I am going to try to seize a teachable moment amid this mind-numbing conversation that used to be about Cesar Chavez….

Much of the confusion stems from the lack of clarity regarding who is speaking and on whose behalf they claim to be speaking.

Virtually all of the public discussion centers on “Latinos” and the “Latino community”, or “the Community,” and on what “they” (“Latino ‘leaders’”) say “they” ("the Community") wants.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. The terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" do not necessarily describe the same people.

2. There is no single Latino "community." There is no formal Latino “leader.”

3. There is no single Hispanic "community." There is no formal Hispanic “leader.”

4. Often, “Latino” or “Hispanic” people refer to themselves as “Hispanic” in one circumstance, and as a “Latino” under a different circumstance, on the same day.

5. I personally cannot tell the difference between the two. I recognize that these categories were created by the US Census Bureau, and do not necessarily apply to any particular circumstance in real life.

6. “Hispanic” and “Latino” do not indicate any particular ethnic or national orientation.

7. Cesar Chavez's ethnicity was neither "Hispanic" nor "Latino," except in the broadest general sense, like “homo sapiens.”

8. His ethnicity was "Mexican American" and "Chicano." From the ground up.

9. None of the participants in the Interstate fiesta, nor any of the City officials, appear to recognize this distinction.

9. "Latinos" and "Hispanics" are not necessarily either "Mexican Americans" or "Chicanos."

10. Chicanos are Chicanos. Chicanas are Chicanas. We know who we are. There is no substitute!! This is the essence of our identity. We are the warrior class, bred by generations of experience that no one else shares, no one but Mexican people living in the United States.

11. The Portland State University Department of Chicano AND Latino Studies recognizes the difference between the two cultures. Educate yourselves. Here's the link:

http://www.chla.pdx.edu/program.htm

12. If any process of appointment or election or other form of open public communal decision-making has indeed occurred to create or empower any cadre of individuals or groups to speak on behalf of “Latinos” or “the Latino Community” or “the Community,” on any issue, there has been no corresponding process in the Mexican American or Chicano communities in Portland.

13. Like Cesar Chavez, I am a Mexican American and a Chicano. No one speaks for me, not without clearing it with me beforehand.

14. I am a Mexican American from birth. It was Cesar Chavez who made me realize—in the 1960s—that I was also a Chicano.

--Sean Cruz

November 17, 2007
Mexican American, Chicano Sean Cruz

From the Portland Mercury blog:

After reading Sean Cruz blog, I did pay attention to how the words Mexican American were never used in city council testimony. Thank you for sharing and teaching.

Posted by herein1956 | November 16, 2007 9:01 PM

Credit: I want to thank Dr. John Kramer, my former professor and mentor at California State University, Sonoma, for making this day possible, for finding me somehow, and convincing me that I had some talent. Thank you, John. Who knew?

The way I am looking at this Machiavellian Cluster... Is that This Gives Tom Pouty a chance to Stew in his very own Funk for a few days or weeks and build up a Righteous Rage and Quit as mayor. This will open up the Door For Sam the Tram. to ride his street car to work as Interim Mayor and All will be well in the Rainbow Village...

The way I am looking at this Machiavellian Cluster... Is that This Gives Tom Pouty a chance to Stew in his very own Funk for a few days or weeks and build up a Righteous Rage and Quit as mayor. This will open up the Door For Sam the Tram. to ride his street car to work as Interim Mayor and All will be well in the Rainbow Village...

I am proposing an initiative that in the spirit of the Irish and Scottish that helped settle and establish Portland, we rename Grand Blvd. Grand Blarney Blvd. I have left a e mail at Mr. Adams office and I am awaiting a response from the good commissioner. I like the idea of renaming the city as well, maybe…WEIRD TOWN.

Why stop at I-405? Good enough to force a re-name in North Portland, but not on the rich kids on the westside?

The best thing that could happen is that both Interstate AND SW 4th will fail... And then we can go through the proper, citizen-initiated process. I support the campaign to rename a street, even Interstate, after C. E. Chavez, but I reject the Council's habit of rule by decree. We need more Visioning on the big picture, but it is safe to ignore preexisting community-input processes on everyday items? Give me a break! It is not too late to have a city-wide discussion on what street we should rename after Chavez. I personally volunteer Division, Powell, Holgate, and Foster, all major streets near my own house.

The proposed new Code process says Council can make changes without using the existing one, in future renamings. It essentially says, "Council has done such a bang up job with this renaming, we should let them do top-down street renaming decisions in the future. For future renamings, Council makes the choice, the Planning Commission holds a token public hearing, then the Council makes the final decision."

And they are proposing to adopt this new Code with less than a week's notice and no other public review of the proposed language, right, Amy?

Yes, they are.

However, Randy Leonard has said he's committed to crafting a charter amendment for the May ballot that creates a council-tinkering proof way to rename streets. I've heard other council members voice support for something along these lines. It seems like this rename will be the only one to happen under this "new process."

If Council intends this to be the only rename done with the "new process", they should add a sunset date to the new section of the Code.

Portland doesn't need a Charter change on street renaming. That's like stuffing the Oregon Constitution full of details that don't belong there. We need City Council members who commit to honoring and following the Code, or amending it before a renaming process rather than during one.

Amen.
But what we have is a situation where a group of people want to captialize on their status as a minority for political gain. This isn't about really helping Mexican-Americans i.e. the honest, hard working people of my neighborhood of Mexican blood. I worry about my sons former classmate that lives 100 feet from where the woman was shot on Killingsworth. That is a family that speaks the truth to me and accepts me for who I am in my actions, not my words.
This is the family that knows me.
This is the family that I hope will respect me, and on occasion kick my butt.
Marta: I've seen your kind come and go. You will go. You made your choice. You started your campaign at the expense of the hard working Mexican-Americans you claim to represent. Except you can't bring yourself to speak of them in honor. Mexican-Americans.
Bless you all. You are so shallow that I hope the true trailds of life never confront you.

The existing law ensures citizen involvement and buy-in as well as the honoree's family or foundation as part of the process. I believe it is also quite clear about how council and citizen initiated processes are supposed to proceed.

Unfortunately the 4th Avenue rename, while I believe it is being offered with honorable intentions, only transfers the problem.

One quote from the O article..."Stakeholders should be involved. Property owners, retailers, tenants, they should all be consulted. City Council members should be walking up and down the street asking people what they want, and then they should only do it if a majority of the people support it."

This mirrors the feelings of many in North Portland. The same objections based on preservation of history for Interstate are being echoed by some in the Chinatown district. History really does matter to many people. Laws and due process actually are important rights that many Americans believe should be observed.

Unfortunately the offer of 4th Ave. has been construed as an insult by the very people seeking to commemorate Cesar Chavez, so we can't call this a win/win. I am sorry in advance for the people on 4th for when they will be called racist. It is a sickening thing to be accused of by people you do not know.

I think it's time the majority started telling the minorities we're tired of them pushing the "racism" button anytime they want something. This is a democracy, which means if you want something first convince the majority of people to want it, too. Or, do what you do in a democracy when you lose: you go home, lick your wounds, and try again next time. Nobody owes anyone a street name here and, gee, did it ever occur to anyone that not everybody may believe that Cesar Chavez was the second coming of Christ? Sheeesh.

Dang it. It just isn't that simple. If you have never expereienced good, nice, well intentioned people smacking their limitations on your ability, you really don't know what it feels like. Many of us in NoPo know that reality, even tho we are white. That is why this bs is so hard to swallow.

"Nobody knows de troubles I seen."

Potter suggested that the people deserve and up or down vote.

They do. How about a referendum?

I propose that we re-name SW 18th Avenue Neil Goldschmidt Boulevard.

Here is how I look at it: Whether it be Interstate or 4th Ave, we have won, big time. Slowly but dilligently and stubbornly, we will keep moving in Oregon and change every city and town with our presence. Our restaurants, grocery stores, and our numbers will overwhelm you. Our language will be(already is in the Max)forced agaist your will. We shall increase our population in Oregon just as we did in half the "United State" Meanwhile, Oregonians' White number will diminish continuously just as ours will increase. "What goes around comes around." Just like you supplanted and overwhelmed Native Americans', we shall do the same.

Sounds great! Hey, why don't we just trade countries? I could go for some Mexican weather about now.

Ha!

Ladies and Gentleman this is a Conspiracy, please look into the facts.

The Committee was formed by several people who do not live in Portland. Members of this committee also work for Tom Potter. The committee approached the mayor and asked what they needed to do to get Interstate renamed. The mayor gave them some sort of "process" that has never been reveled to the public and that is contrary to the city's existing law.

This Process was started with the Intention to Waive the city's Law, and the Ordinance to rename the street has to Waive the Law to be legal. There was never any intention or effort to obey the law. The only effort was to subvert the law, and that is malice aforethought and constitutes a Conspiracy.

Look into it yourself.

Just a thought................. Why has the committee been unwavering when it comes to the idea of any delay/anywhere/anything but Interstate? Property along Interstate is being rezoned by the city right now (with buildings up to 10 stories in the future), look into property purchases and business groups.

I wasted my vote on these men, I will not do so again. No Law, No Justice. Ninguna Ley, Ninguna Justicia

Respectfully to "R", when it comes to population statistics, China and India make everyone else rank amateurs. They're "coming" too.

Invoking karma is a slippery slope...it has a habit of going around for everyone.

I'd like to rename my street The Boulevard of Broken Dreams just because that would be really cool.

Anyway, the liberals' many years of letting minorities guilt-trip them is bearing hilarious fruit.

This is just so much fun to watch.

Now the geniuses who rule our city have pissed off the Chinese by wanting to rename SW/NW 4th.

Maybe we can find a street in a predominantly hispanic neighborhood and name it Chairman Mao Street!

