March 2017 | Vol. 30 Issue 2
San Antonio, Tejas
1985, San Antonio TX
Now more than ever! 2010, San Antonio TX
La Voz de Esperanza March 2017 vol. 30 Issue 2
Editor Gloria A. Ramírez Design Elizandro Carrington Contributors
Yon Hui Bell, Linda Burnham, Rachel Jennings
IWD Images
Esperanza video and photo archives
La Voz Mail Collective
Olga Crespin, Juan Díaz, Margarita Elizarde, Claudia Enriquez, Cristina García, Ray Garza, Jelaine L., Ray McDonald, Angelita Merla, Maria Plemmons, Maria Reed, Blanca Rivera, Mary Agnes Rodríguez, Mike Sánchez, Guadalupe Segura, Roger Singler, Sandra Torres, Helen Villarreal
Esperanza Director Graciela I. Sánchez
Esperanza Staff
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2017 Vol. 30 Issue 2•
Imelda Arismendez, Elizandro Carrington, Paty de la Garza, Jessica González, Eliza Pérez, Natalie Rodríguez, Gianna Rendón, Natalie Rodríguez, René Saenz, Susana Segura, Amelia Valdez
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Conjunto de Nepantleras —Esperanza Board of Directors— Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely, Jan Olsen, Ana Lucía Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez, Rudy Rosales, Tiffany Ross, Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba, Graciela I. Sánchez, Lillian Stevens • We advocate for a wide variety of social, economic & environmental justice issues. • Opinions expressed in La Voz are not necessarily those of the Esperanza Center.
La Voz de Esperanza is a publication of
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212 210.228.0201 • fax 1.877.327.5902 www.esperanzacenter.org Inquiries/Articles can be sent to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org Articles due by the 8th of each month Policy Statements
* We ask that articles be visionary, progressive, instructive & thoughtful. Submissions must be literate & critical; not sexist, racist, homophobic, violent, or oppressive & may be edited for length. * All letters in response to Esperanza activities or articles in La Voz will be considered for publication. Letters with intent to slander individuals or groups will not be published.
PEACE, WORK, EQUALITY were the words on the banner that led the first International Woman’s Day March in San Antonio in 1985 from the steps of City Hall—2 years before the Esperanza was born. Mujeres like Susan Guerra, Esperanza’s first director and Graciela Sánchez, director of the Esperanza since 1988 were among the march organizers. Performers and speakers at the rally at Plaza de Zacate included Emma Tenayuca and Councilwoman María Berriozábal. Laura Sánchez of Proyecto Hospitalidad (now deceased) spoke for Comite de Madres en A.L. (America Latina) who wore white scarves and black dresses. Laura declared: Las madres de San Salvador nos pidieron, por favor, ya no manden bombas, ya no manden aviones, ya no manden armas —mandenos pan, mandenos zapatos para nuestros hijos, mandenos vestidos. Judy Eng, Margaret Joyal, Virgie Juno, Carmen Rumbaut, Susan Herr, Genevieve Boyd, Bonita Terry, Lillian Stevens, Gloria Cabrera, Antonio Cabral, Spike Zwicki and many more participated. Carolina Flores, artist, painted the first IWD image for the poster that was framed and presented to Emma Tenayuca. Banners proclaimed: Women Hold Up Half the Sky; SA Women in Solidarity with the Nicaraguan Revolution; Women, Mothers, All of Us—We are Strong, in every aspect of our lives—We Call for Peace for All the Children; Cese La Intervención de USA en A. L.; ¡Demandamos Justicia!—Frente Unido Latino; Somos Unidas; NOW-San Antonio, TX and more. Mujeres sang, spoke and honored each other setting the stage for future IWD Marches in San Antonio and setting the Photo: Laura Sánchez speaks for bar for a month long celebration of Women’s HisLas Madres tory Month in San Antonio that also began in 1985. As part of the Esperanza’s 30th anniversary, we pay tribute in this issue of La Voz to the IWD Marches of San Antonio that begin in 1985 and resumed in 1992 to continue annually, since.The 27th IWD March this year is needed now, more than ever! -Gloria A. Ramirez, editor of La Voz
Photo: Gary Poole, left, with the banner, Cese La Intervención de USA en America Latina - Comite de Madres en A.L.
ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a mailing address correction please send it to lavoz@ esperanzacenter.org. If you want to be removed from the La Voz mailing list, for whatever reason, please let us know. La Voz is provided as a courtesy to people on the mailing list of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. The subscription rate is $35 per year ($100 for institutions). The cost of producing and mailing La Voz has substantially increased and we need your help to keep it afloat. To help, send in your subscriptions, sign up as a monthly donor, or send in a donation to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Thank you. -GAR VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny, homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression. We are recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.
