• 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 ELA Music Stories
    • 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 ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / POLITICAL SALSA Y MÁS WITH SAL BALDENEGRO 5.12.13

POLITICAL SALSA Y MÁS WITH SAL BALDENEGRO 5.12.13

May 12, 2013 by

MINING TOWN KIDS- WE’RE EVERYWHERE!

Clifton MorenciSmall towns are like big barrios. People know and take care of each other. Which is why Arizona’s mining communities impress me greatly. That, and the people they produce. Some are two towns separated by a hyphen—Hayden-Winkelman, Globe-Miami, Clifton-Morenci—but for all practical purposes they are one community.

They are union towns, in which the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers (IUMMSW), which became the United Steelworkers (USW), combined its labor function with civil-rights and community functions. The union fought the “Mexican wage” system, by which Mexican-descent workers were paid less than their white counterparts for the same work and desegregated public facilities. The union also organized Christmas parties for the kids, blood-donation and voter registration drives, and sponsored community-wide family picnics.

Open Pit MineThese towns are proud of their own. In Hayden, pictures of all the graduating classes are displayed on the walls of the high-school gym. Miami converted its old high school into a local history museum, which chronicles the town’s history. The contributions of the union stand out as does the memorabilia of local veterans—many of them decorated heroes—who fought in WW II, Korea, and Viet Nam.

1984 Miners StrikeThe headquarters of the historic 1983 strike that pitted the Clifton-Morenci copper miners against Phelps Dodge and Democratic Governor Bruce Babbitt was the Morenci Miners United Steelworkers Local 616 Union Hall in Clifton. After the strike the union moved, and the hall was bought by Jeff Gaskin, who converted it into a museum of the union and the 1983 strike. A mural that chronicles the strike takes up one entire wall. The community’s pride in the history of the union and the unionists is impressive and moving.

These mining towns have produced some outstanding people. Maclovio Barraza, the late labor and civil-rights leader and founding Chairman of the Southwest Council of La Raza (which evolved into the National Council of La Raza), was from Superior.

The late Juanita Loroña, from Hayden, was a relentless campaigner against discriminatory laws and policies, including the common Arizona practice of allowing children of Mexican descent to swim in public pools only one day a week, after the white kids had used the pool for six days.

Winkelman gave us Cecilia “Ceci” Cruz, longtime civil-rights and political activist in Tucson and one of the founders of the Tucson Women’s Commission. Ceci is the daughter of one of the founders of the IUMMSW Local 886 in Hayden-Winkelman.

ALfredo GutierrezAlfredo Gutierrez is from Miami. First elected to the Arizona senate at age 25, Alfredo served as the majority and minority leader in the state senate. During the 1970s, as the Senate Majority Leader, Alfredo was arguably the state’s most powerful elected official.

Globe gave us Dr. Christine Marín, whose father was active in Miami Local 586 of the IUMMSW (later, the Steelworkers). Dr. Marín is a highly respected and nationally known historian and activist scholar who founded the nationally acclaimed Chicano Research Collection Archives at Arizona State University.

Between Globe and Miami is tiny Claypool, the hometown of U.S. Congressman Ed Pastor, who made history in 1992 as Arizona’s first Mexican American elected to Congress.

Morenci gave us the late Octavio “Tavi” Márquez, a lawyer who grew up in a union family. During the halcyon days of the Chicano Movement, when mainstream lawyers would not even talk to us because we were too “radical,” Tavi sought us out and became our lawyer, on a pro-bono basis.

From Bisbee hails one of the country’s most distinguished educators, Adalberto “Beto” Guerrero. Beto made history by spearheading the educational-rights movement in the 1960s that resulted in the U.S. Congress authorizing and funding Bilingual Education in American schools.

From Douglas came Tony Bracamonte, recently retired Dean of Student Services at South Mountain Community College (Phoenix). Tony put his college education on hold for two years to become a full-time organizer, for a stipend of $5 a week, for the Chicano Movement in Tucson. Tony’s signature is on the many political, social, educational, and economic changes brought about by the Chicano Movement.

