If the mainstream media can easily dismiss the ideas of a Congressman that do not suit them, I submit that we would be well-served to stop looking for the answers on mainstream media.

Jon Stewart touches on the issue in a humorous way.

He buried the campaign of Donald Trump by releasing his birth certificate, just before the White House Correspondent’s dinner.  It is too obvious that he was providing fodder for the comedic twists that night.  Trump was laughed out of his candidacy.

Then on May 1, the day that otherwise would have been cast as “Immigrants and Latinos Stand Against Obama’s Inaction on Comprehensive Reform,” we got the death of OBL instead.  We weren’t laughed out, just simply ignored.  Impeccable timing by his ilk.

This weekend, I was invited by some friends of mine to visit Cleveland, Texas.  The trip was not a leisurely one.  We were invited to meet with a community which had been affected by a horrific incident-the gang rape of an 11-year old by a group of men.   This young girl was lured to an isolated location, where men from the age of fourteen to twenty seven years of age took turns having sex with her on different occasions.  I was also informed that in later incidents, members of the same group threatened to kill this young girl if she did not return to the same location to be raped again.  If this isn’t enough of a tragedy, this child, her parents and the community quickly became victims of an ensuing media circus. 

Racial Perspective

One of the most attractive parts of the story for mainstream media types is that the victim of this rape was a so-called Latina.  All of the accused are black.  Traditionally, there is little else that attracts mainstream media more than racial problems, especially when the two sides are people of color. 

Quanell X, a local activist, staged a town hall meeting in Cleveland to discuss some points of concern with the situation.  Many people involved in social justice and human rights have learned to be guarded with the criminal justice system.  Having protested cases like Pedro Oregon’s murder at the hands of HPD in the nineties to most recently the detention of babies in immigrant jails like Hutto, I understand the apprehension of other activists when it comes to issues of criminal justice. In general, Mr. X is correct in questioning law enforcement’s process with people of color. 

In his speech, he clearly said that any adult who had sex with a child should “have his butt whooped” and go to jail.  He also said that he told one of the accused who had admitted to his crime that he had to pay for his crime, even if the accused did not know her age, and he scolded black elders for losing control of their neighborhood.  He said that those who admitted their involvement did the right thing, and that those who were involved needed to pay for their crime. 

However, he made some other statements, which many people, including myself, interpreted as blaming the victim and her parents.  “This rape did not happen one night. It did not happen in two days, this was going on over a protracted period of time so I have to ask the question if this young girl did not live in that neighborhood…(if she was) so much experiencing sex with so many African -American men (sic)…where was her mother.” 

I spoke to Quanell X about his comments for this piece.  He was adamant that he did not intend to blame the child.  “She is a baby,” he said.  “If these brothers are guilty of what they stand accused of, they are worthy of death.”  He repeated that phrase for emphasis.  However, he stood by the assertion that the parents bear some responsibility. 

I am relieved that he does not blame the victim, but I do not see the parents as being negligent in this case.  The NY Times reports that she was an honor student, and local witnesses claim that her siblings were as well.  Even if they were negligent, I don’t know that it would be accurate or correct for them to bear any responsibility for having been manipulated, even if that manipulation spanned a few months.

 Women’s perspective

As I heard Quanell X’s comments with a female listener, she quickly responded, “How can he say she was having sex?  She was being raped.” That sums up the sentiment of many women who have been following this case.

In Cleveland, Yolanda Navarro Black, made it clear that “CHILDREN CAN’T CONSENT TO SEX.”  She explained that it was not as much a racial incident, as it was a women’s issue.  Nothing else matters, except for the fact that a minor child had been raped by adult men.  It doesn’t matter whether the child thought she wanted to.  It does not matter how the child dressed.  It does not matter whether her parents were respectable or not.  “A child can’t say yes.”

A group of women organized a press conference to reiterate the same message.  They made it clear that this was not so much a racial incident, as it was a women’s issue.  