1985 IWD March The first ever IWD march in San Antonio, Tx
Photo: Judy Abernathy & Susan Guerra, March organizers, in front of Penner’s Photo: Councilwoman María Berriozábal singiing with Manuela Sager
Photo: Graciela I. Sánchez announcing upcomig events
This year [1992], more than ever, we must continue to come together on all occasions on the basis of gender, race, sexuality, economic conditions..likemindedness. We must continue to do so—because the best thing we could do to help the powers that be preserve the status quo that keeps them alive— is to fragment amongst ourselves. By allowing ourselves to get caught up in quarrels over the petty differences of our groups our focus is swayed away from the actions of the government, thereby allowing the grave injustices to continue unhampered. This year we must come together more than ever, to prove that we are ready to fight for change and we will not back down. And above all, to prove that solidarity remains and the desire for peace, equality and justice for all people will never die. — An excerpt from the article International Woman’s Day • March 8, 1992 appearing in the March 1992 issue of La Voz de Esperanza —Lizzie Martinez, EPJC staff Photo: Terry Ybañez, artist, carrying the IWD banner
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2017 Vol. 30 Issue 2
Photo: Emma Tenayuca receives a framed 1985 IWD poster after speaking
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International Women’s Day by Yon Hui Bell
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After the federal government proclaimed Women’s History Week in 1982, it expanded almost imperceptibly until by 1987 it filled the entire month with women-centered activities. Now, conferences, forums, poetry readings, movie screenings, international craft bazaars, and charitable socials continue for the whole of March in many large cities. Yet, the lives of American women, especially working-class, LGBTQ, and women of color, have not benefited from this frenzy of activity. Though we are celebrating annually, a 2015 United Nations report found women’s rights in America greatly lacking in comparison with the rights of many of their international counterparts. Violence against women, including sexual assault; the objectification of women and girls; the legal obstruction, physical intimida-
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alization. In 1908, about 15,000 women workers from the textile industry marched through New York City demanding the right to unionize and the right to vote. They were also remembering and protesting the police brutality encountered by women workers in a demonstration in 1857. The first National Woman’s Day in the United States followed in 1909 with upwards of 30,000 women in attendance. The tragic Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, which took the lives of more than 140 immigrant women workers, galvanized women workers to be at the center of subsequent IWD events, and the 1911 event was the first officially recognized International Women’s Day. Women’s struggles were not confined to the United States, and news of these American women’s demonstrations inspired
2008 International Women’s Day March, San Antonio Tx tion, and moral brainwashing shrouding reproductive rights; the over-incarceration of women; the devaluation of women’s work; the high rates of maternal and infant mortality — that the list is too long to continue clearly reflects the atrocious position of American women. To add insult to injury, the United States is one of only seven countries to not ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Considering the deplorable condition of so many women in America, we must be careful of Women’s History Month. Though many of the activities sponsored during the month of March are informative and helpful, too many of the activities, their excessive quantity and decorous quality, obscure and diminish the real history and political importance of International Women’s Day. The origins of IWD are not just about female celebration and solidarity. Rather, they were decidedly political, and a collective response to women’s economic exploitation and political margin-
organizers of the Second International Conference of Women in 1910 to proclaim “…the socialist women of all countries will hold each year a women’s day, whose foremost purpose it must be to aid in the attainment of women’s suffrage. This demand must be handled in conjunction with the entire women’s question according to Socialist precepts. The Women’s Day must have an international character and is to be prepared carefully.” The Women’s Day protest in St. Petersburg in 1917 for “Peace and Bread” ignited the revolt that eventually brought down the Russian Empire. With these powerful roots, Women’s Day Marches have been and still are a powerful fixture of political protest in countries all over the world. The Women’s Marches after Trump’s Inauguration brought millions of people on to the streets to protest the election of a venomously dangerous hatemonger and his Alt-Right minions. The awe-inspiring turnout, the mass mobilization, brought
hope to many that the character of the country would not be and inequality. But when we confront history, determined by its newly elected leaders. we cannot despair. When we return home after Yet the question has been asked and still lingers: Of what use the march, we cannot become resigned. We must were the marches? What did they accomplish? Are they going to also see and remember the history of millions bring down the regime? of people all over the world Though we are celebrating annually, Who marched? Did only who have resisted injustice and white, middle-class women a 2015 United Nations report found women’s rights in hatred and helped bring human march? Did only urban America greatly lacking in comparison with the rights civilization forward. The hispeople march? Did marchtory of resistance is the spring of many of their international counterparts. ing help bridge the rural from which we must drink – urban divide that many rightly claim is rupturing the nation? Did in order to continue the struggle every day for the rest of our lives. we proclaim Black Lives Matter, but not raise our voices for LGBT There is no stopping because all of life depends on our resistance. rights? Did we march for reproductive rights, but not against Islam- Every day is a march. ophobia? Did we march for people, but not the planet that sustains I return to the words of our historical sisters: “This demand us? Will we remain divided by the diversity of our struggles, our must be handled in conjunction with the entire women’s question . . races and creeds, while the right marches under the unified banner . . The Women’s Day must have an international character and is to of a white God and militarized country? This was the first march be prepared carefully.” The entire women’s question brings to mind for so many people – will it be their last? the words of the feminist poet and scholar Adrienne Rich. She I do know, fortunately, that history can guide us. The history of exhorts us to understand “feminism as more than a frivolous label
. . . [to] conceive of it as an ethics, a methodology, a more complex way of thinking about, thus more responsibly acting upon, the conditions of human life.” The international character reminds us to always respect diversity – diversity of race, culture, religion, sexual orientation, physical ability, in short, of humanity. And finally, to prepare carefully, to be careful of others, to be careful of strategy, to be careful of this charge that we have to bend businesses, topple governments, and change the world. Join us on March 4th to remember history, to support and celebrate current struggles for justice and equality, and to join the resistance. If we can envision a better world, we can create it. Please visit Mujeres Marcharán or the SAIWD Facebook page or check sawomenwillmarch.org Bio: Yon Hui Bell is an educator at San Antonio College. She believes the personal is political and that true change develops from careful examination of that interplay. She is also the mother of three amazing human beings.