Also from Douglas is Antonio D. “Tony” Bustamante. As a third-year law student Tony organized a national movement that led to the prosecution of the Hanigan brothers in Arizona for the torture of Mexican farm workers. This was an historical achievement in that this was the first time in our country’s history that the United States government brought a prosecution to vindicate the human-rights protections of undocumented workers who had been physically abused in the U.S.

I’m proud to be from Douglas also and to have worked alongside the two Tonys described above.

Governor Raul CasrtoAnd Arizona’s first, and only, Mexican American Governor, Raúl Castro, is from Douglas.

As Christine Marín says: “Mining town kids: they love us or they hate us in Arizona…because we’re everywhere!”

Many of the people discussed above were and are involved in civil rights activism. I believe that is due to the culture of people standing up for what’s right, people helping people, etc., which the unions fomented in Arizona’s mining towns.

“Big cities” can learn much from the small towns. Maybe we should hire some of these fine folks as consultants to teach us about how to build community.

Copyright 2013 by Sal Baldenegro

To contact Sal:  salomonrb@msn.com

Filed Under: Blogs, Political Salsa y Más Tagged With: Arizona mining towns, Sal Baldenegro, the Latino legacy in Arizona

POLITICAL SALSA Y MÁS 03.17.23 “IRISH VS KKK: THE IRISH WON “

March 11, 2022 By Tia Tenopia

Irish vs. the KKK: the Irish won… St. Patrick’s Day is nigh upon us. For many, St. Patrick’s Day is a fun day, a time to wear green, drink green beer, and eat corned beef and cabbage. But it’s actually a serious holiday. St. Patrick’s Day celebrates Ireland’s patron saint and national apostle, St. Patrick, […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 03.17.23 THE CHEECH

March 17, 2023 By wpengine

Texas Chicanos Shine in New Cheech Marin Museum in Riverside, California As you enter the new Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture—be prepared. The two story glass sculpture by the de la Torre brothers will take your breath away. The glass and plastic installation, homage to an Aztec deity Coatlicue, silently greets visitors. […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 03.08.23

March 10, 2023 By wpengine

Gini Garcia attained international status with several significant glass works: a commission work for the Vatican;  a one thousand pound chandelier for the Lingner Castle in  Dresden, Germany valued at $250,000, and  a prodigious glass wall for a Marriott in Aruba.  She has completed 50 site artworks worldwide, including 150 pieces for the Harry Potter […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 2.17.23 – JESSE TREVIÑO, AN ENORMOUS LOSS

February 17, 2023 By wpengine

Jesse Treviño: The Latino Art Community Suffers an Enormous Loss By Dr. Ricardo Romo Jesse Treviño, one of America’s premier Latino artists, passed away on February 13, 2023 in San Antonio, Texas. He was 76 years old. Treviño had been ill for the past year following a surgery for cancer. His monumental tile mosaic sculptures […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA FOOD “JALAPEÑO SODA BREAD” RECIPE

By Tia Tenopia on March 14, 2011

Jalapeño Irish Soda Bread The sweetness of traditional Irish soda bread ingredients—raisins, buttermilk, some sugar—are richly complimented by jalapeño heat. Here’s a soda bread recipe from Ireland brought to the USA from Galway by Mary Patricia Reilly Murray and later transformed  with her blessing by her daughter, Bobbi Murray, who added jalapeño chile.  A real […]

Category: Cooking, Food, LATINOPIA FOOD

LATINOPIA EVENT 1966 UFW PEREGRINACIÓN (PILGRIMAGE) MARCH

By Tia Tenopia on March 19, 2013

The effort to organize farm workers under a union contract has been a long and difficult struggle. In 1965, César Chávez and Dolores Huerta created what would become the United Farm Workers Union. From the onset they  faced many obstacles, not the least of which was how to get dozens of California grape growers to […]

Category: History, LATINOPIA EVENT

LATINOPIA MUSIC ANGELA ROA “TOCO DESAFINADO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 22, 2014

Angela Roa is a Chilean singer and lyricist residing in Los Angeles, California. Her songs are about the Latino experience in the United States and in Latin America. Here she performs an original song, “Toco Desafinado” (Out of Tune). She is accompanied by Fernando Losada, Rich Silva and Thiago Winterstein..

Category: LATINOPIA MUSIC, Music

© 2023 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin