• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / POLITICAL SALSA Y MAS with SAL BALDENEGRO 02.12.17

POLITICAL SALSA Y MAS with SAL BALDENEGRO 02.12.17

February 11, 2017 by Tia Tenopia

Honoring MLK and Chávez correctly…

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.

It’s the season to honor two human-rights icons and role models who put into practice the Gospel instruction: Insofar as you do this unto the least of my brethren, you do it unto me. Last month we paid homage to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Next month we’ll honor César E. Chávez.

I’ve written about this before, here and elsewhere, but due to current political dynamics the theme of my previous pieces is still relevant.

“Safe” events don’t create real change…

I do not believe the contemporary King-Chávez celebrations really do justice to the work and legacy of these two icons. In many communities there are symbolic marches, replete with speeches, often by people who have no history of civil-rights activism. Many communities sponsor MLK/Chavez breakfasts or dinners, which become showcases and photo ops for local “dignitaries.” And lately, there is a trend to promote volunteerism and MLK/Chávez “days of service.” For example, one student group promotes cleaning up local parks and volunteering for the United Way as a means to honor Chávez. Several organizations promote activities such as serving lunch at homeless shelters as a means to honor King.

The “safe” and once-a-year nature of these events makes them problematic. These things are so safe that folks who have never walked a picket line or taken a risk on behalf of civil rights or worker rights are prominently featured. And too many of the folks at these events do nothing to advance civil-human-worker rights for the next 364 days. But because they attended these events they can claim to support civil-human-worker rights.

César Chavez fought to unionize farmwokers.

King and Chávez weren’t about volunteerism. Both of them set out to make fundamental, structural changes in the labor, social, and economic systems of the country—a far cry from cleaning up city parks or volunteering for the United Way. Both King and Chávez died while fighting on behalf of workers who were unionizing to combat shameless exploitation—King for garbage collectors, Chávez for farm workers. As an aside: my late father-in-law was a union organizer, and one of his proudest moments was when he was an escort and bodyguard for MLK when he came to Tucson to address a union convention.

Truth is, honoring King and Chávez entails more than attending breakfasts and socializing while walking in a symbolic march. To truly honor them is to get in the trenches of the civil-rights struggles in our respective communities.

Standing up to injustices is hard but worth it…

Doing meaningful civil rights work involves walking picket line and boycotting stores.

That in turn entails standing up to injustices and doing the hard work of organizing communities. There’s nothing romantic about this. It’s hard, sometimes awkward, and often uncomfortable. Doing meaningful civil-rights work entails such things as walking picket lines and boycotting stores and businesses we actually like or confronting politicians of our own party.

But it’s that hard, awkward, and uncomfortable work—and not the fancy dinners and breakfasts, symbolic marches, or volunteerism—that brings about structural change.

I consider myself privileged and honored to have known César Chávez, to have marched with him, to have him stay at my home, and to have walked hundreds of miles of picket lines in support of the movement he inspired. I am not, however, as eloquent as he. Thus, I will draw heavily here on a speech Chávez gave on January 12, 1990, on Martin Luther King and his legacy. I believe that what Chávez said about King could just as easily have been said by King about Chávez.

Chávez on King…

In his speech Chávez pointed out that “Dr. King was a powerful figure of destiny, of courage, of sacrifice, and of vision. Few people in the long history of this nation can rival his accomplishment, his reason, or his selfless dedication to the cause of peace and social justice.”

Answering the rhetorical question “Who was Dr. King?” that he posed in his speech, Chávez said: “Many people will tell you of his wonderful qualities and his many accomplishments, but what makes him special to me, the truth many people don’t want you to remember, is that Dr. king was a great activist, fighting for radical social change with radical methods.”

Dr. Martin Luther King fought for radical social change.

Chávez went on to challenge his audience to continue Dr. King’s work, to put their faith to work on behalf of all of God’s children:

“[A]s we enter a new decade, it should be clear to all of us that there is an unfinished agenda, that we have miles to go before we reach the Promised Land.

“Our nation continues to be segregated along racial and economic lines. The powers that be make themselves richer by exploiting the poor. Our nation continues to allow children to go hungry, and will not even house its own people.

“My friends, the time for action is upon us. The enemies of justice want you to think of Dr. King as only a civil rights leader, but he had a much broader agenda.

“He was a tireless crusader for the rights of the poor, for an end to war…and for the rights of workers everywhere.”

Chávez himself was inspired by Dr. King: “During my first fast in 1968, Dr. King reminded me that our struggle was his struggle too. He sent me a telegram which said ‘Our separate struggles are really one. A struggle for freedom, for dignity, and for humanity.’

“Just as Dr. King was a disciple of Gandhi and Christ, we must now be Dr. King’s disciples.

“Dr. King challenged us to work for a greater humanity. I only hope that we are worthy of his challenge.”

Indeed, from a humanistic perspective, one that looks at life through the prism of human dignity, Martin Luther King, Jr. and César Chávez stand tall among the ranks of American heroes.

Now’s the time to do something…

Women’s March of Washington, D.C.

