AUGUST 21, 2009 I $3.00 I OPENING THE EYES OF TEXAS SINCE 1954 TheTexa Observer

BLOOD TREASURE A Mexican shark fisherman lives to tell the tale of an illegal industry gone overboard.

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A true friend) (Were in attentent (41e don't needY0D--) TheTexas Observer AUGUST 21, 2009

BLOOD TREASURE by Kevin Sieff A Mexican shark fisherman lives to tell the tale of an illegal industry gone overboard. 8

WHITE MAN'S BURDEN by Dave Mann A Dallas suburb struggles with its sudden diversity. 14

THE FIRE THIS TIME by Forrest Wilder

A "near- miss disaster" in Corpus Christi. 18

SO LONG TO THE COMMUNIST THREAT by Dave Richards The last of Texas' New Deal liberals. 20

DIALOGUE 3 BACK OF THE BOOK 22 REVIEW 27 Another river, another goodbye. Robert Jensen's All My Bones Shake.

EDITORIAL 4 by Brad Tyer by Tom Palaima

POLITICAL INTELLIGENCE 5 CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK 24 POETRY 29 Radney Foster at Gruene Hall. by Josh Slotnick JIM HIGHTOWER 11, 17

REVIEW 25 DATELINE: MEXICO CITY 30 Eduardo Galeano's Mirrors. Mayan Mariana.

