­by Esther J. Cepeda

As Mother’s Day approached, I sat with eight-year-old Saúl in the courtyard of St. Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where he lives with his mother, Elvira Arellano, who has avoided the reach of U.S. immigration officials for nine months now.

Away from a small group of other parishioners who were also enjoying a barbecue lunch, we engaged in some serious conversation.

Saúl is a U.S. citizen by virtue of being born here. His mother isn’t. She arrived in the United States from Maravatio, a small town in the central Mexico state of Michoacán, without papers 10 years ago. On Aug. 15, 2006, she defied a federal order to report to the Chicago office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings. She had been swept up in a raid at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where she had worked for a year as a cleaning lady at O’Hare International Airport.

Last fall, long separated from Saúl’s father, Elvira took the boy, then 7, and sought sanctuary in their church on the city’s near west side. Her hope was that ICE agents would not raid the church, and time would bring an avenue for her to stay in the United States legally with her son. ICE agents have stayed away, in part perhaps because of the Arellanos’ celebrity status in the community.

During the May Day immigration march, pro-immigrant organizers took Saúl to Chicago’s Grant Park to address a crowd of thousands. Always thin and shy, he has grown, by his mother’s measure, five inches since August. But around adults his speech remains guarded.

I have spoken with mother and son on several occasions while reporting on their status. I have a son Saúl’s age, which I hoped would guide me in moving our conversation.

Framing his predicament carefully, Saúl told me he was content living in the church but felt confronted daily by his mom’s lack of freedom. “She can’t take me to the store and can’t take me to school. It makes me feel a little bad. My friends — they have their moms and their dads,” he said. “It’s different for them.”

He described how he and his mother used to go to the park and run around together. Now they settle for watching movies on TV in the room they share in the sanctuary church.

On special occasions Elvira does her best to bring the party to Saúl. “For my birthday we invited all my friends over. We played and ate,” he said. “We had pizza, hot dogs, nachos and apple juice.”

The boy is growing up much faster than he wants. He has traveled across the country accompanied by advocates for his mother’s cause, speaking to countless radio, television and newspaper reporters about her situation, using the spotlight to plead for a compassionate law that would let families threatened with separation stay together in the United States.

He has appeared on talk shows, gone to Washington, D.C., multiple times to meet politicians, and even traveled to Mexico City, his first trip across the border, to ask that nation’s legislators to lobby the United States government on his mother’s behalf. They quickly obliged.

He relishes the things his mother does for him, like his special meals during her 25-day hunger strike which ended May 1. “She fixes good soup — with vegetables and meat and small pieces of corn on the cob so they fit in the bowl.” He fantasizes about walking out of the church with his mom to get pizza at his favorite Chuck E. Cheese.

He describes their daily routines, hanging out and doing homework at the table where Elvira works on the computer. They watch TV together, play with his action figures, and practice vocabulary for his weekly spelling test.

For Mother’s Day, he explains, “We made cards at school. They have different hearts on them and I wrote something on it but I can’t remember what.”

How else might he show his love for her?

“I think she likes flowers.”

Then one more wish tumbled off the child’s tongue. “I want President Bush to end the deportations so my mom and other families can stay here in the United States.”

(Esther J. Cepeda of Chicago is a contributing columnist with Hispanic Link News Service. She may be reached at chihuahua33@hotmail.com). © 2007

by Jorge Mariscal

PBS and Ken Burns still don’t get it.

After months of negotiations with Latino advocacy groups, academics, veterans and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the powers that be at PBS and their house director Ken Burns fail to understand the real issues at stake in Burns’ exclusion of the Latino experience in his World War II documentary “The War.”

In an article published May 5 in The New York Times, Burns continued to make self-aggrandizing and ignorant statements.

According to the Times, Burns called his 14-hour series, scheduled to be shown during Hispanic Heritage Month in September, “a sort of epic poem and not a textbook.”

He must be kidding. Several weeks ago, Mr. Burns compared his film to the U.S. Constitution. Now he says it’s sort of an epic poem.

artist’s personal vision. The singer of the Iliad or the Poem of the Cid was simplyIf he knew anything about epic poems, he would know that they were composed with the goal of representing an entire community’s historical experience. They had nothing to do with an individual a vehicle for a shared collective experience.

Clearly, Burns is not interested in any of these things. He has his individual “vision” which cannot be tampered with. He is a self-righteous romantic who has no business and not enough knowledge to chronicle an event as momentous as World War II.

No one in the group that raised questions about the film asked Burns to turn it into “a textbook.” Let him be as lyrical and non-narrative as he wishes. No one wants to deprive him of his artistic freedom. But he has no right to invent a history of the war that excludes a community that paid a very high price for its participation.

