📢
Axios Latino is the newsletter that summarizes the key news for Latino communities in the hemisphere every Tuesday and Thursday.
You can subscribe by clicking
here
.
1. The topic to highlight: forgotten sites
There are an increasing number of historic sites and markers seeking to preserve the record of acts of violence against diverse individuals in the United States.
In particular, the places that recognize how black people were violated have increased, but the plaques that seek not to forget how Latinos were attacked are still scarce.
Why it matters:
Since the 2020 national protests for racial justice, inquiry through public sites has grown into how events of the past continue to impact the present social situation.
As a result, more than 100 monuments to figures from the Confederacy, the grouping of slave states that fought in the Civil War to preserve the subjugation of non-white people, have been removed.
But despite this initiative for historical recognition, it is still not accepted to erect remembrance markers in places where black, indigenous, Latino or Asian people were victimized by that slave system.
And even where there are plates that recognize, for example, lynchings, activists denounce that they tend to be neglected.
General situation:
According to John Morán González, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, local councils and historical commissions often refuse to issue permits for the corresponding historical markers to be erected.
That makes it difficult to draw attention to atrocities that are worth remembering but have been forgotten.
One of the difficulties in establishing these historical memory sites is that the proposals are accused of allegedly promoting too severe a look at that historical past, committed by mainly non-Hispanic white people.
Along these lines, there are currently several conservative movements to restrict changes to school curricula that speak more openly about racism and slavery;
they are rebuffed in the face of claims by these conservative groups that Critical Race Theory is too radical.
In this context, it is particularly difficult to advocate for markers that put the spotlight on historical episodes of violence against Latinos, because they are events that are even less well known than those of attacks on black people, according to Morán González.
The professor is also part of the Refusing to Forget group, which has spearheaded remembrance campaigns such as one highlighting how the Texas Rangers committed racial/ethnic violence.
Refusing to Forget members in front of a historical marker erected thanks to their lobbying, in 2018. Courtesy of Refusing to Forget
To wit:
Refusing to Forget, made up of other scholars and activists, has gotten four historical markers built in Texas since 2014.
One of those markers is in honor of the victims of the Massacre of 1915, an episode that is not taught in state schools.
It happened when the Texas Rangers fired indiscriminately at Mexican people, considering them "bandits," without even investigating whether the people they killed had any ties to outlaw gangs.
Another marker recalls the 1918 Porvenir massacre, where Texas Rangers and US soldiers killed 15 unarmed Mexican-American men and boys.
The fact
: Between 1910 and 1920 approximately 5,000 people of Mexican descent in the US were disappeared or murdered on US soil by lynching or violence, according to historians' counts.
2. A new Republican border proposal
A group of Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee are in the final phase of drafting a border security proposal that would codify some controversial Trump-era executive orders as federal law.
The bill is scheduled to be reviewed by committee this Wednesday, according to Axios reporter Stef W. Knight.
Details:
The proposal picks up on several executive actions by Trump on asylum issues, according to a Republican adviser.
For example, it would require asylum seekers to have passed through an official port of entry and would not have their claim accepted if they crossed the border illegally.
It would also make it more difficult for victims of domestic abuse or gang violence to receive asylum on the basis of credible fear.
Republicans Introduce Bill to Reduce Asylum Eligibility
April 18, 202300:24
To watch out for
: The bill also includes measures so that the United States can completely suspend the entry of migrants and asylum seekers if they cross illegally when it considers that there are no resources to expel them or put them in a detention center, as is often the case.
It is uncertain whether the measure will pass, since a similar bill was put to the vote earlier this year but failed as some moderates, such as Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, voted against it.
Gonzales has said he will not vote on proposals that would cut the few legal avenues for immigration.
3. Heiress of a renowned activist makes her own mark
Serena Gonzales-Gutiérrez is the granddaughter of a well-known figure in the Chicano Movement, the campaign that fought for the civil rights of Hispanics in the US between 1965 and 1979. This heiress of Rodolfo Corky
Gonzales
is now opening her own path, entering politics in Colorado.
News Push
: Gonzales-Gutierrez won one of two open seats on the Denver City Council earlier this month.
His victory cements his status as a rising figure in the Democratic Party in Colorado.
