Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Mexican History
I'm sure you've heard pretty much every argument -- on all sides -- relating to immigration debate. I have no intention of adding my voice to that sea of opinion. But I will tell you, it's been really interesting to learn the Mexican perspective on Mexican-American relations. In a nutshell, their version of how things went down over the past couple of centuries ain't nothin' like what I learned in sixth grade American history class. For starters, I kinda missed the fact that the U.S. invaded Mexico several times and in fact "acquired" much of our American West at the point of a gun. No small land grab, either. What is now California, Arizona, etc. represented fully half of the Mexican landmass. The attached Absolut ad, which we recently saw in Mexico City, addresses, in a tongue-in-cheek way, a very well hidden sentiment shared by many Mexican citizens, especially younger ones.And then there's the whole issue of Texas: I just discovered James Crumley. If you haven't read any of his stuff, his writing is sort of a cross between Elmore Leonard and Hunter S. Thompson. Many of his books take place in West Texas near the Mexican border. In the book I finished most recently, called Bordersnakes, he wrote:
"...I decided as the sun drifted down the western sky, to head the van up the prehistoric banks of the Rio Grande, have a beer, smoke the last joint, cry a few tears, laugh, and think of Wynona Jones... But the cooler was empty. I couldn't go to the sunset without a beer. Luckily I was just passing La Esperansa del Mundo - a tiny Mexican beer joint that seemed to capture all the horrible moments between Texas and Mexico, the wars, the lies, the naked aggression of a country led by the Protestant gods of capitalism against a country confused by the old gods and the Catholic church, a country mad with beauty and despair... Yes. La Esparansa. 'Poor Mexico,' they say. 'Too far from God and too goddamned close to Texas.'"
As a final perspective on the current immigration debate, a friend recently shared this quote with me.
“Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the
# posted by goots @ 1:32 PM 
