Phoenix, Aztlán (where the spirit of truth lives)
I have heard comments
about the young "dreamers" who gave themselves up at the Nogales
Arizona border. They left Mexico to ask for humanitarian aid after having lived
in Mexico. In Mexico they were treated like bastards by a system that knows how
to eject, but does not know how to integrate its population. One of the
commentators called them, “twice illegal by their own choice.”
Historical
ignorance is surprising on both sides of the border. On the one hand the
"dreamer’s" movement insists on calling themselves,
"undocumented and unafraid," and on the other hand many accept the
designation of 'illegal,' even if they claim not to be afraid. We tried to
teach them with adobes dating around 800 to 900 years; that our documents are in
those bricks, in the cave paintings, in our own DNA, testifying that our
ancestors were here before national borders were imposed by sick minds
contaminated by the search for power and possession.
However, the
historical truth does not fit into the "talking points" of a
political campaign whose sole aim is reform, not correcting historical
atrocities. Dreamers want to be accepted within the same system that spits them
out, criminalizes them, and denigrates them. Some will say that what matters is
that the system accepts them so they may be able to work and be useful to
society for their own good, their families, and the same system that refuses to
accept them. It is the same argument used by the Spaniards to force us to
accept the Encomienda system and the psychological control instruments it
developed. One of the most famous instruments was the “Right of First Night,” (Derecho de Pernada).
For those who don't know, the right of Pernada is the right of the landowner to
enjoy the first night with the peon’s bride, the second day she was given back to
the boyfriend. The reasoning was the divine right of kings and to improve the blood quantum of the peon class. The main reason was to exercise absolute
dominion over their peons who at that time were 100% indigenous to these lands.
Today, disguised
with laws, the right of the Pernada continues. Sheriff Arpaio continues
symbolically exercising the right of Pernada by arresting the husband or the
wife at will. But even worse, unconsciously dreamers for the most part want to
be accepted by Uncle Sam, the stepfather of the American plantation which
continues to reject his stepchildren, calling them illegal. In the confused
politics of the modern Pernada, Uncle Sam keeps using indigenous labor but is
willing to recognize only those who abhor their indigenous past and beg for
citizenship as legitimate sons of Uncle Sam. But those who refuse to call
themselves "illegal," those
who reclaim their ancestral rights to the land, air, water, fire, and right to travel freely like it was done prior
to the invasion of our lands, will be rejected. The sad thing is that the
rejection is not only by Uncle Sam, but also by dreamers who prefer to play
along calling themselves illegal immigrants. Even if they aren't afraid to be
illegal, they are still afraid of their own identity. They are afraid of their
indigenous brothers who tell them. "We are not immigrants, we are not illegal,
we are not criminals, we are original peoples, and we are indigenous workers."
The "dreamers" assimilationist strategy may be successful. Possibly it
could take them to “The White House" the same way as Barack Obama became
president. Perhaps, even brown skin color will become acceptable in the United
States and around the world. But the cultural, spiritual, genocide by the
plantation slave owners that changed us, our identity, will steal from us our
freedom forever. We, the original peoples of Abya Yala, have the ancestral
right to travel and to live throughout the continent. We do not have an
obligation to accept foreign identities that identify us as 'illegal,'
"undocumented", or even "immigrants." We did not come from
other lands. We did not cross the ocean. We have lived, traveled and practiced
our spiritual rites throughout the continent since time immemorial. In my humble
opinion, the dreamers movement needs to awake from the illegal and undocumented nightmare to return
to the ancestral roots that have nourished us over time to survive from the
Encomienda until the national borders imposed by the invader.
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