Cover photo by Daniel Lopez by Liliana Valenzuela by Melissa del Bosque

2 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 DIALOGUE THE TEXAS OBSERVER VOLUME 101, NO. 16 A Journal of Free Voices Since 1954 CLEARING THE AIR a far cry from 8o jobs at $75,000 a year. This is by far the best, most compre- If Corpus Christi sells its soul for those FOUNDING EDITOR Ronnie Dugger hensive article I've seen yet regarding the pitiful numbers, it can expect declines in CEO/PUBLISHER Carlton Carl Las Brisas issue ("Something in the Air," tourism and an end to attracting new res- EDITOR Bob Moser Aug. 7). Thank you very much for an out- idents based on quality of life. So begins a MANAGING EDITOR Brad Tyer ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dave Mann standing piece of journalism. downward spiral. Not what the Chamber INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER Melissa del Bosque Bill Reeves [of Commerce] crowd wants, certainly. STAFF WRITER Forrest Wilder Posted at texasobserver.org Sensible people call upon the Corpus ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Julia Austin Christi business community to end its CIRCULATION/OFFICE MANAGER Candace Carpenter You have done a service to the people, usual shortsightedness and set its goals a ART DIRECTOR Daniel Lievens especially the children, of this area, many little higher. Don't build Las Brisas. WEBMASTER Shane Pearson of whom attend schools within a short Alyssa Burgin POETRY EDITOR Naomi Shihab Nye radius of the proposed plant. Thank you Posted at texasobserver.org COPY EDITOR Rusty Todd EDITORIAL INTERN Josh Haney for bringing this issue before the people CONTRIBUTING WRITERS of Texas, as we need help to oppose the STEALING SOUTH TEXAS Nate Blakeslee, Robert Bryce, Emily DePrang, moneyed interests and the powerful who Some historians might say that Texas Michael Erard, James K. Galbraith, Patricia Kilday Hart, Steven G. Kellman, Robert Leleux, do not protect those liable to suffer harm is a rogue province of northern Mexico James E. McWilliams, Char Miller, Ruth Pennebaker, Kevin Sieff, Andrew Wheat from this plant's emissions. ("No Way Out," Aug. 7), while others CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Ann Smith would view the taking by military force Jana Birchum, Alan Pogue, Steve Satterwhite Posted at texasobserver.org of approximately half of Mexico in 1848 CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS Maggy Brophy, Michael Krone, Dusan Kwiatkowski, as illegal. These poor people are simply Alex Eben Meyer, Ben Sargent Poetic and powerful journalism. I hope being exploited. TEXAS DEMOCRACY FOUNDATION BOARD Lisa Blue, Melissa Jones, Susan Longley, city, county, and state officials will read it. Lisa Lebowski Jim Marston, Mary Nell Mathis, Gilberto Ocafias, Margaret Duran Posted at texasobserver.org Jesse Oliver, Bernard Rapoport, Geoffrey Rips, Geronimo Rodriguez, Sharron Rush, Kelly White, Posted at texasobserver.org Ronnie Dugger (Emeritus) HOODIES UNITE IN MEMORIAM Molly Ivins, 1944-2007, Our air, our water, and the aesthetic Thank you very much for covering Bob Eckhardt, 1913-2001, Cliff Olofson, 1931-1995, Frankie Carter Randolph, 1894-1972 pleasure of the sea are the life of our Under The Hood Café and the good The Texas Observer (ISSN oo4o-4519/USPS 541300), city. We cannot have that stolen from people who go there ("Injured Hearts, entire contents copyrighted © 2009, is published 7). biweekly except during January, March, July and us. Thanks for a great article. Injured Minds:' Aug. October when there is a 4-week break between issues (22 Emilie J. Olivares Casey Porter issues per year) by the Texas Democracy Foundation, a 5o1(c)3 nonprofit foundation, 307 W. 7th St., Austin Posted at texasobserver.org Posted at texasobserver.org TX, 78701. Telephone (512)477-0746, fax (5 12)474-1175, toll free (800)939-662o. Email observer@texasobserver. org, www.texasobserver.org . Periodicals Postage paid in Thank you so much for reporting facts. Wow! This really opened my eyes. I fig- Austin, TX, and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER It's tough to get anything but glossed-over ured the whole town of Killeen was pro- Send address changes to: The Texas Observer, 307 myths, fear-mongering and misquoted par- war because it keeps them in business. W. 7th St., Austin TX 78701. Subscriptions: 1 yr $32, 2 yr $59, 3 yr $84. Students $20. Foreign, add $13 to tial truths from the majority of the "press" Congrats to Under the Hood! domestic price. Back issues $5. Airmail, foreign, group, and bulk rates on request. Microfilm available in Corpus. These facts need to appear daily Chayo Zaldivar from University Microfilms Intl., 30o N Zeeb Rd, in local and state news venues or the CEC Posted at texasobserver.org Ann Arbor MI 48106.. INDEXES movement will be shut up and bulldozed The Texas Observer is indexed in Access: The under. Greed, greed and more greed seem BEN ONBOARD Supplementary Index to Periodicals; Texas Index; and, for the years 1954 through 1981, The Texas to rule what happens (and doesn't) in It's fantastic to have Ben Sargent pro- Observer Index. Corpus Christi. Please stay on this issue ducing cartoon commentary for the Investigative reporting is supported in part by a grant from the Open Society Institute. and see if you can get your fellow investiga- Observer ("Wackiest Governor;' Aug. 7)! Books & the Culture is funded in part by the City of tive journalists to do the same! Congrats to the Observer and Ben! Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts. Jamie Josephs Ted Siff

Posted at texasobserver.org . Posted at texasobserver.org 11.11 OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE hiev,eek t, kSaes Ilexes Cahund A,,. Crennusslon DIN:sion on the Arts Thank you for this piece, although I Thank you for Ben Sargent's lat- wish more effort had been put into inves- est cartoon. Whatever would we do tigating claims about what jobs would for vicarious erotic entertainment if it truly be provided in Corpus Christi. weren't for Republican politicians? Half-a-dozen white-collar executives and Richard Sutherland dozens of minimum-wage employees is Los Altos, Calif.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 3 EDITORIAL Gay Panic

13 ack in the good old Clearly, only the strongest of adjectives against police harassment in New York wonderful days, Texas would suffice to convey the horror of those City bars, often credited with sparking politicians knew how to three words. Imagine: being kinda, sorta the modern gay-rights movement. On insult each other with called gay! In 21st-century America! Four that auspicious night in late June, as style. (Sam Houston decades into the gay-rights movement! At folks celebrated in Fort Worth's Rainbow on legislator Thomas a time when 6o percent of weekly church- Lounge, local police and Texas Alcoholic Jefferson Green: "He has all the charac- goers favor allowing gays in the military! Beverage Commission (TAB C) agents teristics of a dog except loyalty.") But the Quel horreur, indeed. raided the joint in what they claimed was ultimate insult in today's Texas politics— a routine liquor-license inspection. That the call-out to end all call-outs—is a mere The ultimate insult in stretched the definition of "routine" just three-letter affair that wasn't even one of today's Texas politics a tad: Not only were seven arrests made, George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words. but one patron, Chad Gibson, landed in We learned this at the tip end of July, is a mere three-letter intensive care with a severe head injury right around the time that Sen. Kay Bailey affair that wasn't even he suffered while being detained. (Police Hutchison announced that she would, at initially reported that he'd been drunk long last, challenge Gov. Rick Perry in one of George Carlin's and fallen down during the arrest, but next March's primary. Clicking around Seven Dirty Words. the truth later emerged.) her Web site, standbykay.com, Austin The raid was rotten enough. Some local American-Statesman reporter Gardner officials' reactions were worse. Fort Worth Selby found some 2,200 hidden search Granted, the campaigns were obliged Police Chief Jeff Halstead seconded officers' phrases—a not-uncommon trick used by to say something about the Statesman's gay-panic excuse: Patrons, Halstead said, underhanded Web geeks to drive traffic discovery. But both went above and had stirred up trouble by making sexual to a site. Google frowns on this practice, beyond, seizing on a golden opportunity advances on the police. (There's no bigger because it can skew search results and to gay-bash. And they picked one hell of turn-on than being raided, you know.) The send people to sites that aren't directly a time to do it. cops, Halstead said, had been "touched and relevant to what they've asked for. The site In recent months, a series of anti-gay advanced in certain ways:' which was, of was quickly shut down. But that wasn't incidents has made queer Texans look course, "offensive." For his part, Mayor what made headlines around the state. over their shoulders with more wariness Mike Moncrief laid blame on the bar for What caused a kerfuffle was a single one than usual. In March, three men burst into the unfortunate timing. "It might have been of those thousands of embedded word Robert's Lafitte, a gay bar on Galveston helpful if the owner had informed [officers] combinations: "rick perry gay." Island, and hurled epithets and rocks— that this was more than just another day of Given the fact that typing those words including a four-pound doorstop—at the week:' Moncrief said. into your Google search box produces patrons, sending a 57-year-old Navy vet- These ugly episodes might end up 523,000 results, this really shouldn't have eran to the emergency room and injur- serving some salutary purposes. Gay come as a terrific shock. Gov. Perry, bless ing another man. In June, two men were activists have been galvanized, decent his soul, has been the subject of unproven booted out of Chico's Tacos in El Paso straight folks have been duly embar- homo-rumors for years. But from the way for the offense of kissing while ordering. rassed, and some overdue discussions both sides reacted, you'd have thought the When the smoochers and their three com- have broken out in chat forums and city Hutchison campaign—which blamed panions called police to complain, an offi- council chambers. But far too often, what the wayward phrase on a Washington- cer responded—and allegedly told them lingers in the public brain from stories like based firm it hired to build the site—had that it was illegal for same-sexers to kiss these are the adjectives and the images— accused Perry of running a child sex ring in public. This was surprising news, since the "repugnance," the "offensiveness," or voting for Barack Obama. El Paso has an ordinance against discrim- the desperate queers groping arresting "Offensive" is what Hutchison spokes- ination on the basis of sexual orientation officers. Plus the message that two of our person Jeff Sadosky called this hint of a "by businesses open to the public." (A state's most powerful politicians appear hint of a suggestion that a candidate for similar incident last December resulted to agree with the El Paso officer and the governor might be one of those. Which in the PDA-related arrest of two lesbians Rainbow Lounge-raiders that there's noth- was way too mild for Perry's spokesperson, at a San Antonio mall.) ing more low-down and despicable than Mark Miner, who told the Statesman it Then came Stonewall Day: the 40th being a gay person. Or even being kinda, was "repugnant and slanderous." anniversary of the famous protests sorta, labeled as one. —Bob Moser