The Times article stated: “Mr. Burns, who was not at the meeting (between PBS executives and Hispanic leaders), said he found it painful that the controversy was erupting over a film in which he explores an episode of American history that brought citizens together.”

Burns is pained by the controversy. Then why doesn’t he stop his pain by doing the right thing? Is his “vision” more important than an inclusive account of the war? It was his flawed “vision” and sloppy research (not those who raised legitimate questions) that created divisions.

While it is certainly true that World War II brought the U.S. people together, Burns needs to go back to school to learn about events like the Zoot Suit Riots and the Felix Longoria case. World War II was not as utopian for some communities as Burns thinks it was. He didn’t do his homework.

Burns should either fire his researchers or fire himself. As long as PBS continues to take money from the public treasury, it should fire all of them.

Can we Latinos look forward to some future Ken Burns excluding us from the history of the U.S. war in Iraq?

Finally, the Times reported: “Mr. Burns said there was no chance that the film would be re-edited. It would be destructive, like trying to graft an arm onto your child,” he said. “It would destroy the film.”

Give me a break. Any decent writer or filmmaker not blinded by ego knows that any text or film thought to be finished can be reopened and revised without the slightest negative impact on overall tone and structure. It might actually get better.

To think otherwise displays either a total lack of creative imagination or a stubborn refusal to listen to other voices or both.

A film is not a child. And if it were, no one is asking Burns to attach a third arm.

Simply put, Latinos are asking Burns to reshape the entire artifact into a harmonious object that reflects every community that lived the experience of the war against fascism.

One of the cities featured in the current film is Sacramento, California. Competent historians could quickly provide Burns with stories of Latino veterans from that city that might be seamlessly woven into his film.

But unfortunately, PBS and Ken Burns still don’t get it. Or they simply don’t care.

(Jorge Mariscal, a veteran of the U.S. war in Vietnam, is a professor of history and literature at the University of California, San Diego. Contact him at gmariscal@ucsd.edu). © 2007

­by Mauricio Vela

Bernal Preschool Parents & Supporters Celebrate Cinco de Mayo by releasing seven month feasibility study for New Bernal Preschool/Learning Center.

Over the past eight months, with the financial support provided Supervisor Ammiano’s office, the Bernal Preschool committee with participation and support of parents, community members, childcare experts, elected and appointed officials has examined three options to ensure that Bernal Preschool remains in our Community Hub.

The Bernal Preschool Committee has been fighting for the past 2 1⁄2 years to remain in the Community Hub that has been their home for almost 30 years. Due to the renovation of the library, the library and its supporters have taken this opportunity to evict the Preschool. Preschool parents, with support from Parent Voices, and community supporters have refused to accept the permanent displacement to Paul Revere elementary. Gladys Soto states” We refuse to be pushed out of our home for thirty years after we put in the sweat equity to keep the library open, renovate the playstructure, gymnasium, and Neighborhood Center, and revitalized Cortland Ave. We wanted to create a safety net for our children, youth, and seniors most at risk. We successfully did that and now we’re being asked to leave.”

Based on our findings, the committee prioritized Option “C” which is to utilized 2,700 sq. ft of land within the Bernal Playground. Should this option not be realized then the committee supports Option “A” which is to return to the Library upon completion of the renovation in 2009. The committee will continue to meet with the responsible governing bodies as well with members of the community, and other supporters to create the “political will” and financial support to make our new Preschool/Learning Center a reality.

Building the new preschool addresses the Mission/Bernal short fall of 700 childcare slots. Presently, the Bernal preschool offers 25 slots. By building the new preschool 25 additional slots will be created at the Preschool and an additional 50 will be provided at Paul Revere by the Mission Neighborhood Centers which has offered to take over the space once the Preschool returns to the Hub for an increase of 75 Bernal slots. Over the last five years Bernal Heights has lost Little People’s Workshop Coop and Alfa Day childcare center. Building the new preschool also contributes to the city wide childcare shortfall. Supervisor Ammiano, Daly, and Assemblyman Mark Leno have come out publicly in support of the new Preschool/Learning. The new Preschool/Learning Center will also allow City College to provide parenting classes for the preschool parents, nannies, and stroller moms of the community. Supervisor Ammiano added $1.6 million into the children and senior budget supplemental just introduce by Supervisor Daly on April 24th.

As part of the Preschool’s celebration of Cinco de Mayo, the preschool plans to unvail our findings to the public.

Que Viva Cinco de Mayo!!! Si Se Puede!!