Beyond Congrats, a Brown Line Needed for Biden-Harris

 Beyond Congrats, a Brown Line Needed for Biden-Harris

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

The Progressive Populist Dec 1, 2020

"After these past four years, there has to be a brown line for Biden-Harris: They can lead the world in effectuating the concept of “No human being is illegal.” They can start by humanizing their migrant and refugee policies, also by bringing down the wall, destroying the cages, ending child separation and also by ending the genocidal war against people of color."

For the full column, go to: https://www.populist.com/26.21.Rodriguez.html

For the full issue, go to: Populist.com

Foundational Lies & Foundational Myths: Or The ‘Genius’ of the ‘Founding Fathers’

 

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

(Vea la versión en español a continuación.)

I am from the school that believes that the past, present and future are not separate, and all actually form one seamless continuum. For example, in the realm of US politics, Providence, Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism are not dated concepts, but what constitutes the foundation of this nation’s psyche.

These concepts also affirm that the religio-white supremacist ideals that were present during the nation’s founding, continue to be a part of this nation’s moral fabric, which is clearly on display during these 2020 elections. These truths are generally left out of US K-12 textbooks. Students are taught that the “Founding Fathers” ushered in democracy, but not that the nation was actually founded upon genocide, land theft, slavery and de jure and de facto discrimination.

This helps explain why the current White House occupant opposes the teaching of the significance of 1619 (slavery). Instead, he wants 1776 (Independence) to be taught as the nation’s founding. The year 1492 (colonialism) is arguably an even better year to recognize because that’s when these destructive ideologies and worldviews were first introduced into this country/continent.

For the full column, including in Spanish, go to: https://www.populist.com/26.20.Rodriguez.html

OCT 22: VIOLENCE AND IMPUNITY CONTINUE TO REIGN:

In writing my Yolqui book on law enforcement violence, a couple of things happened along the way. I have met and been in contact with more and more families who have had family members killed or brutalized extrajudicially by law enforcement – that is, without indictments or trials, etc. The trauma is immeasurable, especially sans justice. What I have further learned through my life-long monitoring of such abuse is that violence by law enforcement against Red-Black-Brown peoples is not random, but targeted, especially when considering the complicit role of the judicial system in failing to hold officers and departments accountable. No advanced country in the world has a similar track record. Some 1100-1200 people are killed yearly, absent trials.

Most cases remain virtually invisibilized, especially the cases West of the Mississippii. Unknown to most people, California and Texas lead the nation, year after year in such killings. Also unknown to most people is that the highest rates of killings happen to Indigenous peoples in this country. We know the killing of Black youths and young Black men are through the roof, and so too is the killing of Raza, with major undercounts by both the government, the media and those that count these deaths (look for a Raza database shortly on these deaths and the significant undercounts). Also, this violence is out of control generally, but the violence against these three peoples/communities can literally be traced on this continent to 1492, when Europeans viewed everyone they encountered as less than human. This is still true to this day and the evidence is that impunity. Despite the advent of videotaped evidence and social media (Youtube), prosecutions and convictions are still less than extremely rare. And thus, the unjustified killings continue unabated.

Lastly, at the end of the process of writing the book, I made a connection I had not previously made; women from these same communities are being subjected to extrajudicial violence, not by law enforcement per se, though they are guilty too, but primarily by non-state actors. The connection with that violence, and the violence by law enforcement, is that it is also being carried out with impunity. The connection is the nation’s judicial system. No investigations, thus no prosecutions, no trials, no convictions and of course, no prison time. The exceptions are extremely rare. And this applies to both of these violences. And of course, government and politicians are complicit in their failure to step forward on this issue.

Thus, on this day, Oct 22, when people and organizations bring to light law enforcement violence throughout this country, we need to also bring to light the Murdered and Missing Indigenous, African American and migrant women, who are also being hit hard by this violence. And this also includes trans women who are also being killed at extraordinary rates. The levels of violence against all these communities are literally at pandemic levels.

Solutions? Since Rodney King. Since Michael Brown. Since George Floyd. Whenever there is a high-profile killing, there is always talk of reform, but have we seen any substantial reforms? Every human rights organization, including the UN, has denounced this violence, though the killings continue. The violence continues. The impunity continues. The promises continue. The invisibilzation and the silencings continue. The lack of justice also continues. Without any other seeming recourse, it is high time to bring a legal case not simply to the UN’s International Criminal Court at the Hague. It should also be brought to the OAS. The time of impunity has to come to an end.

