On the 2nd anniversary of one of the most well executed semi-spontaneous marches in U.S. history, I had to also remember some of the negative implications of that show of force. No longer could Chicago's Mexican American community play the semi-model minority. We would be a "problem", though not like those communities in the southwest and in California. The negative lights now shine, the media drums out its obligatory "chamaco"-esque school kid pictures whenever a story was done about school issues.
Sometimes I wish for an earlier time when we seamlessly transitioned into former white ethnic strongholds and then would leave them for greener pastures as blacks eventually moved in. That was the old order of things. There would be a kind of 5 to 15 year window where a neighborhood would be majority or plularity Mexican but not infested with gangs, overcrowded homes, language issues, or leftist polical stridency.
Two streets in Chicago represent the falling of this old ideal and the realities of the new age- Ewing Avenue and (south) Pulaski Road. The residential areas on either side of these streets were the destination spot for people seeking the escape from Bush (the neighborhood) and LaVillita. Though many people would eventually head to Indiana and Plainfield, many more recent immigrants took their place, in effect delaying and diverting the eventual turnover to black that would typically be expected- South Chicago east of Yates avenue illustrates this white-mexican-black transition over time from 1970 to the present day, as does the southeastern sections (e of Kedzie, s of 59th or so) of Chicago Lawn. That community is omniprescent and I feel more of a true core of Mexican-American/Hispanic/Latino political pull than those more glamorous and publicized areas on the near west and northwest sides, which I shall not name here. Here is where the HDO fermented into fine wine.
Most of all it was about attitude, an attitude I did not have the luxury of displaying seeing as I lived on the wrong side of the Chicago Skyway. Minority yes, but thankfully and resolutely better than black. But with decent clothes, a nasal Chicago accent and a full head of hair. Sometimes with a three-quarter leather but more than likely with something from a Dockers ad.
We weren't "oppressed" and are often told by California types that "Chicago is a suburb". Thank god!
Well that part of the world made itself heard loud and clear through its non-voting for Obama in the February 5 2008 Illinois primary election. Juan Rangel has somewhat of a pulse on this absence of coalition and dare I say the emergence of a swing voting Ewing Pulaski factor that, yes, will not turn the tide for Yon Makain, but may make Illinois a state with a less comfortable margin for Obama. Here is the Rangel column as seen in the Commentary page of Monday's March 10, 2008s Chicago Tribune:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0310latinomar10,0,2200829.story
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Hispanics became "opressed" when the industry of opression told them they were. Namely commies and leftists in unions. The fact is, Asians all used to pick crops. They don't anymore. They only put up with such jobs till their kids got an edjumacation. Now, the Hispanics pick fruit when they get here and their kids drop out of school and hang around the house, the yard, the park with their homies or with their gangs. The few who move into the professional classes are the strange, lefty intellectual women who look like Frieda Kahlo. The ones with the thick eyebrows, which denotes a lot of Spanish (or Arabian) blood.
I'm in no way saying that Hispanics, especially Mexicans, did not suffer from extreme racism, they sure as hell did, just like the Asians. I am saying that millions of Hispanics came here and felt that their lives were much better than they had been in their countries of origin. Those days are over. Everyone is engaged in the politics of victimhood and of course Hispanics are no different.
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