25 maps that explain the English language by Libby Nelson

On the subject of the English language, do check out this link.  While it is the case, on the one hand, that languages that don't absorb changes die (see previous post), it is also simultaneously the case that languages that change, incorporating other languages, are strengthened even if they're profoundly impacted.  Stated differently, language purity is a myth.

Think about this the next time that you hear anyone say that someone speaks "perfect English" or that we need to "work hard to preserve the English language." Aside from ignorance, these expressions are more about white supremacy than anything else.  Language is code for power and adhering to the status quo—which helps to explain why despite the norm nearly everywhere else in the world, English monolingualism is policed and reproduced in this country.

This is a great resource with amazing maps for the language classroom.

-Angela Valenzuela

25 maps that explain the English language

By Libby Nelson@libbyanelson  Updated Mar 3, 2015, 2:16pm EST

English is the language of Shakespeare and the language of Chaucer. It’s spoken in dozens of countries around the world, from the United States to a tiny island named Tristan da Cunha. It reflects the influences of centuries of international exchange, including conquest and colonization, from the Vikings through the 21st century. Here are 25 maps and charts that explain how English got started and evolved into the differently accented languages spoken today.

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Mexican Immigrant Replenishment and the Continuing Significance of Ethnicity and Race1 | American Journal of Sociology: Vol 113, No 6

I was just reading this article by Stanford University's Dr. Tomas Jimenez published last year in one of the leading journals of sociology.

So yes, Mexican immigration is definitely a force in the U.S.-Mexican/Mexican American community.  If you look at these maps, however (see below), it's not so much "immigration," but rather that a sociopolitical boundary called the "U.S.-Mexico border"—itself an artifact of violence and aggression—that divides us.  

This fact of history that is linked to imperialist aggression and so-called "manifest destiny," perennially establishes an inescapable circumstance of "replenishment" that no fence, wall, or border will ever eliminate.  Nor should it.  We are well served in this country by this in so many ways.

As for our Central American "emigrés," they are our ancestral cousins and should be welcomed as they have never left their ancestral homeland, not even when they cross into the U.S.  The same applies to all Indigenous peoples of this continent.

History matters.


-Angela Valenzuela

Mexican Immigrant Replenishment and the Continuing Significance of Ethnicity and Race1 | American Journal of Sociology: Vol 113, No 6

Tomás R. Jiménez, "Mexican Immigrant Replenishment and the Continuing Significance of Ethnicity and Race," American Journal of Sociology 113, no. 6 (May 2008): 1527-1567.

"The literature on assimilation and ethnic identity formation largely assumes that the durability of ethnic boundaries is a function of the assimilation measures that sociologists commonly employ. But this literature fails to account adequately for the role of immigration patterns in explaining the durability and nature of ethnic boundaries. Using 123 in‐depth interviews with later‐generation Mexican Americans, this article shows that Mexican immigrant replenishment shapes ethnic boundaries and ethnic identity formation. The sizable immigrant population sharpens intergroup boundaries through the indirect effects of nativism and by contributing to the continuing significance of race in the lives of later‐generation Mexican Americans. The presence of a large immigrant population also creates intragroup boundaries that run through the Mexican‐origin population and that are animated by expectations about ethnic authenticity. The article illustrates the importance of immigrant replenishment to processes of assimilation and ethnic identity formation."

Mexico could recover territory if it claims the wrong border line (español)

This interview by Carmen Aristegui el Senador Patricio Martinez is fascinating. "México podría recuperar territorio si reclama la línea fronteriza equivocada (Mexico could recover territory if it claims the wrong border line [transcript on Youtube])."

Senator Patricio Martinez of Chihuahua—a very large state that borders with Texas and New Mexico—is challenging the U.S.-Mexico borderline such that were a wall to get built, it would have to follow different lines of demarcation so as to not build the wall in Mexico which would be a violation of national sovereignty, as well perpetuate the violation of boundaries under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo signed in Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexico in 1847, effectively ending the Mexican-American War that took place between 1846-48.

He says that the current border has has been wrong since the times of Mexico's President Porfirio Díaz who served from 1876 to 1911.

He says that if the U.S. president were to refuse to desist in building the wall on national territory, Mexico could take its case to the United Nations (UN) or to the International Court of Justice at the Hague in The Netherlands, the judicial branch of UN. 

