En pocas palabras. Javier J. Jaspe
Washington D.C.
Esta es la séptima entrega de una serie de artículos
dedicados a reseñar los nombres y una breve semblanza biográfica de
latinoamericanos/hispanos relacionados con territorios que hoy corresponden o
se le asocian a Estados Unidos, con posterioridad a que Cristobal Colón
descubriera a América en 1492. Los nombres que se incluyen se encuentran principalmente
entre los que aparecen mencionados en el interesante libro: Latino Americans (The 500 – Year Legacy That
Shaped A Nation), by Ray Suarez. El material usado para la semblanza
biográfica ha sido seleccionado de entre textos publicados en Internet, en
español o inglés, según sea el caso, los cuales se transcriben en itálicas. Sobre
las características y propósitos de esta serie remitimos al primer artículo (http://latinoamericansintheunitedstates.blogspot.com/2017/05/latinoamericanoshispanos-en-eeuu-i-de.html).
Este séptimo artículo se refiere a nombres de personas que van desde Víctor
Villaseñor (nacido en 1940., hasta Héctor P. García (fallecido en 1996). Veamos:
Víctor Villaseñor: “Born
in the barrio of Carlsbad, California in 1940, Victor Villaseñor was raised on
a ranch four miles north in Oceanside. Since his parents were born in Mexico,
Villaseñor spoke only Spanish until beginning school. After years of facing
language and cultural barriers, heavy discrimination and a reading problem,
later diagnosed as dyslexia, Victor dropped out of high school his junior year
and moved to Mexico. There he discovered a wealth of Mexican art, literature,
music, that helped him recapture and understand the dignity and richness of his
heritage….. After producing nine novels, 65 short stories, and receiving 265
rejections Villaseñor sold his first novel, Macho!, which the Los Angeles Times
compared to the best of Steinbeck. This began a journey that would eventually
lead to the publication of the national bestseller, Rain of Gold. Published in
seven languages and used by thousands of teachers and school systems across the
nation as required reading, Rain Of Gold tells the story of Victor’s family,
taking the reader from war-torn Mexico during the Revolution to the present
day. Villaseñor’s body of works include a number of nonfiction books which are
all used in schools throughout the country: The trilogy Wild Steps Of Heaven,
Rain of Gold, and Thirteen Senses, Jury: The People vs Juan Corona, Macho!, and
Walking Stars, a collection of short stories written especially to inspire
youth. Burro Genius, national best seller and Pulitzer Prize finalist, is the
first book of the second trilogy. The second book, Crazy Loco Love, will be
released September 2008….(http://www.sdcl.org/author-bio/villasenor-v.pdf).... Villaseñor’s
intense pride in his heritage developed late. The third of five children, he
was raised in Ocean-side, where his mother, Lupe Gomez, and his father, Juan
Salvador Villaseñor, had settled after separately fleeing their war-torn
homeland—Juan in 1916 and Lupe in 1922. Juan Salvador amassed a fortune in the
U.S. as a liquor-store magnate, and Victor grew up on the family’s 166-acre
ranch. But even for Mexican immigrants of means, discrimination was a fact of
life. “On my first day of school,” Victor remembers, “the teachers smacked me
on the head when I spoke Spanish and said, ‘None of that Mexican stuff.’ ”The
incident filled him with rage and self-loathing, feelings that intensified when
his dyslexia made reading nearly impossible. He muddled through until the 11th
grade, then headed for Mexico—and was reborn. “For the first time, I saw
Mexicans who were doctors, lawyers—heroes,” he says. He also began teaching
himself to read, slowly and by sheer determination, and by the time he returned
to the ranch at 20, he had a calling. “Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man made me realize a writer could write about anything and make the
reader identify with it, he says.It wasn’t an easy road. Villaseñor spent years
living with his parents, whose wealth was wiped out by one unlucky investment.”
(http://people.com/archive/rain-maker-vol-38-no-13/).