He will be sworn in for city council this summer.
Big Picture
: Gonzales-Gutierrez is thus creating his own legacy separate from that of his grandfather, who advocated for Latino labor rights in Denver and encouraged Chicano cultural identity, earning him national recognition...and being monitored by the FBI.
Serena Gonzales-Gutierrez in February.
RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images
Recount
: Gonzales-Gutierrez says that when he first ran for state legislature, in 2018, he was hesitant to mention his grandfather for fear some would have a bad perception of what he did.
But in this year's election he wanted to talk more about his family.
"There were people who didn't like the things my grandfather did, because he was trying to help the poor, he was trying to help people of color [sic] and Chicanos, Latinos and Mexicans, and there were people who they wanted to hurt him and his family," Gonzales-Gutiérrez told Axios reporter Esteban L. Hernandez.
"When I was a child I remember that people would come to our house threatening my father" because he was
Corky's son.
But "over time I learned that there are few people who have that mentality and that there are more who appreciate what he did. Now they also celebrate that I continue with this tradition of serving our community," he added.
4. Modernizing the guayabera
Linen or cotton shirts with a typical men's cut worn throughout the Americas are being reinvented for sale in San Antonio and South Texas.
What's Happening
: Melissa Rojas, owner of online boutique Chasing Camilla, says she wanted to wear something fresh last year so it occurred to her to cut up a guayabera to wear as a swimsuit cover-up.
People modeling the 'crop top' guayabera that Melissa Rojas sells.Courtesy of Melissa Rojas
Sharing the photo brought him requests to sell it, which he began to do.
She says that, according to her, it is the first time that a guayabera with a crop top cut has been marketed in the United States
,
and that this has made the traditional shirt more attractive, especially for young women.
Rojas tells Axios reporter Madalyn Mendoza that he wants to start selling his version of the guayabera nationwide, but first needs to restock his store in early May to fill orders placed in parts of Texas.
In his own words
: The store's
crop top
guayaberas make a forceful fashion statement, according to Rojas, changing how that shirt normally intended for male presidents of the hemisphere to wear is worn.
"This cut is for women who are assertive, who know what they want. I feel like things are different now and fashion is changing along with us," says Rojas.
5. Summary of key news in Latin America and the Caribbean
1. A FARC dissident group
that remains under arms in Colombia announced this Sunday that it will start peace negotiations with the government of President Gustavo Petro.
Illustration: Natalie Peeples/Axios
The FARC demobilized in 2016 after a peace agreement, and the leadership became a political party.
But some former members took up arms again.
The peace dialogue, scheduled to begin in May, would add to the negotiations that Petro representatives already have with the last other guerrilla force, the National Liberation Army.
2. Bolivian teachers, retirees, transportation and health workers
are preparing for massive protests this week, they announced yesterday.
The protests are against a pension reform proposal that would transfer funds from private companies to a state fund, as well as to demand a larger budget for education programs.
6. Demystify disabilities
Catarina Rivera uses her social networks to raise awareness about the inclusion of people with disabilities, and that has made her a sought-after consultant.
This Hispanic created a platform for people with disabilities despite her own challenges
March 31, 202302:13
Details
: Rivera, who is partially blind and deaf, created Blindish Latina in late 2021 to share diversity, equity and equality resources with businesses.
She also has active social media accounts where she demystifies the use of canes, shows the best way to add alt text and captions to images or videos so they can be consumed by people with disabilities, and shares tips on how and when to help someone. blind to cross the street.
Last year she was invited to be a TEDx speaker.
His Instagram account has more than 15,000 followers and some of his videos have been viewed millions of times.
In his own words
: "Everywhere I went, I told people how they could help me, how they could include me in that environment and I saw that my life was better," Rivera tells Telemundo News about why he decided to start Blindish Latina.
Thanks for reading us!
We return on Thursday.
If you want to share your experiences or send us suggestions and comments, send an email to axioslatino@axios.com.
Do you want to read any of the previous editions?
Latino artists make their way into American country music
Pioneering Multiple Sclerosis Study Looks at How It Affects Latino Patients
Axios Latino explains what is behind the migration crises in the Americas
A Mayan home run: this is how minor league baseball celebrates Latinos