When
it comes to repressive white supremacist governments, the Afrikaners got
nothing on the likes of Texas and Arizona. The executive and legislative
branches of both of those states are dedicated to keeping the Crow in Jim Crow,
and to ensuring that Latinos keep their place, which is in the fields and
bussing restaurant tables, and not in schools, in the professions or in
government.
In
2010, the Arizona lege passed Senate Bill 1070, known grandiosely as the “Support
Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act”. Its purpose was basically to
allow law enforcement personnel to demand that any person stopped for
questioning produce papers that show his or her immigration status. In theory
this could be any person stopped for any reason; in practice it’s any person
not white (and specifically any person looking Latino) stopped for any reason.
It turns state and local cops into extensions of La Migra.
Bugger
the Constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure; it’s all
“Papiere, bitte.” There were multiple
suits filed against SB 1070, and in 2012 the Supreme Court upheld the provision
requiring immigration status checks during stops, but struck three other
provisions.
I
expect that with the Kleptocrat’s appointment to SCOTUS, this sort of thing
will be revisited.
Francisco
X. Alarcón was born in Wilmington, California (next to Long Beach). At age six,
he moved with his family to Guadalajara, where he learned to love language by
transcribing his grandmother’s ballads from Nahuatl. He returned to Los
Angeles, studies at Cal State Long Beach, and then got an MA from Stanford. A
Fulbright Fellowship took him to Mexico City, where he discovered Aztec
incantations, and met the man he described as his soul mate, poet Elías
Nandino.
All
this gave Alarcón a robust poetic language to turn to topics that touched his
heart.
Back
in California, with two other poets, Alarcón founded Las Cuarto Espinas, the
first gay Chicano poets collective. He also taught at UC Davis. When nine
Chicano students chained themselves to the Arizona Capitol in protest of SB
1070, Alarcón wrote “For the Capitol Nine” to celebrate their action.
carnalitos
y
carnalitas
brothers
and
sisters:
from
afar
we
can hear
your
heart beats
they
are
the
drums
of
the Earth
our
people
follow
closely
your
steps
as
warriors
of
justice
and
peace
you
take on
the
Beast
of
hatred
the
unlawful
police
enforcement
of
discrimination
chain
yourselves
to
the doors
of
the State Capitol
so
that terror
will
not leak out
to
our streets
your
voices
your
actions
your
courage
can’t
be taken
way
from us
and
put in jail
you
are nine
young
warriors
like
nine sky stars
you
are the hope
the
best dreams
of
our nation
your
faces
are
radiant
as
the Sun
they
will break
this
dark night
for a
new day
yes,
carnalitas
and
carnalitos:
all
our sisters
all
our brothers
need
no papers
to
prove once
and
for all
“we
are humans
just
like you are–
we
are not criminals”
our
plea comes to
“No
to criminalization!
Yes
to legalization!”
The
Gauleiter from Alabama, currently the US Attorney General, is unlikely to grasp this message, any more than most of those in the Arizona government (including
the reincarnation of Ilse Koch who sits in the governor’s mansion). Their drums are entirely different, and they drown out any sound of human heartbeats.
However,
for the millions of Americans who have evolved beyond those swirling around the
Kleptocrat, Alarcón’s words resonate. On his Facebook page, before he died a
year ago, he welcomed other poets speaking out against SB 1070. Here’s his “Poetic
Manifesto” to them, which I really, really like.
Because
each poem—like each march, each act of generosity, each refusal to accept the
vile nihilism that has reached out from the dark places—is indeed an act of
faith, and an expression of power.
“Poetic Manifesto”
to “Poets Responding to SB 1070”
each poem
is an act of faith
in the power
of the Word
a flower passed
hand to hand
and rooted
in the heart
a prayer/chant
lightning the night
a song amid
so much noise
a murmur
of tree branches
at the very edge
of the big desert
breaking down
the borders of despair
sowing the seeds
of renewed hope
each poem is
a call for action
is saying “yes”
to the rule of “no”
a defiance
to social silence
building trust
in response to fear
a testimony
of the human soul
recognizing
that in spite all
our differences
and peculiarities
we all breathe
love and dream
celebrate and suffer
under the same one Sun
to “Poets Responding to SB 1070”
each poem
is an act of faith
in the power
of the Word
a flower passed
hand to hand
and rooted
in the heart
a prayer/chant
lightning the night
a song amid
so much noise
a murmur
of tree branches
at the very edge
of the big desert
breaking down
the borders of despair
sowing the seeds
of renewed hope
each poem is
a call for action
is saying “yes”
to the rule of “no”
a defiance
to social silence
building trust
in response to fear
a testimony
of the human soul
recognizing
that in spite all
our differences
and peculiarities
we all breathe
love and dream
celebrate and suffer
under the same one Sun
And here it is in
Spanish:
cada poema
es un acto de fe
en el poder
de la Palabra
una flor cedida
de mano a mano
y enraizada
en el corazón
una oración/canto
iluminando la noche
una canción
entre tanto ruido
un murmullo
de ramas de árbol
al mero filo
del gran desierto
rompiendo las fronteras
de la desesperanza
plantando las semillas
de la renovada esperanza
cada poema
es un llamado a la acción
es decir “sí”
al régimen del “no”
un desafío
al silencio social
construyendo confianza
en respuesta al temor
un testimonio
del alma humana
reconociendo
que a pesar de todas
nuestras diferencias
y peculiaridades
todos respiramos
amamos y soñamos
celebramos y sufrimos
bajo un mismo Sol
es un acto de fe
en el poder
de la Palabra
una flor cedida
de mano a mano
y enraizada
en el corazón
una oración/canto
iluminando la noche
una canción
entre tanto ruido
un murmullo
de ramas de árbol
al mero filo
del gran desierto
rompiendo las fronteras
de la desesperanza
plantando las semillas
de la renovada esperanza
cada poema
es un llamado a la acción
es decir “sí”
al régimen del “no”
un desafío
al silencio social
construyendo confianza
en respuesta al temor
un testimonio
del alma humana
reconociendo
que a pesar de todas
nuestras diferencias
y peculiaridades
todos respiramos
amamos y soñamos
celebramos y sufrimos
bajo un mismo Sol
