This is especially so if one considers that for hundreds of years fully one half of what is now the continental United States was New Spain, which after Mexico’ s independence from Spain in 1821 became its own republic, only to have half of its territory taken by force by the United States with Americans moving in en mass. Not much is ever said about this unsettling, contradictory chapter in American history. Consequently, even to the present day, most Americans are unaware of this fact.
Although they adapted to living under a new government and in a culture far different from their own, the Mexicano people who were annexed together with their land were deliberately kept at the margins of American society as had been the African and Native Americans before them.
In the 20th century in my own hometown, Mexicano people were automatically disqualified from obtaining bank loans for purchasing homes, solely on the basis of the color of their complexion and their last names. Their mouths were washed with soap by their teachers if they spoke the language native to the region— not a good record for a nation that boasts being“ the land of the free and home to the brave.”
In our world rife with injustices and embroiled in deadly wars, the wealth, power and control quite often belong to those who first took possession of them( at whatever cost to others) and continue to do whatever is necessary to keep them, while amassing yet even more of the same,“ as if they could take all of it with them into the afterlife,” as we are fond of saying in Spanish. It is an old paradigm and one that has not served humanity well.
As a species, we need to become more sensitive, thoughtful and compassionate toward one another if we are to survive at all. The presence of the indigenous Mexicano people native to the Americas within what is now the United States, provides us with the singular opportunity of breaking out of centuries-old self-absorption and sense of disdain for the other, and in a spirit of common brotherhood and sisterhood, join the joyous chorus of the world’ s people who may not look like us but who materially, culturally and even gastronomically, contribute to the common good of our precious, enigmatic and oftentimes confounding humanity. Let us each do our part to care for one another and especially for those whose labor provides us with the precious nourishment that we take into our bodies and which enlivens our spirit— truly a sacramental offering if there ever was one.
Born Mexicano in northern New Mexico, which up until 1848 was Mexico, Alejandro López was raised working the agricultural fields of his region. At 17, he received a full-tuition merit scholarship that catapulted him into prestigious East Coast schools, including St. John’ s College, the Corcoran School of Art, and the University of the Arts. Without abandoning his roots, he has served as language interpreter for visiting Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and indigenous leaders from Latin America. He has worked in the poorest urban communities of North Philadelphia and in indigenous communities in the Southwest teaching construction methods to children and youth. Most recently, he has reinvented himself as a recognized muralist in his own community while managing a productive family farm that provides fresh produce to the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market. He is also a writer, photographer and a teacher of both Spanish and English at university level.