Mis Queridos, hay que verguenza! Your Tia apologizes for being late on this week’s Latinopia new video postings. Now I know what you are all thinking. That crazy Tia probably tied one on and had way too many margaritas this weekend! Ya vez como son? Of course, you immediately go to the stereotype. Hay raza, you should be ashamed! If you must know, your diligent Tia was in upstate New York attending a retreat of Latino media professionals. Yes, mijos and mijas, all work this week-end and no margaritas!
Well, anyway I have a week of resistencia in store for you this week. Resistencia? Resistence to what? Well, as you know, we Latinos in the United States have often suffered discrimination, harassment and abuse at the hands of others. Often we have become scapegoats for society’s larger problems (one need only look at Arizona these days). However, we have often fought back. We have resisted mistreatment and denounced it in song and by our actions. Here are a couple of examples.
One of the early miscarriages of justice occurred in Texas in the year 1900 when a Tejano was unjustly accused of horse stealing. Despite his innocence, he was hunted down, tried by an all-white jury, convicted and sentenced to prison. The man’s name was Gregorio Cortez and his saga has inspired many corridos (ballads) as well a movie starring Edward James Olmos. Latinopia presents an original corrido of the Gregorio Cortez story written by Fresno based playwright and musician Agustín Lira, “The Ballad of Gregorio Córtez.”
June 5th marks the 44th anniversary of the infamous raid by armed men determined to get family land back on the Tierra Amarilla New Mexico courthouse. The raid was the culmination of decades of struggle to regain contested land grants that deprived New Mexicans of the land their forefathers once owned (for details check out our Event Profile under the History page). We’ll let land grant activist Reies López Tijerina himself explain to you what happened in this excerpt from the classic documentary by Jesús Treviño, “Yo Soy Chicano.”
Also on tap this week, we introduce a newly launched webseries created and produced by Los Angeles filmmaker Miguel Torres. The series is called “Encounters” and you can access it at www.encounterswebseries.com But check out this video as it involves a fascinating premise.
Abrazos to you all! Tia Tenopia