Abandonment
or Struggle
By
Rodolfo
F. Acuña
The moral of the story, according to
Camus, is the absurdity of thinking we can learn the meaning of life.
This absurdity compels us to turn to religion for answers -- religious
faith supposedly tells us the meaning of life without us having to find the
answer for ourselves. It gives us faith that we can roll the rock up the hill
even though it keeps rolling back.
For over forty-three years I have been
pushing a rock called Chicana/o Studies, obsessed with the notion that we as a
community can push the rock to the top of the hill. Chicana/o Studies would
give a greater number of us access to knowledge that would free and enable us to
solve the contradictions of American society.
Instead of reaching the top, the rock
has become heavier and it has slipped back to where we started in 1969. Still
we believe that we can reach the top of the hill despite the size of the rock.
Truth be told, it would be easier to leave the rock behind and “make it in my
own.”
But, some of us cannot leave the rock
behind and getting to the top of the hill without the rock has no meaning.
How long can you live solely on memories of those you left behind?
Is the obsession of reaching the top
collectively an absurdity? Will those of us who are pushing the rock suffer the
fate of Sisyphus – reducing our efforts to the absurd? Isn’t having faith in
Chicana/o Studies’ ability to push the rock to the top in fact having faith in
the system?
It is difficult to accept that there
is nothing more to life than the absurd. At some point, Sisyphus has to accept
the absurdity of his faith. In this case not so much the absurdity of faith in
Chicana/o Studies, education or the community but in the system’s ability to
allow everyone to find the meaning of life because it is the absurdity that
keeps faith in the system alive.
The failure to make progress in
pushing the rock to the top has nothing to do with Chicana/o Studies, Mexican
Americans or our failure to push the rock up the hill. It is possible to make
it to the top alone but impossible to make it as a community.
Ironically, the rock ruts a path that
makes it easier for a few to reach the top; unjustly those who have abandoned
the rock benefit from the sacrifices of those pushing the rock. For them,
it matters little if they make it to the top of the hill without the rock and
less that their desertion potentially permits the rock to crash down into the
gully.
From my point of view, what gives life
meaning is the struggle to make it up the hill collectively. This is how all
progress has been made. As long as there has been humanity, people have
struggled for the truth. The answer to the meaning in life is hope for a better
and a just world. Without struggle life has no meaning.
You may ask what is so hard about
pushing the rock to the top. It would not be if everyone pushed the rock
until the end. But it is easier said than done. Society or should I say those
who control the system protect themselves by exerting social control through
popular culture, mass media, ideological divisions, religion, and fear.
Education becomes part of this “invisible hand” that makes absurdity seem
rational.
This brings us to Sisyphus’ dilemma in
Arizona. Many understand the absurdity of believing that the system will
protect the rights of Mexican Americans within the state. But they also believe
in the Constitution and in the myth of “equal protection.”
The system, however, is not
constructed to protect the rights of the poor but the privilege of those who
benefit from it. Today more than ever Supreme Court decisions such as “Citizens
United” give the rich uncontrolled access to power – making the rock even
heavier.
In Arizona, the rock is heavier
because it is a state without laws and bought public officials. The absurdity
of the struggle struck me as I learned more about the interests behind the
anti-immigrant hysteria and why it is important to the Kochs, ALEC (American
Legislative Exchange Council), the prison industry, the gun lobby and other
special interests to erase the memory of Mexican Americans left behind.
The few who have fought back are
paying the price. The teachers of the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican
American Studies program have been fire, not because they were not doing a good
job teaching students, but because they were too effective.
Making the rock even heavier -- a
million dollar civil suit has been filed by the Tea Party with the support of
Arizona Attorney General Tom Horn for defamation against TUSD Mexican American
Studies Sean Arce and José González.
Meanwhile, Arizona lawmakers are
attempting to nullify the U.S. Constitution. This is so even though Arizona
receives back $1.30 for every dollar it sends to Washington –contrast this to
California that gets back 79 cents.
The rock gets even heavier when the
weight of the Democratic Party is added. The so-called Party is too timid to
fight back and the Blue Dog Democrats cringe in fear of the Tea Party, the
Minutemen and their corporate “sponsors.”
For the past forty years, Arizona has
defied a federal court order to desegregate the TUSD and it has avoided
compliance.
Worse of all “the system” has bought
off many of those who had pushed the rock in previous struggles. Tired of
struggling they abandoned the village.
In spite of the absurdity of his
belief that he can push the rock to the top of the hill, Sisyphus is not
absurd. He realizes that if he lets go of the rock it could roll back and
crush him or even worse tumble down and wipe out the village.
Sisyphus has no other choice but to
struggle. Abandoning others pushing the rock up the hill would be abandoning
his memories, abandoning his values. These are choices we all have to make.
I was once told that I could make it
by changing my last name. I was light enough that I could pass. My first
thought was, what about my sister? My cousin? They had the nopal plastered on
their faces. Besides I loved who I was and that meant pushing the rock up the
mountain.
Please click on to the link and
support Sisyphus
Sean Arce and José González Under
Attack
No comments:
Post a Comment