Well I will start right away and say I am a supporter of Hillary, but coming from a non union state, I didn't go on "strike" because that is not what I am about.
There has been great use of a Spanish phrase, " si se puede", however the one that unfortunately rings most true for my folks is "Nos Aguantamos". Which means we will endure. Not a really great slogan but one that speaks the resilience of the Mexican American of the Southwest.
Mexican Americans have been in the Southwest for hundreds of years. But in a sense we have been ignored like we are not there.
Here is one example of that:
Library of Congress American memory:
http://memory.loc.gov/...
Do you see there? There is no link to Mexican American or Hispanic or Latino on the page. One for African American history but not one for us. In order to find anything about "us" one must click and hunt through other links.
had to work at finding this link
http://memory.loc.gov/...
Another aspect of Hispanic Americans is a strange old world and new world view of a women's place in the world. On one hand we like to show European respect to women in terms of "putting them on a pedestal" and not speaking ill of our Mothers to the point of worshiping the Mother of God in our church and daliy life. On the other hand due to hardships in settling the southwest, Hispanic women had to have a certain mental and physical toughness to endure "aguantar" the frontier life at the hacienda and march along side cooking and bearing the Zapatistas babies while loading the rifles and throwing Molotov cocktails.
So the nature of a Hispanic woman is a dual one:
La señora de la Casa...... gracious and genteel and quiet before her master her husband and
La Adelita del Valle.......guerilla fighter extraodinaire
It is this through lense, which some of us view Hillary.
In this on going strife, here there has a certain tone deafness. The world looks like it is "Black" and "White" with no shades of grey(or brown). if it not about Black people it is about White people and nobody else matters. People who don't support Obama are racist and sellouts and are not permitted to have a memory of someone who reached out to us and our concerns. We are to run and admire the bright new clean unstained shiney fellow and our old friends be damned. There was a war between the states which resulted in African Americans being free from the bond of forced bondage, but no one blinked when Hispanic peoples took their place picking the cotton and cooking in the kitchen for a pittance and living in hovels. The great King Ranchers rode their horses over the bodies of Mexican people when they stole the land and replaced them with their slaves. At the end of slavery, the same Mexicans who had been robbed were invited back in to work on the land that was once their herencia. But nary a peep was made. In fact, this harsh treatment of Mexicans and Mexican Americans continued till as recently as the 1950's
http://memory.loc.gov/...
After the war, the U.S. began a new campaign of deportation, on a much larger scale than during the Depression. The expulsions lasted well into the 1950s, and sent more than 4 million immigrants, as well as many Mexican Americans, to Mexico.
To this day, there are American citizens in the Texas valley who still live the same as their forebears did 200 years ago and go to schools where they are taught in the same way as they were 150 years ago, black board and chalk, no books and certainly no computers.
So it is a given that many Mexican Americans suffer financial hardships and educational deprivation. And also given that few politicians have stood up for them and advocated for them.
LBJ did, Hillary did.
When it counted, when she was young, and didn't have much power. Nevertheless, she was there and helping to register Mexican american voters.
Now I understand that when it comes time to open the door to power sharing it always seemed that with white inviting others to the table there was only room for one or the other. Room for a "minority". As if some variation of skin color was the same as any other.
White plus ?? made for a diverse committee. Many people will say Mexican American people are racist just look at Mexico. I would not argue that if one was to look at Mexico. Because there certainly is racism there, but so it is in America, too.
The Mexican American while having respect and regard for the African American recognizes that in a time of limited power and resources, a Black leader has in the past and understandably made decisions that benefit the African American people and not the Mexican American people's concerns. On the other hand, white people especially Irish Americans and other Catholic Americans have been right there at every step of the way as Mexican Americans has struggled to get their rights as citizen acknowledged. There are also other things that resonate with the Mexican American and other things that don't.
For many Catholic Mexican Americans the Catholic church service is filled with old rituals and some biblical readings but no firey preaching. That doesn't resonate much with older Mexican Americans. Now given the increase in Evangelican Mexican Americans such oratory DOES so many younger ones relate to Obama, but older ones, not so much. We are a people of "say your piece and then shut up and let the next person speak". Long winded grace at Thanksgiving makes Nana's feet hurt and her Guajolote dinner get cold.
So, when you bash a Hillary supporter with racist labels and anti women slurs you may just find that you are also driving away many Hispanic and Latino people who used to feel welcomed here. I don't think that that is helpful to Obama to drive away people who support Hillary but want to know more about Obama.
Some of us like Obama but love Hillary.
We remember how the Republicans tried to stomp on Bill and Hillary over Monica. Mexican Americans remember that sadly, because we know men are not saints, can be weak and fall down. But we respect a man who lied to protect his wife and the reputation of a young woman. I didn't like it, but I understood it. THEY tried to smash our champions because they were human. I want my champions to be like me, human.
El pingo nunca duerme......
So a word of caution, to all beware of saints, because even St. Peter denied Christ. (Spitzer??)
The only way for Obama to win is to loom LARGER than Hillary. Because many of us remember how she came to stand with us.
How Deep In the Hearts of Texas?
Clinton's chances may come down to Latino support in the Lone Star State.
By Arian Campo-Flores | NEWSWEEK
Feb 25, 2008 Issue
"Latinos are unusually brand-loyal," says Henry Cisneros, a Clinton backer who was the mayor of San Antonio and a cabinet member in her husband's administration. "It's really an incredible bonding, almost like a family." Obama, on the other hand, is largely unknown. Paul Elizondo, a county commissioner in San Antonio who's endorsed Clinton, breaks it down in Spanglish: "Down here, con la gente [with the people] … Obama is not recognized through the rank-and-file raza," he says. "We have a saying here: 'El no trae nada.' He's never done anything for anybody here."
Trashing a friend viciously, does not endear us to your side.
So perhaps repeated trashing of Hillary supporters may also be driving Hispanics and Latinos voters from Obama and the Daily Kos.
Is that helpful to Obama?
Does that open the door for expanding the voter base or just drive Hispanic Americans towards a war hero......
So does making this a less than pleasant place for me a TexMex, mean that the Daily Kos community recognizes diversity as "Black" and "white" with no room more for someone like me a Hillary supporter an Obama liker.
(And before you charge me with racism too, I worked as a teacher in the city of Buffalo for many years)
So tell all you are glad the Hillary supporters are staying away? I am not sure if I am wading into enemy territory anymore. I am sure you will make that clear.
You want my voice to go somehwere else?
Should I take my stories with me........ Do you care?
http://www.dailykos.com/...