Not strictly related to communism per se, but if I may, it feels necessary. Who was Reies López Tijerina? The militant Xicano Malcolm X? Sin duda (no doubt). Un hombre de contradicciones? Sin duda. Contradictions abound, as with Malcolm X. On patriarchy, he was a leap behind, prioritizing and promoting la familia como sagrada para el pueblo, although the leadership roles of women en la Alianza was impressive despite pervasive machismo. He worshiped his familia, and his wife, terrorized while jailed, lost a child. On (revolutionary) nationalism, his political consciousness wasnt quite as advanced as later Xican@ comunistas. He was no avowed comunista, but a vital precursor, however (the AIM acknowledged this). The forebear or elder whose fearless risks and rhetoric were contagious and a catalyst for el movimiento. He paved the way forward while the likes of César Chávez paved detours. MLK personally chose him (not Corky Gonzales or Chávez) to lead the Xican@ contingent in the 1968 Poor Peoples Campaign march in D.C. and accepted Tijerinas request for the delegations of indigenous activists to lead the march as the most historically oppressed of nations subject to wholesale genocide. This never came to fruition due to MLKs assassination courtesy of the U.S. government, but nevertheless, it proved the respect was there. The indigenous question was dear to him, inextricable from su lucha en la Alianza de Federales Mercedes. He was foundational, más grande que la vida. And yet, if you wish to know Tijerina at his most raw, unleashed and exhilarating, listen to this first hour of his May 1969 speech at UCLA (Corky Gonzales follows). No Xican@ has breathed such fire since. While others merely waved and studied little red books, he shook, for a brief time, the foundations of the settlerist white supremacist empire. Tierra o Muerte.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 01:21:28 +0000
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