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women’s marches should show us that we can change political reality. The women who marched and fought for labor rights and unions did change working conditions. The women who marched for political equality did gain the right to vote. The women who marched against an exploitative oligarchy did topple an empire. We can be hopeful. History also tells me that the situation we are in is not new. The racism, sexism, classism, and hate are not new. Just ask the Native Americans, ask any LGBT person or person of color over fifty, ask any descendent of a Japanese-American who was rounded up and interned. The repercussions for resisting will also not be new: ask the victims of McCarthyism, ask the Black Panthers and the Brown Berets, ask the Ploughsharers. The struggle for justice and equality is not new. Perhaps the replacement of the American Entrepreneur with this caricature of American Capitalism will cause many of us to confront history for the first time, to study it and trace the deep roots of this current unrest
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No Plans to Abandon Our Freedom Dreams RESPECT EXISTENCE OR
E X P E C T R E S I S TA N C E For a list of references and issues provided by the author for further exploration, contact lavoz@esperanzacenter.org
Linda Burnham is an activist and writer whose work focuses on women’s rights, racial justice and national politics.
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By Linda Burnham
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Photo: shesbeautifulwhenshesangry.com
The first 2 weeks of the Trump presidency ought to be engraved in our memories as if in granite. Politics is a blood sport and the far right takes no prisoners—except, apparently, those it intends to torture. The Republican Party has demonstrated for a very, very long time now that it has no use for a single one of the niceties of bi-partisanship. Yet most Democratic politicians dib and dab around as though living in a different political era altogether, though I’m not sure which one. We are witness to 3 simultaneous crises: a crisis of the working class, which is fractured by race, by region, by citizenship status and, increasingly, by religious belief, and which lacks political cohesion or organizational representation; a crisis of the ruling class, which was bullied and backed into a corner by a megalomaniacal kleptocrat who stole their candy and who has no respect for the core institutions of class rule or for the stories his class brothers and sisters tell each other about the delights of the prevailing world order; and a crisis of the state, in which far-right ideologues, autocrats and theocrats, having captured the governing apparatus, are rapidly concentrating power in the executive while bureaucrats scramble toward either dissent and defiance or appeasement and accommodation. Historians, economists and political scientists will delve deep to examine the currents that brought us to this three-pronged crisis. Strategists of every political and ideological stripe are under intense pressure to map a way forward. These notes, focused on what might appear to be a side issue, perhaps could be subtitled, “Not the Way Forward.” A highly consequential debate about the future direction of the Democratic Party rages among academics, pundits and politicians. This debate is most active among liberals, but it ranges both rightward and leftward as well. For 2 months now liberals have been ruminating on the role of “identity politics” in November’s defeat of Hillary Clinton. Essentially, the debate turns on whether the Democratic Party and Clinton, in their embrace
of racial, religious and sexual minorities, forsook working class whites, who in turn responded to their abandonment by casting their votes for Trump. According to this point of view, the journey back from the devastation of 2016 requires that the party take an indefinite break from identity politics to concentrate on winning back economically squeezed white workers. There’s a leftish version of this line – an economic fundamentalism that posits that pocket book issues trump all others. And a classic liberal version that, seemingly reasonably, demands the subordination of the part to the whole, the interests of particular groups to the national interest. Both boil down to the same thing: it’s time to subordinate the rights’ claims of various “interest groups” to an economic agenda that prioritizes the distress of white workers. Only this adjustment will create the conditions for Democrats to make gains in congressional and statewide races and retake the White House in 2020. (Or, in the leftish version, only this adjustment will set the foundation for building a successful workers’ movement.) Where the Democratic Party lands on this issue matters enormously. The degree of traction this post-election analysis gains will, at minimum, impact the direction of the flow of attention and resources of the party, liberal think tanks and liberal philanthropy, as well as the focus of progressive organizations. It will likely determine how the Democratic Party positions itself relative to 2018 and 2020, and whether that positioning has the intended effect of creating a sufficiently broad electoral coalition to roll back Trumpism. With the tenor and thrust of liberal and left politics hanging in the balance, it is worth taking a moment to examine what might be problematic about analyses that lay 2016’s rout of the Democratic Party at the feet of “identity politics.” It’s never a good idea to enter willingly into a frame your opponent has constructed to entrap you. The last I heard, “identity politics” was the terminology of the right, deployed to disparage and dismiss social justice movements that seek to expand the democratic rights of marginalized and excluded groups. Implicit
With the tenor and thrust of liberal and left politics hanging in the balance, it is worth taking a moment to examine what might be problematic about analyses that lay 2016’s rout of the Democratic Party at the feet of “identity politics.”
of the contrast between people who were brown, backward and incapable of self-governance versus white Americans who were enlightened and masterly nation builders. One could go on, but who really wants to track back through the catastrophes and follies of U.S. national formation perpetrated, in substantial part, in the name of whiteness? This is not about projecting the racial sensibilities of today back onto social and political environments that operated on completely different sets of assumptions. It is about reckoning with the degree to which the nation-building project has been, at the same time, a white identity formation project. This fusion of white identity and American identity, the bedrock of white nationalism, has such a long his-
for the whole. And, they know from experience that purportedly universalistic solutions often work to make already embedded inequalities even more rigid. Uncritically adopting the “identity politics” language of the right is the equivalent of dropping our guard and waltzing onto their terrain. Master’s tools, master’s house anyone? We need to recognize a toxic frame when we see one and refuse to be a party to its proliferation. But let’s set aside the questions of language and framing for a moment. Because there is, in fact, an expression of identity politics core to the evolution of our nation and critical to how we understand the current juncture. White identity and nation building have been bound together as though co-terminus since way before the founding fathers and the drafting of our framing documents. The rest of us have had to fight our way into the body politic. Or, in the case of Indian nations, make the best of a spectacularly unequal and uneasy standoff. The conceptual contrast between white Christians and red savages underwrote relentless territorial expansion and genocide. Between white Christians and Black savages, the enslavement of Africans and the appropriation of their bodies, their labor, their progeny. Between brown savages and white Christians, the taking of the Southwest. Between the yellow peril and white patriotic Americans, various exclusions, internments, property appropriations and ghettoizations. And the colonial interventions in Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines were rationalized by way
tory that it has been internalized and naturalized. Only since the Civil Rights movement has it began to be somewhat disrupted. Until we collectively “get” this, some will continue to deny or be confused by the white rights subtext of “Make America Great Again,” and surprised at how powerfully it resonated. The shaping of white identity, premised on exclusion, is a central thread in the national narrative, bound up with capitalist development in general and manifested, in one way or another, to one degree or another, in every political, social and cultural institution. Which brings us to an essential difference between white identity and the identities of groups forged in the experience of exclusion and subjugation. There is a reason that “Black Power!” and “Brown Power!” reverberate on completely different frequencies than “White Power!” And that “White Lives Matter,” or “Blue Lives Matter,” or even “All Lives Matter” are misguided rejoinders to “Black Lives Matter.” An assertion of existential urgency by the marginalized and scorned cannot simply be inverted without carrying the connotation of both a rebuke to demands for justice and inclusion and a reassertion of the primacy of white lives. Obama’s presidency was bracketed by two especially noxious racist tropes: the “birther” lies that first surfaced during the 2007-08 campaign and the vile “ape in heels” slur cast at the first lady in the waning days of Obama’s second term. Trump’s birther charge is a reinforcement of white identity by way of asContinued on Page 10
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in the term is the notion of placing the concerns of the part over the common good – of selfishly advancing narrow, particularistic agendas rather than the broader national interest. The terminology of “identity politics” is part of a whole vocabulary including “thought police,” “politically correct,” and “liberal elites,” whose main intention is to undermine the legitimacy of liberal and left politics. In my experience, advocates and organizers for racial justice don’t think of themselves as purveyors of “identity politics”—nor, do immigrant rights organizers, advocates for LGBTQ rights or women’s rights activists. Rather, in fighting for the expansion of democracy for particular groups they rev the motor for the renewal and expansion of democracy
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No Plans to Abandon Our Freedom Dreams
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The conflation of white identity and national identity ripples out into the further conflation of white interests with national Continued from Page 7 interests. In the current debate about “identity politics,” this takes serting that the Black president is not and never will be a “real the form of maligning Black politics, feminist politics, LGBTQ American.” The “ape in heels” insult is, obviously, a resurrecpolitics, etc., as fragmentary and divisive while, evidently, a polition of the never-far-from-the-surface characterization of Blacks tic built on the economic woes of white workers would be unitary as sub-human, primitive, uncivilized. These may seem like and representative of national interests. There are so many things extremes of a coarse, atavistic racism – a good distance from wrong with this view that it is hard to know where to begin – not current concerns about implicit bias and micro aggressions. least the howling hypocrisy of the sudden attention to the plight And no morally grounded person with an interest in reinforcof white workers whose precarious economic status has been ing our sense of shared humanity wants to spend much time decades in the making. But to note just two issues, we have here a contemplating such racist poison. But the point here is that problematic conception of U.S. national interests and a problemthe extremes of anti-Black racism still find a hearing among a atic conception of the U.S. working class. substantial segment of white Americans, and that a master at Apart from soaring campaign rhetoric and outright propareinforcing the exclusivity of the claim of whites to the national ganda, there is no idealized national interest. Every expression identity now prowls the Oval Office. He of multiple Eastern Eu- of U.S. national interest is actually the expression of the more or ropean wives knows full less