“We’re talking about race, why?” said Councilwoman Jolanda Jones in an interview about the press conference.  “I was a victim of rape at eight years old, and I didn’t report it until I was twenty one.  Part of the reason was because the rapists threatened to kill me and my family members.”  Reportedly, this is how the Cleveland rapists convinced the child to return to be victimized again.

Sylvia Gonzales, LULAC’s National Vice President for the Southwest, is preparing to take up a collection and to fundraise for the victim’s family.  “They are very much in need due to this incident,” she says.  She can be reached at 832-283-5752.

I applaud these women for putting ethics first and for questioning a strong personality in defense of women and family, before any man did the same.

Organizing/Bigger Perspective

In the end, I believe that race is pertinent.  Quanell X says that he believes that three of the accused are innocent.  From my experience, it is plausible that three out of the nineteen black men could be charged with insufficient evidence to support these charges. It is also plausible that race could play a part in their charges.  While I strongly object to his take on the victim’s family, I believe in due process, and that the guilty should spend a lifetime paying for their crimes.

For my part, I told the good people in Cleveland, that it was extremely important to have a standing organization which is prepared to deal with all injustices as they come.  Injustice exists most often when the people fail to organize in its own self-defense.  I encouraged them to begin meeting with the aim of preparing themselves for the likely event that justice might not be served in this or in many other cases to come.  Previous preparation is the key to fighting injustice.

Sometimes these guys still shock me. Muslims dress “weird.” Blacks talk funny, and let me just imitate them, while I’m at it. Immigrants suck and only come here to leach. Let’s pacify Islam with sex and drugs. These are all things that I have heard over the course of a week.

I’ve been really trying to discern the difference between left and right media outlets, since I cranked on MSNBC after CNN fired Rick Sanchez. The left is really cerebral and fact and figure oriented, almost to a fault. It’s like Maddow and Olberson are the smartest kids in the class, but they have no passion. I guess they haven’t figured out that the smartest kids are rarely the favorites. Limbaugh is sharp as a tack and uses his intelligence to spin like a top via racial emotion. Beck is dumb as a doornail, but runs off pure emotion. Hannity is as far right as either of these two.

We need some Che and Malcolm passion on our side too.  One last thing while we’re on the subject of the media. A few weeks ago Rick Sanchez said Jews are not an oppressed minority.  He quickly gets fired and forgotten.

A couple of weeks later, Juan Williams says he gets nervous when Muslims get on a plane, and he gets fired, but also gets an immediate offer for 2mil from Fox.  The talk has been over whether Williams should have been, as Rick Sanchez is quickly forgotten. 

It is especially difficult to hold back when the theme of the movie has to do with socio-political reality or history. I barely saw Avatar last night…spoiler alert. Avatar was well received in the progressive community internationally, and Filmmaker James Cameron, become recognized as a champion of indigenous and environmental rights almost overnight.

Perhaps it was this acclaim that allowed me to begin watching Avatar with a generally open mind. I usually expect the worst when Hollywood picks up such a theme, but I thought I would give the movie a chance.

The movie acts as a mirror for today’s corporate-driven imperialist politics. It is an allegory for what is happening today in Afghanistan and what has happened historically at the hands of white imperialism.

In the film, it becomes clear early on, and in no uncertain terms, that the invading, white human army is after a mineral deposit which sits under the tree that the Na’vi, an alien race, inhabit. The tree is miles tall and houses thousands of Na’vi families.

One of the techniques used by the humans to get the Na’vi to leave the tree is to create a Na’vi look-alike with some human DNA. This creation is called an Avatar. This Avatar is controlled by a white human counterpart named Jake Sully.

This was a reference to the racial politics of early Spanish and English colonization, where explicit imperialist strategies were to inter-marry invading men with native female royalty. One northern native elder called this strain of imperialists, “liberal” imperialists. The goal of the liberal was very much to take land, gold and women from the natives. They only disagreed with their conservative counterparts as to the most useful strategy.