Emilia Castañeda: “Emilia Castañeda conoció la miseria
a los nueve años y en un país ajeno. Su padre, un albañil, no tenía empleo y
decidió irse a Durango con sus dos hijos, ambos nacidos en Estados Unidos. Era
1936 y el país vivía la Gran Depresión. Así, esta familia pasó de vivir en un
hogar propio en el barrio de Boyle Heights a dormir en el patio de la casa de
unos parientes -en Gómez Palacios- incluso en las noches lluviosas. Los niños
extranjeros soportaron el acoso en todos lados, en todo momento. Emilia tuvo
que trabajar desde que llegó a México. “Una señora me preguntó que si le podía
cuidar a su niño y también le lavaba la ropa, como si yo fuera la madre”,
cuenta Castañeda, de casi 89 años. “Fue una vida miserable”. Fueron nueve
largos años de pobreza que ella dejó atrás cuando decidió regresar a su país de
origen, poco antes de cumplir 18 años. Una madrina que vivía en Los Ángeles le
ofreció pagarle el pasaje en tren y ella no desaprovechó la oportunidad. Pero
su padre y su hermano prefirieron quedarse en Durango. Con el tiempo, Castañeda
comprendió que en aquella triste década de 1930 más de un millón de personas,
la mayoría niños estadounidenses, fueron forzadas o presionadas para que se
fueran a México voluntariamente por las duras condiciones de vida. Se trató de
una suerte de auto-deportación que se conoce como “Repatriación Mexicana”. A mí
nadie me echó de aquí. Mi papá se fue porque no conseguía trabajo […] en esa
época sólo había para los americanos [anglosajones]”, cuenta la anciana.
Castañeda ahora lidera una campaña que aboga para que este acontecimiento se
incluya en los libros de historia en California y que exige a la Casa Blanca
ofrezca una disculpa a los sobrevivientes, como ya lo hicieron los gobiernos
estatal y del condado de Los Ángeles. “No quiero recompensa, ni un centavo.
Todo el tiempo lo he dicho, yo quiero una disculpa formal”, dice la mujer,
quien subraya que no desea escuchar un discurso en la televisión, ni leer los
fríos párrafos de una legislación. Ella quiere que el presidente Barack Obama
le pida perdón en persona. “Porque violaron nuestros derechos civiles”,
continúa….A decir del historiador Francisco E. Balderrama, los inmigrantes
latinos aún padecen un ambiente hostil en Estados Unidos porque no se han
reconocido los graves errores cometidos durante la expulsión masiva e
inconstitucional en la década de 1930. Más de un millón de personas fueron
presionadas para irse a México durante la Gran Depresión, la crisis económica
que entonces atravesó el país. Se calcula que el 70% eran niños nacidos aquí. A
este pasaje histórico que no aparece en los libros de texto se le denomina
“Repatriación Mexicana”. “Hay un patrón que estamos viendo de nuevo de
‘antimexicanismo’, de ver a los mexicanos como trabajadores desechables”, dijo
el autor del libro Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s
(Década de Traición: Repatriación Mexicana en la década de 1930). El perdón
oficial ayudaría a “sanar” y avanzar en este sentido, dijo el catedrático. (https://laopinion.com/2015/04/11/violaron-nuestros-derechos-civiles-repatriada-mexicana-durante-la-gran-depresion/,
por Isaías Alvarado)…. Joseph
Dunn, senador por California, quien participó en una audiencia del caso, dijo:
"El programa de deportación de los años 30 no es un capítulo de la
historia de Estados Unidos del que podamos estar orgullosos". Entretanto,
Kevin Johnson, profesor de la escuela de Derecho de la Universidad de
California, manifestó: "Es un principio fundamental de la ley de Estados
Unidos que los ciudadanos de este país no pueden ser expulsados del territorio
nacional". (Deportados reclaman tras 70 años: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/news/newsid_3074000/3074625.stm). También puede verse: http://ohp.parks.ca.gov/pages/1054/files/Latino%20Los%20Angeles%20Context%209-23-15.pdf,
en particular, páginas 12 a1 15).
Macario García:
“Macario García es otro de esos extraordinarios casos de ciudadanos
mejicanos emigrantes en Estados Unidos que se alistaron en el Ejército durante
la Segunda Guerra Mundial y demostraron un valor sobresaliente. Nació en Villa
del Castaño, en el estado de Coahuila, Mexico, el 20 de enero de 1920. Como
muchos otros temporeros pobres mejicanos, emigró con su familia a Estados
Unidos en busca de una vida mejor. Tras desempeñar algunos trabajos en varias
poblaciones del sur de Tejas, los García acabaron estableciéndose como peoneros
agrícolas cerca de la ciudad tejana de Sugar Land. El duro estilo de vida
de los inmigrantes no era el más adecuado para la educación del joven Macario,
así que este abandonó el colegio en tercero de primaria. Pasados los años,
aunque García no era aún ciudadano norteamericano, se alistó en el Ejército en
1942 por sentir que debía poner su granito de arena por su país de adopción en
la guerra contra la tiranía. Macario, o Mac, como era conocido entre sus
amigos, se convirtió en fusilero de la Compañía B el 22 Regimiento de
Infantería de la 4ª División de Infantería. Fue
herido en acción en los primeros estadios de la batalla de Normandía pero tras
reponerse, pudo regresar pronto a su unidad, que se hallaba combatiendo a
través de Francia hasta llegar a la patria del enemigo. El 27 de noviembre de
1944 su unidad avanzaba por las inmediaciones de la ciudad alemana de Grosshau.