stable, more or less well that the son of a contradictory, more or In the current debate about “identity politics,” this takes Slovenian will never be less politically coherthe form of maligning Black politics, feminist politics, LGBTQ subject to challenges as ent interests of differto his national identity ent classes, economic politics, etc., as fragmentary and divisive . . . in the way the son of a sectors, geographies, Kenyan was. demographic groups, This take on white etc., as projected onto identity is blunt and domestic and interbroad. It doesn’t take national politics. The into account class, gentwo political parties do der, regional variation their best to contain and or the infinite expresmanage these divergent sions of identity at the interests and to present, level of the individual. each of them, a version Nevertheless, Trump’s of the “national intervictory is virtually est” most effective at incomprehensible withkeeping their amalgamout a reading on the ated electoral coalitions Art: Shepard Fairey dynamics of white idenaligned. In other words, tity and national formation. The liberal inquiry into the role the content of what’s understood by the term “national interest” is of “identity politics” in Clinton’s loss is pointed in a direction not abstract, unitary and ideal but rather highly politicized and rediametrically opposite to where it might find some answers. flective of the relative strength of contending political actors. All The back and forth among pundits over whether Trump interests are particularistic and fragmentary. There is no reason to voters should be tagged as racist has been especially frustratcountenance the view that any one of the constituent elements is ing. Allegedly, some voters claim that they chose Trump despite more representative of a unitary national interest than any other. his racism and misogyny, not because of it. Or there’s the view That is to be fought out in the arena of politics, and is determined that all these voters couldn’t possibly be racist, because, back in not only by demographic weight, but by the capacity to craft a 2008 and 2012, Obama won many of the same overwhelmingly vision and political agenda capable of unifying and stabilizing a white counties that Hillary lost in 2016. Individuals certainly coalition that is sufficiently powerful to project its worldview and contain within them contradictory impulses and sentiments political priorities as the “national interest.” (door knockers and phone bankers for Obama had plenty of stoAs to the conception of the U.S. working class, the belated ries about white voters who proclaimed, “I think I’m voting for focus on the abandoned white worker traffics in a worn out mothe nigger,”) and we may never be able to divine the impulses, tif that posits a white guy in a hard had on a construction site or prejudices and rationalizations that lie deep in the heart of a factory floor as a stand-in for the working class while declinhearts of Trump voters. But a majority of white voters cast their ing to recognize that Black, Latino, Asian, female and LGBTQ ballots for a man who is furiously and floridly racist, and they workers have been battered by the same economic and social are apparently thrilled that he won. Black Americans standing trends, that white male workers started at a higher baseline, and on the planet today are here due to the vigilance of forebears, that there’s a racial and gender differential in the forms of and close in and long gone, who were keenly attuned to the lethal responses to the economic assault and battery. (Unfortunately, consequences of white fury. While there’s surely room for dethe long history of actively segregationist all-male unions is part bate about the misuse or overuse of the language of “privilege,” of the backdrop to the conflation of “worker” with “white male it does seem a signal marker of white privilege to doubt or mini- worker.” The building trades unions’ recent warm embrace of mize the racial animosity of Trump’s base. Trump is not helping us out in this regard.)
The liberal imagination has become perversely fixated on the alleged excesses of “identity politics,” forgetting that social movements of the marginalized are the spark and spur of democracy. feels abandoned and all can move forward together to win progressive policies. We all need to learn from these organizations and make sure their lessons are widely shared, their efforts resourced and replicated, rather than throwing buckets of money to Democratic Party consultants and operatives whose transactional, short-term, short-sighted approach to polling and messaging has much to do with the crisis we’re in today. A hailstorm of executive orders and a blizzard of bad news blanket the nation. A man who thrives on stoking chaos and fear has enmeshed all of us in his need for daily doses of high drama. It is tough to modulate between stunned passivity and frantic reactivity. In this roiling environment, it may seem that a debate over “identity politics” is of relatively little consequence. But it is, in fact, central to how the Democratic Party and progressives approach 2018 and 2020, and to whether and how the party regroups to become an effective shield against the far-right onslaught. It is of enormous importance to a left that must focus its influence on shaping the political frameworks and strategies most capable of defeating Trump and Trumpism. The liberal imagination has become perversely fixated on the alleged excesses of “identity politics,” forgetting that social movements of the marginalized are the spark and spur of democracy. The abolitionist movement and the Civil Rights Movement extended democratic rights to the formerly enslaved and perpetually reviled, removing a deep moral stain from the nation. The women’s movement unleashed the potential and talent of half the country’s population. While the small-minded argue about bathrooms and pronouns—transgender activists, at great risk to themselves, have gifted us with a far more capacious understanding of the evolving spectrum of gender identity and expression. None of these movements is “done.” Each has advanced not just the interests of a singular identity group, but also the ambit of freedom for all. Most assuredly, the generation that stepped forward in the wake of Trayvon Martin and Mike Brown will not stand down Art: Ernesto Yerena just because some liberals are having a panic attack. We are all navigating treacherous terrain, seeking a way forward. At least some of us know that not a single development over the past period indicates that the way forward requires that we abandon our freedom dreams. To the contrary.
