Hear Evil, See Evil, Stand for Peace and Justice

I remember a civil disobedience action many of us participated in the 80’s where a Shoshone elder woman led the crossing of the barbed wire fence at the Nevada Test Site. The native woman was carrying a sign that said “Nuclear Weapons is the Ultimate Child Abuse.” Today, new bombs are being tested on the children of Iraq: “are you going to help me get my arms back,” an Iraqi child asked the doctors at a Baghdad hospital after a US missile destroyed his house, killing all members of his family (Democracy Now, Pacifica Radio, 4/7/03). While Tomahawk and cruise missiles destroy everything Iraqi, and Bechtel and other US corporations prepare to rebuild the country they destroy, bombs of racism, poverty, and information blockade continue to fall on the faces at the bottom of the well who continue to carry the brunt of a greedy Anglo establishment.

The Latino-Native youth who have been participating in the Corazón-Sabio workshops I have been teaching at schools in the region are unanimously voting for peace and against the war—even before I begin my instruction on non-violent strategies, multiculturalism, and social responsibility. The youth understand that Empire’s violence has always essentially jeopardize the evolution of oppressed people the world over. As people of color explore our common histories, we begin to find that the destruction of ancient Iraq and the killing of its children has a special agonizing effect on us. The destruction of Iraqi poor neighborhoods, people, agricultural fields, trees, waterways, schools, churches, markets and hospitals, have historical resonance to most Native Latin Americans in this country. So far, the violent results of the US “war on terrorism” has naturally caused a feeling of aberration to our stage of human consciousness and evolution.

Once again, the Forefathers are calling people of color and the poor to sacrifice for their country and flag, the “racial sacrifice as historic necessity.” So we are left with the options of facing the chaos in the battleground or facing the chaos in our communities. They wish for us to loose our sense of collective identity for the sake of the Anglo Nation. In his four years tenure, the Bush’s Administration has no doubt promised to bring instability abroad and at home. Since September 30, 2002, the National Debt continues to increase an average of $1.45 billion per day. Still, solutions to rebuilt the i.e. social, health, and educational systems at home are nowhere in the horizon.

Fortunately, great many people of the world oppose the Anglo-aggression against Irak for the right reasons. Certainly, we won’t stand on indifference to the millions of Iraqi children being put at risk of dying or being crippled physically or psychologically by US and British bombs; we won’t be silenced by the Anglo hypocrisy and greed for oil and arms sells worldwide; we will confront US hegemony from within and outside national boundaries in order to make Washington accountable by the UN and by the people of this country.

Manuel Tzunum Aparicio, Media Liaison

(P.D. Please join the “We Stand for Peace and Justice” Statement signed so far by more than 60,000 people and thus make history with your vote and voice! http://www.zmag.org/wspj/index.cfm )

San Mateo County LULAC • Chapter 3068
P.O. Box 5605,
Redwood City, CA 94603
http://www.sanmateocountylulac.org