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Thursday, August 23, 2012

Corriendo Educando or Teaching/Learning While Running


Tucson to Phoenix runners arrive at the school board of education in Phoenix to deliver a message
Saludos:

I have been writing most of my life, and have always been proud of my work. This academic piece, on running epistemology, is very special as it was birthed in not simply Tucson's human rights struggles, but also, in its barrios. Enjoy. Thanks to the runners of Calpolli Texicalli of Tlamanalco (Tucson) and Tonatierra, the Yaqui and O'odham runners of Southern Arizona and all those other runners that I run with through the desert. Please feel free to post and forward. Thanks

Roberto Dr Cintli Rodriguez,
XColumn@gmail.com
520-271-6796
http://drcintli.blogspot.com/ 

Tucson to Phoenix Run 2012 (previous run was in 2009)


International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies
http://www.isrn.qut.edu.au/publications/internationaljournal/volume5_number1_12.jsp
Volume 5, Number 1, 2012
Corriendo Educando or Teaching/Learning While Running
Roberto Dr Cintli Rodriguez, University of Arizona

Abstract
Indigenous ceremonial running is traced back many hundreds of years and generally forms
part of larger ceremonial ways. Today, running functions as part of athletic events,
although running can also function as a means to commemorate a past event (memory)
and as a means to transmit ancestral or traditional knowledge. This article examines
running as a means of learning and acquiring knowledge and as a method of teaching and
raising consciousness. It also considers how ceremonial running has transformed the
Tucson community, which has been involved in intense human rights struggles, particularly
in the struggle to teach Ethnic Studies and examines the testimonios of the runners.

To read the article, go to: http://www.isrn.qut.edu.au/publications/internationaljournal/documents/Final_Rodriguez_IJCIS.pdf

La deshumanización de los racistas


En la audiencia del 7 de Agosto de Randall Leon Thompson en la Corte de Justicia del Condado Pima, le concedieron libertad condicional por un año, en vez de encarcelamiento, a la persona que me dejó tres amenazas de muerte en mi correo de voz en la universidad.

El juez dijo que encontraba repugnante el comportamiento de Thompson y que estaba inclinándose por encarcelarlo, si yo me oponía firmemente al acuerdo que los abogados habían negociado.
Por un momento, yo tuve el poder de encarcelar al Señor Thompson. Y tenía buenas razones para hacerlo: las amenazas que me mandó en Mayo de 2011 eran perversas mezcladas con un veneno racista. Sus amenazas fueron causadas por mi supuesto papel como defensor de los Estudios Mexicoamericanos (MAS) del TUSD, programa que fue desmantelado porque el Distrito no quiso violar la ley antiestudios mexicoamericanos, HB 2281.

Sin embargo, yo no considero al señor Thompson el autor intelectual de esas amenazas.
Es cierto que él las expresó, pero él, como muchos en este estado, han sido manipulados frecuentemente por los políticos estatales y otros individuos que explotan las divisiones raciales o culturales de la sociedad.

El odio diario dirigido a los mexicanos y a la cultura mexicana, disfrazado como una "guerra en contra de los 'ilegales'", es la definición de la palabra deshumanización.

Lo hacen al declarar que su desdén no es por las personas en general sino simplemente por los "transgresores". (La lucha del programa MAS no tiene nada que ver con la inmigración, ya sea legal o ilegal).

Eso no niega el hecho de que el señor Thompson es un adulto consciente, y como tal es responsable por sus acciones. Cuando lo vi en el juzgado, se me dificultó verlo como el mismo hombre que amenazó utilizar su .357 Magnum contra mí y como el mismo hombre que amenazó guerrear contra los mexicanos.

A pesar de todas las amenazas que hizo, se declaró culpable de tan sólo un cargo de delito menor por utilizar un teléfono para aterrorizar, intimidar, amenazar y hostigar.

La razón por la cual no me "opuse firmemente" a este acuerdo es que no entiendo por qué el señor Thompson no estaba afrontando cargos de delito grave.

En una audiencia anterior, yo le hice esa pregunta a la Corte, y cuando se me permitió dirigirme al tribunal el 7 de Agosto también pregunté por qué no se habían presentado cargos de delito de odio. El juez dijo que era una buena pregunta, y me sugirió que le preguntara al fiscal federal de la región.
Sí tengo planeado hacer esto, dado que estas amenazas parecen caber en la definición de un delito de odio del Departamento de Justicia de los Estados Unidos: "Un crimen de odio es la violencia de la intolerancia, destinada a herir e intimidar a alguien por su raza, etnicidad u origen nacional. … Los que cometen un crimen de odio utilizan explosivos, incendios, armas, vandalismo, violencia física y amenazas de actos violentos para causarle miedo a sus víctimas".

Los crímenes de odio están diseñados para aterrorizar a las comunidades. El procurador general de Arizona, Tom Horne, el autor intelectual de la HB 2281, ha dicho que él cree que las amenazas son un crimen de odio.

La verdadera justicia se dará cuando a los autores intelectuales de este odio también los citen a la Corte.

Sin embargo, en Arizona, ¿cómo se puede procesar ese odio si viene desde arriba? Mi sugerencia es que se procese un perpetrador a la vez.

Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodríguez es asistente profesor en University of Arizona. Contáctalo al XColumn@gmail.com

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Prosecuting Hate Crimes to Fullest Extent of the Law


A shortened version of this column appeared August 14, 2012 in the Arizona Daily Star. Feel free to post comments there (lots of right wing comments there): http://azstarnet.com/news/opinion/guest-column-man-convicted-of-threatening-me-draws-on-racial/article_16c116ba-0206-593c-bc8d-20a334fb8169.html




At the Aug 7 trial for Randall Leon Thompson, the person accused of leaving three death threats against me in my university voicemail, was placed under supervised probation for a year, but was spared jail time.

The judge said he found his behavior disgusting and was inclined to throw him in jail, if I strongly objected to the deal negotiated by the attorneys.

For a moment, I had the power to send Mr. Thompson to jail. I had good reason to do so; the threats he sent in May 2011 were vicious and laced with racial venom. His tirades were in response to my purported role in defending TUSD's Mexican American Studies (MAS) department, which has since been dismantled as a result of the district complying with the anti-Ethnic Studies HB 2281.

These threats came subsequent to one posted on YouTube against the UNIDOS students who had taken over the Tucson school boardroom several weeks before. That threat urged viewers to "shoot them in the head," but was dismissed by the Tucson Police Department as "a joke."

The reason I did not exercise the judge's option is because I don't consider Mr. Thompson to be the intellectual author of the threats against me. True, he vocalized them, but he, like many in this state, have been goaded, and manipulated, often by the state's top politicians and others who exploit racial or cultural divisions within society (for an insight into hate from above, see stories re former State Senate President Russell Pearce's emails, along with Sheriff Joe Arpaio's communique's).

That daily spewing of hatred towards Mexicans and Mexican culture, disguised as "a war against 'illegals'" is a form of dehumanization that permits these politicos to spew out their hatred. They do this while claiming that they are not aiming their disdain at actual peoples, but rather simply at "lawbreakers" (The MAS struggle has nothing to do with migration, illegal or otherwise). The hatred spewed out by Mr. Thompson, is little different from what one reads in the comments section in the daily newspapers.

That's not to negate that Mr. Thompson is a conscious adult. Indeed he is responsible, or needs to be made responsible, for his actions. Seeing him in the courtroom, it was difficult to see him as the same man who threatened to use a 357 Magnum against me and who also threatened to war against Mexicans. And yet, for all his threats, he pled guilty but to one count of using a telephone to terrify, intimidate, threaten or harass.

On the same day, Jared Lee Loughner, pled guilty to 19 counts in court, for the shooting of 19 in Tucson the year before, including the serious wounding of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. This is on the heels of the murder of 6 Sikhs in Wisconsin last week and the Colorado massacre that left 12 dead and 58 injured last month.

The reason I did not "strongly object" to this deal, is because I was unclear why Mr. Thompson was not facing felonies.

At an earlier hearing I had asked the court that question, and when I was permitted to read a statement in court Aug. 7, I also asked why no hate crime charges were filed? In response, the judge said it was a good question and one that I need to ask of the region's U.S. Attorney.

I do plan to do this, as these threats appear to come under the U.S. Justice Department definition of a hate crime (http://www.justice.gov/crs/). It reads:
"Hate crime is the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability. The purveyors of hate use explosives, arson, weapons, vandalism, physical violence, and verbal threats of violence to instill fear in their victims..."
Given Arizona's recent history, it shouldn't be up to me to pursue these hate crime charges. State Atty. General, Tom Horne, the intellectual author of HB 2281, stated on Aug 3, 2012 in Tucson, that he believes the threats to be hate crimes.

Beyond that, true justice can only come about when the intellectual authors of this hate also have their date in court. Here's another quote from that same memo:
"When perpetrators of hate are not prosecuted as criminals and their acts not publicly condemned, their crimes can weaken even those communities with the healthiest race relations."
In Arizona, how do you prosecute that hate when it appears to come from the very top? My suggestion: one perpetrator at a time.

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. 

Roberto Cintli Rodriguez

Five of Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez's books and one video are on the banned curriculum list. The video is: “Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan.” The books are: “Justice: A Question of Race,” “Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut and Uncensored,” “The X in La Raza,” “Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human,” and “Cantos Al Sexto Sol.” This last book is a collection of more than 100 Raza/Indigenous writers, writing on the topic of origins and migrations. These bans highlight that virtually the entire cultural production of the past generation of Raza/Indigenous writers/artists has been criminalized.

Rodriguez teaches at the University of Arizona and can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com - http://drcintli.blogspot.com/

Related Stories

Arizona and the Role of the Intellectual: When History Beckoned, What Did You Do?
By Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, Dr. Cintli's Blog | News Analysis
Death Threats, Censorship and the Aztec Calendar
By Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, Dr. Cintli's Blog | News Analysis




Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Supremacist pleads Guilty in Death Threat Trial


Today was a historic date of sorts; the supremacist, Randall Leon Thompson, who threatened me pled guilty today Aug. 7, 2012, for sending threats over the telephone. He will be under managed supervision for a year, after he completes another 18 months of probation from another unrelated case.

Yet, this is not the end of the story. Please read this statement, that I was permitted to read in court. The end will give you a clue as to why this is not over.

(If you would like to read the Aug 8, 2012 story in the Arizona Daily Star, please go to and feel free to leave a message there:  Mohave man given probation for death threats vs. UA prof)


"Greetings Judge                                                                                                       Aug 7, 2012

Nehua no toca, Professor Roberto Rodriguez, I am Macehual and a Tucson resident.

I have never met Mr. Thompson and I don’t know where he lives. Yet in his messages to me, he claimed I was trying to take his house and as such, threatened the use of a 357 magnum, to take me out, and to wage war against Mexicans.

He called my office phone not once, not twice, but three times.

The calls are full of hate and lots of anti-Mexican vitriol. It is the kind of hate that unfortunately has become common in this state. If you doubt me, look at the comments section in media, particularly here in our daily newspaper.

What puzzles me is why Mr. Thompson isolated me? Apparently, he is not the only one who seems to believe that I am a ringleader of sorts.

I do teach in Mexican-American Studies at the University of Arizona. During the past several years, the TUSD’s Mexican American Studies department and the discipline have been under unrelenting attack… and I do freely admit to defending both. Yet, I have not insulted or disrespected anyone. I have simply asked that the teachers, students and parents – and their views – be respected in this process.

The right to culture, history, identity, language and education (chile) are the linchpin of any society and are protected by the 2007 UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, along with 8 other international treaties.

Defending the department and discipline and asserting my rights as a full human being, should not warrant threats to my life or other forms of violence against anyone else, regardless of their race or culture.

It doesn’t have to be this way. In Tucson, we teach In lak Ech-Tu eres mi otro yo-you are my other me and Panche Be-buscar la raiz de la verdad-to seek the root of the truth. We teach our students to see themselves in each other, regardless of race or nationality or culture. But we also do teach them to stand up for their rights.

Somehow, all this has been severely distorted. The Atty. Gen., Tom Horne, continues to insist that we teach a highly racist curriculum. He appears not to understand that that is highly insulting. Combating inequalities or fighting against racial supremacy is part of a historic struggle to treat all people as full human beings.

I don’t want anything else. I don’t want anybody's land… especially nobody else’s house… just the right to be treated as a full human being. I don’t want anything from the court, except to ask Mr. Thompson why he isolated me… yet I do have a question for the court: do these threats – given Justice Department definitions -- not rise to the level of hate crimes?"


After I read this, the judge said it was a good question and a question that I need to ask of the U.S. Attorney for the region. And I do plan to do this.

In part, I pursued this case because apparently,lots of people receive death threats in Tucson. I was aware that human rights icon, Isabel Garcia, receives death threats for her heroic work, particularly with the human rights/migrant rights organization Derechos Humanos, but I was not aware that death threats are as common as sahuaros here. 

When I received these threats, it had come on the heels of the threat posted on YouTube against the UNIDOS students who had just taken over the Tucson school boardroom on April 26, 2012. That threat, which urged viewers to "shoot them in the head," had been dismissed by the Tucson Police Department as but "a joke."

When I received the death threats on May 9, 2011, people from all walks of life told me they had received death threats too. In part, that was the motivation for pursuing the charges against Mr. Thompson. Not many people followed through with pressing charges, or in some cases, they were simply ignored or dismissed.

That's why I will continue to pursue federal hate crime charges. Death threats should not be business as usual. They are illegal and they should not be treated casually. Let's see what happens at the federal level.

I will leave here what I found in terms of the federal definition of a hate crime:

DEFINITION OF A HATE CRIME
Here is what I found, though it is undated: http://www.justice.gov/crs/
pubs/htecrm.htm
U.S. Department of Justice
Community Relations Service
Rose Ochi, Director, Community Relations Service

Hate Crime: The Violence of Intolerance

The Community Relations Service (CRS), an arm of the U.S. Department of Justice, is a specialized Federal conciliation service available to State and local officials to help resolve and prevent racial and ethnic conflict, violence and civil disorders. When governors, mayors, police chiefs, and school superintendents need help to defuse racial crises, they turn to CRS. CRS helps local officials and residents tailor locally defined resolutions when conflict and violence threaten community stability and well-being. CRS conciliators assist in identifying the sources of violence and conflict and utilizing specialized crisis management and violence reduction techniques which work best for each community. CRS has no law enforcement authority and does not impose solutions, investigate or prosecute cases, or assign blame or fault. CRS conciliators are required by law to conduct their activities in confidence, without publicity, and are prohibited from disclosing confidential information.

In 1997, CRS was involved in 135 hate crime cases that caused or intensified community racial and ethnic tensions. As authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, CRS became involved only in those cases in which the criminal offender was motivated by the victim's race, color, or national origin. Of all hate crime incidents reported to the U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1996, 72 percent were motivated by the victim's race, color, or national origin.

Hate Crime
Hate crime is the violence of intolerance and bigotry, intended to hurt and intimidate someone because of their race, ethnicity, national origin, religious, sexual orientation, or disability. The purveyors of hate use explosives, arson, weapons, vandalism, physical violence, and verbal threats of violence to instill fear in their victims, leaving them vulnerable to more attacks and feeling alienated, helpless, suspicious and fearful. Others may become frustrated and angry if they believe the local government and other groups in the community will not protect them. When perpetrators of hate are not prosecuted as criminals and their acts not publicly condemned, their crimes can weaken even those communities with the healthiest race relations.

Of all crimes, hate crimes are most likely to create or exacerbate tensions, which can trigger larger community-wide racial conflict, civil disturbances, and even riots. Hate crimes put cities and towns at-risk of serious social and economic consequences. The immediate costs of racial conflicts and civil disturbances are police, fire, and medical personnel overtime, injury or death, business and residential property loss, and damage to vehicles and equipment. Long-term recovery is hindered by a decline in property values, which results in lower tax revenues, scarcity of funds for rebuilding, and increased insurance rates. Businesses and residents abandon these neighborhoods, leaving empty buildings to attract crime, and the quality of schools decline due to the loss of tax revenue. A municipality may have no choice but to cut services or raise taxes or leave the area in its post-riot condition until market forces of supply and demand rebuild the area.

Victims and Perpetrators
In 1996, the FBI received reports of 10,706 hate crimes from State and local law enforcement agencies, involving 11,039 victims, and 10,021 known perpetrators. The crimes included 12 murders, 10 forcible rapes, 1,444 aggravated assaults, 1,762 simple assaults, and 4,130 acts of intimidation.

Among the known perpetrators, 66 percent were white, and 20 percent were black. Some perpetrators commit hate crimes with their peers as a "thrill" or while under the influence of drugs or alcohol; some as a reaction against a perceived threat or to preserve their "turf'; and some who out of resentment over the growing economic power of a particular racial or ethnic group engage in scapegoating.


Hope to post future plans regarding this issue shortly. And thanks for all the messages of support nationwide...

The real focus needs to return to the Ethnic/Mexican American Studies struggle, a struggle that is not over and that includes a lawsuit against two of its educators. Will post on this shortly.

Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Monday, August 6, 2012

Death threats, Censorship and the Aztec Calendar


Death Threats, Censorship and the Aztec Calendar

Tuesday, 07 August 2012 14:36By Roberto Cintli RodriguezDr. Cintli's Blog | TRUTHOUT News Analysishttp://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10761-death-threats-censorship-and-the-aztec-calendar
This article is part of Truthout's Public Intellectual Project. To read more articles by Roberto Cintli Rodriguez and other authors in the Public Intellectual Project, click here.

