Rodriguez: Time for Brown Berets to be Seen in Court?

The Brown Berets have a storied history in this country, somewhat akin to the Black Panthers. But for this story, what concerns us is their recent history in Tucson, Arizona. Two weeks ago, two members were assaulted and arrested, charged with aggravated assault against police officers, while part of a protest against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. And it was not the first time they had been singled out, assaulted and arrested.

These particular arrests were different. That is, within 45 seconds of the beginning of a march, police swept in and went straight for the Berets. At this time a Black Lives Matter activist was also assaulted and arrested along with an 84-year-old woman. A number of people were also maced, including several University of Arizona students.

There is a long list of similar instances where the Berets have been singled out. Most notably, this is true during the ethnic studies struggle in which the state superintendent charged that Raza studies was outside of Western Civilization.

The irony of this logic is that the superintendent asserted that peoples that are indigenous to this continent were somehow interlopers. His primary argument was that Greco-Roman culture (from Europe) should be taught in Arizona, but not the indigenous culture of Mexican peoples or Chicanas/Chicanos. The superintendent went so far as to single out the Berets and to blow up photographs of them for the media, as representing that “alienness.”

Also, during one of the highly militarized board meetings in 2011, two Berets were assaulted, resulting in broken ankles and wrists. But beyond the physical assault, it was the assertion by the superintendent that highlighted an absurdity: peoples that are native to these lands had become the foreigners, while the actual foreigners became the “natives.”

This absurdity resulted in one of my colleagues, Norma Gonzalez, being forced to take down a presentation regarding the Aztec calendar by the principal, who asserted that, as a result of the HB 2281 legislation, it had become illegal to teach that lesson.

The ethnic studies lawsuit still is being litigated and is expected to go to trial, perhaps this spring. However, what has not been litigated is whether Mexicans in this country are part of a foreign and illegitimate culture. With the recent arrest of the Berets, perhaps it is time to take that assertion to court. The fiction that European descendants and European culture are native to these lands has been normalized and has never really been contested in court.