4 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 POLITICAL INT, WOE

illustration by Alex Eben Meyer

event, driving away in an SUV as protesters in the Doggett camp Subduing the Mob booed him. Outside the clinic, about 200 people stuck around for Doggett: a mix of local Democrats, progressive activists, "tea LLOYD DOGGETT'S SECOND HEALTH-CARE TOWN party" types, Ron Paul libertarians, and a smattering of fans of HALL WAS A WHOLE DIFFERENT STORY Austin radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. `After what happened last Saturday, I figured Lloyd needed some n the first Saturday in August, right-wing help:' said Kent Johnson, who carried a sign reading, "Insurance protesters overran a meeting on health- Costs Doubled Under Bush/The Right Did Nothing." Of the care held by U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett at protesters who attempted a repeat of the supermarket uprising, an Austin supermarket. The "mob," as the Johnson said, "They tried, but they were outnumbered." Austin Democrat called it, wasn't in the Doggett supporters fanned out in front of the speaker's mood for dialogue. They drowned everyone podium so they could cheer him and others who spoke for else0 out with chants of "Just Say No." Some carried signs link- health-care reform. When the "anti" crowd tried to drown ing health-care reform to Nazism. One brought a picture of a out Doggett with cries of "socialism" and "just say no:' self- tombstone with Doggett's name on it. The congressman was appointed enforcers pushed back with forceful shushes. harangued all the way to his car. Thirty-five-year-old George True used a bullhorn to tease The ugly incident was one of many across the nation in the anti-reformers. He said he learned the tactic as an activist August. The mob scenes were organized and promoted, at in Washington, D.C. "Everyone's scared of public speaking, least in part, by insurance company-funded 'Astroturf" groups so you mock them," he said. eager to shout down mostly Democratic members of Congress The format helped defuse tension. Each side took turns ask- at town hall events. Some have canceled future discussions, cit- ing Doggett questions over a loudspeaker. ing safety concerns. Meanwhile, reform advocates fear that a A Travis County Republican precinct chair asked about the sustained right-wing uprising during the August recess could alleged $1.6 trillion price tag of one version of the legislation. derail health-care legislation in Congress. Another woman said she's "just scared." Doggett vowed not to be deterred. A week after the supermar- The health-care reform crowd brought the debate back to ket incident, he held another town hall outside CommUnityCare, Earth. One man said he had run through three insurance poli- a not-for-profit health-care clinic that serves a low-income, cies for his sick wife in three years as premiums soared 67 per- largely minority clientele. Doggett's second try was spirited cent. Even the militia types in the back, waving a "Come and but civil, with reformers outnumbering the Just-Say-No crowd Take It" flag, found that hard to jeer. about 2-to-i and refusing to be shouted down. One man asked the congressman about the "ObamaCare" At the clinic's invitation, Doggett and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, a rumors, such as the one about euthanizing seniors. "There are Texas Republican who has warned that President Barack Obama's many people in this country who have died because they don't reform might lead to a "single-payer, Washington-run system," have health insurance," Doggett said. He called the rumors attended a press event before the town hall. Cornyn left after the "absolute nonsense."