If White Supremacists Secede, Will POC sFollow?

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI Cintli Rodriguez

PROGRESSIVE POPULIST NOV. 1 ISSUE

If the current White House occupant were to lose the presidential election and refuses to step down, would his cult followers respond with a violent uprising? At minimum, we know they are on “standby.”

Akin to the breakup of the Soviet Union, could this also spell the “end of America?”

Some observers have speculated that his white supremacist followers have, in effect, already seceded from the nation (What could upset this political apple cart even further is if he were to succumb to COVID 19).

What of the opposite? What if he is thrashed at the polls, but again “wins” via the Electoral College, but this time, his opposition refuses to accept such a verdict? Also, what if Indigenous-Black-Brown peoples decide to secede from the nation, peoples that have historically been treated as “enemy others?” One only need to examine all of the nation’s critical indices – especially during the pandemic and the continued state violence and hate crimes with impunity against them, plus the reprehensible school to prison pipeline – to understand this rationale. Also, the denial of the UN-guaranteed right to teach their own histories, languages and cultures, accentuates this sub-human status.

Certainly, the rise of the Orange Madman and his white supremacist misogynist cult have caused people to question why peoples pledge loyalty to a nation that is not loyal to, and often wars against, them.

And yet, this secession talk is actually coming from his own base. Providence, Manifest Destiny and American Exceptionalism guides them, and it is they who fear displacement from their “God-ordained” lands. Apparently God is not Red, Black or Brown.

In regards to Chicanos specifically, the right-wing has had them seceding for decades now via Aztlan, “the original Homeland of the Aztecs,” and the “Reconquista.” In terms of Chicanos themselves, the dream of Aztlan was very much a 1960s-1970s thing, though it amounted more to a poetic/cultural/spiritual expression than to a widespread political movement.

However, as a result of the way this country has treated peoples of Mexican/Central American origin recently, such talk is on the rise again. What propels it is their continued silencing and invisibilization in virtually all matters in this country. Add to that children in cages and ICE’s hunter battalions, that continually wreak havoc in these communities, and this adds fuel to this fire. Due to such abuses, the social contract between Peoples of Color and government arguably has been null and void for decades now. The MAGA slogan is that reminder. When “America was great” was during the worst of times for POCs.

Is an Aztlan nation possible? FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.19.rodriguez.html

FOR THE FULL NOV 1 ISSUE: Populist.com

THE END TIMES, WALTER MERCADO AND THE ORANGE MADMAN

THE END TIMES, WALTER MERCADO AND THE ORANGE MADMAN.

PROGRESSIVE POPULIST OCT 15

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

I am sure that what has been happening around the world, including and especially in the United States with its raging forest fires, hurricanes, racial conflict and the COVID 19 pandemic, has given rise to doomsday prophets everywhere. The truth is, all of this has been foretold since time immemorial; the only thing missing is a hurtling asteroid, and of course, locusts.

FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.18.rodriguez.html

TO READ THE OCT 15 ISSUE OF THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST, GO TO: Populist.com

Memory, COVID-19 and Sequelae Violence

 

COLUMNA BILINGUE/BILINGUAL COLUMN

Memory, COVID-19 and Sequelae Violence

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

(Vea la versión en español a continuación.)

In my book on violence, “Yolqui: A Warrior Summoned from the Spirit World,” a PhD student at the University of Arizona, Michelle Rascon Canales, contributed an essay: “‘Brokenheartedness’ or Systematic Killings: Testimonios and Sequelae Violence.” By doing so, she introduces the reader to a concept I had always known and lived but was unaware of its name: Sequelae violence. It might also be referred to as collateral violence or damage.

Something similar has been happening amid the COVID-19 crisis. It becomes clear when one examines the concept and rationale for contact tracing. One person is infected and the objective is to find out who the person recently came into contact with because chances are likely that they may have also been infected, especially if the contact took place in a large group indoors. The transmission often spreads among those closest to the person infected, who could also go on to infect those closest to them, and on and on. FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.17.rodriguez.html

IS THERE ROOM FOR RED-BLACK-BROWN VOICES IN NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON RACE?

