Your Independent Journal from the Heartland
(Vea la versión en español a continuación.)
During these tumultuous times, there is a question that needs to be asked: In 2020, is there room for Red-Brown voices in the national conversation on race?
Year after year, the nation’s leading societal indicators show that there are three groups – Red, Black and Brown peoples — that always end up at the very bottom of every list. This applies to issues such as:
The Census and its intentional undercount; the prison-industrial complex; the education to prison pipeline; the dropout crisis; health/health insurance; wealth disparities; media/film representation; employment/unemployment; voter suppression and political underrepresentation.
The above answers the question. If these rankings were benign, few people would care, but invisibilizing peoples can result in deadly consequences. It also silences peoples and communities and as such, when it comes time for solutions, are generally ignored. This is true, especially during both the COVID-19 and police abuse pandemics.
In examining the specific issue of police abuse/killings; it appears that our body politic has finally come to acknowledge this crisis in relationship to the Black community, while still not fundamentally doing anything about it. Unfortunately, it still refuses to acknowledge that Indigenous-Brown peoples are targeted as well. The truth is, such violence against these three peoples can actually be traced to 1492. In the modern era, the killings against Indigenous-Brown peoples is also “well-documented,” though rarely acknowledged by either the government or the national media. For example, the names below stand out and hard to miss.
They are of Raza/brown peoples killed since May 25, the day George Floyd was killed:
Reymar Gagarin, Jose L Castillanos, Jason J Gallegos, John Alvarado, Robert Avitia, Rommel Mendoza, Hector Hernandez, Modesto Reyes, Jorge Gomez, Sean Monterrosa, Eric Galvan, Erik Salgado.
Marcus J. Uribe, Gregorio Cruz Vanloo, Mason J. Lira, Anthony A. Armenta, Andres Guardado, Michael Torres, Carlos Baires, David Guillen, Kevin Pulido, Julie Colon, Martin H. S. Fregoso, Bonnie Figueroa Ortiz, Leonardo H. Ibarra, James P. Garcia.
Axal Perez, Marcos Reyes, Sean E. Ruis, Cristhian E. Ramos-Murrillo, Julio Jaramillo, David Angulo, Julio C. Virula, Ray A. Lara, Giovanni Cedano-Amaro, Gabriel Salinas, Roberto Hernandez Jr., Ramon T. Lopez.
Ryan Shane Hinojo, Americo Reyes, Jose Vallejos, Samantha G. Handy, Fred JH Arcera, Jose M Castro, Bryan Cerreño, Jorge Gonzalez, Marco Antonio Sigala, Santos A. Villegas.
To compile this list of killings, Killedbypolice.net, Fatal Force, by the Washington Post (which only counts deaths via police shootings) and Fatal Encounters were used. Here, the attempt was made to only count killings, as opposed to accidents, and no judgment was made as to whether the killings were justified or unjustified, though what we do know is that the numbers are exorbitant.
The quandary here is how to determine whether a killing was justified or not. Simply carrying a “weapon” does not automatically mean it is a justified killing. These communities also have a long history of everything becoming a weapon, including: scissors, garden hoses, toy guns, pocket knives, broom sticks, pencils, rocks and even fingers and crucifixes. In the current era, cell phones nowadays are also often listed as weapons. These killings are generally categorized under “armed,” and thus “justified.” This does not even include “drop guns.”
What can be deduced from these killings is that the bodies of peoples from these three communities tell us that their/our bodies and communities have always been profiled and dehumanized. That’s what generally separates the killings of whites and people of color. What can also be deduced is that most are men/youth of color. All except one has a Spanish-language last name. There are many people categorized under “Hispanic-Latino” that do not have such last names. Also, many brown peoples (most of whom are Indigenous-based) – with Spanish-language last names – can also be found in either the white and unknown categories, while some remain unidentified.
This is not an anomaly. This generally has always been true, and the same proportions apply to deaths since 2014, the year Michael Brown was killed. These numbers point to both a large number of brown people killed, but also a great undercount, perhaps by some 25%. My estimate is that between 1,200-1,400 have been killed since 2014.
If we use data from all these indices, the answer becomes obvious regarding whether Red-Brown voices should also be a part of all conversations regarding race and the future of this nation. Invisibilization and silencing are indeed another form of violence. This too is the principal reason Indigenous peoples should always also be a part of these conversations. Invisiblizing the history of Indigenous peoples in this country – whose lands this country was built upon, along with slave labor – is violence unto itself.
Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez is an associate professor of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona and is the author of several books including “Our Sacred Maiz is Our Mother” (2014) and “Yolqui: A Warrior Summoned from the Spirit World” (2019). Email XColumn@gmail.com.
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