Our country just elected a crass, misogynistic, racist, anti-worker person as president. This precipitated marches, led by women, the day after Donald Trump’s Inauguration. Millions of people participated in these. There were some righteous civil-rights warriors in those marches, people who have put themselves on the line over the years. There were also many who have never participated in a civil-rights march or demonstration before. But those marches should only be the beginning of a political uprising. Indeed, this is the time to be angry, the time to raise political hell, the time to do something. The anti-Trump march should not be the last one for those who marched for the first time. That march should be the beginning of many more organizing activities. For, there is much yet to be done.

Trump has appointed as Cabinet members people who have acted and spoken out against the very policies they are sworn to enforce and protect. Civil-human-worker rights that have been won by dint of hard work and sacrifice are now in jeopardy of being taken away. We need to vigorously fight any attempt to reverse worker-civil-human rights policies.

To truly honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and César Chávez, I submit that we must go beyond words of praise and feel-good, safe things. We must learn their lessons and put their views into practice—individually and collectively.

The tried and true picket sign…

El Teatro Campesino

El Teatro Campesino, the United Farm Worker union’s artistic appendage, wrote and recorded a song titled “El picket sign.” The song’s introduction says, “One of the most important weapons in any cause, any movement, is the picket sign.”

Frankly, I don’t know anyone who actually likes to picket. It’s hard work, and in the summer heat, the winter cold, or when it’s raining it’s mighty uncomfortable, not to mention that often, people yell insults at you. But among our arsenal of weapons in the struggle to create laws and policies that protect civil-human-worker rights is the tried and true picket line. Picket lines are the smaller, more targeted versions of a march.

Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. and César Chávez is a year-round endeavor. To truly honor them is to get in the trenches of the civil-rights struggles in our respective communities. This may or may not entail walking picket lines, but if it does, we should do it proudly, knowing we are continuing a rich and productive tradition in our history. c/s

_______________________________________________________________

Copyright 2017 by Salomon Baldenegro. To contact Sal write: salomonrb@msn.com

Photos of Cesar Chavez and picket line copyrighted by Barrio Dog Productions, Inc. All other photos in the public domain.

 

Filed Under: Blogs, Political Salsa y Más Tagged With: César Chávez, Martin Luther King, Political Salsa y Mas, Sal Baldenegro

POLITICAL SALSA Y MÁS with SAL BALDENEGRO 01.17.21 “DECENCY IS NOT TRANSACTIONAL”

January 17, 2021 By Tia Tenopia

Decency is not transactional… Again, by your leave, I’m going to deviate from my usual diet of politics and such and focus on a topic that is more personal, more intimate, yet just as important as (community-based or partisan) politics: gratitude. As I look around today’s political landscape, I see more enmity than friendliness. This […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 1.23.21 THE MCNAY ART MUSEUM EXHIBIT

January 23, 2021 By Tia Tenopia

Latino Art: The Joy of Collecting and Giving In mid-January 2021 the McNay Art Museum opened an exhibit of Latino prints featuring the works of Richard Duardo, John Valadez, Cesar Martinez, Raul Caracoza, Melanie Cervantes, Juan Miguel Ramos, John Valadez, Barbara Carrasco, and Juan Mora. We took a special interest in its opening since nearly […]

FIERCE POLITICS with DR. ALVARO HUERTA 1.17.21 “THE WHITE NATIONALIST BARBARIANS STORM THE GATE(S) OF THE U.S. CAPITAL”

January 17, 2021 By Tia Tenopia

“The White Nationalist Barbarians Storm the Gate(s) of the U.S. Capitol” The white nationalist barbarians, aided and abetted by their Führer—President Donald J. Trump—stormed and entered the gate(s) at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. The seditionists include those who brazenly entered the so-called people’s house,[1] responsible for death, destruction and mayhem, along […]

BURUNDANGA BORICUA DEL ZOCOTROCO 1.23.21 “CRISIS DE LA ESPERANZA- PARTE III”

January 23, 2021 By Tia Tenopia

Burundanga de Zocotroco Crisis de la Esperanza Parte III Educación y Desesperanza La primera parte de este largo ensayo propone el diagnostico de desesperanza y presenta la evidencia demográfica como primera argumentación. La segunda parte aborda la dimensión económica, en esta tercer parte se enfoca la educación, por ser vehículo de movilidad social y aspecto […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 1

By Tia Tenopia on October 7, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist, muralist and print maker. The daughter of Chicano art pioneer Frank Romero, she has boldly set out on her own artistic trajectory. Her art includes stunning prints, canvases and public murals. Latinopia visited Sonia at her studio in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles where she spoke about […]

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA ART GASPAR ENRÍQUEZ 1 “RETROSPECTIVE”

By Tia Tenopia on May 4, 2014

Gaspar Enríquez is a renowned Chicano artist whose airbrush portraits of barrio youth are haunting and memorable. Drawing from museums and collectors around the United States, in April 2014, the El Paso Museum of Art mounted a retrospective of Gaspar’s art titled Metaphors of the Barrio. Latinopia visited the exhibit and asked Gaspar what inspires […]

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

© 2021 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin