Happy Mother's Day Prayers and Best Wishes, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D. and Dr. Cesar Cruz

Happy Mother's Day Prayers and Best Wishes 

by 

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D. and Dr. Cesar A. Cruz

Feliz Día de las Madres—Happy Mother's Day!

Today we hold deep gratitude for the mothers, grandmothers, tías, mentors, and mother-figures who love, guide, and care in a thousand visible and invisible ways. Thank you for your patience, your sacrifices, your laughter, and the steady love that shows up day after day, year after year.

As Dr. Cesar Cruz reminds us in his moving reflection, "Mother's Fierceness" — mothers carry a love that is not soft and passive, but bold, protective, and relentless. It is a fierceness that fights for their children, holds families together, and refuses to let the world diminish those they love. We invite you to watch and share his powerful message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2khWPLWSiN0

A Special Remembrance 🌹

I hold, on this day, a tender and proud place in my heart for my own mother, Helen Valenzuela, whose fierceness was a gift I did not always have words for—but always felt—and still feel today in my very being. 

She passed from this world in 2005, twenty-one years ago, and yet her love, her strength, and her fierce devotion live on in all that I am and all that I do. Mamá, te llevo siempre en mi corazón. You are seen. You are remembered. You are deeply loved.

To those who are raising children, to those who have raised them, and to those who nurture communities and mother with their hearts in ways the world doesn't always see—your love matters more than you know.

Sending love to everyone celebrating today, and gentle, compassionate thoughts to those for whom this day is tender—those grieving a mother, missing one, or navigating this day with a heavy heart. May you feel seen, held, appreciated, and deeply loved.

Feliz Día de las Madres. Con amor y gratitud. 💐  

Mother’s Day at the Capitol: Las Mañanitas and a Good, Mexican 'Grito' for Culture, Presence, and Power

Dear Friends,

I couldn’t let the weekend pass without sharing this.

Like many of you, I felt a wave of anger when I first learned that the Texas Legislature would be in session over Mother’s Day weekend—a decision that carries a double sting for our Mexican-origin legislators.

To understand why, it’s important to recognize how we celebrate Mother’s Day in our culture. In the U.S., it falls on the second Sunday of May. But for Mexicans, it’s always observed on el diez de mayo—May 10—regardless of the day of the week. 

That means this year, our community marked two consecutive days of honoring mothers, with all the love, phone calls, and rituals that it entails. And yet, instead of reverence, the legislature moved forward with business as usual. This blog is from Mexican Mother's Day on Saturday, May 10, 2025. It brought tears to my eyes.

Rep. Christina Morales with Rep. Ramón Romero & colleagues in the Texas House of Representatives.

Frankly, I believe there should be a law—no legislative hearings on Mother's Day. Period. The decision to proceed was not just tone-deaf; it was culturally disrespectful.

And yet, even in the midst of this erasure, we witnessed something beautiful—an act of cultural affirmation, of joyful resistance.

Enter the mariachis.

In what I can only imagine was the inspired leadership of Rep. Christina Morales—who’s already brought Aztec danzantes and lowriders to the Capitol in celebration of her birthday—we were treated to a historic first: mariachis gracing Speaker Burris’ dais, serenading the chamber with Las Mañanitas, the beloved song traditionally sung to honor mothers and mark birthdays.

This was not mere pageantry. This was power. This was presence in the fullness of who we are as people of this land and of this hemisphere.

In a legislature still dominated by white, male voices, these cultural acts are not just symbolic—they are necessary. They affirm our identities, uplift our histories, and remind us that la cultura cura—our culture heals. It also resists. And it does so with grace, joy, and unapologetic pride.

To Rep. Morales: thank you for reminding the chamber—and the state—of who we are. Thank you for centering our culture, our mothers, and our traditions in a place where they’ve long been marginalized.

And yes, I absolutely loved Rep. Ramón Romero’s grito—a declaration of soul, roots, and defiance.

¡Así se hace! That's how it's done!

In solidarity,

-Angela Valenzuela

"Let Their Works Be Seen—At the City Gate and the Political Sphere," by Angela Valenzuela

Please read my tribute to this day, based on a nuanced re-reading of Proverbs 31 and the writings of Episcopal priest, attorney, and theologian, and graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, the Reverend Dr. Patrick Cheng, author of Radical love: Introduction to queer theology.

Wishing all a Happy Mother's Day! -AV

AI Generated by A. Valenzuela

Let Their Works Be Seen—At the City Gate and the Political Sphere

By Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Proverbs 31 has too often been interpreted—and even weaponized—to confine women to narrow roles, uphold rigid gender norms, and sanctify domestic labor while ignoring the text’s deeper call to justice. 

But when I revisited it last night, I didn’t just re-read it with a progressive lens—I reimagined it through the lens of queer theology, as Patrick Cheng invites us to do. What emerged was not a checklist for gendered virtue, but a bold and expansive vision of radical love in action.

The text begins with a mother’s warning to her son, a king: don’t waste your strength. Don’t lose yourself in privilege while the poor are denied justice. True leadership is rooted in moral clarity. It speaks up for those who cannot speak for themselves. It defends the vulnerable. It remembers the humanity of those our systems forget.

Then we are given a portrait—not of submissive womanhood—but of embodied wisdom: a person who leads with strength, builds economic independence, feeds others, uplifts workers, makes decisions, and extends hands to the poor. Their dignity is not performative. Their power is not inherited. It is created daily, through work, courage, and love.

Patrick Cheng writes that queer theology resists binaries—it makes visible the divine in flesh and community, especially in the lives of those who defy the boxes they’ve been forced into. In that spirit, the “noble character” of Proverbs 31 is not confined to straight cisgender womanhood. It belongs to anyone who labors in love and justice—queer parents, nonbinary caregivers, trans organizers, radical kin-builders.

Let their works be praised at the city gate—and the Texas State Capitol, for our purposes, I might add.

Let us honor those who refuse invisibility. Who resist erasure. Who carry the weight of communities and still rise with wisdom on their tongues and fire in their hearts.

This is the vision we need now: Not one of narrow gender norms, but of liberatory embodiment. Not a gatekeeping morality, but a gospel of radical presence.

Because when we let the excluded lead, when we see divinity in every human being—then, and only then, will justice roll down like waters (Amos 5:24).

Reference

Cheng, P. S. (2011). Radical love: Introduction to queer theology. Church Publishing, Inc.

Why Native Moms Will Rule the World: Happy Mother's Day

Beautiful reflection for Mother's Day. Powerful quotes:

Sometimes function, survival and beauty doesn’t get enough page views though.  If those things did get the attention they deserve, then we would focus on Native mothers 365 days a year—that’s what they provide for all of us: function, survival and beauty.  

If someone really wants to know what’s really important to Native communities, they’d just talk to the moms and the grandmas.

We can judge the health of Native nations by the health of our mothers and grandmothers; if Native mothers and grandmothers are not well, we are not well. 

Probably a truism everywhere.  Happy Mother's Day, everybody!

-Angela

Why Native Moms Will Rule the World: Happy Mother's Day

Gyasi Ross

5/8/15

“It seemed as if the spiritual and social tapestry they had created for centuries was unraveling. Everything lost that sacred balance. And ever since, we have been striving to return to the harmony we once had. It has been a difficult task.  The odds against us have been formidable. But despite everything that has happened to us, we have never given up and will never give up.”

Wilma Mankiller

Mankiller: A Chief and Her People

Native mothers simply don’t give up.  They can’t give up; not in their DNA. 

This time of year causes me to think about how much time Native publications spend writing about the things about which, they feel, Natives are supposed to be offended or angry.  Granted, that’s probably just a reflection of larger society’s focus on negative news.  Still, I don’t know if it’s good for Native people to buy into that ethic. 

Either way, it seems like us folks lucky enough to have a public voice needsomething kinda scandalous sounding or anger-inducing to generate page views.  “Such and such did this and that and it’s racist!”  I definitely find myself doing that from time to time; I see it a quite a bit elsewhere as well.  And while there are certainly developments that require a sharp response and things we have to work on, sometimes we sorta overlook that there are so many, many beautiful things to be thankful for within our communities.  Indeed, if those voices would simply visit our homelands or pay attention to Native communities they would see that there simply is not a ton of angry Native people looking for more reasons to be mad.  Our ceremonies, our languages and our societies have always focused on function, survival and beauty. 

Sometimes function, survival and beauty doesn’t get enough page views though.  If those things did get the attention they deserve, then we would focus on Native mothers 365 days a year—that’s what they provide for all of us: function, survival and beauty. 

If someone really wants to know what’s really important to Native communities, they’d just talk to the moms and the grandmas.

As Chief Mankiller said, Native moms are completely aware of the “formidable odds” against their precious Native children.  Hell, there were only two hundred and fifty thousand Native people in the year 1900—we were dying out in front of Native moms’ eyes.  There are historical accounts of Tribes that wanted to receive all the proceeds from signing Treaties—if any—within 10 years of signing because the members of those Tribes didn’t expect to be alive longer than 10 years.

I’m sure these were times that even shook Native mothers’ and grandmothers’ massive faith.  

'Mother and Child—Apsaroke' by Edward S. Curtis. Source: Library of Congress.

But they kept on in spite of those formidable odds.  Just like they keep on today.  They keep on in spite of some of their children losing faith—committing suicide, resorting to alcohol and drugs to escape.  They know that they have to keep it together.  They keep on in spite of oftentimes being victimized within their own communities—suffering domestic violence and sexual violence at epidemic rates and with those horrible crimes being unreported and unprosecuted because of the lingering stupidity of male privilege that many times justifies violence against our lifegivers. And while there are many memes and bumper stickers that profess almost a reverence for Native mothers and grandmothers, many times our actions still don’t show that.

“We have never given up and will never give up.”

We can judge the health of Native nations by the health of our mothers and grandmothers; if Native mothers and grandmothers are not well, we are not well.

Simple. 

Native Moms: Happy Mother’s Day.  Thank you for never giving up.  Thank you for continuing to believe in us even when we don’t deserve your faith and love.  We would have been literally extinct if not for your incredible faith and love.  Enjoy your weekend. 

Everyone Else: mom deserves a footrub. Play with her hair.  Don’t just send a card, spend some time. Pick her some flowers.  Don’t buy ‘em—pick ‘em. That’s the least that we could give in exchange for them keeping us together, wiping the sleep out of our eyes and braiding our hair for centuries. 

Native moms aren’t going anyplace—promise.  Their love and faith won’t allow them to; they’re gonna outlast all of us.  “We have never given up and will never give up.”  That’s why they WILL rule the world and WILL correct the imbalance going on right now.  It’s best to get on their good sides, so y’know, start by treating them right this Mother’s Day Weekend.

Love y’all.  

Gyasi Ross, Editor at Large
Blackfeet Nation/Suquamish Territories
NEW PROJECT "ISSKOOTSIK" (BEFORE HERE WAS HERE)
AUDIOBOOK AVAILABLE NOW at shop.krecs.com
Twitter: @BigIndianGyasi

Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2015/05/08/why-native-moms-will-rule-world-happy-mothers-day-160312