VOCES

Pop Quiz
Your comments regarding Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) [“Latino Power,” February 2007] in which you stated he “failed his pop quiz on the Middle East when he was unable to differentiate Sunnis from Shiites during his nomination hearing” is incorrect. He was asked this question by a reporter [rather than at the hearing itself]. During an interview the reporter admitted that he had asked the same question to FBI officials and they could not answer the question correctly. I bet most members of Congress couldn’t answer correctly either.
Norman Hensleyy
Santa Monica, California

Editor’s Note: Rep. Reyes was asked by the magazine Congressional Quarterly whether Al Qaeda was predominately Sunni or Shiite. Reyes responded by saying Shiite, which was incorrect.

On the Case
Though I applaud Mr.Victor Cruz-Lugo’s well-intended efforts, in Hispanic Magazine’s 2007 Power Issue [Books], his belief that the “U.S. Supreme Court case Hernandez v. Texas, charts the genesis of the civil rights movement for the Mexican Americans” in the U.S., is mistaken.
“Genesis,” as defined in the dictionary, has two popular uses: 1. Genesis, a book in the Bible, and 2. The origin of something. Hernandez v. Texas is neither.
I would like to direct Mr. Cruz-Lugo’s attention to Mendez et al. v. Westminster et al, a Mexican American desegregation case from Orange County, California in 1946. This case was decided seven years before Brown v. The Board of Education, and argued on appeal by Thurgood Marshall of the NAACP. The Mendez case was a civil rights study about how a Mexican father and his Puerto Rican wife stood up to a segregated society and with the support of many, convinced the California courts that segregation (Mexican schools) had no place in our society.
Ultimately, Gov. Earl Warren of California later as the chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1954 went on to write the Brown v. Board of Education decision ending school segregation across the United States and Mendez v. Westminster would become the model used by Thurgood Marshall in his eradication of segregation in America. I do not claim the Mendez case was the “genesis” of anything, but as we strive to collect our forgotten American history, let us use the correct facts.
Rafael Melendez
El Paso, Texas

Calling The Shots?
Sure enough America Ferrera has talent, and her work is of value, but to include her in “Latino Power” a Hispanic woman “calling the shots” is REACHING!
Including Ms. Ferrera demeans the achievements of the far more accomplished Latinos chosen, and makes it seem like we didn’t have enough of a selection of influential Hispanics to choose from.
Cynthia Cuprill
Los Angeles, California

Selling Out
Ruben Navarrette, Jr.’s article [“Vendido”] in the February issue struck me with familiarity. As a writer of fiction about Hispanic New Mexico, I have been accused of being an “assimilationist”—as if that were some grievous sin. To me it showed the ignorance of the accusers.
The first of my family known to settle in what is now the U.S. arrived in New Mexico in the early 1600s. Until 1821 they were citizens of Spain; from 1821-1848 they were Mexican citizens; from 1848 to today they have been U.S. citizens. Though New Mexicans have had over 150 years to assimilate, we still take great pride in our Hispanic heritage. Like Mr. Navarrette, I ignore the ridiculous accusers. “It doesn’t matter what the morons say.”
Nash Candelaria
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Because I am an avid reader of Latino news, I have come across Navarrette’s writings on several occasions in different media. Very interesting reading and sometimes I utilize his way of thinking in my way of thinking. However, lately in his writings, I have noticed a regular tone of discontent with his fellow Latinos. Almost to the point of feeling uncomfortable or paranoid around his gente.
Just saying or thinking “It doesn’t matter what those morons say” doesn’t seem to be working for him. Get a grip or leave the gente scene for a while. I say this because, we need to increase a Latino voter turnout culture in the U.S. to about an additional 4 million for the 2008 election, starting right now, and you can either help us “make it or break it.” That’s a lot of power and influence, but you are a syndicated columnist and you could make a significant contribution. So do your thing, “one way or the other.”
Ramon Perez
Toledo, Ohio

My editor just plopped down the recent copy of Hispanic Magazine on my desk and it couldn’t have arrived at a better time. I am smarting from remarks made by a copy editor yesterday. She called me an “Oreo” for not being well versed in the music of Maná because I am of Mexican descent.
This morning she made it worse by e-mailing me a backhanded apology, writing, “Sorry if I offended you, I am just not used to people who aren’t in touch with their heritage.”
I suppose I am Sancho, the robot. I am a “clean cut, light-skinned, acculturated, accent-free-English-speaking Mexican American.” I thought about telling her that I choose to celebrate the duality of culture and qualify it by explaining how I love Vicente Fernandez and Frank Sinatra, eat tamales and prime rib for Christmas dinner and read Neruda and Frost.
I was going to add how I was the co-chair of the Alliance of Latin American Students and the social chair of Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity at the University of Colorado. Also, explain that my grandfather fought in WWII to gain citizenship, while other roots in the family go back to Spanish settlers in northern New Mexico. I was going to tell her all of that until I read “Vendido.” I know who I am and it doesn’t matter what that moron says.
Robert Barba

Mr. Navarrette has learned to deal with those who call him a “sellout” by saying that they are “morons” and moving on. But what if you are a child or an adolescent, and the critics are your friends and family? A young person cannot call the only people he knows “morons” and move away. That is not realistic.
I was born and raised in a Mexican American barrio where I was taught not only that assimilation was the greatest sin I could commit against God and my people, but also that I should hate and resent American whites. I dropped out of school because I didn’t want to be “like them” and then isolated myself in the neighborhood with my own kind. The result is that I became a drug addict and a criminal involved in street gang activity.
In the warped mentality of those of us in the barrio, it was better to be an outlaw than to be a cowardly sellout. In the last 20 years I have spent a combined total of a dozen years behind bars; and it all began when I adopted the belief that learning the American way of life was wrong.
This is a serious issue and it continues to happen today.
There are young people who call each other “coconuts,” “white washed” and “sellouts” and many succumb to this criticism. This is a serious problem that requires a commitment to group soul searching on behalf of the Mexican-American community.
We have a problem and we need to find a solution.
To dismiss a critic by saying that he or she is a moron is not only irresponsible, but also demonstrates a lack of imagination.
Roberto Lopez
Cuero, Texas

Casualties of War
The War on Terror hit the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. On January 30, 2007 the body of Pfc. Darrell Shipp of Harlingen, Texas arrived at the
International Airport. Two days later on February 1, 2007, the body of Staff Sgt. Hector Leija, Raymondville, Texas arrived at the same airport.
Both of them served in the Army and were killed in Iraq. Both arrived by private charter jet.
The Rio Grande Valley is located in the southernmost tip of Texas. It is a very patriotic region of the nation, one of the poorest and predominantly Hispanic.
So far, of 22 soldiers and Marines who have paid the ultimate sacrifice, 18 are Hispanic. Recently the director of the South Texas Health Systems of the Veterans Administration in San Antonio, Timothy Shea, said that “The Valley has the highest percentage of decorated combat veterans and casualties of anywhere in America.”
Acute care services through the Veterans Administration are under critical scrutiny by veterans. Veterans enrolled in VA clinics must travel 250 miles to San Antonio for these services. A region of our country that has given the most is always forgotten when the federal funds are disbursed to the Veterans Administration. Local veterans are asking for a full service VA hospital for the area, which they feel is long overdue.
The Valley honors the service, courage and sacrifice of the 22 heroes who have given their all for our country. They will not allow our veterans to be forgotten.
Arturo Treto Garza
Harlingen, Texas

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