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Alarm bells have been rung, repeatedly, about rampant opioid abuse, rising suicide rates and detachment from the labor market in white working class communities. It is beyond question that political responses to these crises, by either party, have been inadequate, verging on criminally negligent, and that these communities deserve the compassion, social and medical services, and jobs programs that could begin to turn these trends around. And yet.... I remember the 1980s, the cruel terminology—“crack babies” and crack whores”—that accompanied that epidemic, and the unyielding resistance to naming the extended episode of drug dependency and addiction that tore through families and poor communities as a problem of the class. No, it was the “culture of poverty” and failures of character—meaning poor Black people were simply inclined to do dope. So, too, the current wave of Chicago shootings is not read as revelatory of bottomless layers of desperation on the part of young working class men who are stripped, practically from birth, of access to living lives that nurture their human potential—is not seen as a problem of class formation in the U.S., but is rather interpreted as inexplicable Black pathology (maybe it’s something in their genes....?) and wielded politically to reinforce both class and race division. So yes, empathy and understanding for stricken white working class communities, along with a better understanding of how the extension of empathy and understanding, like everything else in our society, is deeply racialized. These notes should in no way be read as an argument against addressing the concerns and economic anxieties of white workers. It is an argument for: (1) addressing those concerns as a component part of a larger story about the declining fortunes of the class as a whole; (2) refusing to make concessions to racism, xenophobia, Christian supremacy, misogyny or heterosexism while addressing those concerns; (3) being clear that the displacement of white economic anxiety onto Black people and immigrants is neither warranted nor wise; (4) being clear that the post-war deal of expanding economic fortunes for a wide swath of white workers is completely off the table; what is on the table is the search for new forms of multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-gendered worker organizing that applies itself to the riddle of how to effectively extract significant concessions from 21st century capital; (5) understanding that the work of addressing the economic and social concerns of white workers, and winning them away from thoroughly reactionary politics, is not principally an issue of crafting the best messages and communications strategies to produce results in the next election cycle, but a longterm, no-short-cuts proposition to which a battalion of people and organizations will need to devote their lives. Fortunately there are organizations doing the hard, granular, on-the-ground work in counties and states that are overwhelmingly white and/or red. They know the importance of place and how history and culture shape their neighbors’ thinking. They know how many conversations it takes to get a first-time or infrequent voter to the polls. They know that race and gender bigotry, while tough to eradicate, are far from immutable. They have mastered the art of building complex coalitions in which no constituency
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Woke: The Austin Women’s March
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by Rachel Jennings
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room, get water and make posters. It was packed with On Saturday, January 22, I awoke early to get ready people preparing to march. Looking down from a for the Women’s March in Austin, Texas. I felt window, I saw streams of people walking toward the excited and nervous. From social media, I capitol. I sensed that marchers were arriving from all sensed that the crowds at the march would be over the city and the state. huge. Knowing that Donald Trump was now The five of us made several posters, including ones our President, however, filled me with dread and that said “Respect for All,” “We Are 3 Million More,” anger. Sworn into office the previous day, his lies “Walking for Women,” “Shame on Trump!! We about the size of inauguration crowds were an unHeard You,” “Abortion Rights,” “Women’s Rights needed reminder of his narcissism and mendacity. Are Human Rights,” “Stop Sexual Harassment,” I rose early so that I could carpool with 3 and “Would Jesus Grab Women’s Pussies?” friends who would be at the march. One of these Choosing our favorite posters, we left some for women had generously offered to drive us in her other marchers. car. Before leaving my house, I stashed some blank The march had more people than I could posters and permanent markers in my trunk. When we have imagined. Packed onto the lawn of the Texas arrived in Austin, we would make posters together. capitol building, we could barely move as we made Fearful of arriving late, I arrived ahead of schedRachel & Carolyn making signs our way onto Congress Ave. Later, I saw aerial ule. Actually, we did not live far from each other. AlPhoto: Stephanilla views of marchers that covered many city blocks though we were acquainted from past encounters, it took a march in Austin to bring us into closer contact. As my friend finished numbering more than 50,000. Recalling past protests against the Gulf War, the bombing of Lebanon, the death penalty, and preparing, I waited feeling more relaxed but anxious about an entire anti-abortion legislation, I could remember no event this widely day during which I would have to think about Trump. attended with women and men from all walks of life. So we would not become hungry or dehydrated during the Although filled with nostalgia for my student days in Austin in march, my friend packed water, bananas, and cheese sandwiches the late 1980s and 1990s, I had to admit that today was unique and in her backpack. She confided that the march would be her “first like nothing I had ever experienced before. I hoped that our pasprotest”and wanted to be prepared. Since I was not prepared, I was sion and commitment to resistance would make the 45th President grateful. As a longtime activist, I often become careless, failing to hesitate before acting like a tyrant. I hoped, too, that the march gather needed items such as water, sunglasses, or sunscreen. One of would galvanize those in the resistance to unite and build organizing her friends, also a first-time protester, arrived. The three of us left to networks. Although some might say our march was “negative” in pick up Carolyn Atkins, a longtime friend of mine and veteran activthe sense of being directed against Trump, our march was actually ist. We four then made our way north to Austin. the beginning of constructive resistance and imaginative solidarity. As we traveled down I-35, we shared our rage about the election Our march embodied intersectionality, reflecting our awareness of of Donald Trump. We wondered how much Vladimir Putin had racism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, environmental injustice, ecoinfluenced the election and it might affect Trump’s decision-making. nomic exploitation, and threats against our educational system. Even now, Trump was still insisting that he would build a wall and The march brought 4 women from San Antonio together. Women “make Mexico pay for it.” He would deport immigrants. He would who had been vaguely acquainted became trusted friends. The two of ban Muslims. He would gut the EPA and the Department of Educaus who were veteran activists became energized and filled with hope. tion. He would make abortion illegal. The two who were new to protests became empowered to speak and Trump’s contempt for women was especially enraging. Few to act. We all got woke. women havd been appointed to his Cabinet. We wondered if Melania Trump might be a victim of abuse or even sex trafficking. We Bio: Rachel, a local poet & teacher, is also buena gente of the Esperanza. recalled the insults Trump had directed at women. He had accused Hillary Clinton of being an “enabler” of Bill Clinton’s affairs. He Photo: KVUE.com called Fox News journalist Megyn Kelly a “bimbo,” saying she had “blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.” On another occasion, he called Alicia Machado, the Venezuelan actor and Miss Universe winner, “Miss Piggy” and “Miss Housekeeping.” On a leaked video, Trump described grabbing women “by the pussy” because “when you’re a star, they let you do it.” It was no accident the protest march was organized by women the day after his inauguration. Trump’s hateful, violent misogyny had been on display throughout his campaign, and it defined him. After arriving in Austin, we met another friend and went into the Family Life Center of First United Methodist Church. The church had made its space available for marchers to use the rest-
The 1992 IWD March ¡Tenemos coraje, tenemos poder! . . . Left: Lizzie Martinez holds a sign: Anita Told the Truth! Right: Alicia López blesses the gathering and chants “Ajé” with the crowd
Margarita Elizarde (right) of ELLAS marches by a sign: IWD ¡El poder de las Mujeres es Fuerza!