IS THERE ROOM FOR RED-BLACK-BROWN VOICES IN NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON RACE? 

by Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Sept 15, 2020

THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST: 

https://www.populist.com/26.16.rodriguez.html 

When you read the list here in the article of Raza killed since May 26, the day George Floyd was killed, the list has actually grown to at least 66. Here is the larger list.

Jose L Castillanos 5/26 Houston, TX
Jason J Gallegos 5/26 Lansing, Mich (w)
Modesto Reyes 5/27, Jefferson Co, LA
Robert Avitia 5/26 Los Angeles, CA
Rommel Mendoza 5/28 North Hollywood CA
Hector Hernandez 5/28 Fullerton CA
John Alvarado 6/1 Corpus Christi, TX
Jorge Gomez 6/1 Las Vegas, Nev
Sean Monterrosa 6/2 Vallejo, CA
Eric Galvan 6/4 Corpus Christi, TX
James Pharr “suicide by cop” 6/5 Socorro, TX (U)
Marcus J. Uribe 6/9 Edgewood, CO (w)
Erik Salgado 6/10 Oakland, CA
Gregorio Cruz Vanloo 6/11 DeKalb, Tenn (w)
Mason J. Lira 6/11 Paso Robles, CA (w)
Abel Rosiles 6/18 Round Lake Beach, ILL
Anthony A. Armenta 6/19 San Bernardino
Michael Torres 6/20, Lake Charles, LA (U)
Kevin Pulido 6/24 Pueblo, CO
Julie Colon 6/25 Plano TX (U)
Sandra Francis Guzman (plus 6 more) 6/25 EPT Migra chase
Martin H. S. Fregoso 6/26 Cobb County, GA
Nick Costales 6/29 Fresno, CA
Bonnie Figueroa Ortiz 7/16 Pasco, WA
Leonardo H. Ibarra 6/29 San Diego, CA
James P. Garcia 7/6 Phoenix AZ
Axel Perez 7/6 Jacksonville, FL
Carlos Baires 7/7 Fresno (U)
Name withheld by Calexico police 7/ 9, 2020
Antonio Mancinone 7/11 Monument CO (U)
Andres Guardado 7/11 Compton CA
Audon Ignacio Camarillo 7/12 McCallen, TX
Marcos Reyes 7/12 Chamblee, GA (U)
Julio Jaramillo 7/14 Deming NM
Jorge Gonzalez 7/15 Rio Grande Valley TX
Sean E. Ruis 7/15 Eaton Co, Michigan
Cristhian E. Ramos-Murrillo 7/14 Knoxville, Tenn
Abraham Rivera 7/17. Mesa, AZ
David Angulo 7/20 Chula Vista CA (U)
David Guillen 7/22 Aurora, CO (U)
Juan Carlos Ortega 7/27 Bronx NY
Julio C. Virula 7/27 Carmel Indiana
Ray A. Lara 7/28 EPT
Giovanni Cedano-Amaro 7/29 Las Vegas NM (U)
Gabriel Salinas 8/1 Mission TX
Roberto Hernandez Jr. 8/5 San Angelo TX
Ryan Shane Hinojo 8/9 EPT (U)
Americo Reyes 8/10 Grand Island, Neb (U)
Jose Vallejos 8/10 Albq, NM (U)
Fred JH Arcera 8/15 Oak Ridge, Tenn (w)
Ramon T. Lopez 8/17 Phoenix, AZ
Jose M Castro 8/17 Dos Palos, CA
Marco Antonio Sigala 8/17 Welasco TX
Santos A. Villegas 8/17 San Bernardino CA
Everardo G. Santana 8/17 Bakersfield CA
Jose Almanza 8/17 Chicago, ILL
Erik Jon Perez Bay 8/18 City TX
Derick Bonilla 8/18 Glendale AZ
Samuel Mata 8/19 San Benito, TX (U)

* (w) means they were listed as white and (U) means they were listed as Unknown.

To go to the entire Sept 15 issue of the Progressive Populist, go to: Populist.com

 

50 Years Later: A State of War or a Permanent State of Insurrection?

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

(Vea la versión en español a continuación.)

