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In the Kingdom of the Blind,
The One-Eyed Are Kings
by CARLOS JARAMILLO
Thursday, May 3, 2001
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY
He is old as old can be, wrinkles on wrinkles, instructed in the
old world canon, ailed by a literal and figurative myopia that
renders him utterly inept in dealing with the challenges that
test the solidity and efficacy of the modern nation state. He
wears a crocodile smile on his face and delivers before the Mexican
Congress a "let us all be friends" speech, feeling self-satisfied
about his token good deed for the year.
Upon his return to the United States, he takes off his human mask,
and sitting atop the pile of bloody skulls and bones on which
Congress rests, this devil grabs his pitched fork and engages
again in the relentless vilification and dehumanization of immigrant
populations in the nation, urging that they either be expelled,
"gringo-ized," or annihilated.
Who could this hypocrite be? Aye, none other than Latin America's
dearest friend Jesse Helms, Republican Senator from North Carolina,
bigotry incarnate, and persona non grata in virtually the entire
"Third World."
Our lives would be simpler if this single congressional devil
were our only contention. Behind him, however, are the forces
of homogeneity and cultural destruction that have been alive and
well since the human refuse of the Old World set foot and established
themselves in the Western Hemisphere. |
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In the halls of Congress, pitfalls and contradictions abound in
the rhetoric of diversity. In reality, this "diversity" is translated,
filtered and applied by hypocritical lawmakers as the rhetoric
of "otherness."
This group of people, the so-called holiest body of human law
in the country, is ultimately responsible for creating the tsunami
of xenophobia and the cyclone of criminalization of the "other."
This has decimated entire minority populations and has contributed
to the racialized economies of the United States and the World's,
with the growing population of Latinos and Blacks at the very
bottom.
These fat cats, all born with a silver spoon in their mouths,
promulgate the ideals of progress and social mobility as a pie
that everyone can carve.
Republican lawmakers of this sort perch themselves high and preach
"If you're not doing well in this American society, then you are
not working hard enough." Correction and reality check: If we
(Latinos and minorities) are not doing well in this American "Democratic"
society, it is because we are hounded on all sides by power-hungry
vampires not attuned to any social reality whatsoever, who constantly
gnaw our flesh and bleed our bodies as we engage innocently and
futilely in the "carving of the American pie."
How antithetical this all is to those Hollywood flicks that extol
the virtues of the United States and make the land and its people
an earthly Eden. How could these bigots preach to us that America
is for the taking, when we have seen an Amadou Diallo go down,
shot nineteen times by four white NYPD officers who -- because
Diallo was black and an immigrant no less -- mistakenly branded
him a rapist and a murderer.
How can we trust these stuffed peacocks when subtly attached with
the Plan Colombia, clearly presented as a humanitarian act to
end the civil strife which has ravaged the country, there is the
hidden agenda of U.S. economic interest (Colombia's wealthy oil
reserves)?
How can their rhetoric on diversity have any validity, when underhandedly
the U.S. funds paramilitaries in both Chiapas and Colombia --
who massacre civilians as they fight for social equality? Yet
these Congressional bigots have the audacity to point the finger
at human rights abuses abroad.
The foreign policy absurdities are not limited to Latin America.
For example, can we realistically hope that there will be an end
to the Israeli-Palestine conflict (with the United States negotiating
an end to it)? How can the U.S. mediate a conflict between two
populations with such fundamental cultural differences when the
Palestinians, more so than the Israelis, fit a model of "otherness"
(be it cultural, racial or religious) as propagated by the U.S.
government?
The United States cannot be an effective and objective negotiator
between seemingly different cultures, when at home its own leaders
are engaged in an "other-ization" of immigrant populations.
Even the staunchest of patriots must soberly wonder: What kind
of democracy exists on the blood and sweat of the most disadvantaged,
and yet preaches equality for all?
American leaders propagate an illusion and a seeming tragedy that
promises one thing, but practices another. Our society, by and
large, is nothing but a troupe of puppets easily seduced by the
tune and ideals of democracy, without realizing that the attainment
of rights in this most powerful of countries is, sadly, racialized
and culturally contingent.
CARLOS JARAMILLO IS A HISTORY STUDENT AT VASSAR COLLEGE IN POUGHKEEPSIE,
NY. |
 Send your comments to guest columnist Carlos Jaramillo.
Copyright © 2001 The Coffee Shop Times
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