We start to march. There is electricity in the air. We feel our numbers. But when I turn around at the end of a block, only then do I see us all...a long powerful river of women, men and children. Flags waving, fists raised—we will never go back! —Lizzie Martinez, What Happened on International Woman’s Day, April, 1992, La Voz de Esperanza
Lillian Stevens talks on the importance of bridging gaps between women
Fuerza Unida marches behind the Tenemos Poder sign with their banner, Solidarity
Tish Hinojosa, native to San Antonio’s westside, sings as the IWD rally ends.
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2017 Vol. 30 Issue 2
We have rage, we have power! Beverly Sánchez-Padilla and daughter, was the rallying cry seven years Micaela Sánchez Díaz play Diego and Frida after the first International Woman’s Day March in San Antonio. The 1992 March would begin the annual marches that have since continued. This will be the 27th year mujeres march in San Antonio. The 1992 March commemorated the 500 years of Indigenous and Popular Resistance to the myth imposed by the “discovery” of “America” in 1492. It also marked a commitment to the condemnation of colonialism and neocolonialism everywhere. It was an election year with George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot running for President. Issues then centered around health, economics and the environment. It was the right time to began a continuous resistance movement by women in San Antonio. The 1992 March was initiated by the Esperanza when Graciela Sánchez, the director, hired the first part-time staff person, Lizzie Martinez, a young San Antoniana who questioned why the IWD March had not occurred again since 1985. Graciela and Lizzie set out to contact individuals and groups that had been part of the 1985 March and an organizing committee was formed. The rest is now part of Esperanza’s and San Antonio’s history. IWD Organizing Committees with groups like Fuerza Unida, the P.E.A.C.E. Initiative, Martinez Women’s Center and many more have continued to come together with new people every year. Now the Marches are coordinated by the MujeresMarcharán group. This year, the March will take place on March 4th. More than ever, the IWD March requires your presence and persistence. See www.sawomenwillmarch.org.
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People’s Power Coalition meets last Thursdays | 210.878.6751
Bexar Co. Green Party: Call 210. 471.1791 or bcgp@bexargreens.org
PFLAG, meets 1st Thurs. @ 7pm, University Presbyterian Church 300 Bushnell Ave. | 210.848.7407.
* community meetings *
Amnesty International #127 For info. call Arthur @ 210.213.5919.
Celebration Circle meets Sun., 11am @ Say Sí, 1518 S. Alamo. Meditation: Weds @7:30pm, Friends Meeting House, 7052 Vandiver. 210.533.6767. DIGNITY SA Mass, 5:30pm, Sun. @ St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1018 E. Grayson St | 210.340.2230 Adult Wellness Support Group of PRIDE Center meets 4th Mon., 7-9 pm @ Lions Field, 2809 Broadway. Call 210.213.5919. Energía Mía: (512) 838-3351 Fuerza Unida, 710 New Laredo Hwy. www.lafuerzaunida.org | 210.927.2294 Habitat for Humanity meets 1st Tues. for volunteers, 6pm, HFHSA Office @ 311 Probandt. LGBTQ LULAC Council #22198 meets 3rd Thursdays @ 6:45pm @ Luby’s on Main. E-mail: info@ lulac22198.org
NOW SA Chapter meets 3rd Wed’s. For time and location check FB/satx.now | 210. 802.9068 | nowsaareachapter@ gmail.com
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2017 Vol. 30 Issue 2•
Pax Christi, SA meets monthly on Saturdays. Call 210.460.8448
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Parents of Murdered Children, meets 2nd Mondays @ Balcones Heights Community Ctr, 107 Glenarm | www. pomcsanantonio.org. Rape Crisis Center 7500 US Hwy 90W. Hotline: 210.349.7273 | 210.521.7273 Email: sgabriel@ rapecrisis.com The Religious Society of Friends meets Sunday @10am @ The Friends Meeting House, 7052 N. Vandiver. | 210.945.8456. S.A. Gender Association meets 1st & 3rd Thursday, 6-9pm @ 611 E. Myrtle, Metropolitan Community Church. SA AIDS Fdn 818 E. Grayson St. offers free Syphilis & HIV testing | 210.225.4715 | www.txsaaf.org.
Thursday, April 20, 2017
To donate now, visit bit.ly/ donatetoEsperanza or visit www. giveoutday.org on April 20th!
Call us at 210.228.0201. #GiveOut2017
SA Women Will March: www. sawomenwillmarch.org|(830) 488-7493 SGI-USA LGBT Buddhists meet 2nd Sat. at 10am @ 7142 San Pedro Ave., Ste 117 | 210.653.7755. Shambhala Buddhist Meditation Tues. 7pm & Sun. 9:30am 257 E. Hildebrand Ave. | 210.222.9303.
Proyecto Hospitalidad Liturgy meets Thurs. 7pm, 325 Courtland.
S.N.A.P. (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests). Contact Barbara at 210.725.8329.
Metropolitan Community Church services & Sunday school @10:30am, 611 East Myrtle. Call 210.472.3597
Voice for Animals: 210.737.3138 or www.voiceforanimals.org
Overeaters Anonymous meets MWF in Spanish & daily in English | www. oasanantonio.org | 210.492.5400.
