1979_03 The Daily Collegian March 1979

              City Council elections:
Fresno takes leap backward
BymCARDOHMENTEL JftfS? Snsi^fX
La Voz Contnbutor however, took two steps backwards by
At  first glance, it appears Chicanos electing Joe Reich over the wishes of
his new constituency.
Perhaps the first and most important
thing Alvarado can do now that he's
in office is to help remove the racist
conditions from the electoral process
which allows for a large segment of
the population to go unrepresented
in city government.
The city's   district  election   was
-Comentarios
t, the rt
it City
have gainec
Council elections There is much I
support this view After all, Leonel
Alvarado won his race in the District
5 contest, assuring Chicanos of good
and honest representation on the City
However, on the other side of town
something quite different was happen¬
ing In District 3. an area predominant¬
ly populated by Blacks and Chicanos, a
candidate captured the majority of the
district's votes yet lost the election
George Purdom, a Black man, cap¬
tured about 31 percent of the district's
votes in a seven-man race, yet it will
be Joe Reich, capturing about 3 percent
of the district's vote, who will repre¬
sent the district in the City Council
Odd? It gets stranger vet.
Reich, relatively unknown a couple of
weeks betore tne election, staged a
media blitz which struck just the right
chord with Fresno voters    His target
'. Wors<
and a
,s aff.r.
r, this
was running for office to represent a
largely minority populated area, yet
his platform was blatantly anti-minor¬
ity Although Fresno does have council
districts and councilmen and council
candidates are required to live in the
district they will theoretically repre¬
sent, voting is done at large The result
was that insensitive Fresno voters
were able to ram an unwanted repre¬
sentative down the throats of District
3 residents Purdom, who outpolled
Reich more than 3 to 1 in their district,
finished a dismal third citywide
Perhaps the oddity of the situation
was best phrased by Purdom, He said.
'I've seen men using tactics to gain
office, but never against those who
he will represent.'
We call for not only Councilman
Alvarado to become involved in the
first for a fair balloting process. We
also call for the Mexican American
Political Association, El Concilio de
Fresno and all Chicanos to lend active
support to efforts already underway
to remedy Fresno's discriminating bal¬
lot box
Proponents of the present electoral
process, may point to the Alvarado el¬
ection as proof positive that the system
works. Incidentally, Alvarado won in
his district as well as citywide. How¬
ever, Councilman Alvarado and others
should realize that it could very well
have been the Chicano candidate in
Purdom's shoes. There was no guaran¬
tee that the rest of the city would vote
for the person District 5 residents
wanted Alvarado could very well have
won in his district, but lost citywide.
Fortunately, the city coincidentally
voted along the same lines as District
5 and Chicanos and all Fresnans are
now assured viable representation on
the City Council this time. This should
not dampen Alvarado's or anyone's
resolve to change the system, hovyever.
~ If local government is allowed to
unjustly disenfranchise even one per¬
son, then so are we all potentially
without a vote.
Football fans at CSUF:
misguided zealots
At this time of year (budget time)
everyDOOy seems to unnecessarily
attack the athletic department and
athletics in general. But, a recent
newspaper advertising campaign by
some Bulldog football fans seems too
golden an opportunity to overlook.
In the Fresno Bee and CSUF's
Insight, a group calling itself the
"Committee for Night Football at
Night' has purchased expensive
advertising space The group's goal is
to have football games moved back
to  a   'more  sensible   hour"~8   pm
Games were first moved to 7 p m
last year. That was done to provide
better media coverage and allow
Bulldog game statistics to be included
in NCAA sports reports Apparently
because of fan pressures the athletic
department recently announced that
games would start at 7:30 p m. next
But this group of fans is still un¬
happy. So displeased are they that they
Commentary
Misconceptions continue to
plague strike, La Causa
For over a month now, 4,500 United
Farmworker's Union Members nave
been on strike against 10 growers in
the Imperial Valley, where much of this
Although farmworkers now have a
collective bargaining law which pro¬
tects their rights, the strike reaffirms
the fact that agribusiness will continue
to fight farmworkers in their sruggle
to improve their lives One striker has
been shot to death in the fields, and a
local high school helped growers re¬
cruit strikebreakers until the UFW
went to court and that practice was
ordered stopped
La Voz: Do you feel you-'re being
one-sided against the union by display¬
ing such a sign?
