La Voz - May June 2022

May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 San Antonio, Tejas

Paseo Del Westside

May 7, 2022 • 9am to 3pm

Rinconcito de Esperanza • 816 S. Colorado St.

The Return of Paseo Por El Westside

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 • La Voz de Paseo Por El Westside returns this year in full force after a two year hiatus due to
Esperanza COVID. We invite everyone to join us on Saturday, May 7th for a full day of activities at
El Rinconcito that will include music, food, exhibits and many new workshops. With a
May/June 2022 focus on caring for ourselves and our community, the 2022 edition of Paseo includes new
Vol. 35 Issue 4 workshops with cultural significance particularly in the areas of health and healing that
will include limpias, rebozo healing, cooking vegan and more. Demonstrations on mak-
Editor: Gloria A. Ramírez ing raspas and the use of washboards will remind children and elders of aquellos tiempos.
Design: Elizandro Carrington Esteemed community elders like Imelda De León in charge of the washboard practice,
Cover Art: Mary Agnes Rodríguez Blanca Rivera telling us all about chiles, Enrique Sánchez showing us traditional dances,
Tomás Ybarra Frausto with a plática on Malinche and Guadalupe Segura teaching us how
Contributors to make paper flowers return as Buena gente to make Paseo as special as it is.

Tarcisio Beal, Noam Chomsky, Marta Laura, In this May/June issue of La Voz, we are celebrating the recent groundbreaking that
Kayla Miranda, Natasha Webb-Villegas took place for the Museo del Westside on March 29, 2022. We also have articles by return-
ing writers, Tarcisio Beal and Kayla Miranda and poems from new poets to La Voz, Marta
La Voz Mail Collective Laura and Natasha Webb-Villegas. Scholar-activist, Noam Chomsky reminds us of the
peril we find ourselves in at this juncture with the war rag-
...is sheltering at home due to COVID-19 but ing in Ukraine threatening the already precarious the state
will return when it is safe. Extra funds are being of the world that serves as a reminder to you, dear readers,
that your writing is sorely needed—now, more than ever,
raised to pay for the folding of La Voz. in the pages of La Voz. Send in your critical and creative
texts to [email protected] and don’t forget that
Esperanza Director we also seek images for our articles, as well.

Graciela I. Sánchez This issue of La Voz is a double issue for the months
of May and June., 2022. We will be back with the annual
Esperanza Staff July/August issue allowing us time to transition and find a
new person for layout and design of La Voz as, sadly, Eli-
Elizandro Carrington, Kayla Miranda, zandro Carrington who does the layout will no longer be
Paul Plouf, René Saenz, Imane Saliba, Susana with La Voz. His contributions in keeping La Voz moving
forward have been substantial and very much appreciated.
Segura, Amelia Valdez, Rosa Vega
Imelda De León demonstrates the use
Conjunto de Nepantleras of the washboard.
—Esperanza Board of Directors—

Richard Aguilar, Norma Cantú, Brent Floyd,
Rachel Jennings, Amy Kastely, Jan Olsen,
Ana Lucía Ramírez, Gloria A. Ramírez,
Rudy Rosales, Lilliana Saldaña, Nadine Saliba,

Graciela I. Sánchez, Lillian Stevens

• We advocate for a wide variety of social, La Voz is looking for a new layout person. La Voz has been in production for 30 years
economic & environmental justice issues. and needs your talent to keep it going.

• Opinions expressed in La Voz are not Our new designer should be proficient in Adobe InDesign and Photoshop and skilled
necessarily those of the Esperanza Center. using Illustrator. They should know how to work with 2D programs like Suitcase and
Microsoft Word. A plus would be the ability to maintain our WordPress website and cre-
La Voz de Esperanza ate ads and banners for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other social media.
is a publication of
Email your resume, letter of interest and work samples to : [email protected].
Esperanza Peace & Justice Center
922 San Pedro, San Antonio, TX 78212 ATTENTION VOZ READERS: If you have a mailing address correction please send it to lavoz@
210.228.0201 • www.esperanzacenter.org esperanzacenter.org. If you want to be removed from the La Voz mailing list, for whatever reason, please let us
know. La Voz is provided as a courtesy to people on the mailing list of the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center.
Inquiries/Articles can be sent to: The subscription rate is $35 per year ($100 for institutions). The cost of producing and mailing La Voz has
[email protected] substantially increased and we need your help to keep it afloat. To help, send in your subscriptions, sign up as a
monthly donor, or send in a donation to the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. Thank you. -GAR
Articles due by the 8th of each month
VOZ VISION STATEMENT: La Voz de Esperanza speaks for many individual, progressive voices who are
Policy Statements gente-based, multi-visioned and milagro-bound. We are diverse survivors of materialism, racism, misogyny,
homophobia, classism, violence, earth-damage, speciesism and cultural and political oppression. We are
* We ask that articles be visionary, progressive, recapturing the powers of alliance, activism and healthy conflict in order to achieve interdependent economic/
instructive & thoughtful. Submissions must be spiritual healing and fuerza. La Voz is a resource for peace, justice, and human rights, providing a forum for
literate & critical; not sexist, racist, homophobic, criticism, information, education, humor and other creative works. La Voz provokes bold actions in response
violent, or oppressive & may be edited for length. to local and global problems, with the knowledge that the many risks we take for the earth, our body, and the
* All letters in response to Esperanza activities dignity of all people will result in profound change for the seven generations to come.

or articles in La Voz will be considered for

2 publication. Letters with intent to slander
individuals or groups will not be published.