This Avatar was to ingratiate himself with the Na’vi and influence them to move elsewhere. It was clear that if the Avatar was unsuccessful, the corporate contractor would then authorize the military to move in and blast the tree and the civilization to Mictlan. The corporate administrator, played by Giovanni Ribisi, says something along the lines of, “Shareholders are greatly bothered by media images of natives being slaughtered, but they are bothered much more by quarterly losses, so hurry up an get them to move.”

Long story short, Jake fails to persuade the Na’vi to move, and he falls in love with an alien native. He never warns the natives that they will be under attack. It is only until the military begins its assault that Jake bothers to protest.

The army does come in and does blast the Tree of Life and the Na’vi to Mictlan. The Na’vi leave and mount a conventional counter-attack on the invading whites. Some Na’vi die, but in the end, Jake is successful in uniting different clans of the alien race, and under his leadership he defeats the white humans. The Na’vi goddess permanently transfers his soul from his human body to his Avatar body, and he becomes a hero of the resistance and a recognized leader of the Na’vi.

Generally, the movie did an adequate job in portraying the imperialist culture as one which has no problems with trading the lives of “savages and their children” for corporate profits. For all of the leftist acclaim, I found it surprising that it was, at essence a white savior film. It took a white alien human to unite the Na’vi and create the new technology (the domestication of a large bird) to defeat the white aliens. I mean, come on, really? For being a darling of the left, Avatar sure played into this tired ass theme. The white savior complex has been done almost everytime there has been a story about uplifting minorities: Wildcats, Dangerous Minds, The Last Samurai, Dances With Wolves, Gran Torino, The Blind Side, Mississippi Burning, but the list is really endless.

I also took issue with the fact that the liberal imperialist ended up as the hero. Jake conspired to have their society destroyed, and he never for one minute before the invasion tipped off the Na’vi that it was coming. He was an agent for liberal white imperialism and ended up as the hero of the film.

The film also fetishizes the response of the Na’vi. In the white mind, the only honorable way for an oppressed, obliterated, colonized society is to pull itself up from it’s bootstraps and engage in a conventional warfare response. Even in this Hollywood version of resistance, the response of native people is held to a higher, double standard. In reality, most colonized people have beaten the colonizer not by engaging in conventional warfare, but by being elusive and using effective, guerrilla tactics, by tiring and exasperating the invaders so much that they lose their will to occupy.

Finally, in the Hollywood version of colonial resistance, the native army simply rounded up the invaders and sent them back home with not so much as a handcuff to inconvenience them. The white psyche only wishes that the resistance would be so forgiving, even though the invaders themselves are guilty of intentionally killing unarmed civilian children. Deep in the white psyche, it is just for them to be strongly reprimanded and sent home. wrong. Think more along the lines of scorched earth.

The film did a good job of characterizing colonialist tendencies, which admittedly I did not cover in depth in this post, but it did a characteristically poor job in characterizing native response to colonialism. In the end, I give the film the score of fifty out of a hundred, which is higher than all other Hollywood films of a similar nature.

Here in Houston, El Dia, went out of business a few months ago. As I begin this venture, my second attempt at newspaper publishing (I tried ten years ago, fresh out of college), there are probably at least ten Spanish-language newspaper, split between alternative newsweeklies and classified newspapers in Houston. In the English-language scene there is one English daily newspaper, one alternative weekly, a couple of monthlies and a couple of classifieds.

In this age of declining print, what would make me believe that I could or should engage in this venture?

About the could part…I think that the major trend in the last decade within media lies within consumption. The trend, and I think that the trend is here to stay, is toward a more niche, point-of-view-oriented preference among the people. Lines have slowly blurred between editorial and news content. The people understand and are ok with that. Their response is just to look for media which more or less corresponds with their point of view. Those who are not ok with it are traditional media, because their monopoly on legitimate information mongering is being broken by right-wing Fox, lefty blogs and the strengthening of right-wing radio.

Traditional, supposedly “unbiased” journalism is now kind of just like vanilla ice cream. You’ll eat it, but you won’t go to the other side of the city to buy it if you can buy it at the convenient store. And if the convenient store offers it for free, con menos ganas will you drive to the other side of the city to buy it. This is the predicament that dailies find themselves in. By the time I find a daily to buy, I’ve already heard everything that they have to say on CNN, Yahoo News, NPR and Pacifica. If I haven’t, I can get the same articles from Reuters and the other sevices on Google for free, and I can do it while, I am sending out e-mails and giving out insurance quotes online.