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 5 Single-payer advocates, who've dogged lawmakers at public in platform-rich Texas, some environmental groups are turning events for years but received scant press attention, also made to other fights—like opposing drilling near the coasts of Florida their mark. Doggett said he was open to a single-payer sys- and Alaska, which compared with Texas have been left largely tem, but that Obama had taken that option off the table from untouched. the outset. The Center for Biological Diversity, one of the groups that At the end, Doggett seemed pleased. "I think we've had a successfully sued the Bush administration to stop expansion reasonable dialogue this morning," he said. He walked to his of offshore drilling, says it's concerned about the Gulf's health, car with only his aides in tow. —Forrest Wilder but is focused on saving Alaska. "Decisions were already made decades ago about the Gulf, and it already has significant gas and oil infrastructure," says Bill Snape, senior counsel with the Big Oil Gulps More Gulf center. He says his group and others are "drawing a line in the snow on Alaska when it comes to climate change." Others are ...AND NOBODY NOTICES focused on environmentally fragile areas off the coast of Florida that would see more drilling under an energy bill now in the n Aug. 19, after the Observer went to press, rep- Senate. resentatives from some of the world's biggest oil "Big Oil is never satisfied:' Savitz says. "They keep asking for companies were set to gather in New Orleans to more of the Gulf to drill, and now they are back for another bite bid on oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The of the apple." —Melissa del Bosque Obama0 administration is auctioning i8 million acres of oil and gas tracts, some just nine miles from the Texas shore. For results of the Aug. 17 oil-lease auction, see Melissa del Bosque's If all the leases were snatched up, some 3,400 new oil wells "La Linea" at texasobserver.org. could be added to the 3,800 wells already active in the Gulf. That won't happen; industry analysts say only the most poten- tially productive leases will be bid on. "With the economy and Blaming the Whistleblowers prices on oil being down, we will probably see less money and less bids:' says Andy Radford, a senior policy analyst with the NURSES INDICTED FOR American Petroleum Institute. SNITCHING ON A DOCTOR Even so, with environmentalists viewing the Gulf as already under siege, the auction is unwelcome to many. Expanded drill- n early April, two nurses in a far West Texas town decided ing will hasten climate change and further pollute the Gulf, says they'd had enough of allegedly unethical practices by a doc- Jackie Savitz of the nonprofit environmental group Oceana. She tor at their county hospital. They sent a letter to the Texas cites studies showing that drilling for natural gas and oil dumps I Medical Board, the state agency that oversees physicians, massive amounts of untreated mud into ocean water, and that outlining the doctor's questionable activities and requesting an oil spills kill marine mammals and fish. She cites a spill off the investigation. Louisiana coast in late July, when more than 58,000 gallons of Four months later, the two nurses find themselves on trial, oil oozed into the Gulf from an underwater pipeline owned by facing criminal indictments in state court. It's one of the most Royal Dutch Shell PLC. unusual, and suspicious, prosecutions you'll ever see. So far, oil companies are winning the debate over drilling in The two whistleblowers, Anne Mitchell and Vicki Galle, the Gulf. Rather than organize against more offshore platforms worked at Winkler County Memorial Hospital in Kermit, a town of 5,000 near the New Mexico state line. Their main alle- gation is that Dr. Rolando Arafiles encouraged patients to buy herbal medicine he sold through a side business. KOOP RADIO After the medical board told Arafiles he might be under investigation, the doctor complained about the nurses 91.7 FM to Winkler County Sheriff Robert Roberts, who began an inquiry. The sheriff is a friend and former patient of Arafiles, according to testimony at a preliminary court hearing in early The Voice of the August. They were once in business together—selling herbal medicine. COMMUNITY The district attorney indicted the nurses for violating an obscure law barring the use of government information that's not public for nongovernmental purposes. Because the nurses www.koop.org worked at a public hospital, prosecutors allege, the patient names were government information. By disclosing the names to the medical board, they say, the nurses used the information for a "nongovernmental" purpose.