After the January 2012 dismantling of Tucson's Mexican American Studies (MAS) department by TUSD's governing board, my colleague Norma Gonzalez at MAS-TUSD was forced to take down the image of the Aztec Calendar as she was teaching it, purportedly because it contained Mexican history and culture.

That action is traced to the state's 2010 anti-Ethnic Studies HB 2281, championed by then state schools' superintendent, Tom Horne.

But this past week, the axis of the universe reversed; at a press conference held to denounce the use of death threats in the MAS controversy, Arizona attorney general Horne, told the media several unexpected things:

1) that the use of death threats in the MAS controversy are out-of-bounds and do constitute hate crimes, and;

2) that HB 2281, which is currently being challenged on constitutional grounds, does not prohibit the teaching of the Aztec calendar or Mexican American history or culture.

Point one was a welcome development, however, on the second point, it was as though the last several years had not happened. Gonzalez responded to Horne's announcement: "What Horne does not care to know is that the Aztec Calendar represents the keys to Mexican indigenous culture... Within it are the teachings of life critical for all people to learn, yet Horne's intentions have never been to understand what we teach and how it impacts students. His double speak does not surprise me... "
In addition to what happened to Gonzalez, he apparently was unaware of what occurred after the MAS dismantling:

  • MAS teachers were given 9 directives, including one prohibiting the teaching of materials that lead back to "Mexican American perspectives."
  • A TUSD memo directed schools to pick up several book titles from MAS classes. Books were boxed and taken to a TUSD administrative site. Also, teachers were directed to vacate all their MAS books and teaching materials from the classroom, including lessons, artwork and posters.
  • The contents of MAS director, Sean Arce's office were also boxed and sent to the same site; including books that had been banned the previous year.
  • One teacher's computer was wiped clean, lessons and all.
  • A student was yanked from his classroom by TUSD security at Tucson H. S. after having spoken up at a school board meeting. He had been told he was in violation of a rule of crouching in the aisle as opposed to sitting in his chair.
  • In March, the Cesar Chavez march, which traditionally has begun at Pueblo High School, was forced to start elsewhere because TUSD officials sought to prohibit discussion regarding the MAS controversy.
  • In April, Tucson High's UNITY festival organizers were told that they could not speak about MAS (which is precisely why the festival was created in 2008).
  • In April, after having spoken up in support of MAS at a White House Education summit, and after Justice Department officials reassured him that it is illegal to retaliate against employees for speaking up, Arce was subsequently fired.
  • In May, Ana Castillo, was essentially prohibited from speaking at Tucson High. The school had placed conditions; no media, and thus, the prize-winning author elected not to speak there (precisely one year before, highly respected educator, Paula Crisostomo of Occidental College, was outright prohibited from speaking at TUSD schools).
  • This summer, several MAS teachers were fired; some were reassigned.
When Mr. Horne was apprised of these incidents, as though oblivious of HB 2281, he said that he had no control over what school officials do; that they are not under him. Then he returned to his unfounded mantra that MAS is a highly racist curriculum, ignoring the independent 2011 Cambium report that found otherwise.

While Horne and TUSD officials have expressed interest in investigating issues that do not involve death threats, virtually no one has been inclined to investigate the events of May 3, 2012 in which more than a hundred law enforcement officers swarmed the TUSD headquarters. That night, seven women were arrested inside while several people were physically abused outside. Despite a video capturing an officer throwing a young student through the air, there's never been an official explanation about this incident.

There has also been little interest in conducting a serious investigation into the YouTube video that called for people to shoot the UNIDOS students "in the head." Taking the word of the perpetrator, Tucson police determined that this incitement to violence was but "a joke."

At least Horne did not equivocate on the death threats (the trial in Tucson is Aug. 7) and he did agree on the need for an independent body to mediate this continuing crisis. The real crisis, in the minds of MAS opponents, is that there is now a nationwide movement to grow MAS at the K-12 level nationwide (RazaStudiesNow.org).

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license.

ROBERTO CINTLI RODRIGUEZ

Five of Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez's books and one video are on the banned curriculum list. The video is: “Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan.” The books are: “Justice: A Question of Race,” “Gonzales/Rodriguez: Uncut and Uncensored,” “The X in La Raza,” “Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human,” and “Cantos Al Sexto Sol.” This last book is a collection of more than 100 Raza/Indigenous writers, writing on the topic of origins and migrations. These bans highlight that virtually the entire cultural production of the past generation of Raza/Indigenous writers/artists has been criminalized.


Rodriguez, an assistant professor in Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona, is the subject of the death threats and can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com - http://drcintli.blogspot.com/