‘Most Dangerous Point in Human History’ Looming,

Warns Noam Chomsky

by Julia Conley for Common Dreams, April 6, 2022 this madness before it consumes us all.”
“It’s just gotten worse,” he said. “We are now facing the pros-

Far-right and authoritarian leaders in the U.S. and Russia are pect of destruction of organized human life on Earth.”

pushing the planet toward “the most dangerous point in human Aside from the threat of nuclear war, he said, the world is fac-

history,” renowned scholar Noam Chomsky said in an interview ing the planetary emergency and the refusal of wealthy countries

published by The New Statesman Wednesday, pointing to Rus- to mitigate the crisis by taking sufficient action to draw down

sia’s war in Ukraine and the planetary emergency. fossil fuel emissions and shift to renewable energy sources.

Chomsky condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s With the Democratic Party in the U.S. facing plummeting poll

“criminal aggression” in Ukraine, where his forces have killed an numbers and failing to deliver bold climate action and anti-pov-

estimated 1,430 civilians since their February 24 invasion accord- erty measures, the government could soon be in the hands of the

ing to the United Nations, and warned that the U.S. must help to Republican Party—which, because of the “fanaticism” of former

negotiate peace to avoid nuclear war with Russia. President Donald Trump, Chomsky said, “barely regards climate

After calling in 2021 for “enhanced military cooperation with change as a serious problem.”

Ukraine”—suggesting that NATO expansion to “We are now “That’s a death warrant to the species,” he LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •
the former Soviet state was possible—the U.S. facing the said.
should help protect Ukrainians from further
suffering, Chomsky told senior editor George Trump, who continues to falsely claim that
Eaton. the 2020 election was “rigged” in favor of Biden,
has begun holding campaign rallies where he’s

“We may move on to terminal nuclear war prospect of doubled down on spreading the “Big Lie” about
if we do not pursue the opportunities that exist his election loss.

for a negotiated settlement,” said the Univer- destruction of “I can remember listening to Hitler’s speeches
sity of Arizona professor. organized human on the radio. I didn’t understand the words, I was
life on Earth.” six years old,” Chomsky told The New Statesman.
Chomsky’s comments came less than two “But I understood the mood. And it was frighten-
weeks after U.S. President Joe Biden alarmed ing and terrifying. And when you watch one of
peace advocates by appearing to suggest Trump’s rallies that can’t fail to come to mind.”
regime change in Moscow—sparking fears
that his comments could further provoke the “That’s what we’re facing,” he said.

world’s largest nuclear power. Chomsky noted that the advocacy of “young

Some international observers have ques- people dedicated to trying to put an end to the

tioned whether the Kremlin has been nego- catastrophe,” including the global grassroots

tiating in good faith during peace talks with movement Extinction Rebellion, has given him

Ukraine that have been taking place inter- “hope for the future.”

mittently in the past month. Following the “There are plenty of young people who are

discovery of hundreds of civilian corpses in the appalled by the behavior of the older generation,

Kyiv suburb of Bucha last week after Russian rightly,” he added, “and are dedicated to trying to

forces left the town—sparking accusations of stop this madness before it consumes us all.”

war crimes—peace talks between Ukraine and Our work is licensed under Creative Commons

Russia have been further complicated. (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and

Chomsky, who is 93, said the current state share widely.

of geopolitics brings to mind the “grim cloud BIO: Noam Chomsky,considered the “the father
of fascism” that hung over Europe during his of modern linguistics” has authored more than
childhood in the 1930s.
3150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, poli-
“There are plenty of young people who are
appalled by the behavior of the older genera- tics, mass media and more.

tion, rightly, and are dedicated to trying to stop

Esperanza Breaks Ground on Museo del Westside!

in 2017 at the Rinconcito de Esperanza 816 S. Colorado. The

groundbreaking included an Indigenous blessing led by Luissana

Santibañez of the Kalpulli Ayolopaktzin group, speeches by of-

ficials and Buena gente who’ve been part of the process of imag-

ining the Museo and the singing of legendary vocalist Blanca

Rosa, 88 one of the surviving Tesoros del Westside accompanied

by Henry Gomez and the Mariachi Esperanza. A few pictoral

highlights follow:

Graciela San-

chez, Esperanza’s

executive director,

addressed a crowd

of about 100 saying,

“It’s obvious that

Jubilation at the groundbreaking is expressed by Esperanza’s Director, Graciela I. people want and
Sánchez and her 94 year old father, Enrique Sánchez who lives blocks away and has
been active in planning the Museo along with Isabel, his recently deceased wife. need this museo, and

On Tuesday, March 29, 2022 the Esperanza Peace and Justice love and respect the
Center hosted a groundbreaking ceremony and press conference
for the Museo del Westside, a new community participatory history and the cul-
museum located at the corner of S. Colorado and Guadalupe
Streets that will focus on the history and culture of the historic ture and the tradition
Westside. The former Ruben’s Ice House will be rehabilitated
to provide a home for the Museo that already houses an online of the West Side,”
archival exhibit, Women & Activism in the Westside (https://www.
museodelwestside.org/women-activism), of 30 notable mujeres Terry Castillo,
from the Westside in
the fields of cultural District 5 Coun-
arts, politics and com-
munity organizing. cilwoman stated
Construction is slated
to be completed by “Mexican-American
May 2023 and will
include a 600-square- history, West Side
foot addition made
of compressed earth history, is San
block at the rear simi-
lar to the MujerArtes Antonio history, and
studio completed
it is U.S. history…
Project architect, Dwayne Bohuslav,
who began the restoration process of So it’s about time
Ruben’s with Esperanza’12 years ago
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 • noted that “…each of these buildings that we have a space
was a miracle… and conjoined are a
necklace of milagros.” honoring the his-

toric West Side…”

The Museo’s of- The wooden half of Ruben’s Ice House, originally a
ferings will be driv- home, dates back to the 1930s. In the 1950s, it became
en by contributions M & E Grocery Store run by Manuel and Elida Reyes.
from community Ten years later it became an ice house where families
members, whether would gather for burgers, puffy tacos and beer sold
from a window on the side of the building. Ruben’s

oral histories or closed in 1987.

artifacts. Artist, David Gonzales, formerly with the Guadalupe

Cultural Arts Center and on the museo’s advisory committee,

is donating his record collection of West Side artists.

Project architect, Dwayne Bohuslav, who began the res-

toration process of Ruben’s with Esperanza’s vision 12 years

ago noted that “…each of these buildings was a miracle…

and that there could be a way of thinking about them being

conjoined into a kind of necklace of milagros.”

*Patty Radle, former District 5 councilwoman who provided

initial funds that made possible the purchase of Ruben’s Ice

House praised the Esperanza community for its 15-year commit-

ment to realizing the museum vision acknowledging that “amid

subsequent Westside property sales, there are a lot of people who

aren’t necessarily committed to what this community is about.”

District 5 Councilwoman Terry Castillo Antonia Castañeda, former associate professor of his-

told the crowd: “Mexican-American tory at St. Mary’s University and Museo advisory board

4 Artist, David Gonzáles, formerly with the history is San Antonio History and it noted: “It is important to know not only that we have these

is U.S. history. So it’s about time that spaces, but what these spaces cost—and not in monetary terms,
Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, part of the we have a space honoring the historic
museo’s advisory committee, is donating Westside of San Antonio.” but in terms of struggle, in terms of politics, in terms of blood,

his record collection of West Side artists. sweat and tears…”

Reyes Family sets the foundation
for the Museo del Westside

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Museo del Westside groundbreaking on around the Ice
March 29, 2022 was attended by members of the Reyes family
that sold Ruben’s Ice House, the site of the Museo, to the Esper- House and helped
anza with the promise of turning it into a neighborhood mu-
seum. The event was another step towards realizing that dream with different

for the family, for chores. As a
the Esperanza and
for the Buena gente child you see it
of San Antono’s
Westside. Patri- as chores, but
cia Reyes Zepeda
one of the Reyes’ as an adult, they
daughters stressed
the importance of become beauti-
the museo for their
family who grew up ful memories that
learning the basic
values their parents built closeness
taught them at Ru-
ben’s Ice House. between us. I saw

Patricia started her my parents set
talk with a few
quotes or dichos the example for
her parents used
when giving their their children and
children advice:
grandchildren. I
Edúcate,
porque eso, nadie saw them work
te lo quita y tra-
baja duro cuando long hours, allow
estes joven, porque
cuando ya estas Patricia Reyes Zepeda talks about the family’s history their customers to
Viejo, aunque with Ruben’s Ice House at the groundbreaking. take groceries on
quieras, ya no
puedes. / Educate yourself because that is something no one can credit and often
take from you and work hard when you’re young because when
you are old, even if you want to, you can’t. gave food away to people who needed it.
Ayudale a la gente y Diosito te da a manos llenas. / Help oth-
ers and God will keep your hands full. The values they often expressed were to get an education,
Hello everyone, my name is Patricia Reyes Zepeda, one of the
10 children and daughter of Manuel and Elida Reyes work hard and help others. My parent’s advice and beliefs con-
who once owned Ruben’s Ice House. I’d like to
thank everyone who is here today for his special oc- tinue to grow with children and grandchildren who serve in the
casion and to Graciela and the Esperanza committee
for allowing me to say a few words about my family. military, others who are teachers, police officers, nurses, prosecu-
My parents married in 1939 in Cd. Anahuac,
Mexico. In 1944, they moved to San Antonio to tors, and doctors. LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •
build a better life for their family. A few years
after that, in 1946, they opened a family busi- My parents would be extremely proud of the Museo and
ness and named it M & E Groceries (Manuel &
Elida). When my oldest brother, Rubén, joined Esperanza’s mission in not only saving this little building, but
the Army, they renamed it Ruben’s Ice House
in his honor. All of their 10 children grew up using it to con-

tinue sharing the

values that were

important to them

with the commu-

nity they cared so

much about. Our

family is grateful

to all of those who

have contributed

in making this

possible. God

Bless You!

Esmeralda “Sam” Rocha, one of 5
the Reyes sisters, addresses the
crowd of about 100 attendees at
the groundbreaking. Sam and her
brothers, Martin and Manuel inspect
the architectural plans that lay out the
grounds and building for the Museo del
Westside that’s scheduled to open in
May of 2023.

December 20, 1945 - March 30, 2022

San Anto’s Worldwide
Famous Hispanic Elvis

has passed

John Esquivel lived his life as Hispanic Elvis in San Antonio Rock” garnering over 88,000 views and almost 5oo

entertaining tourists and locals for decades before passing on to the comments. John Esquivel was aware of his worldwide

great stage in the sky at 76 years of age on March 31, 2022. Using fame as Hispanic Elvis stating in a 2014 interview (Lorne

downtown’s Market Square as his stage—Esquivel would be seen Chan, MY SA): “I’m on YouTube, Internet, Facebook,

riding his bicycle dressed Google, website, email, I’m worldwide famous. I got

in Elvis glam. The news of my picture in Australia, Argentina, Canada, China . . ..

his passing resulted in the I didn’t have much education, but you don’t have to be

posting of many photos by educated to be smart, and you don’t have to be tall to

folks with him in a variety of make it big.” At every major celebration of San Antonio

poses wearing sparkling Elvis whether Diez y Seiz, Cinco de Mayo, or Fiesta, the five-

costumes with a homemade foot-one-inch tall Hispanic Elvis would appear with

guitar and oversized glasses gyrating moves on rubbery legs posing with children,

or gold aviator glasses. youth and elders. By all accounts, he was simply “living

Whether referred to as an his dream.” The Esperanza staff, board, and Buena Gente

join in expressing condolences to John Esquivel’s

familia and fans as we remember him riding by to

join in protests, parades and marches. Mi Tierra

Restaurant, his home base, put out a statement on

his passing saying: “…John Esquivel, better known

as Hispanic Elvis, has left the building. He was a

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 • true entertainer and a San Antonio icon. No trip to

Mi Tierra or Market Square was complete without

Hispanic Elvis’ photos were often snapped at Mi snapping a quick picture with the King and he will
Tierra restaurant, his home base. live on in so many memories.” His photo is now on

the restaurant’s altar. The King of Rock and Roll,

impersonator, entertainer, or street San Anto style, will live on in our memories. Que

performer there’s no denying descanse en paz y poder en el cielo. May he rest in

Hispanic Elvis’ authenticity: with peace and power in the great stage in the sky.

his high rasquache DIY costumes

and Elvis-like dance moves to real

or imagined music, he was and will

remain, unforgettable. He liked to Hispanic Elvis always wore a variety of sparkly
costumes and carried his homemade guitar.
keep a bit of mystery alive about

himself so he spoke very little of his

personal life. His youngest brother,

George Cisneros, however, revealed that John was born and raised

in the Westside close to the Guadalupe Theater and played guitar in

a band in the 60s, performing at historic venues like Patio Andaluz.

His flair for fashion was honed in his youth when he enjoyed dressing

up, buying clothes at Penner’s. Early on, he would perform in front

of the Alamo and pose as an Elvis mannequin in front of Ripley’s

Believe or Not. A mural of Hispanic Elvis by Colton Valentine a

block south of the Esperanza Center at 802 San Pedro Ave. depicts

San Antonio’s own Rock and Roll King riding his bike in full

costume. Hispanic Elvis’ fame extended beyond San Antonio thanks

6 to local tourists and to tik tok where he is seen dancing to “Jailhouse Mural of Hispanic Elvis at 802 San Pedro Ave.by Colton Valentine

AMERICAN RELIGION
and POLITICS

by Tarcisio Beal

One constant controversy in today’s America revolves around the wicked actions and contemporary legislation and structures and,

relationship between religion and politics. The two terms are used sometimes, also to justify the unjustifiable:

ambiguously and misleadingly in order to justify accusations 1. After the massacre of Pennsylvania’s Conestoga Indi-

of partisanship and the abridgment of religious freedom or the ans, carried out by Scot-Irish settlers in 1763, Benjamin

interference of religion in politics and vice-versa. The arguments Franklin commented: “Our frontier people call themselves

seldom deal with the Christians! They [the

social realities and the Conestogas] would

structures of power have been safer if they

which perpetuate pov- had submitted to the

erty, violation of basic Turks!”

human rights, and all 2. In 1786, Thomas
kinds of injustices that
betray the true ideals Jefferson, trusting that
of a society worthy
of its Christian name. Americans would re-
Those who say they
are apolitical—that spect the human rights
religion and politics
should stay apart—are of the aborigines,
denying the reality
in which we live and said this: “It may be
argue about a religion
that is anything but regarded as certain that
Christian. They con-
fuse political action not a foot of land will
with narrow partisan-
ship. They, contradict- Massacre of Pennsylvania’s Conestoga Indians by Scot-Irish ever be taken from the
ing the Gospels, speak of God’s Reign solely as a reality of life
after death, not of what Jesus said and exemplified. Indians without their

First, let’s be clear about one thing: any religion that claims own consent. The sa-
to be politically neutral, which means not involved at all in social
realities, does not exist. To say, for example, that Christianity was credness of their rights
not at all involved in influencing both the true ideals and also the
is felt by all thinking LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •

persons in America

as well as in Europe.”

settlers in 1763—Indian Country Today Although, at first, he
did not vote to abolish

slavery, in 1799 he vehemently condemned it: “The whole

commerce between master and slave is a perpetual exercise

of the most boisterous passions, of the most unrelenting

despotism, in one part, and degrading submission, on the

other.”

flaws and shortcomings of America is ignoring its history, as it 3. In April 1838, George Washington, in a message to the

happens now with the opponents of the “Critical Race Theory,” Congress, called on the U. S. government to take the neces-

who are afraid of the truth. It is only after acknowledging the sary measures to prevent the massacre of Indians who were

good and the bad of our past that we will be able to shape a better fighting the take-over of their lands: “The frequent destruc-

future. In the following pages, we would like to outline some tion of innocent women and children, who are chiefly the

of the positive and some of the negative of American history in main victims of retaliation, must continue to shock human-

connection with Christianity. It is somewhat ironic that positive ity.”