6 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 Mitchell, who had been a registered nurse for more than 20 The facility, run by the private, for-profit prison firm years, and Galle, also an experienced nurse, were fired. Corrections Corporation of America, became a controversial The folks at the Texas Medical Board have never seen any- symbol of the crackdown on immigrant families during the thing like it. Mari Robinson, the agency's executive director, George W. Bush administration. In 2006, Bush ended the gov- wouldn't comment specifically on the Arafiles case, but said ernment's "catch and release" program allowing families to go the board receives roughly 6,000 complaints a year, and that free, then report to court for immigration hearings. Under the they typically include patient names. (The board uses the infor- Bush policy, children were imprisoned in detention facilities mation for investigations only and is forbidden from making with their parents until cases could be heard. In some instances, them public.) She did note that complaints to medical oversight families lived in Hutto for more than a year. agencies are specifically exempted from the privacy provisions In 2007, conditions were so dire in the 512-bed prison that in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability the ACLU and University of Texas School of Law Immigration Act. She said providing information to the Texas board, a gov- Clinic filed suit on behalf of the children held there. During ernment agency, is not a nongovernmental action. a tour, lawyers and advocates found children wearing orange Attorneys for Mitchell and Galle are trying to quash the prison uniforms. They found that guards had threatened to indictments. A state district judge is considering their pretrial separate children from their parents as a disciplinary mea- motion to dismiss the case, and is expected to rule in the next sure. Children had been forced into detention cells at least few weeks. 12 hours a day, and they received only one hour a day of Meanwhile, nurse advocacy groups have jumped on the schooling. case as an example of why nurses need greater whistleblower The ACLU lawsuit led to the release of several children and protections. A bill that would have prevented Mitchell's and improved living conditions at Hutto, but the settlement was set Galle's firings died in the state Legislature this spring. "Part of to expire on Aug. 29. Advocates feared that conditions at the our mission is to protect and serve," said Austin nurse Gwen facility would decline again without the suit's mandates. Agbatekwe, who traveled to Kermit for the recent court hear- "We were just three weeks from the settlement expiring," ing on behalf of the National Nurses Organizing Committee. Gupta said. "And we were extremely concerned for the families "If we report something, we should not be afraid of what could inside the facility" happen. We're not blowing the whistle for nothing." Gupta is celebrating the recent decision, but she is also among —Dave Mann those disappointed that the Obama administration has not ended family detention altogether. Gillian Brigham, a spokesperson with Immigration and Family Unfriendly Customs Enforcement, said the agency will continue to detain families but look at "alternatives to facilities like Hutto." A CONTROVERSIAL DETENTION CENTER The agency is working on a plan to move 127 men, women and RELEASES IMMIGRANT FAMILIES children from Hutto to Berks Family Shelter Care Facility, an 84- bed former nursing home in Leesport, Penn. The Pennsylvania anita Gupta, a lawyer with the American Civil facility is the only other family detention center in the nation. Liberties Union, took a moment from her The Hutto facility will become an all-femail detention center. schedule on Aug. 6 to savor the Department of Brigham would not explain why Berks, run by another pri- Homeland Security decision to end immigrant vate, for-profit company, might be a better place for families. V Activist Jay Johnson-Castro, who helped organize the families' detention at the T. Don Hutto Family Detention facility in Taylor. first protest against imprisonment of children at Hutto in "I am elated," said Gupta, who won a legal case in 2007 2006, said he's not doing cartwheels yet over Hutto's clos- forcing Homeland Security to improve "deplorable" living ing. "Children are still being held in detention," he said. "It's conditions at the facility. "It was a shame Hutto ever opened demented thinking to imprison a child for profit:' in the first place," she said, "and its closure is long overdue:' —Melissa del Bosque

YOU DON'T SAY: "In Congress, we have to multi-task." —Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, explaining her use of a cell phone while constituents asked questions at a town hall meeting in Houston.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 7 Fishermen on Playa Bagdad prepare a gillnet used to catch sharks. Blood Treasure A Mexican shark fisherman lives to tell the tale of an illegal industry gone overboard. by Kevin Sieff

n the morning of March io, Andres other fishermen and the sharks. Hernandez crawled ashore on South Padre Around ii a.m., Hernandez stumbled toward the island's Island, spitting saltwater and blood onto the high-rises, squinting at crowds of spring-breakers. He needed sand. His clothes were soaked, torn, falling to tell someone that his friends were still lost at sea, that he off his slim frame. He tried to get the atten- desperately needed help. Hernandez also feared he would have tion of tourists sunbathing on the beach, but to answer a question that could complicate everything: What they0 ignored him. was he doing in American waters? "They thought I was drunk," he recalls. "They looked the Hernandez lives on Playa Bagdad, a beach just south of the other way." U.S.-Mexico border, where 25-foot fishing boats called lanchas Hernandez, 43, had swum for ii hours after his small fish- and ramshackle huts line the shore. In front of his one-room ing boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico around midnight. In shanty, dogs pick at discarded shark carcasses. A few hours the darkness, he and two other fishermen flailed amongst their before it sank, Hernandez's lancha was parked here, loaded with catch: more than loo bloodied sharks, some still struggling for more than 800 yards of fishing line. life. "I was sure we were going to be eaten," Hernandez says. Fifteen miles of farmland separate the beach from Matamoros, He paddled frantically, not sure if he was moving closer to the city of 1.2 million across the border from Brownsville, and land or farther out to sea. Within minutes, he'd lost sight of the South Padre Island, where Hernandez washed up. Despite its

