Part 1: A Hard Look At Latin America

A LEGACY OF INEQUALITY

Over 500 years ago Europeans invaded the Americas. Seeking trade routes and treasure (the Native Peoples resources). They brought guns and metal swords and armor. Using these, and exploiting religious beliefs and local rivalries (divide and conquer), they quickly made themselves absolute rulers over millions of Native Americans. In Latin America, the Spanish rules with a cold, calculated brutality. Native languages, customs, and religions were done away with.

The social structure of Latin America was shaped by CONQUEST. Beneath a veneer of modernity and democracy, the social structure of these countries remains essentially feudal. A small wealthy, ruling elite, mostly descendants of the European conquerors, dominates social, economic, and political life. Although mestizos, Indians, and blacks make up the majority of the population in most countries, they have little voice in the government. The concentration of wealth and political power in the hands of a few forces most of the people into poverty.

This vast inequality gives rise to "social unrest" as the poor struggle for equality and social justice. Unwilling to give up their privileged social position, the elites respond with repression: arrests, torture, and death squads. As President Kennedy observed many years ago, "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable." Social movements for equality and democracy continue to emerge, generating ongoing conflict in the region. The tragic cycle of revolutions and civil wars in Latin America - Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Columbia, among others - are products of this historically unequal social structure.

Do You Know Tamika?

The Lima PD knew she was a mother of six young children when they raided her home looking for her boyfriend. Tarika Wilson was shot and killed as she held her 1 year son who was shot in the shoulder. When Tarika’s neighbors informed her mother that the house was being raided she came to the house to see about her daughter and grandchildren, where police told her to “shut up and stay out of the way or you’ll be tazed”.

This all took place on January 4th of this year in Lima, Ohio where one in four residents is black. Sgt. Joseph Chavalia, a white police officer told jurors that he thought his life was in danger when he shot the unarmed Tarika as she held her son in her arms. Chavalia told jurors that he now knows the gunfire he heard was coming from downstairs, where other officers shot two charging pit bulls, but at the time “There was absolutely, positively no doubt in my mind right then and there that whoever this was is shooting at me. They're trying to kill me," Chavalia said. Chavalia pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor counts of negligent homicide and negligent assault. He faces up to eight months in jail if convicted of both counts. An all-white jury was selected on July 28, 2008, with a black woman and a white woman as alternates.

On Monday, August 4, 2008, Sgt Joseph Chavalia was acquitted.

Why was this “officer” charged with misdemeanors? In a town where one in four residents is Black, out of 12 people, there should have been some Blacks on the jury. Have you heard about this case? T.V./Radio coverage? Why isn’t anybody doing anything about this? What can you do?

Inform your Black talk, t.v./radio personalities. Inform you elected officials. Inform family, friends, and colleagues. This happens far, far too often and has been going on since the middle passage. This time it was Tamika next time it could be you or yours. It is time to insist that Black lives be valued.

Acquitted

The establishment is hard on Black men. They got Michael Vick for killing dogs, Wesley Snipes for tax evasion, and they have T. I. on Federal gun charges (he is due to report to jail for a 12 month sentence later this year). But after six years of postponements R. Kelly has been acquitted on 14 counts of child porn. . . . the message? Americans love their dogs, uncle sam wants his $$$, and blacks shouldn't have guns, but Black women are yours to treat any kind of way you see fit.