and truly Christian principles expressed and practiced by the 4. On April 23, 1838, Ralph Waldo Emerson, a well-known
Founding Fathers. Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, defender of human rights, sent a letter to President Martin
are seldom mentioned. Their way of thinking was enhanced by Van Buren, who was about to sign the order for the removal
18th century “enlightened” British and French philosophers. The and take-over of the Cherokee lands in the South : “You, sir,
Enlightenment, not connected with or sanctioned by any church, will bring down that renowned chair in which you sit into
but containing basic Christian principles, was a movement which infamy if your seal is set to this instrument of perfidy; and
sought to spread the truth and the facts of the past and the present the name of this nation, hitherto the sweet omen of religion
so that people would learn how to improve themselves and soci- and liberty, will stink to the world.”
ety. Franklin and Jefferson dialogued with and even met several
of the enlightened philosophers. What follows are examples of 75. The connection and justification of American’s expansion
how Christian principles were used to condemn inhuman and westward, which killed millions of aborigines, was origi-

nally tied to the Puritan belief in the “Millennium”. In 1845, justification for racial superiority complexes, especially
John O. Sullivan, editor of the New York Review, expressed for Anglo-Saxonism, for imperialist greed and expansion
the belief in America’s “Manifest Destiny,” that is, that God and for warmongers who saw the battlefield as the place to
had blessed the expansion of the United States all the way decide whose right was to survive and whose fate was to
to the Pacific Ocean. In the second half of the 19th century, die. President McKinley’s war against the Philippines was
especially during the Jacksonian Age, the same concept was mainly motivated by Bagehot’s Physics and Politics (1869)
used to justify slavery and the take-over the lands of the and by the poet and writer Rudyard Kipling (cf. Collected
aborigines, especially of the Cherokees, and removed them Works of Rudyard Kipling, New York, 1907) who turned
westward to Oklahoma. Here’s what President Andrew the concept of Anglo-Saxon superiority into a political
Jackson told the Confederate Congress in 1867: “if the weapon to justify colonaization of “inferior” peoples.
savage resists—civilization, with the ten Commandments in When, in 1898, McKinley announced the annexation of
one hand and the sword in the other, demands its immediate the Philippines, he tried to justify it as a mandate
extermination.” from God in order to spread Christianity, as if
Spain had not already done it:
6. In 1867, Gen. John B. Sanborn, U. S. Secretary of the
Interior, warned the nation about the ongoing extermination • “I walked the floor of the White House
of the Indians ,which was taking place in the West, espe- night after night until midnight; and I’m
cially in California under Governor George Stanford: “For a not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that
mighty nation like us to be carrying on a war against a few I went down on my knees and prayed
struggling nomads under such circumstances is a spectacle to Almighty God for light and guid-
most humiliating and injustice unparalleled, a national ance. And one night late it came to
crime most revolting, that must, sooner or later, bring down me this way – I don’t know how
upon us or our posterity the judgement of Heaven.” it was, but it came: (1) That
we could not give them
• Yes, early in American history, there were plenty of defend- back to Spain – that
ers of the human rights of the Indians (cf. the Proclamation
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 • of 1763, the Northwest Ordinance of July 13, 1787, and the would Our “infant”
Report of the Presidential Commission on Indian Affairs, be cow- industries
1869). Unfortunately, the U. S. Supreme Court (United States ardly and
v. Lucero, 1869) shamed itself with the following comment: dishonor- — why can’t they be
“The idea, that a handful of wild, half-naked, thieving, plun- able; (2) content with the half they
dering, murdering savages should be dignified with the sov- That we could make honestly? —Library of Congress
ereign attributes of nations… is unsuited to the intelligence not turn over
and justice of this age, or the natural rights of mankind.” to France
Also, in January 1869, while the Western Army was carrying or Ger-
out the extermination of the Indians of the Plains, including many – that
by killing thousands of buffalos that were the natives’ main would be
source of food. Gen. Philip Sheridan said to an Indian Chief bad business
who presented himself with the words, “Me, good Indian!”: and discredit-
“The only good Indians I ever saw were dead!” able; (3) that
we could not
• The sad history of slavery and the disrespect for the basic leave them to
human and political rights of American blacks is now rule themselves –
been widely exposed and is being finally confronted. Yet they were unfit for
the spread of white supremacy shows that still growing self-government…
and, especially within the Confederacy, the presence of and (4) that there
the KKK and its destructive mentality are still quite strong was nothing left
in the United States. Few people, however, know that the for us to do but to
KKK’s origin is tightly connected with the Southern Baptist take them all, and
preacher Thomas Dixon (1864-1946), author of The Klans- to educate the Fili-
man (1905) a glorification of the horrors of the KKK, which pinos, and uplift and
were, then, glorified in the 1915 movie “Birth of a Nation.” civilize and Christian-
ize them all and, by
• We should also note that the glorification of the Robber God’s grace, do the very
Barons and of uncontrolled capitalism greatly enhanced best we could by them, as
in late 19th century by Social Darwinism, a theory that our fellow men for whom
contended that “survival of the fittest” was the supreme law Christ also died.”
of nature. Propagated by English philosophers like broth-
ers, Julian and Aldous Huxley, by Walter Bagehot, and
by Herbert Spencer who was immensely popular during
the Gilded Age (1870s-1890s), Social Darwinism turned