Un súbito e intenso fuego de ametralladoras, artillería y mortero detuvo en
seco a los norteamericanos. Aunque García había resultado herido por la
metralla, asumió el mando provisional de una escuadra y se negó a ser evacuado.
Luego se arrastró hacia la posición enemiga por propia iniciativa. Cuando
calculó que estaba a distancia de ataque, Mac se levantó y asaltó la posición
de ametralladoras enemiga, al tiempo que disparaba su fusil y arrojaba
granadas. Como resultado de este acto inutilizó la ametralladora y mató a tres
soldados alemanes, facilitando así que su unidad reanudara la marcha. Poco
después, otra ametralladora volvió a bloquear el avance norteamericano. De
nuevo, Macario García tomó la iniciativa y asaltó esta segunda posición
enemiga. Esta vez mató a tres soldados y capturó a otros cuatro. A continuación
siguió luchando con su unidad hasta que alcanzaron el objetivo asignado.
Solo entonces aceptó ser atendido por los sanitarios y ser evacuado a
retaguardia. Por esta acción fue recomendado para la Medalla de Honor del
Congreso. El 23 de agosto de 1945 el presidente Harry Truman condecoró al
entonces sargento Macario García con la mayor distinción militar norteamericana
en una ceremonia en la Casa Blanca. También recibió el Corazón Púrpura, la
Estrella de Bronce por su valor, y el pasador de Infante de Combate. Después de
la guerra, el gobierno mejicano dio reconocimiento al heroísmo de García
durante la guerra concediéndole la Medalla al Mérito Militar, la más alta
condecoración mejicana al valor, permitiéndole lucir las medallas que había
ganado durante el servicio en el Ejército norteamericano sin la pérdida de la
nacionalidad mejicana.A pesar del heroísmo demostrado durante la guerra y el
amor a su país de adopción, García no fue ajeno a los prejuicios étnicos. En
septiembre de 1945 se negaron a atender a Mac García en un restaurante de
Richmond en Tejas alegando que era hispano. Furioso ante este evidente acto de
racismo, García se peleó con el dueño del restaurante. La consiguiente
publicidad del caso puso de manifiesto las contradicciones de la sociedad
norteamericana que todavía permitía la discriminación basada únicamente en la
etnia de una persona. Tras un juicio que se convirtió en mediático, García fue
absuelto. Pronto dejó atrás este horrible incidente y aceptó una oferta del
presidente Truman para un puesto de consejero en la Administración de
Veteranos, donde trabajó durante 25 años. A pesar del orgullo que sentía por
haber nacido mejicano y por ser hispano, y de que en ocasiones fuera víctima de
actos de discriminación, García también amó a su país de adopción,
convirtiéndose en ciudadano norteamericano en 1947. Tras reanudar sus estudios,
concluyó el bachillerato en 1951. Al año
siguiente se casó con Alicia Reyes, con la que tuvo tres hijos. En 1953, Mac
García ingresó en la Reserva del Ejército de Estados Unidos. Su capacidad de
liderazgo y sus principios morales y éticos llevó a sus superirores a
ascenderlo a sargento mayor. Irónicamente, a pesar de haber sobrevivido a los
horrores y peligros del combate, Macario García murió en un accidente de
tráfico el 24 de diciembre de 1972. Está enterrado en el Cementerio Nacional de
Houston, en Tejas. Un Centro de la Reserva del Ejército, un tramo de autopista
en Houston y una escuela de primaria en Sugar Land (Tejas) llevan su nombre. Un
retrato suyo está colgado en el hall del Tribunal del Condado de Fort Bend en
Richmond, la misma ciudad donde se negaron a servirle muchos años antes por ser
hispano.” (http://www.gehm.es/segunda-guerra-mundial/medalla-de-honor-macario-garcia/,
por Hugo A. Cañete).
Guy Gabaldon: “Private First Class Guy Gabaldon was
a young Marine who single-handedly persuaded more than 1,000 enemy civilians
and troops to surrender. PFC Guy Gabaldon (1926–2006) was adopted at the age of
12 by parents of Japanese-American heritage.
