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Roy P. Benavidez, Medal of Honor Recipient - Vietnam
Medal of Honor: One Man's Journey from Poverty and Prejudice...
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By Light T. Cummins: "Spanish Observers and the American
Revolution"..
Cummins shows that Spain,
its money, diplomats, and soldiers were an integral factor of George
Washington’s final victory at Yorktown.)
Bernardo
De Galvez: Hero of the American Revolution..
Galvez, Spanish Govenor of Louisianna
.
Click here for
Book entitled, "Hispanics in America's Defense", by the
U.S. DoD; includes Mexican Americans, Hispanos, Cubans, Puerto Ricans, and
Spaniards.
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From: rsnojeda@aol.com [mailto:rsnojeda@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, March 23, 2009 8:04 AM
To: 1stbooks@neta.com
Subject: Fwd: Statehood bought with Hispanic losses
My
Dear Friends,
FYI. Our Spanish History in the Americas.
Rafael Ojeda
Subject: FW: Statehood bought with Hispanic losses
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Opinion/My-View-2009-03-20T15-58-56
Statehood bought with
Hispanic losses
By Charles Montaño |
3/21/2009 - 3/22/09
At a recent Hispanic
Historical Forum in Santa Fe,
two books, Tree of Hate by Wayne Powell and The Santa Fe Ring
by Rubin Salaz, were used to facilitate a discussion of land-grant
developments.
Tree of Hate introduces the "Black Legend," which
characterizes Hispanics — the peoples of the Iberian
Peninsula and their far-flung descendants — as intrinsically
evil, and therefore unworthy of trust, respect and humane treatment. The
legend20is rooted in historic animosities between England
and Spain,
competing powers during the Age of Empire. France
used the legend against Spain,
as well, as did the Church of England to undermine its nemesis, the Catholic
Church.
The legend took root around the world because of illiteracy and reliance on
storytellers for news. When Europe arrived in the New
World, these stories also crossed the ocean, thus setting the
stage for the Mexican-American War and later abuses. The war resulted when U.S. citizens occupied the Alamo — a mission
church-turned government building constructed during the 200-year period that
Spain
ruled over the American Southwest. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending
the war, required that Mexico
cede today's Southwest to the United States,
and that the U.S.
respect the rights and interests of those already residing there — Hispanic
and Native American alike.
The Santa Fe Ring, supported by Territorial Gov. Bradford Prince,
was an organized effort to undermine the Treaty. The Ring consisted of a
group of attorneys, judges and politicians from Washington,
D.C., to New Mexico whose mission it was to swindle
as much land as possible from Hispanics and their heirs. Thomas Benton Catron
alone amassed more than a million acres of land.
Local newspapers assisted The Ring by failing to publish notices of
land-grant challenges, or by attesting falsely that the notices had been
placed. Government officials, surveyors and judges assisted by refusing to
recognize=2 0the legality of Spanish documents. Legislators passed laws to
protect land-grabbers, and in the process, rendered the living destitute,
while at the time stealing the birthrights of their descendants. Particularly
disheartening is the fact that of the 25 territorial legislators at the time
20 were Hispanic.
In the 1956 movie Giant, Elizabeth Taylor portrays an Eastern
socialite, Leslie Benedict. Rock Hudson plays Texas ranching baron,
Jordan Benedict Jr. While researching the history of Texas,
her new home, Leslie Benedict concludes that it was stolen from Mexico — much
to her husband's chagrin. Giant went on to win several academy awards.
But the myth of the Alamo endures.
Manifest Destiny, a popular doctrine in the mid-1800s, proposed that U.S. possession of all lands between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans was God's will. Thus,
removal of lands from Hispanics and their descendants was not only justified,
it was divinely ordained. It was also patriotic because Spanish land grants
represented a roadblock to statehood.
The first Spanish settlers arrived in New
Mexico with Juan de Oñate in 1598. The Pilgrims
landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620. Hundreds of New Mexicans were hung for
treason in the aftermath the Mexican-American War; their crime — protecting their
families from an invading U.S. Army. Our ancestors were naïve, perhaps, for
believing in the benevolence of their elected representatives, or in an
occupying force whose world view differed vastly from their own.
Our ancestors relied on the land. They valued their faith, family and
community, but suddenly found themselves at the mercy of forces subliminally
influenced by the Black Legend, and by those who value personal wealth, and
the power it bestows, above all else. New
Mexico became a state in 1912. The rest, as they
say, is history.
The Española Hispanic Historical Forum will host another forum on recent
land-grant developments aided by a discussion of the two books on Saturday
(March 28) at the Misión Museum y Convento in Española from 12:45 to 4:30
p.m. Admission is free.
Charles "Chuck" Moñtano lives in Santa Fe.
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