I spoke to somebody a few minutes ago, who is not ready to go on record, who claims that something did happen to him in the Wal Mart parking lot, and it coincides with some of the facts presented to me by the Wal Mart employee that I wrote about earlier.

The gentleman that I spoke to a few minutes ago claims that earlier in the week, a man walked in front of his car in the parking lot and ordered him to stop. The man asked for his ID and Resident Alien card. The gentleman claims that the person was in civilian clothes but furnished a badge when asked, which he claims identified him as an ICE agent. He says he furnished his social security card and Texas Driver’s License but did not have his resident alien card. He claims that he was detained for half an hour on the premises while he ostensibly ran his record and checked on his residency. The gentleman claims that he (or his cohorts) had two other individuals in plastic cuffs.

In the end, he was warned that he needed to keep his Resident Alien card on his person or face a $500 fine, and he was released.

Now I am still cautious, but I think it important to pass on this information and to stop discounting everything as merely rumors before taking due time to investigate.

There are several possibilities, including:
1. This guy is a nut or a liar, and by chance some of the information matches that of the Wal Mart employee I mentioned.
2. Civilians are posing as ICE agents. Remember, one of the Border Watch members in Houston was arrested for impersonating a cop. Go to the search for the blog and type in Robert Price.
3. There is enforcement going on.

An advertisement appears in today’s edition of The Arizona Republic newspaper comparing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the infamous 1960s Birmingham public safety commissioner Theophilus Eugene “Bull” Connor. The strongly worded statement was sponsored by the Center for New Community and signed by sixty prominent Black leaders from twenty-three states.

A Copy Of The Ad

1^st Annual Dia De La Raza Parade On Little York: Come March

Description: Medical offices, professionals, business owners, restaurateurs, activists and Aztec Dancers unite to celebrate heritage

Houston, Texas, October 24, 2009 – Northeast Houston celebrates Mexican heritage with a parade and a commitment to community.

Laura Pena, Chief Organizer of the event, and promoter of events like “The World’s Biggest Taco,”  noted, “It is hoped that by focusing more attention on this area, we can start to reduce crime and revitalize the community.

A group of Aztec Dancers, lowriders and zoot suiters will be followed by physicians, professionals and activists from the area.

Who:       Business Persons of Little York and 59

What:      Parade and Festival

Where:   Parade Starts at 1615 Little York Rd. 77093 and ends at 2708 Little York Rd Festival At 2708 Little York Rd.

When:   Saturday, October 24, 2009 Participants please arrive at 1615 Little York, Houston, TX 77093 at 11 AM (Parade 12-1, Festival 1:30-6).  March with La Raza Justice Movement Against 287G

Visuals: Lowriders, Zoot Suits, Business People, Folkloric Outfits, Physicians In Scrubs

Contact Information:
Hector Chavana Jr.

713-695-3072

hectorchavanajr@aol.com

###

Taking it out of the immigration or Chicano debate, one example of pragmatism is what came of Clinton’s attempt to include gays in the military.  One side wanted open enlistment for gays, while the other side wanted no gays in the military at all.  Those who acted pragmatically accepted the compromise of “don’t ask, don’t tell” and called it a victory.  I bring this example up only to illustrate a case of pragmatism.

We too in the so-called Latino community are now being called on to be “practical” and “pragmatic,” to compromise our principles to get some some gain, regardless of how big the negative consequences may be.  They tell us things like “you can’t get everything you want;” “you have to compromise;” and democracy is “about give and take.”

I agree that it is about giving and taking.  We give, and they take.  We gave this land, and they took our pacification.  We gave our labor, and took little wages.  It is always us giving and them taking.  This is how it has always been and this is how it will continue to be if we compromise and sell ourselves short for a few supposed gains.

Everytime that we give, we think that it will be better for us tomorrow.  As if our sacrifices, even our blood sacrifices at HIS WARS, have not been enough for the last 150 years.  Yet we continue to try to compromise, to negotiate, to elect, to vote, to wash away inequalities in this society, to fit ourselves into this society which was designed to keep us out.

They are masters at splitting our society into a cadre of leaders who will benefit by walking on the backs of the rest of our community.  They tried to do this with the comprehensive immigration reform, and they are trying to do this with other pending legislation.  Too often they pit allies with vested interests against each other.  The legislation is always geared to pacify those with more power and to stifle the have-nots.  They pit the democrat-union alliance against the Building Aztlan crowd (as they did with Cesar Chavez vs. La Raza Undia).  They pit the upwardly mobile against the lumpen youth and workers (as with affirmative action).  Those in the more powerful position always win out and become pacified, too often at the expense of the rest of our community.  They are masters of manipulation.

I think that compromise is more absurd when we look at who we are trying to compromise with.  Cornyn will never come around “to see the light” about immigration reform or anything else that benefits us.  Still, we are asked to call him, to write to him, to plead with him.  We were asked three months ago by organizers from Chicago to spend these three months trying to persuade Cornyn to change his mind.  CORNYN of all people?!?

I believe that those fighting for change do so with a big heart and good intentions, but I want to write about what is right for me.  I don’t claim to speak for anybody but myself.  In fact, I know that my ideas are a minority in a minority. 

In my personal political activities, I am not willing to compromise one inch.  I believe that I have already compromised by paying my taxes, by pulling over when the police flash their lights, by not promoting violence.  I have compromised this way to a system that literally stole land from my family, that killed my relatives, that took this territory by force, rape and murder, over the blood of our people.  For those who consider themslves eceonomic refugees, it is probably true that the United States caused the economic conditions in your country anyway, and you are still asked to compromise.

Though I am not a Christian, I understand a little better what Jesus meant when he said to give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s.  I’ll give Ceasar Bush what he compells me to: my taxes, my complicity to his laws, the recognition of his authority by force.  But I will never give him my heart or my mind.  So when I contribute to la causa, it is not to compromise one nickle more than what I have compromised already.

Until then, we will be building the foundation of our nation, and when I die, if we only have a quarter of the foundation built, I will be happy.  I believe that it will be a long, slow, lonely path, void of cameras and validation.  The first step is talking about it and writing about it.  Democracy would not have taken root here without people talking and talking loudly about it first.

I once heard Jose Angel Gutierrez critiquing Malcolm X because he talked alot but took no action (unlike his own hero Reis Lopez Tijerina who talked and took up arms).  By talking and not taking up arms, Malcolm was able to give to the world a foundation of profound ideas and analyses which are still relevant today.  Sometimes being a loudmouth isn’t a bad thing.

It will be hard like swimming upstream, because building a nation goes against the current and goes against the passive aggressive strategies we have been taught about “siguiendo la corriente.”  In the end, the seeds that we plant will bear the fruit of four eagles and the nopal.

Hacia una nacion