The Thin Line  
By
Rodolfo Acuña

   As I get older, I am more aware of the thin line that separates the good from the bad, the colonized from the colonizer, the soldier from the murderer, the nationalist from the chauvinist, and the true believer from the racist. The thin line separates Ariel from Caliban, Bartolome de las Casas from Hernando Cortes, Lenin from Stalin, and Mandela from Adolf Hitler. In life we are always walking that thin line, whether attempting to discern Democrats from Republicans, businessmen from exploiters, love from hate, and/or idealism from egotism. Blurring the thin lines that separate life's driving lanes is easy. The headlights of opposing traffic often momentarily blind us. The passions of the times often have the same effect as the highlights, confusing the thin lines that separate nationalism from extremism. The glare of the highlights on our eyes cause a disorientation on the crowded freeway, much the same as they do in struggle.

   Take the past mayoral race. In the passion of the fray, some crossed the line, and abused free speech and became demagogues. A very small but relevant number of supposedly Chicano Internet sites, none of them affiliated with the candidates, crossed the thin line and engaged in making anti-Semitic statements.  Because one of the candidates was Jewish, "some" Jews became "all" Jews, much in the same way that "some" Mexicans in the past became "all" Mexicans.  According to this wrongheaded logic, Jewish money was driving his campaign. This criticism of the mayoral candidate went from the rational to the irrational, as Chicano Internet writers crossed the line of activist to racist.

   They crossed the thin line between the rational and the irrational, and between legitimate criticism and stupidity. Stupid because there was a lot to criticize about the candidate who happened to be Jewish. He was and is a member of a Los Angeles corporate elite that is engineering a corporate takeover of our city and schools.  Further, his money and his connections are with non-Jewish capitalist like Richard Riordan. It is these connections and not his ethnic that distinguished his candidacy. Finally, stupid because many progressive Jews have been his harshest critics.

   In spewing the chauvinist rhetoric, the self-described nationalist engaged in a very divisive and ugly polemic. In reading the barrage of email letters that cluttered my account, I had a difficult time distinguishing between them and the VCT (Voices of Citizens Together) and its anti-immigrant trash. I had a difficult time in distinguishing the Email from the Nazi literature of the 1930s.

   The Irony is that in the past, some of these true believers have heroically struggled for justice for Chicanos and other oppressed people. However, in this instance, their rhetoric wallowed in the sewer and the true believers crossed the thin line and accused two noted Chicana leaders of being part of the "Jewish conspiracy" because they were married with Jewish males. In this instance, the thin line that separates the absurd from stupidity was crossed again and again, and the writer fell into the gutter.

   The rush of the traffic and the highlights of the opposing traffic also caused one true believer to cross the thin line that separates the macho from the homophobe. In this instance, the true believer accused a national Chicano academic organization of being anti-God because it took a strong stance against homophobia. He then turned around and threatened a respected Latino community organization for sponsoring a forum on issues confronting gay and lesbian Latinos.

   The irony is that this same person has historically condemned Spanish colonialism. So it seems odd that he is raising the moral authority of the colonial Church to support his biases. A further irony is that he has in the past courageously crusaded against racism toward undocumented immigrants, the racism of the border patrol, and the racism of police.  In one full swoop, the colonized became the colonizer. The victim of racism became the racist. The tragedy is that it hurts the movement and human rights issues that he espouses. He has sold out his own people for the sake of feeding his ego, and he crossed the line that separates the altruist from the opportunist.

   In talking about the thin line, I have intentionally avoided identifying by name those who have crossed over the thin line. There is a natural inclination to want to know names. However, in my experience, identifying true believers by name often energizes them. They feed off controversy, much the same as the serial rapist feeds off newspaper accounts of his inhumanity. The fact that they get into a debate with someone with some visibility somehow validates them.

   Those who know me, or know my history, know that I am not afraid of controversy. However, I do not want in anyway to validate racism or homophobia because they are sicknesses. As a historian I realize the consequences of not distinguishing between "some" and "all."  History also teaches me that being a Chicano or a Latino in the United States is difficult. I believe in the moral authority of our struggle. I also realize that I do not have to make others less to make myself somebody. My ego is not so fragile that I have to drag others down into the muck to climb up.  I concede that being an activist is difficult. It is always dark and the opposing headlights often make it difficult to see the lines. Yet the failure to see the thin lines has led to unnecessary factionalism within our community.

   The bottom line is that no one forces us to become activist. And, just because we are activist, does not entitle us to be irresponsible and use a movement for our own biases. This is especially true when the undocumented and the poor will suffer the consequences of our irresponsibility.