At the outbreak of World War II, his adoptive family was placed in a relocation
camp. Gabaldon joined the Marines when he
was only 17 years old; he was a Private First Class (PFC) when his unit was
engaged in the Battle of Saipan in
1944. Gabaldon, who acted as the Japanese interpreter for the Second Marines,
working alone in front of the lines, entered enemy caves, pillboxes, buildings,
and jungle brush, frequently in the face of hostile fire, and succeeded not only
in obtaining vital military information, but in convincing over 1,500 enemy
civilians and troops to surrender. He was nominated for the Medal of Honor,
but was awarded the Silver Star instead. His medal was later upgraded to
the Navy
Cross, the Marines second-highest decoration
for heroism. He turned in more enemy soldiers than Sergeant Alvin York,
who was awarded the Medal of Honor during World War I for having captured 132
enemy German soldiers.[37] Gabaldon's
actions on Saipan were
later memorialized in the film Hell
to Eternity, in which he was portrayed by
actor Jeffrey
Hunter.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanic_Americans_in_World_War_II);....
Gabaldon was born in Los Angeles, California.
Gabaldon, who was of Mexican descent,
was one of seven children. He was raised in East
Los Angeles and, as a ten-year-old, he helped
his family by shining shoes on Skid Row.[1] Gabaldon
became a member of a multi-ethnic gang known as the "Moe Gang".[2] At
age 12, he moved out of his home to live with the Nakano family,
which was of Japanese-American heritage
and whom he considered his extended family. He attended language school every
day with their children and learned to speak Japanese.
He also learned about their customs and culture. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Gabaldon). También puede verse: (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1265593/plotsummary); (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0299927/bio).
José Díaz (a.k.a. José Gallardo Diaz): “On August 2, 1942, the murdered body of Jose Diaz was found at the
Sleepy Lagoon reservoir in southeast Los Angeles. This event touched off months
of media attention focusing on Mexican American boy gangs, their criminality,
and the zoot suits they wore. Investigating the murder, the Los Angeles police
questioned 600 Chicano youths. Among those rounded up were Louis Encinas and
his sister Lorena, who had attended a party that night near Sleepy Lagoon.
Louis was questioned and released, while Lorena Encinas was arrested and jailed
for not cooperating with authorities. 22 youths would be indicted on murder
charges and placed on trial. People v. Gus Zamora became the largest mass trial
in California history with 17 defendants. Three of the defendants were convicted
of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, and nine defendants
were convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced “five-to-life.” The other
five defendants were convicted of assault. Five additional defendants received
separate trials and were all acquitted” (http://www.lalawlibrary.org/pdfs/grants/Sleepy_Lagoon_Murder.pdf).... Twelve defendants won their appeal two
years later when a court ruled that the prosecution failed to allow the
defendants to consult with their attorneys and that the prosecution failed to
link any of the 17 men and boys with the death of Diaz. All 17 were released
from prison. They were aided by a coalition of movie stars, progressives and
communists, who printed pamphlets and raised money for the defense.
Actor/director Orson Welles and his wife Rita Hayworth, the actress, were among
the biggest supporters. Welles wrote the introduction to a pamphlet defending
the boys. Another actor, Anthony Quinn, who was born in Mexico, also pushed
hard to help defend the 38th Street youth. Diaz's killing was never solved.” (http://www.sgvtribune.com/article/ZZ/20130531/NEWS/130539861). También puede verse: (http://research.pomona.edu/zootsuit/en/trial/);
(https://kansaspress.ku.edu/978-0-7006-1746-3.html).
Héctor P. García: January 17, 1914–July 26, 1996. Physician and pioneering activist
Héctor P. García was once described as "a man who in the space of one week
delivers twenty babies, twenty speeches, and twenty thousand votes." Born
in Mexico in 1914, García grew up in Mercedes, Texas, in the lower Rio Grande
Valley. He earned undergraduate and medical degrees from The University of
Texas and served in the Army with distinction in World War II. In 1946, García
opened a medical practice in Corpus Christi, where he witnessed the struggles
of veterans and migrant workers. His work inspired a lifetime commitment to
social reform. García became known as the "doctor to the barrios,"
offering low- and no-cost treatment to impoverished patients. In 1948, García
founded the American GI Forum, organizing veterans to fight for educational and
medical benefits, and later, against poll taxes and school segregation. A proud
member of the Greatest Generation, García sought the inclusion of Mexican
Americans into mainstream America. In 1984, President Reagan awarded García the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. García was
the first Mexican American ever to receive the honor. A statue on the Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi campus now stands as a memorial to García's legacy. It
bears his personal motto, which is also the motto of the American GI Forum:
"Education is our Freedom, and Freedom Should be Everybody's
Business." For More about Héctor P. García The Dr.