8 into a sort of godless, secular religion, providing a handy

Wow! Talk about a superiority complex! The Robber Barons, mindset by presenting the central characters of their novels (the LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •
including John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie (The Gospel old black maid Dilsey in Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, and
the Cuban fisherman, Santiago, in Hemingway’s The Old Man
of Wealth) were quite pleased that they had confirmation of and the Sea), as life-size heroes.
laissez-faire economics and that their predatory style of do-
ing business was proof that they were the fittest of society. Furthermore, despite a misinterpretation of Charles Darwin’s
William Graham Sumner, a Yale University professor, Theory of Evolution by Herbert Spencer and the glorifiers of
glorified capitalism and wealth: “Competition is glorious capitalism and by those Christians who read the Bible liter-
– just as survival of the fittest is the result of strength ally, the Gilded Age also witnessed the rise of a good number
and success is the result of virtue.” Even America’s of Christians committed to social reform. They even called for
Behaviorism, the School of Psychology domi- a form of Christian Socialism and established organizations
nant during the Gilded Age, provided a handy and structures to care for the victims of a socio-political system
justification for the white man’s superiority controlled by the wealthiest 10% of the population. Among those
complex, especially for Anglo-Saxonism. who suffered the worst forms of poverty and helplessness were
Neither did they ever raise their voices middle and lower-class women. One of the main causes wrecking
against the oppression of the workers, families was drunkenness, which worsened poverty, unemploy-
especially of those going on strike ment, and labor conditions. From 1879 to 1898, the Women’s
for better wages and living condi- Christian Temperance Movement was led by ed the efforts of
tions. In the early 1890s, during Frances Willard who, in 1887, also joined the Knights of Labor,
the Chicago’s Haymarket and a union viewed as an enemy of capitalism. Jane Addams founded
Square Affair and the Pullman the Hull House of Chicago, in 1889, to provide help for big-city
Strikes, working-class families. Also in 1889, Vida Scudder, Professor
of Literature at Wellesley College, and six graduates of Smith
Presi- College formed an organization of college women to work in
dent settlement houses like Denison House, in Boston, to take care of
Grover the needy, especially of new immigrants. Scudder often spoke of
Cleve- these women as imitators of the early Christians who dedicated
land, their lives to loving service of the needy.
blaming
foreign By the 1890s, a number of Protestant ministers were preach-
immi- ing and living a form of Social Gospel. Congregational minister
grants, Washington Gladden advocated collective bargaining and profit
Socialists sharing. Charles Sheldon (In His Steps, 1897) wanted a society
and Com- built according to the ultimate question: “What would Jesus
munists as do?” Walter Rauschenbusch, a Baptist Professor at the Rochester
instigators, Theological Seminary, was a strong critic of the dominant socio-
sent federal political system. His Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907)
troops to pun- dared to condemn the idolatry of the marketplace and defended a
ish the strikers, Christian form of Socialism:
and many were
killed. • “Our scientific political economy has long been an oracle
However, a of the false god. It has taught us to approach economic
number of prominent questions from the point of view of the goods and not
intellectuals of the so- of man. Theology must become Christocentric; political
called “Lost Genera- economy must become anthropocentric. Man is Christian-
tion,” including the po- ized when he puts God before self; political economy will
ets Robert Frost, Scott be Christianized when it puts man before wealth. Socialistic
Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, political economy does that. It is materialistic in its theory
and Ezra Pound, plus of human life and history, but it is humane in its aims, and
the novelists William to that extent it is closer to Christianity than the orthodox
Faulkner and Ernest science has been.”
Hemingway, left the country in disgust. Faulkner and Hemingway
contradicted the prevailing social Darwinist and white supremacy • Catholicism was a minority religion in the USA until early
20th century, then the surge

• of Italians and Central European immigrants from the 1870s
to the 1920s, and of Mexican braceros and other Latinos
since the 1960s, made it the largest American denomina-
tion. But while most Catholics were widely discriminated
and struggling economically, the hierarchs of the Church, at
least from the 1990s to the 1960s, notably the Cardinals of
the big cities like Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Balti-

9more, lived in luxury, worshipping the “gospel of success.”

Historians call them rulers of the “Brick & Mortar Church,”

as they loudly displayed their power and the greatness of stood up to the males, including Catholic bishops whose behav-
their dioceses: “Chicago will contact Detroit!” – “New
York will be in touch with Baltimore!” Neither did they ior she deemed contrary to the example of Jesus. In 1932, she
ever raise
their voices was thrown into jail for participating in the Washington Hunger
against the
oppres- March. She was a champion of the poor, a
sion of the
workers, pacifist who lived a simple life in imitation of
especially of
those going Jesus, fighting for solutions to the wretchedness
on strike for
better wages of the victims of the system, and even fighting
and living
conditions. for the creation of farm communities. Her 1976

However, de- “Letter to America,” published in the National
spite the sell-out of
the “Brick and Mor- Catholic Reporter, had only one powerful word:
tar Church’s” wor-
ship of the “gospel “REPENT!” Today, given the lack of prophetic
of success,” there Paul Hanly Furfey Papers, American Catholic History
appeared a number Research Center & University Archives. (ca 1960s) stance by the vast majority of the Catholic
of Catholics who became strong critics of a bourgeois life style
that contradicted the Gospels. Among them was Paul Furfey. A bishops, there is no surprise that they have not
native of Cambridge, MA. and a socially-conscious priest, Furfey
earned his Doctorate in Sociology from the Catholic University called for the beatification of Dorothy Day.
of America in 1926. He insisted on a reform of American society
based on the Gospels, not on human wisdom; for him, caution and Our socio-eco-
moderation are the bourgeois principles and the pursuit of success
and money are not the Christian way: nomic conditions

Furfey became an active member of the Catholic Worker need, more than
Movement started in 1911 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin
in 1911. Day, a Catholic convert, was a fearless woman who ever, courageous

voices who will

call all Americans

to live up to the

best of the ideals

of the past and the

present in order

to build a future

that justifies call-

First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt with Rev. Furfey and ing our society
others at Fides House, Washington, D.C., May 30, “Christian” and

1941. American Catholic History Research Center & the “Hope of the
University Archives. World.”

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 • BIO: Tarcisio Beal is professor Emeritus of History at the Uni-
versity of the Incarnate Word. [Note: Sources used for this article
can be obtained from [email protected]]