Kozy: "You can consider me being
one-sided 'cause I have to sit here, I
have to listen to all the people come in
and complain about the high price of
food. I have to, you know, listen to
'em gripe about how high the price of
lettuce is So I feel it's gonna make my
life a little bit easier if I put an explan¬
ation up there for them. And it has cut
down on the amount of complaints I
get *
La Voi: So, you're putting the blame
on the union?
Kory "I'm just passing it to where it
belongs If there wasn't a lettuce
strike, I wouldn't have that problem,
A Talk with a produce manager
The group contends that hundreds
of loyal Bulldog followers throughout
the Valley are hurt by the early game
start They believe that many work
Saturdays, have trouble finding
parking and seating on time, and thus
are deprived of watching the  'great
Although we concede that a few fans
may be inconvenienced by early
game times, the issue seems too trivial
to even debate seriously.
With the multitude of problems
facinR the city and state, as well as the
country, this effort seems a misguided
waste ot time airectea Dy narruw-
minded zealots.
Although we believe that everyone
should have the right to spend their
money as they see fit, we can't help
but feel frustrated. It seems to us that
if we had more than S6,000 to spend
we could find many ways of putting it
The plight of the farmworkers has
been grossly misunderstood by a mis¬
informed public. Very rarely does the
average consumer take the time to
investigate issues surrounding the
strike (a scan of the newspaper would
give adequate data). In this money
oriented society, produce buyers only
see the UFW as the cause for the rise
So the misconceptions and the stere¬
otypes persist. La Voz discovered that
the farmworkers strike was being
blamed for the high price of lettuce
in the produce section of Continental
Market in Fresno (4343 N Blackstone).
Above the lettuce display in this mar¬
ket was a sign that read: "As a result of
the UFW strike...lettuce 98</head...
(We don't like the price either)".
CSUF M.E.CH.A President Priscil-
la Contreras and I talked with produce
manager Craig Kozy and asked him if
he felt he was misleading the public.
Kozy said he was the manager of
the produce section and admitted to
putting up the sign.
The sign was a perfect example of
his ignorance to the plight of the
farmworkers- and Kozy's comments
even further showed his bias. (Through
out the interview, Kozy was cutting and
cleaning a crate of com with a sharp
3-inch cutting i
de Aitlan is published by tha
d Student! at California State
University, Fresno and the newspaper
staff. Unsloned editorials are the opini¬
ons of the La Voz staff, and not neces-
llly   I!
i, CSUF or tha Stat* of California.
Editor... Richard Agulrra
Photography... Qoorga Agulrra,   Wear do
Plmental. Luoa Mora.
Alvino Franco, Arturo Ocampo
Heportan...Dora Lara.   Margarita  Mar
r, Octavlo Yeacaa.
Contributors...Fall*    Contrarai,   Artiro
Ocampo,  Elvla Ruiz.  Dlanna Soils,  Rl-
La Voz de AUlan
right? I 'd also be selling a lot more let¬
tuce and a lot more people would be
eating lettuce."
La Voz. Do you understand why they
are strrking?
Kozy: "Yeah, I know why they're
striking. I don't believe in it. It's my
La Voz: So you feel you're in a posi¬
tion to go ahead and pass that opinion
on to others, and maybe sway people
who don't really understand what's
happening?
Kozy: "It's my perogative."
Continued on Pg. 6
At
La Chicana y Dona Marina, La Malinche
The birth of La Mexicana,
her life and search for identity
In 1519, the Spaniard Hernan
Cortes stepped onto Mexican soil,
and through a series of military and
political maneuvers destroyed the
Nahua empire and began a 300-year
European colonization period in
Mexico.
Women in this period of time saw
themselves totally defenseless in a
world of humiliation, abuse and
slavery Their faces deformed by the
branding iron, thousands of women
were  marked  for  the   slave  market
Taken at will by the conquerors,
women married or single, seemed far
removed from the times when she was
considered a "precious gem and valued
feather" by the family.
As the Spanish women arrived
in the middle 1500s, they along with
Criollas and Mestizas held the power.