Héctor P. García Memorial Foundation honors García's legacy by supporting people
and projects that protect the rights of all through the funding of
scholarships, educational grants, and community-building efforts. The
Foundation also promotes the fair treatment and support of those who have
served our country in the armed forces. The Dr.
Héctor P. García Papers, located at the Mary and Jeff Bell Library on the campus of Texas
A&M University-Corpus Christi, focus on the GI Forum but also cover all
major issues facing Mexican Americans during Garcia's lifelong pursuit of civil
rights. A website maintained by The University of Texas
Medical Branch documents García's life and accomplishments. The PBS
Documentary Justice for My
People: The Héctor P. García Story, produced by South Texas Broadcasting (KEDT), aired in September 2007,
and follows the Mexican American struggle for rights from the 1920s to the
1980s through García's eyes. García's advocacy on behalf of fallen soldier
Felix Longoria garnered national attention for equal citizenship rights for
Mexican Americans. See The Longoria Affair, a documentary film by John J. Valadez,
funded by PBS and the Houston Endowment.” (http://www.humanitiestexas.org/programs/tx-originals/list/hector-p-garcia). Para una biografía más detallada,
puede verse: (http://www.drhectorpgarciafoundation.org/bio).
Apéndice
The Bracero
Program
“The Bracero Program, which
brought millions of Mexican guest workers to the United States, ended more than
four decades ago. Current debates about immigration policy-including
discussions about a new guest worker program-have put the program back in the
news and made it all the more important to understand this chapter of American
history. Yet while top U.S. and Mexican officials re- examine the Bracero
Program as a possible model, most Americans know very little about the program,
the nation's largest experiment with guest workers. Indeed, until very
recently, this important story has been inadequately documented and studied,
even by scholars. The Bracero Program grew out of a series of bi-lateral
agreements between Mexico and the United States that allowed millions of
Mexican men to come to the United States to work on, short-term, primarily
agricultural labor contracts. From 1942 to 1964, 4.6 million contracts were
signed, with many individuals returning several times on different contracts,
making it the largest U.S. contract labor program. An examination of the
images, stories, documents and artifacts of the Bracero Program contributes to
our understanding of the lives of migrant workers in Mexico and the United
States, as well as our knowledge of, immigration, citizenship, nationalism,
agriculture, labor practices, race relations, gender, sexuality, the family,
visual culture, and the Cold War era. The Bracero Program was created by
executive order in 1942 because many growers argued that World War II would
bring labor shortages to low-paying agricultural jobs. On August 4, 1942 the
United States concluded a temporary intergovernmental agreement for the use of
Mexican agricultural labor on United States farms (officially referred to as
the Mexican Farm Labor Program), and the influx of legal temporary Mexican
workers began. But the program lasted much longer than anticipated. In 1951,
after nearly a decade in existence, concerns about production and the U.S.
entry into the Korean conflict led Congress to formalize the Bracero Program
with Public Law 78. The Bracero Program was controversial in its time. Mexican
nationals, desperate for work, were willing to take arduous jobs at wages
scorned by most Americans. Farm workers already living in the United States
worried that braceros would compete for jobs and lower wages. In theory, the
Bracero Program had safeguards to protect both Mexican and domestic workers for
example, guaranteed payment of at least the prevailing area wage received by
native workers; employment for three-fourths of the contract period; adequate,
sanitary, and free housing; decent meals at reasonable prices; occupational
insurance at employer's expense; and free transportation back to Mexico at the
end of the contract. Employers were supposed to hire braceros only in areas of
certified domestic labor shortage, and were not to use them as strikebreakers.
In practice, they ignored many of these rules and Mexican and native workers
suffered while growers benefited from plentiful, cheap, labor. Between the 1940s
and mid 1950s, farm wages dropped sharply as a percentage of manufacturing
wages, a result in part of the use of braceros and undocumented laborers who
lacked full rights in American society.” (http://braceroarchive.org/about).
También puede verse: (http://www.unco.edu/cohmlp/pdfs/bracero_program_powerpoint.pdf);
(https://www.labor.ucla.edu/what-we-do/labor-studies/research-tools/the-bracero-program/);
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=AL5d9CWV0Xg);(https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=oxEZrpcJpSU).
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