Now, if there is a point of view, or hard-to-come by information, I might drive a few blocks to pick up the paper, especially if its free. For example, I’ve never seen a story on the people that ICE disappears in The Chronicle, but The Houston Catholic Worker ran such a story. Now I want to see everything they publish.

So, as far as journalism goes, I do intend to offer spicy, advocacy-oriented, pro-gente, pro-movimiento oriented pieces. So, what about the idea that our people are not really print-media consumers, especially Spanish-speakers? Hector, you might say, you might drive a few blocks for the Catholic Worker, but you are not most people. You’re weird. You’re a news junkie, an ideologue and lefty nationalist. Most people aren’t, and most just don’t care enough.

My solution to this is that the newspaper is designed as a classified-style newspaper, which has been a staple of the barrio for years, and which I expect to remain so. Small businesses will always need a way to promote their businesses to buyers, and buyers will always look for a way to shop around. Classic community organizing teaches that successful campaigns are those built on the self-interest of the participants. Applied to the newspaper, I am riding the self-interest of buyers and sellers to get the information out to the people who want it.

A free newspaper has been and will be the solution to this self-interest. Sure, there is the internet, but even I, as tech-savvy as I am, don’t think “internet” for searching for some things, like handymen and mechanics. When I do think about consuming services on the internet, I don’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling. With some exceptions, it sucks.

To increase readership even more, the journalism in El Pueblo will run bilingually.

In essence, I am banking on classifieds to be the backbone of the paper. The journalism will add, let’s say, ten percent to the readership, the English, will add, perhaps, another ten percent to the readership and the point of view will add, hopefully, another ten percent.

As a side note, the alternative newsweeklies use the national advertising style of selling space. I think that they could be in some trouble. Being in the industry years ago, I know that, in general, the circulation numbers that they post to advertisers are bogus. Yes, they are audited, but I have been told by other insiders how to get the audit numbers that you want. It’s simple, when the auditors come, you print more copies and pay someone that week to go pick them up. If national advertisers figured this out, they would pull out immediately. It is unfortunate that our people don’t pick them up because they are too newsy and not classifiedy enough. Classified papers don’t have the “luxury” of this scam. At the end of the three-month contract, the small business guy or gal just wants to know if you brought them business or not. Did you make their phone ring? Yes or no?

The last eight years in business, I have learned that multiple income streams are helpful. When applied to readership, diverse reasons for picking up the paper will be key. Some people have written off print completely, and have even brought this to my attention. I truly believe that there will be a place for print for a century or more, with only the price and availability of paper, relative to the value of the dollar vs other currencies, being able to totally displace print in this part of the world. I will say that the traditional, non-free, daily newspaper will be a thing of the past, just like the family sitting around the radio in the evening is a piece of history.

Print will adapt to the introduction of the internet, just as radio adapted to the introduction of the television. Radio, still has a place. Although TV dramatically reduced the relevance of radio, it did not totally displace it. The same will hold true of the print industry.

I think that the combo that I am presenting will represent the new place of print.

I go into this project with much more experience and acumen than I did ten years ago. Perhaps because of this experience and acumen, I also go in much more humbly and conscientious of the fragility of the project in its initial phase.

In the end, I can cost and business justify it as much as I want, but the reason that I am doing it is because I want to. It is not for profits, which I could more easily attain by focusing on one of my other revenue streams. I am both an ideologue and a practical activist/organizer. The entire reason that I became self-employed was so that I would not have to shut my mouth. I want this paper to share my ideas and to share the good community work of others in Houston. The business aspect to it is simply a practical necessity.  I won’t be able to print as much journalism as I’d like at first, but I will slowly improve the paper.  I took a blind leap of faith the first time around.  This time, I am taking a measured, cautious first step and hoping for the best.