VOTE, Texas!
May 7, 2022 May 24, 2022
Local Elections & Special Texas Primary Runoff Election
Constitutional Amendment
Election Monday, April 25th - Last day to register to vote
Friday, May 13th - Last day to apply for a ballot
Monday, April 25th - First day of by mail (received, not postmarked)
Early Voting Monda y, May 16th - First day of Early Voting
Tuesday, April 26th - Last day to Friday, May 20th - Last day of Early Voting
apply for a ballot by mail (received, Tuesday, May 24th - Election Day
not postmarked)

Tuesday, May 3rd - Last day of Early For more information and resources for voting in Texas, please visit
Voting VoteTexas.gov.
Saturday, May 7th - Election Day The nonpartisan League of Women Voter’s of Texas Voters Guide is
available at VOTE411.org or as a printable pdf of the Constitutional
10 Amendment Voters Guide English or Spanish
* Amendments proposed relate to property taxes

One Person’s Trash IS
Another One’s Treasure

by Kayla Miranda carpentry. He also does food

In the past few years, catering and concessions. I
we have seen the cost of
materials rise to in some won’t list his other areas in
cases up to three times
what it was Pre-Pandemic. this article but needless to say,
Browsing through the isles
at Home Depot, I saw he is very talented.
a sheet of plywood that
used to cost $17 priced at When Aaron was removing
a whopping $60. While it
lightens my heart to see a shed and deck from a client’s
more and more indi-
viduals choosing to reuse, backyard a few months ago, he
renew and recycle, it has
now become necessary remembered that I and Esper-
financially to do so. You-
Tube and Google are full anza often speak about reusing
of amazing ideas of how
to repurpose almost any materials instead of allowing
item, making something
that not only helps our en- them to fill up our landfills.
vironment, but also can be
a beautiful way to spend The wood from this de-con-
time with your family. Fun
and inventive do-it-your- struction was deemed “trash”
self projects could be just
the thing for you! by the owner, so he brought

My brother Aaron is me the wood and asked if it
a lot like me. We were
raised to be self starters, could be
strong thinkers and dy-
namic personalities. It is used. As he
normal to find us engaged
in intense debate. We was walk-
never box ourselves in.
Always looking for the ing around
next project and easily
bored, we tend to excel in my small
multiple areas. Most peo-
ple have heard the term, living
jack of all trades. The actual saying is jack of all trades, master of
none. But when it comes to me and my brother, that isn’t the case. room, he LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •
For myself, I am more of a “wing it” or “free flow” type while he
is a perfectionist. For the both of us, no matter what project we asked if I
take up, we take it seriously and do insane amounts of research to
ensure we do the best job possible. My point in this? We both tend would like
to be involved with multiple things at same time, as well as having
very interesting employment histories. My brother does landscap- some new
ing and lawn care currently, but still dabbles in construction and
furniture.

You’ll see

some of

the results

Some items built by my brother, Aaron with recycled here. So
materials that had been discarded: a desk, an far he has
aquarium, a bed frame, TV stand and more. built a fish

tank stand,

a queen size floating bed frame, kitchen shelves and

my desk. He is currently working on a tv stand with

built in cubbies to be used also as a dresser for my

girls. With the small rooms in Alazan/Apache, saving

space is a must. With a low cost purchase of sanding

paper, wood stain and a few led light strips he turned

this pile of “trash” into the gorgeous looking items that

now adorn my small unit. My kids had a great time

helping him sand and paint, while learning useful skills.

The moral of this story? Old or worn does not mean worth-

less. Instead of being a throw away society, replacing things just

for the sake of it, remember that trash isn’t always trash. New

doesn’t mean better. Quality over quantity. It not only saves you

some money, it saves our world for the future.

BIO: Kayla Miranda, a housing justice advocate organizing 11
in the Westside of San Antonio, resides at the Alazan/Apache
Courts.

Celebrating Spring with Poetry

Oceanada

The sea full of energies reared around your waist like a colossal cloud

The dark shore sheltered you

In your eyes and in your hair your heavenly light shimmered like opals

The light of the dying afternoon lingered in cool waters palpitating the

rhythms of your heart

Your voice spoke in gentle caresses and in a wave sharpened like a dagger

Chestnuts to pierce you

Inside of you, your age is growing —Marta Laura
Inside of me, my age ongoing
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 • Time is decided, it does not ring its bell
It grows, it walks inside of us
Appearing at a glance like deep waters
The roasted chestnuts of your eyes
Drizzle a trace of a small river
And a dry little star ascends to your mouth
I knew at the time each thread of your hair
And in my heart your honeysuckle fragrance was alive
Living like fire
It’s beautiful how we live
Growing older every day
Each day a clear stone
Every night a dark rose
For us, wrinkles of stones and flowers
In a flash of lightning, I remember my eyes
Wasted on your beauty under my kisses
But everyone has seen my joy at your splendid beauty

My love, time… what does it matter?

Your body, your sweetness rises parallel like two spires

Tomorrow holds us together and pulls us apart

And with its same fingers

Smears the identity that separates us

Giving us the victory of being one beneath the soil

—Marta Laura

BIO: Marta Laura uses her inner voice through art to
tell an original story about her personal experiences,
background, memories, ideas, and her humanitar-

12 ian beliefs. She resides in a small farmhouse in North
Texas alongside her loving husband and animals.

21st Century Ownership

What if I 

Shaved my head? My body

What then My choice.
Would you be able to judge me on? His body

Because the color of my hair His choice.

The color you adore so much— Their body
 A Their choice:
Beautiful Costa Rican shade.

As you say. My body would not

Is nothing but me  Have chosen to spread her legs

Merely modeling Garnier’s “Raspberry Truffle”  And keep 

The voice

Then we have She liked the sound of so much
The responses Shut.

The  My body would not

Oh, I thought your hair was dark because you were LATINAAA Have chosen to have been called a liar

As you sway your hips  To be told she wanted it

Moving to the rhythm of your words when you sing When my body

Latinaaaa Did not.