To "R", the wetback from where ever. One little problem with your scenario - latinos are pretty much stupid, uneducated, little twits. You and your kind are great at picking lettuce and mowing lawns, but what else can you do? I don't see many of you in the world ($$$) that I live in - law, science, medical, finance, industry, etc. You may over-populate yourselves, but what good will it do if you can't figure out how to open a checking account?? Take a look at southern Calif. where the majority of hispanics (or whatever you want to call yourselves) are asking "do you wnat frys with that"........ Short answer, you don't have the brains to run this country.

There should be a desert island where we can send idiot knuckle draggers. R and Concord Cat could be the first two occupants.
SHAME ON YOU TWO!

Hey P, go back to sleep. These people hate each other for a reason and that reason is that they are in competition for the same resources. But here in Norte Americano, just like south of the border, the Mexican is of limited value to both himself and his host country.
Has anyone witnessed, firsthand, the sort of racism dealt out by Mexicans in their own land? Here's the pecking order: Light skinned Mexicans over Mestizos over Yaqui Indians. Each group wishing they were of the color spectrum above them with the light skinned wishing they were Spaniards.

Has anyone witnessed, firsthand, the sort of racism dealt out by Mexicans in their own land?

This is common knowledge to most people in the Southwest USA. The now sadly defunct cab company I worked for in Texas, which was owned by a branch of the Mexican crime syndicates, used to exploit illegal aliens for less than the minimum wage, giving 'em starvation wages to wash the cabs and repair them. They all lived on top of each other in this bunkhouse, sleeping with their wallets and shoes under their pillows and shit.

The illegal alien "Greyhound" that arrived each morning at 2 or 3 was a hoot. These huge old buses would wheeze into the yard of this crumbling house in the barrio, packed to the roof. Everyone would disembark in total silence.

It was absolutely surreal.

One thing most Gueros don't realize, is that Mexico has a huge illegal alien problem of it's own...mostly people from Central America, who are rounded up into gigantic concentration camps before being shipped north. See, there is no welfare in Mexico, no WIC, no Oregon Trail...it's just easier for the that country, which is not a poor country, considering the staggering number of billionaires who call it home, to "outsource" all that.

They have done a bang-up job of exporting large amounts of that poverty to the United States...never forget that Vicente Fox was real tight with Dubya. That's the ultimate goal, to merge the two countries, with no middle class, no environmental laws, no unions, no Bill of Rights, into one Third World sewer while these globalist fuckers laugh all the way to the bank.

Are you aware that China is planning on having huge port facilities built on the west coast of Mexico, to bypass our hated Longshoremen, and direct trade up the North American Union superhighway through Texas into the Midwest ?

Yeah, it's all about black, brown and white, racism, blah blah blah. Shut up and sign over that portion of your paycheck. If you know what's good for you, give up the Second Amendment while you are at it.

You are being lied to and fed flawed belief systems, false dichotomies, and outright brainwashing.

Does anybody, (Amy?), know what's with the joint press conference Wednesday morning in Chinatown? It was called by DeSteffey, the Chavez Committee, and an association of Chinatown leaders.

I can think of a couple of scenarios.

To Amanda Bandana: Not only are your politics right on, but your name is killer. One suggestion: Perhaps a petition to the city council that they require Marta Guembes and her Comrade's to affect a name change of an historic street in a Mexican town similar in size and economy to Portland. Change, say Cinco de Mayo boulevard to Andrew Jackson way. Then Portland might be in a more generous mood to give away a portion of it's history in exchange for a little peace and quiet.

To Mad Dash: you are correct about a conspiracy but it is more extensive and sinister than you might suspect. We need to know the names of all "out of towners" and where they came from. but more importantly we need to know where their funding is coming from. Mata Harry feels she can be unbending in her demands because she has POWER behind her, and money. I believe that if the money trail could be untangled it would lead to the tax free foundations in New York. I know for a fact that LA RAZA (The Race) which aims at the "RECONQUISTA" of the American southwest via population inundation was saved from oblivion by the ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND and continues to be supported by them and, more recently, other tax free foundations. The same is true of MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defence Fund). Mayor Tom Potter let the cat out of the bag during the last city councel meeting when he rationalized the committee's unyielding stance by revealing that over 400 other cities across the United States are involved in the same process. 400 cities? it takes a lot of coordination to produce that much coincidence. Not to mention MONEY!!!

To Cabbie: I can't add much to what you say, ecept: RIGHT ON!! How many soft headed bleeding hearts realize that un-regulated, un-controlled immigration is a form of WAREFARE? A potent weapon of CONQUEST? It is precisely the same tactic being persued in Tibet by the Chinese. Yet, I can all but guarantee you that the person driving the car with a "FREE TIBET" sticker on the bumper will be the first one to join Marta Harry and Mary RED of Steffey in a crying demonstration and heartfelt appeals to give up a little more of our hard won cultural and historic identity for the sake of a newly arrived population, many of whom are illegal to begin with, and many of whom, if not most, would have no problem embracing the idea of RECONQUISTA through population enhancement.