by José de la Isla
Hispanic Link News Service
MEXICO CITY—Mississippi legislator Daniel Steve Holland introduced HB150 on Feb. 9 before the state House of Representatives’ Marine Resources Committee.
According to Mexican news service Notimex, the Democrat from Plantersville proposes to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
In his presentation before the committee, Representative Holland said he wants all official state dealings with the body of water south of Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties to go by the new name. In his presentation, he did not refer to the Gulf of Mexico by name, instead to “the body of water.”
Of course, the proposal is intentionally anti-Mexican. It is a textbook example of how public officials stoke local cornpone nativism. It is how a no-name politician capitalizes on knuckle-headed prejudice and foments dissention.
Fortunately, there is serious brain science looking into whether minds like this are normal or psychopathic. (Really, I mean it.)
But the Mississippi name change can have some other consequences. For instance, this is a good time to consider whether to convert the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Arizona. That body of water refers to Mexico’s two California states, not the U.S. state, which does not border it. But if the name is changed to Gulf of Arizona, there’s no mistaking what we mean, even if Arizona does not border it, either. Still, Arizona is closer to that gulf than is U.S. California.
There’s precedent for everything not going by the same name everywhere. The U.S. side of the great divide is known as the Rio Grande while Mexico calls it “Río Bravo.”
For reasons of full disclosure, I have to admit having a personal interest in all this. Like the name “America” comes from an explorer and map-maker Amerigo Vespucci, the first definitive map of my native Texas was done by an ancestor, Frenchman Guillaume d’Isle (or alternately Delisle). The map is named “Carte de la Louisiane et du cours du Mississipi 1718.”
It was the first printed map using new technological methods of the time. Details show a variation of the name for Texas on it, contained in a reference to “Mission de los Teijas etablie en 1716” in East Texas. This is the map that named Texas.
But now that we are setting things straight, its okay with me if Mississippi decides to rename Texas “D’Isle” or “Delisle” (Thank you, very much) for the same reason America is named after Amerigo.
I alluded to Mr. Holland above as a “no-name” politician. This was not intended to insult him but to face up to the fact that some of us are insulted that an American elected official should have “Holland” as a name. This could lead people down at the diner to think foreigners are making our laws.
Heck, we could become the laughing stock of the world. Some people will think we’re all Dutch around here.
I propose, in official documents, we call all elected officials, who have the name of a foreign country, “Noname”. They can keep their Christian names for civic life, but they are not permitted to embarrass us officially with their foreign-country names.
Just so there’s no confusion, if more than one is Noname, each can file for an identity website on their state government website, such as www.Noname002.ms.gov, which provides their civic AKA name.
Failure to register, of course, requires forfeiture of drivers-license rights and denial of all state benefits, and they must provide proof of residency and literacy before voting in elections. They are “illegals,” needless to say, until such time as they become legally registered. We are not against legal nonames, just illegal ones.
Now that’s what I call bridging the gulf between Noname public officials and we, the people.
[José de la Isla, a nationally syndicated columnist for Hispanic Link and Scripps Howard news services, has been recognized for two consecutive years for his commentaries by New America Media. His forthcoming book is “Our Man on the Ground.” Previous books include “DAY NIGHT LIFE DEATH HOPE” (2009) and “The Rise of Hispanic Political Power” (2003). Reach him at joseisla3@yahoo.com.]
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