That Ancient Cornfield

This is a thoughtful piece that comments on the present moment and where Mexicans and Latin Americans, generally—all descendents of a corn-based culture—find themselves. Unfortunately, it is a time period of harsh, anti-immigrant sentiments where they're being scapegoated for all manner of reasons. There's a deeper story of the corn, by the way, and how agribusinesses (corporate botanists and engineers) in Mexico are genetically re-engineering corn, resulting in an altering and ultimately loss of the original seeds and thusly, tastes and associated health that native people have enjoyed for centuries.

Another thought, I don't think I'm wrong about this, but I saw so little coverage on the English-speaking channels this past week on the massive flooding in Chiapas, Quintana Roo (2 states in Mexico), and the area of Mexico that borders Guatemala this past week as a result of Hurricane Stan. These aren't remote islands on the South Pacific. This is our neighboring country with whom we have amazingly strong and historic ties. I can't help but feel that this reaction by the press is related to what Rodriguez and Gonzales offer below. -Angela

COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
By Roberto Rodriguez & Patrisia Gonzales
RELEASE DATE: October 10, 2005

Not long ago, a reader commented that as a result of our research regarding origins & migrations, that we had gone in search of Aztlan and instead found a cornfield.

We did find a cornfield… and the ants of Quetzalcoatl - from where our sacred maize comes from.

The truth is, we never actually went looking for Aztlan -- the purported homeland of the Aztec/Mexica. What we did was research a map that indicated that the Aztecs had once lived north of the Hopi and that the Hopi had never surrendered their sovereignty. We've previously detailed this collaborative and groundbreaking research that involves historic maps, chronicles, codices and oral traditions - all speaking to the entire continent, not just one corner of the United States.

The context was California's post-Proposition 187 era in which the nation's anti-immigrant fervor coalesced into not simply xenophobic legislation, but a rabid fear and hatred of immigrants… particularly against Mexicans and Central Americans (South Americans and peoples from the Caribbean also).

Ten years later, that fear and hatred has not simply been exported nationwide, but post-911, it has now been conflated with terrorism.

It's difficult to fathom that the atmosphere nationwide could have gotten worse - yet with the rise of the anti-immigrant Minuteman movement -- it has. Also, as a result of deteriorating economic and political conditions caused by the ill-conceived Iraqi war, the administration's tilt to the rich, and its disastrous response to Katrina - all point to an even more and forthcoming virulent anti-immigrant movement.

The attitude seems to be: If we could only wall the border and drive out the Mexicans, all the nation's problems would be solved and we'd win the war against terrorism also. And if they would just assimilate and learn English…

And a new twist: The Blacks had to fight for their rights. Why should illegal immigrants be handed everything on a silver platter?

The rantings of extremists? Not uniquely so. It's actually part of mainstream discourse in which immigrants now equal a threat to the U.S. middle class. Fear and scapegoating are fast becoming the national pastime, though the notion that anti-immigrants are not really anti-immigrant does indeed have some merit. Hispanics - like Cameron Diaz and Daisy Fuentes -- don't bother them. Of course not. It's the dark, ominous Mexicans and Central Americans that do -- the ones that have at least a 7,000 year-old corn-based culture and perhaps a 40,000 year-presence on this continent. Why? No doubt they are seen as inassimilable mongrels or as Indians attempting to reclaim the continent.

No, they say. They simply want the nation's laws enforced, even if it means erecting impregnable walls, Gestapo raids, internal checkpoints, national ID cards and racial profiling.

The problem of immigration can easily be fixed (through an agreement), though keeping migrants in states of criminality or modern slavery is not a solution. Despite this, and despite the death of several thousand migrants in the desert, there will always be politicians who cater to peoples' basest instincts.

And thanks to Katrina, racism against African Americans is also back [in the spotlight]. As such, conservative William Bennett feels he can openly claim that aborting all Black babies would reduce crime, this while Republicans can claim that New Orleans will cease being as Black as it was. Couple that with the never-ending attempts to de-indigenize the continent and this is our new poisoned atmosphere in which we're all also pitted against each other.

The reason we conducted our research is not because of a fascination with historic maps, but because our humanity and our existence continue to be questioned.

… And about that ancient cornfield - the corn, beans, squash and the chile found throughout the continent -- indeed proves both the indigeneity of Mexicans/Central Americans and the continued centrality of that indigenous diet to their daily lives. Despite this, we've also encountered the attitude that because many of us are mixed (what peoples aren't?) or because our indigenous cultures were forcibly taken from us, that we're no longer truly indigenous. Translated, this means that colonization is purportedly irreversible, that we are “bastards,” and that the continent has ceased being indigenous. Not quite.

The collective findings of our recently completed Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan documentary show that indigenous peoples on the continent continue to be connected by language (particularly Uto-Nahuatl peoples), stories, trade, food, medicines and spiritual traditions. And they - we - are connected because we choose to be connected, not just to the continent and its peoples, but to all humanity. Most importantly, the accompanying values -- and way of life -- that teach us that all life is sacred is what makes us most human.

© 2005 Column of the Americas

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