8 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 Fistful of Dollars: A fisherman holds sha rk fins destined jiir Asia. photo by Muriel Lopez

proximity to the United States and to northern Mexico's indus- soup sells for as much as sioo. The resulting surge in shark fish- trial sprawl, Playa Bagdad has no electricity, no running water, ing happened thousands of miles away, where the Rio Grande and no regulatory enforcement. You can catch, kill, and sell meets the Gulf of Mexico. anything that lands in your hull—a scourge to the few environ- "Where there are sharks, we make money:' Hernandez says. mentalists who know the beach exists. "When the nets are empty, we have nothing" "They're fishing in a prime habitat for juvenile sandbar and The opportunity attracts itinerants and career fishermen blacktip sharks:' says Karyl Brewster-Geisz, a biologist with the from all over Mexico. Most come for the sharks and the reli- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who pro- able income. Others, like Andres Hernandez, have more com- duced a 15-page report on illegal shark fishing along the U.S.- plicated stories. Mexico border in 2005. "And unlike the U.S., where permits are issued for particular species," she says, fishermen in Playa ernandez became a shark fisherman by accident. Bagdad "take whatever they can get" Six years later, he's not sure how it happened—how Scientists say a growing trade in shark fins is depleting shark he landed on a beach 1,200 miles from home, slic- populations around the globe and disrupting ecosystems long H ing fins off some of the Gulfs largest hammerheads dependent on the predator's presence. On the Texas-Mexico and blacktips. border, shark fishing threatens more than the environment. When he left Chiapas, Mexico, in the early 199os, Hernandez "This is our sovereignty we're trying to protect:' says Lt. Mickey planned to score a construction job in Texas or California. Lalor, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard's South Padre There was money across the border, enough to send a check Island station. "These are our resources. These are our waters" home every month, maybe buy a house or two in Chiapas. He In the last decade, the Coast Guard has devoted a growing rode for three weeks atop the tren de muerte, or train of death, effort, now 6o officers strong, to deterring illegal shark fishing. which daring immigrants take from southern Mexico to the That hasn't stopped men from making the dangerous trip north border, and was apprehended by the U.S. Border Patrol. He in search of sharks. tried again and again to cross the border—through farms, under Playa Bagdad's fishermen, like Hernandez, earn about $15 a international bridges—each time he was detained and sent back day hauling in sharks that will eventually feed businesspeople in across the Rio Grande. Hong Kong and Beijing. In large Asian cities, a bowl of shark fin Returning to Chiapas would have been shameful, Hernandez

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 9 Fishermen leave Playa Bagdad in the early evening and fish at night, when it's easiest to cross the border. photo by Kevin Sieff

says. With a second-grade education, he found only the occa- Hernandez climbed into his boat, a 25-foot, open-top skiff sional job picking okra in Matamoros. He was in his late 3os called Relampago, or Lightning, with a yellow bolt emblazoned then, slightly hunched, almost frail-looking except for his cal- on its side. Two crewmates joined him. The three had been fish- loused hands. A friend told him there would be jobs on Playa ing together for more than a year. Hernandez knew the others Bagdad. only by their nicknames: El Pelon, for the particularly slick crew After a few weeks on the beach, Hernandez discovered his cut he once gave himself, and La Cherna, for his resemblance friend was right. The demand for shark fishermen is unceas- to a round, bottom-dwelling fish. ing. The job is so dangerous and so uncomfortable that few are A rusty tractor launched Relampago into the surf. The willing to do it. When someone drowns or loses a limb to a crew used wooden pylons to propel themselves through the shark, someone has to replace him. About io of Playa Bagdad's shallows before tugging the cord of a io-year-old motor and fishermen drowned in 2008. speeding east through the Gulf. Thirty minutes later, they Hernandez learned these dangers firsthand as he flailed for crossed the border. life, surrounded by the sharks that had spilled from his over- At the intersection of the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande, turned boat. the fishermen saw no Border Patrol, no buoys, no flags along the river. In the distance, Hernandez could barely make out the pale n March io, as usual, Hernandez's workday began lighthouse south of the Rio Grande—the only indication that at 5 p.m. He said goodbye to his girlfriend, Maria the lancha had entered American waters. This night, Hernandez Elena, a quiet woman 20 years his elder. He walked says they drifted north unintentionally, after a strong current 0 out of their makeshift but full of clothes and old cof- overwhelmed the motor. But it's typically no accident when fee cans. The beach came to life just after sunset, when about Playa Bagdad's fishermen cross the border. It's to hunt sharks. ioo fishermen began preparing their lanchas for io-hour trips into the Gulf. Next to the boats, decaying signs advertised p Jaya Bagdad's fishermen have concocted all kinds restaurants and bars: La Novia del Mar, Disco Coco Loco, La of explanations for the productivity of American Bamba. The former seaside haunts had been destroyed by hur- waters. They credit the wind and the tides. They ricanes and tropical storms years ago. The beach belonged to point to the reefs where fish are the most dense. At shark fishermen. the core of their reasoning, most fishermen claim that U.S.