In Chicano Manifesto (1971), Armando Rendon made the radical claim that the United States and Mexico were technically still in a state-of-war (1846-1848) because, aside from illegally seizing half of its territories, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was violated even prior to its signing. This was done by altering Article IX and by outright deleting Article X, articles that guaranteed human rights and land rights, respectively.

While his premise is arguable, the observation remains relevant today because for decades after the war, land theft and lynchings against Mexican peoples were rampant, as was de jure and de facto discrimination. They were never or are today treated as fully human, nor with full corresponding human rights that are guaranteed to all, including by the treaty. The policies of this current administration have especially shined the light on their unwanted and unwelcome status today. For the rest of the column, go to and also see Spanish edition at:

https://www.populist.com/26.15.rodriguez.html?fbclid=IwAR0TaWGF2lYMoog_gHvx4_9gp7kHVmNx0bHsRegViP2qziKiWIuUR4BAQzE

Police Abuse: Reform or Revolution?

Police Abuse: Reform or Revolution?

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

Aug 1, The Progressive Populist

Police reforms; if this is the end result of the primarily Black uprisings of the past five years, we might as well quit before we begin. Exhibit A is the President’s executive order on policing, which is, at best, misnamed. Exhibit B is that whatever Congress agrees to eventually has to be signed off by unrepentant bigots at the highest levels of government.

The proposed reforms, particularly as a result of the killing of George Floyd, are akin to taking water guns to a forest fire. The proposed reforms also mask the fundamental problem in this society that cannot be fixed with reforms; in this society – which began as a slave nation-state on Indian lands and has subsequently always had the racial character of an apartheid state – people of color are treated by all of its institutions as unwanted enemy others and subjected to a system of control. FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO https://www.populist.com/26.13.rodriguez.html

To go to the Aug 1 issue of the Progressive Populist, please go to: https://www.populist.com/index.html

https://www.populist.com/index.html

The End of Truth; The Triumph of Lying

By ROBERTO DR. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

MARCH 1, 2020

The legacy of the impeachment saga will not be whether senators ignored or accepted the evidence, but rather something even much bigger; that truth indeed no longer appears to matter, inside or outside of the courtroom. This is bigger than whether a corrupt conman stays in office or whether he is elected to a second term or even an unconstitutional third term or if he illegally seizes power for life.

No. What is even bigger, or what goes hand-in-hand with these developments, is that the erosion of the concept of the truth has arguably rendered a free and independent press irrelevant and has left Congress virtually impotent, but has also actually brought us to the brink of the collapse of democracy itself. That’s how much the truth matters.

This erosion of the importance of truth has not happened overnight. It has eroded by carving out exceptions and conveniently looking the other way. For instance, one lie from one president is actually considered greater and more offensive than the thousands of lies and counting by another president. This has been playing out in real time before our very eyes and ears these past few years. For instance, while in office, former President Bill Clinton lied before the Grand Jury and was impeached as a result. Conversely, the current occupant of the White House has told the public more than 16,000-plus lies while in office, with hardly a whimper. Aside from his corruption and insults against Mexicans, Muslims, migrants, African Americans, women, the disabled, the LGBT community, etc., common decency would have dictated that his serial lying alone during his campaign should have disqualified him from being able to run for office. But here we are now. FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.04.rodriguez.html

C-19 AND WHY RED, BLACK & BROWN?

C-19 AND WHY RED, BLACK & BROWN?

June 1 The Progressive Populist
By ROBERTO DR CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

I spent 29 years as a writer before returning to school to get a Ph.D. I remember the first thing I was taught in working on my dissertation was to focus like a laser beam on the topic I had chosen to study.

In my case, it was the role of maiz in the development of culture(s) in what is today the Americas. Way too broad, I was told, though I stuck to my machetes and ended up creating a dissertation that spanned the 7,000-year history of maiz on this hemisphere.

For 29 years, I had already been doing precisely that, always examining the bigger picture in my attempt to comprehend the nature of social justice. This same idea has come to mind in the middle of the coronavirus crises, in which most of this nation’s citizens appear not to be able to see the forest for the trees.