However, Indian women still held the
Spanish women naturally were held
in high esteem, for they were mothers
to the Criollos, while the Indian women
gave birth to the Mestizo -- the'estirpe
de los desamparado5."
The ticket to higher status in the new
society was through the Spanish
male, as Juan Alegria has frankly said
For this reason, while the first relations
between the two groups were by force
and violence, eventually parents
gave their daughters up willingly
and then women themsflves sub¬
mitted. This is pointed oput in the
text Profile of the Mexican-American
Woman:
"For the Indian woman there was no
other fate than to serve. They served
the Spaniards, keeping their homes
and children and at the same time
providing sexual favors to the Span-
'The mestizos' mothers were never
appreciated in their motherhood
nor as persons. Naturally, the males
felt wounded by these conditions,
and in their powerlessness to change
things,   they   blamed   the   women."
According to the text, the physical
suffering of women during the colonial
period is miniscule compared to the
psychological scars, caused by the con¬
quest, Mestisaje, and the growing
pains of a colonized society. Morally,
Mexicanas have suffered the brunt
of the blame for the conquest, tor
giving life to the children of the con-
One sole Indian slave. Dona Marina,
symbolically carries the blame for the
it and the birth of the Mestizo
Octavio Paz, Samuel Ramos, Carlos
Fuentes and many other writers,
both Mexican and foreign, have made
this one woman, Dona Marina (La
Malinche)' the symbolic object of all
their negative feelings about the
conquest and the Mestisaje.
Dona Marina, whose Indian name
is Malinalli Tenepal, was born and
raised in Oluta Coatzacualco in a mat¬
riarchal society Deposed from her
position as a Casica (one who leads
an easy life) she was sold into slavery
by her parents, leaving her position
open to her half-brother
When Hernan Cortes entered
Mexico, Malinche, along with other
slaves, were given to him. Later, this
would set her role in history.
Intelligent and eager to serve
with language skills in Nahua and
Maya, and also beautiful, she gained
an  enviable  position  with   her  new
Malinche, born a leader, know¬
ledgeable in politics, desirous of her
freedom, quickly learned Spanish and
became indispensible to the conquest
She was also known to be a follower
of Quetzalcoatl and a believer in the
prophesies, a tact which predisposed
her to accept the new faith predicted
by the Spaniards
One ot her tew defenders, Aniceto
Aramoni, a contemporary psychologist
considers' her indispensable to the
conquest because of her powerful
position as translater and diplomat
She was taken by Cortes as a lover,
mothered his child and later discarded
by him when he brought a wife from
Spain.
Symbolically, she has represented
the thousands of Indian women who
through similar circumstances suffered
the same fate
According to Aramoni, Dona Marina
had nothing to lose Resentful of her
people who had twice sold her into
slavery and deposed her of her right¬
ful position, she was raised into a
position of power by her new master
Cortes, known as the descendent of
Quetzalcoatl or perhaps Quetzalcoatl
himself, honored her with a son,
symbolically the first Mestizo
Another defender of Dona Maria,
Adelaida   del   Castillo,    a   Chicana
historian, feels that to remove Dona
Marina as everyone's 'whipping girl*
would be to establish the Mexicana's
rightful strong status once and for all
A writer, Juana Alegria, urges
Mexican women to dispel the negative
feelings about La Malinche and the
other Indian women who were instru¬
mental by force or otherwise in the
birth of the Mestizo race Doing this
is important so that Mexicanas can help
gain a more positive identity.
1AM
1 too put in a day's work plus mare...
For no pay, no vacation, no sick leave,
Though 1 am not the man of the house
And no recognition.
1 am the hand of the family.
For it is 1 who mend the socks,
It is 1, and 1 alone, who is
Raise   the    children,    maintain    the
7 he hand of the family
budget.
1 am softer than a red rose
Prepare the meals, wash the clothes.
And as mean as a cat.
and
1 am softer tha a red rose
Give   out   the   squeezes,   hugs,   and
Sweeter than new fallen snow
kisses.
And it is my heart that is
Warmer than the sun from up above.
It is 1 who cures coWs, cuts, bruises.
Bad days and little scratches on the
Though 1 am not the man of the house
1 am the hand of the family.
With my whole heart.
By Viaria Anita Torres 1
Though 1 am not the man of the house
UVoar.iiUin.MUr 1