THIS WEEK ON LATINOPIA: SARA INÉS CALDERÓN ON TEXAS RANGERS KILLING MEXICANS, MOCTESUMA ESPARZA ON THE THE BALLAD OF GREGORIO CORTEZ, AUGUSTIN LIRA AND PATRICIA WELLS SINGING GREGORIO CORTEZ, HERMAN SILLAS ON THE CURRENT POLITICAL SCENE, AND OUR WEEKLY PHOTO BY ANGELA ORTIZ.
Hola mis queridos Latinopianos! Welcome to another week of Latinopia. This week we focus on a sad theme, the injustice against Mexicans along the US and Mexico border during the period 1900 to 1920. Sara Inés Calderón returns with her Thinking Latina blog–this week analyzing coverage of a recent exhibit at the Bullock Museum in Austin, Texas where for the first time there is a public acknowledgment that those who were supposed to protect citizens in fact targeted Mexicans, killed them, and got away with it. Yep, we’re talking about the Texas Rangers. Sara’s argument is that it wasn’t the current term “Hispanics” that were hunted down and killed, it was Mexicans. Hey, call a Mexican a Mexican, pues!
Perhaps one of the most infamous incidents of Texas injustice against Mexicans was the celebrated case of Gregorio Cortez. Film producer Moctesuma Esparza recounts how he was able to produce the film The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez and shares with us the key incident of bilingual misunderstanding that led to a tragedy and several deaths. Augustin Lira (co-founder of the celebrated El Teatro Campesino) and Patricia Wells offer us a musical rendition of the Ballad of Gregorio Cortez. This one is an original version penned by Lira himself. Not to be missed.
Our regular blogger Herman Sillas returns with his monthly View from the Pier. This week he takes a look at the current political scene as Democrats and Republicans gear up for the big push to November.
And of course, don’t miss this week’s Photo of the Week by Angela Ortiz.
Enjoy your week on Latinopia!
Tia Tenopia