SAVE THE DATES and GIVE!
SA’s LGBTQA Youth meets Tues., 6:30pm at Univ. Presby. Church, 300 Bushnell Ave. | www.fiesta-youth.org
Thursday, May 4, 2017
To donate now, visit bit.ly/donatetoEsperanza or visit www. thebiggivesa.org on May 4th! Call us at 210.228.0201. #BigGive2017
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Notas Y Más March 2017
CineFestival 2017goes through March 4th. Check www.guadalupeculturalarts.org for screenings. Save the date for the annual Tejano Conjunto Festival, May 24-28! The Latino Museum Studies Program (LMSP) of the Smithsonian Latino Center provides a national forum for graduate students to share, explore and discuss the representation and interpretation of Latino cultures in the context of the American experience. Apply at the Smithsonian Online Academic Appointment System (SOLAA). Deadline: March 15. To access a checklist go to: https://goo.gl/QeAkPN The Texas Observer and The Texas Democracy Foundation are accepting entries for The MOLLY National Journalism Prize of 2017 through March 17th. The Prize will be presented at an awards dinner on June 8 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Austin. See: mollyawards@ texasobserver.org or call 512. 477.0746 ext 100.
Brief news items on upcoming community events. Send items for Notas y Más to: lavoz@esperanzacenter.org or mail to: 922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212. The deadline is the 8th of each month.
That’s Not Fair ! Emma Tenayuca’s Struggle for Justice / ¡No Es Justo! La lucha de Emma Tenayuca por la justicia, a full length theater production based on the children’s book by Carmen Tafolla and Sharyll Teneyuca and illustrated by Terry Ybañez runs from March 17 through March 19—Fri. & Sat. @ 7pm and Sunday @ 3pm. at the Guadalupe Theater, 723 S. Brazos St.| $5-$15. Call 210.271.3151 or see www.guadalupeculturalarts.org
NACCS 2017, the National Association of Chicana/ Chicano Studies will take place in Irvine, California on March 22-25. The theme for this year is Chicana/o Studies in an Era of Globalization, War and Mass Expulsions. Emilio Zamora will be honored as the 2017 Scholar. See naccs.org Poetry aficionados! Tom Keene, a frequent Voz contributor now has a site where his poetry is collected. See www. tomekeenesmuse.com
19th Annual Allied Media Conference June 15-18 @ Wayne State University, Detroit, MI
Call for proposals!
Deadline March 12, 11:59 pm EST The Disrupting Mainstream History: Memory Keeping, Storytelling, and Community Archives Track of the AMC is calling for proposals that explore how to produce, retain, preserve and reuse community stories to organize community efforts, decolonize our memories, challenge stereotypes and empower ourselves. Contact Caroline Rubens at crubens@appalshop.org. | www.alliedmedia.org/amc
The Esperanza, the Rape Crisis Center, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, and US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission present a movie and plática:
@ Esperanza, 922 San Pedro Ave., SATX Friday, March 10, 2017 @ 7PM with a plática to follow
A counselor will be available throughout to anyone who needs assistance. Spanish translation will be available. Parking: San Antonio College Lots 22, 28, 29.
Chicana Art & Artists in the 21st Century, a symposium Madrid Latin@ Art Series’ artist session panelists: Marta Sánchez, Ana Fernández, Kathy Vargas, Delilah Montoya, Veronica Castillo, Celeste De Luna, Santa Barraza, Anel Flores, Daniela Riojas, & Patricia Ruiz-Bayón
H The Inaugral H
Madrid Lecture Series
Guest speaker
Judith Baca
artist & activist 5:30pm -7pm
Trinity University, Holt Center, 106 Oakmont Ct. • Tuesday, March 7 • 9am-7pm Contact mrodrig7@trinity.edu for information
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2017 Vol. 30 Issue 2
Rape on the Night Shift/ Violación de un Sueño
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LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • March 2017 Vol. 30 Issue 2
Aquí Estamos y No Nos Vamos a women of color art exhibit curated by Rebel Mariposa
Saturday, March 25, 2017 , 6PM-9PM Esperanza, 922 San Pedro Ave., entrance on Evergreen. Parking available at San Antonio College, Lots 22, 28, 29. Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org
Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID San Antonio, TX Permit #332
Haven’t opened La Voz in a while? Prefer to read it online? Wrong address? TO CANCEL A SUBSCRIPTION EMAIL lavoz@esperanzacenter.org CALL: 210.228.0201
visit www.sawomenwillmarch.org for time, route and up-to-date information
Noche Azul de Esperanza Spring 2017 | Concert Series
Saturday: Doors open at 7:15pm • Sunday: Doors open at 3:15pm
Dos Gardenias Homage to internationally acclaimed Cuban songs that have made music history.
Saturday March 18, 8pm & Sunday March 19, 4pm Musicians: Aaron and George Prado with Nina Rodriguez and Eric Casillas
Diego Rivera Mexico’s Surrealism, its Social Realism, its Revolution & Identity. Art, Murals, Socialism, & Frida; The life and legacy of Diego Rivera and his contemporaries.
Saturday April 15, 8pm Musicians: Aaron and George Prado with Nina Rodriguez
Admission $7 más o menos
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center • 922 San Pedro Ave. • 210.228.0201• www.esperanzacenter.org