In about a month or so, I will begin running tests for the viability of a new community publication. 

Should the tests indicate that the project is viable (and I hope they will), I hope to begin publishing by early to mid-August.  The primary goals of the publication shall be two-fold:

1.  To have a regular and disciplined vehicle with which to promote the worldview that I have been promoting for years.

2.  To promote news and events from “the coalition” and its supporting groups, using the voice of advocacy journalism. 

Secondary goals include the creation of jobs and income opportunities  for people who support the work of progressive organizations; an avenue to promote some of my other lines of business, and to aid in re-prioritizing some of the focus of other media, which, at times, ignore stories which are very important to us.

At least initally, the publication will be a mix of a “shopper” publication and an alternative weekly.  The inital goals will be to publish 10,000 to 20,000 copies twice a month and to distribute in the northeast, northwest and southeast areas of Houston.

If the project comes to fruition, I will have a need for salaried and commission-only sales people, contract distributors and freelance translators and writers.  If you know of anyone who might be interested, please do not hesitate to contact me as soon as possible. 

I have an immediate need for help with names for the publication and with identifying prospective small business advertisers, who would be interested in promoting their business in such a publication as well as through online formats that will be packaged along with the print advertisements.  If you would like to suggest a name for the publication or if you would like to advertise or suggest an advertiser, please hit me up on Facebook, by phone, by e-mail or the feedback function of this blog. 

I believe that this is an idea whose time has come, as I understand that Tony Diaz is working on his own English-language publication and the crew from El Gato at UH is doing the same.  Tip of the sombrero to all y adelante!

Sincerely,

Hector A. Chavana Jr.

Many people confuse my rants against “White Power” with me taking a position against all white people.  In fact, my measure for a human being are her soul and her deeds. 

It is true, as Olbermann suggests, that I do look at whites with some suspicion because of their inherent racial/cultural privilege, and because I believe that most are not willing to sacrifice their privilege for any moral good.

I do not excuse liberals who, were it for their impotence, would grant us equality of opportunity in a heartbeat. This classic liberal stance will not remedy the immense theft of cutural and economic wealth which has put our people at a disadvantage, and on an inherent uneven playing field. We do not wish to compete in race to build in which we are handed a hammer at the same time that our competitors have been out stealing power tools all night.

My test for a white person is whether or not they will consciously act toward giving our gente the ultimate rights that we deserve and that we are owed: self determination.  If a white person can respect and actively support our desire to have full authority of ourselves (equality of authority) then they are no longer deserving of the title gringo.

Full self determination, autonomy and sovereignty over our own lands (without political, military or economic intervention) shall complete the cycle of justice.  The Azteca concept of justice was equated with untwisting a twisted rope.  The last stage of such atonement is reparations.  Unfortunately, this country and the gringo populace in general has not even embarked on the first stage of atonement. Listen carefully to Keith Olbermann. Does he ever suggest that the solution to the problem of racism is granting people of color the rights to govern ourselves? Instead he defends the classic liberal position that we are all the same and should be colorblind, that integration is the answer and that the president is just as capitalistic as anyone else.

We don’t want colorblindness. We want land.

They have become much slicker at masking their racism. The other day, I heard one of them condemning a lady’s hair do for looking too much “al estilo Benito Juarez.” Translation for the mentally conquered—look anything but Indian.

I think TV Azteca did a good job of trying to be decent when they first came on, but most of their decency has long passed. I don’t think Hispano-trash television can get much worse, but it might just get more brainwashy after all. Fíjate lo que dice Ernesto Aguilar on his latest post about Telemundo being swallowed by Comcast.

NBC Universal owns 27 broadcast television stations, many of them Telemundo affiliates. Since Comcast already provides cable and internet service in Houston, this would mean that one company will control content online, on cable and over the airwaves. This is unprecedented.

The Comcast-NBC Universal/Telemundo merger also reflects a reduction of choices in Spanish-language media. Houston’s Latino community is not served well when megacorporations control access to consumers and potentially strong-arming other Spanish-language channels out of the market.