Mexico in fact did this very thing, he says, during the presidency of Benito Juarez during the 1800s. And Mexico prevailed with The Hague deciding on behalf of Mexico with Mexico subsequently recovering its lands from that border dispute along the Rio Grande (called "Rio Bravo," in Spanish).

The amount of land in question is 8,000 hectares that would go back to Chihuauhua and 75,000 hectares that would go back to Sonora.  So substantial.

One can't help but imagine that Trump wanting to dismantle the United Nations is for reasons like these that make countries like the U.S. accountable to the actions of the past, including contracts of its own making.

We've always said, "We didn't cross the border.  It crossed us."  From the standpoint of the people of this continent, there is nowhere to go back to.  We have always been here.  I am one third Native American.  And people like me are the majority within our national-origin group.  Our ancestors never left the continent.  Like a good friend and elder, Modesta Treviño, always says, 

"Aquí estamos y no nos vamos." ("We are here and we are not going anywhere.")

This is not just a rhetorical statement, but a fact of our existence as mestiz@s, Mexican Americans, mixed-bloods, living in the U.S. despite profound levels of colonization among so many that are ignorant, ashamed, or reticent about this ignominious past and history to which Senator Martinez speaks.  

So important this history as it follows us profoundly into the present, evidenced with ideas of a border wall matched with vitriolic, dehumanizing, anti-Mexican hatred inscribed in the policies of an ever-emergent police state. Note: Mexicans have always already had their own dedicated police force against them. It has gone by different names, including the "border patrol" and the "INS," the " Immigration and Naturalization Service."  Today, it's called "ICE," the "Immigration and Customs Enforcement."

I found the maps from his presentation to be fascinating and happy to share some of these below.

If nothing else, el Senador Patricio Martinez de Chihuahua shows just how empowering and potentially transformative knowledge of one's history can be. 

He underscores that this isn't simply a battle that's reducible to geopolitical boundaries and the recovery of lost lands, but something deeper that is of great value, namely, a long history of a shared, regional identity and history of constructive relationships that the building of a wall—especially on Mexican territory—violates.  

Excelente!


Angela Valenzuela
c/s

Abbott & Texas GOP History of Discrimination

November 21, 2016
Contact: Matt Angle / Lone Star Project
972-885-9440 

Abbott & Texas GOP History of Discrimination

Evidence of intentional discrimination by Greg Abbott and current Texas Republican leaders is no surprise.  Federal Courts have ruled that Texas Republican leaders have discriminated against Texas citizens over a half-dozen times since 2011.  Congressional, State Senate and State House redistricting plans were all ruled discriminatory, and the Texas voter ID law has been found discriminatory after every court review.  Three findings of intentional discrimination by Abbott and other State leaders are linked below:

2011 Congressional Redistricting Map
2011 State Senate Redistricting Map
2011 Texas Voter ID law

Statement from LSP Director Matt Angle:
“Greg Abbott is the point in the spear of intentional discrimination in Texas.  He should have spent his time at the memorial ceremony apologizing for his sorry and shameful record of intentionally attacking and undermining basic civil and voting rights of millions of Texas citizens."

Texas State Board of Education District Maps

TX SBOE District Map

TXSBOE Members
 

Most Common Country of Origin of New Immigrants To The United States

Check out these maps on most common country of origin for legal permanent residents of the U.S. created by Giorgio Cavaggion—the first includes Mexico; the second does not.  -Angela

June 8, 2015

Map crated by Giorgio Cavaggion Inspired by Ben Blatt’s What are the biggest immigrant groups in your state?, Giorgio Cavaggion created two flag maps of the most common country of origin of new legal immigrants to the United States.

The data originally came from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and is only a snapshot of 2012. That year just over 1 million people became Legal Permanent Residents.
Legal permanent residents (LPRs), as defined by the DHS:

… are foreign nationals who have been granted the right to reside permanently in the United States. LPRs are often referred to simply as “immigrants,” but they are also known as “permanent resident aliens” and “green card holders.”

In total nearly 150,000 came from Mexico in 2012, followed by China and India. As you can see above this means that Mexicans are the largest group in the majority of states (27), followed by India (7).

However, keep in mind there is a huge variance in the numbers between states. For example, California had 196,000 new legal permanent residents while Wyoming had just 427.
Below you can see what the map would look like without Mexico:

In this scenario Indians are the largest group in 19 states, Filipinos in 7 states and Burmese in 5 states.