indigenism as a form of culture chic......

[Alex Perez]

I will catch a lot of flak but I feel morally oblidge to write the
folloowing, specially in this kind of list where the lenguage and culture
are supposed to be taken into consideration.

First of all, I am Mexican, by birth, by raising, I lived most of my life
ther and I have enjoyed the good times and bad times of MY country. Yet I
am not named Cuahutemoc, axayacatl or tonatzin, as some of my classmates.
I have been learning nahuatl because my brother lives in the heart of the
huasteca potosina and I have many friends that only speak marginal spanish
and mostly a dialect of nahua. I have to deal with the realities of
everyday life there and with the goodness or badness of MY country wether
many people might consider it a backward 3rd world country or not I am
proud of it and I wish not to stay in America but to return to were I was
born.

I have run into many revivalist Americans of Mexican heritage that seem to
think that because they read some books and because the Americans of
english-Irish-scottish-german-welsh or Italian descent discriminate on
them that makes them feel more Mexican that I am, given me the "you don't
know better because we are enlightened you poor little 3rd world country
wanna be WE ARE THE TRUE INHERITANTS OF THE AZTEC culture".

I am very frustrated and angry and I want to make all of you AWARE that we
looked on you all as OUR OWN people, but my experience here has been so
disapointing that makes me want to cry. Nobody here knows that WE are all
Mexican, thet The Nahuas, as well as the Otomies, the Mazahuas, the
Tarahumaras, the purepechas the Tzotziles, the tarascans as well as the
GREAT MAJORITY OF MEXICO who is MIxed, we share a same culture tradition
and Nationality. To divide Mexico is to dismember the soul of our nation.

I beg of all of you who are of Mexican ancestry to understand that Mexico
is not only a state of mind, or a matter of academic study, or a matter of
finding you "roots". We are a living nation that is fighting every day to
survive, to progress, to evolve and to try to be more humane and equal.
Yes, we have our terrible one party dictatorship, you have a two party
dictatorship and I don't see you complain,  we have a terrible state of
affairs in Chiapas, Oaxaca, veracruz and tabasco, yet I do not see America
trying to help South dakota, montana, nevada or arizona, where the major
and porest reservations are.

Let US the Mexicans that decided to STAY and die if necesary fix our
problems and not be judged by those Who LEFT and went for the MAcdonalds
and Sears life instead of eating the dust of the poverty and wars that
came. We are a nation after all, respect us at least for that.

Respectfully to our brothers in the north, which they forget that they are
OUR brothers and not OUR TUTORS.....

Alberto Alejandro Perez Pulido

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A. Alejandro Perez	  "After many years in which the world has
Graduate Student	   afforded me many experiences, what I know
Int. Political Economy     most surely in the long run about morality
347 Smith Hall             and obligations, I owe it to futbol"
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716