As though stereotyping is a hit song to which you can dance. My body

Would not have let

What if I just  Others touch

 Shaved it all off? What once used to be sacred 

There would be nothing for To

The world to notice  Prove that the breasts

To make assumptions on Vagina, and torso

Because apparently  I was supposed  LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •

Hair color  To own

Dictates race Was made his

So, if my hair was gone BIO: Natasha Webb-Villegas is finishing Against my will.
What could you dictate? a BA degree in creative writing with an
emphasis in poetry and Spanish. She is My body would not
I know the recipient of the 2021 Katherine C. Have chosen to be regulated
My gender. Turner prize, the 2021 Honorable Men-
My Womanhood tion Swarthout Award and her poem In By senators born
Instead of telling me to Need of Being Thawed is published in From the body
Run to the border “Poets.org.” A surf instructor, she hopes They are so adamant on
You would tell me to to one day be both a poet and librarian. Deeming inferior.
Run back into the kitchen
Instead of telling me I cannot vote My body
Because I speak Spanish Would not have chosen

To be the subject
Of a war.

You would tell me I cannot vote —Natasha Webb-Villegas

Because as a woman

My body isn’t my choice.

But that,
Is a poem for another day.

I could just,
Wear a bald cap?

—Natasha Webb-Villegas

13

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •Congratulations to the Guadalupe Cultural
Arts Center for preserving the traditions of
Conjunto music for forty years!

14

Notas Y Más Start your 2022
tax deductible gifts
May / June 2022
Give to the Esperanza in spirit of solidarity
Community meetings and cultural art events are again taking so we can continue to speak out, organize
place virtually due to continuing concerns about COVID. Check and fight for our communities for another
websites, FB or call 210-228-0201 for meetings and events 30 Years. Your support is needed NOW more
currently scheduled. www.esperanzacenter.org
than ever! Thank you for your gifts!
Centro Cultural Aztlán, with Juan Felipe Herrera, U.S. Poet Send donations to Esperanza

1800 Fredericksburg Rd Laureate (2015-2017) on June 18, Esperanza Peace
And Justice Center
continues the exhibit, 11am-4 pm. This workshop is for
922 San Pedro Avenue
Mars Needs more anyone with roots in the migrante San Antonio, TX 78212

Women. Project: MASA-V thru experience or anyone who would like To sign up as a monthly donor,
Call 210.228.0201 or
June 10th with 19 Chican@ artists to write about it in new ways. Visit
that use outer space and science geminiink.org or call 210-734-9673 email: [email protected]
fiction iconography to comment on for more! Visit www.esperanzacenter.org/donate
social-political issues affecting our
for online giving options.
gente. Curated by Cathryn Merla- Mexic-Arte Museum,
¡Mil Gracias!
Watson Phd. and Iliana Pompa, the 419 Congress Ave. in
15
exhibit will debut a catalog and Austin, Texas exhibits

artists’ video interview with a Chicano/a Art,

premier on May 4, 6-9pm. The Movimiento y Más en

exhibit can be viewed Monday- Austen, Tejas 1960s to 1980s thru

Thursday, 10am - 4 pm. Free. See June 19. The exhibit highlights

www.centroaztlan.org or call Chicanx artists in Austin during

210.432.1896. “El Movimiento” (The Chicano

Gemini Ink, 1111 Civil Rights Movement).
Admission: $7-adult and $1-child.
Navarro St. hosts See: mexic-artemuseum.org or
Poesía Migrante: call 512.200.7278.
Writing about the Migrant Experience
LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4 •
Sterling Houston Festival

June 4-19, 2022

June 4, 7 pm-Festival Opening: Black Lily/White Lily @ Carver
Directed by Antoinette Winstead
Featuring a slide show by UTSA special collections

June 9, 7 pm Black and Blue
Gemini Ink at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center
Featuring a slide show by UTSA special collections

June 13-17, 9-3 pm
Myth, Magic and Fable:  The World of Sterling Houston
Teen camp at Magik Theatre/10 minute reading: Le Griffon

June 17 & 18, 19 @ 8pm (tentative)
Le Griffon @ Jump-Start Performance Co. & Little Carver
Directed by Steve Bailey
Featuring a slide show by UTSA special collections

June TBA
Fleshtones Dance/Afterparty
Urban-15 w/George Cisneros

For more information: www.jump-start.org

LA VOZ de ESPERANZA • May / June 2022 Vol. 35 Issue 4•

Paseo Por El Westside Workshops Noche Azul Live!

Healing: Plantas Medicinales, Curanderismo, at the Esperanza
San Arte Healing, Rebozo Healing, Limpias 922 San Pedro Ave
Artes: Making Ojos de Dios, Bailes de Tiempos Pasados,
Making Piñatas, MujerArtes clay arts, Making paper flowers Check FB and Esperanza’s website
History & Preservation: The history of your home, for dates in May & June
Preserving family documents, Mapping memorias,
Mi Barrio No Se Vende- Gentrification in the Westside www.esperanzacenter.org/
Traditional Foods: Chiles’exhibit, La Vida Vegana, Raspas www.Facebook.com/EsperanzaCenter
Juegos Infantiles Tradicionales: La Rueda de San Miguel,
La Vibora de la Mar, La Raspa y mas! Credit: Jack Leyva 05-04-2019
Plus! Musica en vivo • Poesia • Food • Walking Tours •
Fotohistoria scanning of photos y mas! Esperanza Peace & Justice Center Non-Profit Org.
922 San Pedro San Antonio TX 78212 US Postage
PAID

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