While we as a nation are attempting to solve this crisis, one of the things that we have learned is that the American Indian and Black and Brown communities of this nation are being especially hit hard by this pandemic. This should come as no surprise to anyone. Also, not to be forgotten is that Asians also are being subjected to unprecedented levels of hate crimes, compliments of the president’s scapegoating of China. THE REST OF THE COLUMN CAN BE FOUND IN THE JUNE 1 ISSUE OF THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST AT: https://www.populist.com/index.html
YOU CAN GO DIRECT TO THE COLUMN AT: https://www.populist.com/26.10.rodriguez.html

The C-19 Apocalypse: Beyond a Sci-Fi Reality

The C-19 Apocalypse: Beyond a Sci-Fi Reality
By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ
Thirty-seven years ago, I wrote a sci-fi story called nuclear dreams. It was about the aftermath of nuclear destruction, something that eerily resembles today’s reality.

I’ve always been athletic and so I always have a need to be outdoors. Today is no different. I cycle daily because it’s either that or my laptop, TV and Bad News.

That’s not to say that I’m not cautious. Quite the opposite. When I bike, I wear a bandana-covered surgical mask and gloves when I need them, and I always keep a safe distance from everyone, whether I’m biking, walking and especially sitting (I do this because I noticed weeks ago that when people without masks approach me, they usually cough. Cabrones!). FOR THE REST IOF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.11.rodriguez.html FOR THE JUNE 15 ISSUE OF THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/index.html

Will We Be Able to Breathe in 2021? BILINGUAL/BILINGUE

Will We Be Able to Breathe in 2021?

The Progressive Populist, July 1-15, 2020

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI Roberto Cintli Rodriguez

To describe the current administration as an unmitigated disaster – as a result of the pandemic, the George Floyd-inspired uprisings and the erratic and undemocratic nature of everything the current president does – is now cliché.

He came into office as a narcissistic conman and failed businessman, with totalitarian tendencies. For those that admired that in a new US president, he has not disappointed. And precisely because of his erratic and abhorrent nature, no one can predict his ‘strongman’ antics two weeks from now, nor what kind of country we will be living in, the next several months.

But if we were to jump ahead, say one year from now, and ask what the state of police brutality will be in this country, regardless of who is living in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, we should be able to answer that question easily.

If the current president is still in office, things will not be very different than they are right now (bad), though most likely, worse. While this insurrection was initially triggered by the police murder of Floyd in Minneapolis — which highlights the historic brutality against the African American community — an actual breakdown of statistics will also show that the red and brown communities of this nation/continent have also always been subjected to this similar brutality, regardless of who has been in power.

FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, PLEASE GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.12.rodriguez.html TO VISIT THE ENTIRE JULY 1 ISSUE, PLEASE GO TO: https://www.populist.com/current.html

Healing in the Years of Pestilence /Curación en los años de la pestilencia

Healing in the Years of Pestilence

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

I have a friend who I hesitate to name because I find it difficult to explain her existence; one day she did not exist and next thing you know, we’re virtually running partners. She’s actually a healer and perhaps that explains the attraction; I’ve always been surrounded by healers.

The thing is, as a life-long writer, I’ve written about every topic, except the healers in my midst.

My mother was a healer who prayed to the four directions. Once, when a priest collapsed in a packed church, my mother made her way to the front, prayed over him, then got the entire congregation to also do the same. While praying over him with a cross, he jumped back up like a jumping jack and asked her for the cross. Because it was a family cross – used on my father who had been given his last rites, and lived another 25 years – she refused, but later brought him a similar one.

TO READ THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO THE MAY 15 ISSUE OF THE PROGRESSIVE POPULIST: https://www.populist.com/index.html

IF YOU WANT TO GO STRAIGHT TO THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.09.rodriguez.html

Curación en los años de la pestilencia

Por Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Tengo una amiga que dudo en nombrar porque me resulta difícil explicar su existencia; un día ella no existía y de repente, ahora prácticamente somos socios. En realidad, es una sanadora y tal vez eso explica la atracción; Siempre he estado rodeado de sanadoras.

La cuestión es que, como escritor por toda mi vida, he escrito sobre todos los temas, excepto las sanadoras en mi medio.

Mi madre era una sanadora que rezaba a las cuatro direcciones. Una vez, cuando un sacerdote se derrumbó en una iglesia llena, mi madre se dirigió al frente, oró por él y luego hizo que toda la congregación hiciera lo mismo. Mientras rezaba por él con una cruz, saltó hacia atrás como un gato saltador y le pidió la cruz.

