate. Those kind of guys usually stay single, and don’t marry into tight-knit Mexican American families. What was she thinking? 

LEMON GROVE LIBRARY HONORS MEXICAN AMERICAN PIONEERS

LEMON GROVE, Calif. - On October 12, The Lemon Grove Library honored the Mexican American pioneers from the Lemon Grove desegregation incident of 1931.

“It began when the Lemon Grove school board attempted to build segregated schools for children of Hispanic origin,” said John Valdez, professor of Chicano Studies at Palomar College.  “The working class members of the Mexican-American community didn’t stand for it. They began a boycott of the school and then filed suit against the school board.”

The case, which would become the nation’s first successful desegregation court case in the nation, is called the Roberto Alvarez vs. Board of Trustees of Lemon Grove School District.

“The Lemon Grove incident era changed United States history and the lives of millions,” said Branch Manager Amparo Madera.  “The library is the perfect place to honor the pioneers and activists who fought for civil rights and equality as the public library represents the freedom to learn.”

Lemon Grove Councilmember Howard Cook and Library Director José Aponte presented special recognition awards to the Lemon Grove residents who were pioneers and activists for equality during the Lemon Grove incident.

(Slideshow photos by Cristina Lynn Ericksen)

The celebration included music by classical guitar and solo performer José Rodriguez and the conclusion of Héctor Ericksen-Mendoza’s Hispanic Heritage Month photography exhibit.

Read more about the Lemon Grove incident of 1931 at www.lemongrovehistoryproject.info and view the photos from the exhibit at http://hectorericksen.photoshelter.com

(Photo by Cristina Lynn Ericksen)

Words Were All We Had - Reviewed by Maribeth Bandas

On September 22, 2011, in honor of Hispanic Heritage month, Dr. María de la Luz Reyes, Professor Emerita, University of Colorado-Boulder, gave a reading of her new book, Words Were All We Had, Becoming Biliterate Against the Odds, (Teachers College Press: 2011), to some thirty non-profit, university and business leaders, at the San Marcos branch of the Point Loma Credit Union in San Diego.

Words Were All We Had provides a profoundly intelligent look at a generation of Latino and Latina scholars whose early schooling was marked by attempts to stifle their native bilingualism. The contributors to the book offer their personal narratives as exceptional bilingual students growing up in the United States previous to passage of legislation supporting bilingual education. In spite of the tremendous educational odds they faced, each one became biliterate in Spanish and English, without the support of an academic underpinning in Spanish. 

The title of the book is taken from the second chapter, “Words Were All We Had: Reflections on Becoming Biliterate,” by Josué M. González, Professor of Education, Arizona State University. In regard to growing up in the Texas Rio Grande valley, he writes, “Nearly everyone in our border town was poor. Perhaps we imagined that words were all we had, and we were not about to give any of them up.” A strong sense of cultural and intellectual identity through language imbues all the narratives in this book.

Each essay walks the reader through the authors’ childhood experiences and opens the door to share a passion for language and literacy through their work as scholars. Words Were All We Had is, in itself, an example of conceptual biliteracy, spanning two literary genres: that of testimonio, used so fruitfully throughout Mexico and Latin America to explain and illustrate the different cultures in all their diversity; and the scholarly essay, setting out a broad and varied, yet shared experience among a large cohort of the U.S. population, and offering the tools for further research. 

Words Were All We Had, Becoming Biliterate Against the Odds, is a compelling read, as its contributors, with their personal stories and their scholarly work, amply illustrate the resources we have as a nation with our bilingual populations, and the work that still needs to be done to combat an entrenched ideology of monolingualism in many parts of the United States. Words Were All We Had will no doubt follow the path of its predecessor, Dr. Reyes’ bestselling book, The Best for Our Children: Critical Perspectives on Literacy for Latino Students (with co-editor John J. Halcón), Teachers College Press: 2001. 

Language and Literacy Series

March 2011/ 192 pp./ PB $32.95, ISBN 978-0-8077-5180-0/

HC $72.00, ISBN 978-0-8077-5181-7 

To order visit: www.tcpress.com or call 800-575-6566
For special bulk sales, please contact TC Press at: (212) 678-3919

Aromas of rice, onion, garlic and Peruvian chiles

Those of us brought up in two cultures feel a visceral nostalgia for key elements of the culture we don’t live in. Such is my case with tastes and smells.

I miss walking along my neighborhood at lunch time and smelling the aromas of rice made with onions and garlic; sauces spiced with Peruvian chiles – ají – in all its varieties.

As a child, I loved going to my friend Marcela’s house after school because her Mom made the best camote frito – french-fried sweet potato. As we got older and went out at night, one of our favorite hang-outs, on the cliff overlooking the ocean – ah, the smell of sea air at night -- were french fries at a food truck with a Baskin Robbins-like assortment of sauces. My favorite was a mayonnaise made with ají amarillo – a spicy, savory yellow sauce perfect on hot, creamy french fries.

I always said I would love to grow ají because I love to cook and I miss the flavors of my childhood. Now that I live in San Diego and have the space to garden, I didn’t know where to find seeds for the chiles. Imagine my delight when I got an email from a wonderful Peruvian restaurant in Encinitas – Q’ero Restaurant http://www.qerorestaurant.com – asking us to take an ají amarillo seedling to grow and share!!!!  I am so excited! Now I can make my own paste, cure my own peppers (escabeche) and make salsa criolla as much as my husband can stand!

It is, alfter all, what won his heart. Well, that and flan, and pollo asado and lomo saltado and … 

Olga Diaz is the only Hispanic to serve in elected office in Escondido since its incorporation in 1888.

Founded in 1888 one of SD county’s oldest cities, occupies 36.5 square miles. Pop. 147,514., 46% Latino, 44% White, 5% Asian/Pacific Islander, 2% Black.  In 2005 Escondido was ranked one of the 25 most conservative cities in the US. (govpro.com)

The first census, in 1850, showed Escondido as home to large Spanish-speaking population. Non-Spanish speakers came during the next 3 decades, known as the “Southern California Land Boom”.

Before incorporation as a town, the land Escondido occupies was a ranch, called Rancho Rincón del Diablo, owned by San Diego Judge Oliver S. Witherby, who bought it from the heirs of San Diego native, Juan Bautista Alvarado, Regidor of Los Angeles, and first Regidor of San Diego, who had received it as a Mexican Land Grant 1843, after Mexico won independence from Spain. 

In 1868 the judge sold the ranch to Edward McGeary and the Wolfskill brothers, who sold it to a group of Los Angeles investors in 1883. They, in turn, incorporated the Escondido Land and Town Company, and in 1888 Escondido was incorporated as a city. Economic growth and the price of land benefited from the laying of the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific railways in the 1880s, and in 1930 U.S. Route 395 (Rte. 15) was opened, leading to further growth. The industry through the 1970s was agriculture – muscat grapes, citrus fruits and avocados. 

The government of Escondido is made up of a Mayor and Four Councilmembers, of whom Olga Diaz is one, the only Hispanic to serve in elected office in Escondido since its incorporation in 1888. Not only is she the first Hispanic to be elected, she is also unapologetically a Democrat, in what is known to be a very Republican leaning region. Listen to how her passion for the rights of children prompted her to take action and get elected to a Council that she felt was not responding to their needs. 

Do you have this kind of passion for a cause in your life? Be inspired by Councilmember Diaz’ story, and go out to change your corner of the world!