OSCAR MANCINAS | ENOUGH (HOW WE'LL NEVER BE FOR THEM)

1.

[Rarámuri] Indians live at

great distances,

separated from each other and

scattered.

They prefer to live in the ravines and canyons

and in the cold,

inhospitable mountains

where they have

their dwellings.

Their native simplicity, barbarity, laziness

and sloth

incline them to this in

preference to being reduced

to living a rational, civilized

human life.

From infancy

they are

brought up to be

mountain vaga-

bonds

with no

training in either

morals

or

proper conduct.

They are worse than

the beasts because

the animals

at least

acknowledge

their subjection to

those who put them

in cages and govern them.[i]

5.

Hispanics should work

harder at assimilation.

That’s one of the things

I’ve been saying

for a long time.

They ought not to be just codified

in their communities, but

make sure that all of their

kids are learning

to speak English,

and that they feel comfortable

in the communities,

and that’s going to

take out-

reach on

both sides,

frankly.[ii]

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[i] Father Juan Ysidro Fernández de Abee, Society of Jesus, 1744, as cited in Bernard L. Fontana’s Tarahumara: Where the Night is the Day of the Moon.

[ii] Tom Brokaw, Meet The Press, 2019

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Oscar Mancinas is a Rarámuri-Chicanx writer, teacher, and PhD candidate. He was born and raised in Mesa, Arizona’s Washington-Escobedo neighborhood. His books include JAULA, ROTO: A MEX-TAPE, and TO LIVE AND DIE IN EL VALLE. He splits his time between Phoenix and Mesa.

Photograph by: Charles Elizondo