Como se trataba de una cruz familiar, utilizada por mi padre a quien le habían dado sus últimos ritos y vivió otros 25 años, ella se negó, pero más tarde le trajo uno similar. PARA LEER EL RESTO DE LA COLUMNA, VAYA AL NÚMERO 15 DE MAYO DEL POPULISTA PROGRESIVO: https://www.populist.com/index.html

SI DESEA IR DIRECTAMENTE A LA COLUMNA, VAYA A: https://www.populist.com/26.09.rodriguez.html

From The Progressive Populist, May 15, 2020

WHEN A VIRUS & VIRULENT RACIAL SUPREMACY COLLIDE - Progressive Populist

WHEN A VIRUS & VIRULENT RACIAL SUPREMACY COLLIDE

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ.

Who would have ever imagined a US president intentionally stirring up racial hatred and animosity, especially in the middle of an extreme global pandemic?

Even more shocking has been the virtual silence from those literally in his midst, including medical professionals, emergency officials and appointed and elected officials, this while he has been stirring up anti-Chinese sentiment. Compared to those that are remaining silent, a few journalists have actually had the temerity to question the president about his intentional scapegoating, not only of an entire country, but entire peoples, which includes all Asian peoples, as white supremacists, historically, have rarely been able to differentiate between Chinese, Japanese, Korean or Vietnamese peoples, etc.

FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.07.rodiguez.html

TO READ THE ENTIRE APRIL 15 ISSUE, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/

* Since the White House occupant made his statements, he has “taken back” his comments, but violence against Asians has skyrocketed and White supremacy continues to be his philosophical center. See: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asian-americans-report-nearly-500-racist-acts-over-last-week-n1169821?https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/asian-americans-report-nearly-500-racist-acts-over-last-week-n1169821?fbclid=IwAR3AbB0xGXeWJIZhe6hepr2MgYCJlRFJ0PyNZD213pANtfEWwv52WxffcBkfbclid=IwAR3AbB0xGXeWJIZhe6hepr2MgYCJlRFJ0PyNZD213pANtfEWwv52WxffcBk

Once Again, Indigenous Census Quandary

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

“Pareces que tienes el nopal en la frente y el elote entre los dientes — Looks like you have a cactus on your forehead and corn stuck between your teeth.”

I first heard this common Mexican expression or dicho from a Maya friend of mine many years ago. The expression is usually told to people who are undeniably native, but usually claim to be Spanish/European. This is usually aimed at peoples whose origins are from Mexico/Central America or other peoples generally from the Andean regions of South America where there is undeniable mixture, but where the Indigenous ancestry or blood still greatly predominates. Despite this, many are accustomed to seeing themselves as “mestizos” or racially mixed.

In academic jargon, this denial of Indigenous ancestry translates to: colonized and/or de-Indigenized. Probably an even better term is: “reduced” for these primarily Indigenous-based peoples (The history and reality of African peoples in these same regions is both similar and different post-1492 and the subject of a future column).

Sure, it is ancient history, though directly relevant to today, especially when the many millions of “mestizos” attempt to fill out the census. And in this case, the time of the US 2020 Census is now upon us (I received mine on Friday March 13). FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, PLEASE GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.06.rodriguez.html

Believing/Not Believing in the US Political System

By ROBERTO Dr. CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

MARCH 15, 2020

Despite winning three high-profile trials in my lifetime, involving death threats from extremists and/or supremacists and law enforcement violence, I do not believe in the US judicial system.
I acknowledge that my beliefs may stem from the fact that none of the defendants were ever sent to prison. Either they were promoted, or in the case of the white supremacist, was slapped on the wrists with probation.

While speaking at the invitation by a teacher at Hollenbeck Junior High School in Los Angeles, soon after I had won a historic police brutality lawsuit trial in 1986, some administrator told me that I was giving the students the wrong message; she reasoned that the fact that I won those trials meant that “the system works.”

I disagreed then and even now. FOR THE REST OF THE COLUMN, GO TO: https://www.populist.com/26.05.rodrguez.html?fbclid=IwAR22hPkHQu-only-GBssxLQk7TBh6U6DmoMI04M24YrvpvXrxFnSIGiToP0