By RON MEXICO
Staff Writer
McALLEN, TX - The mayor of this city stayed all of ten minutes, the county judge even less. And the Hispanic U.S. Congressman who represents the area did his best to mangle the Spanish language. It was billed as a protest rally against the new and harsh Arizona anti-immigrant law, but it may as well have been one of those political pachangas that amount to nothing more than portraits of shallow ethnic pride.
Not more than 200 supporters arrived to have their say on a measure that likely will affect every Hispanic citizen in the country. Arizona has authorized its police officers to stop and question any suspicious person for the expressed purpose of asking whether they are citizens of the U.S. or not. Arrest will follow immediately for those who are not American citizens.
Here, the rally took on the atmosphere of an alegre Cinco De Mayo. T-shirts sold for $5. Someone had been given the job of passing out posters to every attendee, presumably to be waved as the speeches droned-on, or when folks from the press aimed their cameras. If there was any sort of fire within this group, well, it never surfaced in the two-plus hours of this sun-splashed Saturday morning.
McAllen Mayor Richard Cortez broke-out his Spanish and ran through the history of Hispanic contributions to the country's society. County Judge Rene Ramirez, a heavyset Hispanic-looking dude, begged off at first, saying his Spanish was weak at best. It was worse than weak; it was shameful for a public servant of this particular region.
But it was U.S. Rep. Ruben Hinojosa who spoke the longest and said the least. He rolled through the mood of Washington, D.C., regurtitating the words of President Obama in saying he thought Congress did not have the appetite to take-on immigration reform. He criticized the Arizona initiative, but did it in less-than-fiery terms. And when he tried to say the same thing in Spanish, he sounded more like a retard than a politician of some intelligence.
In all, it was a third-rate effort, woefully lacking in the fire needed to combat racism.
And, perhaps worse, a series of Mexican-themed dances by young kids stole whatever urgency the sponsoring group may have had in calling the rally. It was a pathetic backdrop to the real fire-and-brimstone rallies taking place in Los Angeles and Chicago and Houston and Dallas. Too bad. The faces of children tagging along with parents seemed to say they wanted a better fight...
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6 comments:
So you are criticizing not only the event but the elected officials that participated? You further criticize the weak spanish of the Interim county judge. So are you implying that if you are an elected official in this region, speaking spanish is soething that is important or necessary?
"shameful for a public servant of this region" to be weak in speaking the spanish language. Poppycock.. We live in America. I have lived here for over 60 years and I haven't had the will or desire to learn spanish. What's the big deal? People living in this country should learn english. Plain and simple. Next thiing you'll be telling us is that in order to represent people in the Valley, speaking spanish is necessary or some how mandatory. I don't think speakiing spanish in this reason is a big deal. If it ever becomes necessary, I'll just get an interpreter.
You are correct it is shameful for a public servant in this region to have a poor command of the Spanish language; those that serve us should at least be able to communicate with the community. I cringe when I hear a politician mangling the Spanish language. Mine is no good but I'm not in politics nor do I serve people.
ANONS: Speaking Spanish, if you're going to speak it, should mean you use proper grammar & vocabulary. These politicians obviously did not have to speak Spanish. I presume they did it because it was an Hispanic audience they adddressed (there was a sprinkling of Anglos, however). My point is this: Bad Spanish is no different than Bad English. Would we think our politcians were up to the job of leading and representing if they couldn't even speak the language? Plus, Bad Spanish is unforgiving, perhaps more than English. As for those Hispanics who do not/cannot speak Spanish, well, that's a choice...and I can live with that. You are what you are... - Editor
Don Patricio welcome back, you guys quit playing with your audience, for a while I was reading, yes el roci, as the song says, welcome back kotter!!!
NOTE: We have lost and added staff, but the still-long road looms ahead.... - Editor
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