10 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 environmental regulations have preserved the shark population HIGHTOWER north of the border. "We're poor Mexicans. We catch anything we can sell," Hernandez says. "And after a while, we caught The Gooberhead Sessions everything in Mexico. With American regulations, there are still sharks to catch on the other side." Time for another Gooberhead Award, presented Jose Leonardo Castillo-Geniz, a leading shark biologist at the periodically to those in the news who've got their tongues National Fisheries Institute of Mexico, studied the Playa Bagdad going 100 miles per hour, but forgot to put their brains in fishermen over several years in the 199os. They came to know gear. Castillo-Geniz well, sometimes beckoning to him from across Today's Goober is Pete Sessions, a run-of-the-mill the beach. "Hey biologist:' they would yell, pointing to a freshly Republican Congress critter from Dallas. Like many of caught pile of sharks, "these sharks are gringos:' his GOP colleagues, Pete has been on his ethical high Castillo-Geniz never established why fishermen took great horse this year, pointing a finger of shame at the new risks to pursue American sharks—the gringos—across the Democratic majority for letting special-interest earmarks border. "Maybe they know about nursing areas where adults slip into appropriations bills. On his Web site, Sessions mate and give birth:' he says. "Or maybe the competition for piously posits that these backroom tax-dollar giveaways fishery grounds obligate some fishermen to catch sharks in U.S. are "a symbol of a broken Washington." waters:' Pete should know, because he's an earmarker himself. The biologist's concern was not where the sharks were caught, Last year, he quietly moved $1.6 million out of our public but how lack of oversight had led to overfishing of several eco- treasury into the hands of Jim Ferguson & Associates for nomically and culturally important shark species. If regulations research on–get this–dirigibles. aren't implemented in Mexican fisheries, particularly along the The Ferguson firm is a father-son duo that admits to border, Castillo-Geniz fears those populations could collapse. having no background whatsoever in dirigibles, aviation, On Playa Bagdad, he documented a decrease in catch sizes and engineering, or government contracting. They're just a high number of infants and pregnant females being caught "business people," they say. Is Congressman Pete involved commercially—clear signs that the fishery isn't sustainable. because this is a Dallas project? No, the Fergusons are There's a painful irony in the exhaustive pursuit of sharks in based in Chicago. Sessions did use a Dallas address for his Mexico—where the Olmecs and Aztecs once consecrated the earmark, but that turned out to be the home address of a fish. Later, in the 19th and loth centuries, sharks were one of Ferguson friend. the country's cheapest sources of animal protein, making it a The connection to Sessions is that the younger Ferguson staple in poor, coastal communities. In the 21st century, Asian is a friend, and now a client, of a Washington lobbyist and demand for shark fin soup is driving the price of the fish higher former Sessions aide. and drawing more fishermen into the trade. The real symbol of broken Washington is the cynical When Castillo-Geniz published his report in 1998, he and hypocrisy of Gooberheads like Sessions. other biologists at the National Fisheries Institute used it to lobby for increased regulations of Mexico's artisanal fisheries. check by a healthy shark population—consumed enough bay His efforts to create Normas Oficiales Mexicanas have repeat- scallops to close a loo-year-old fishery off the coast of North edly failed, he says, because of pressure from the commercial Carolina. fishing industry on the country's politicians. The situation is In the Gulf, Peterson worries, the same phenomenon might urgent, Castillo-Geniz says: If Mexico doesn't get stricter with be accelerating. "When you have fishermen who are entirely shark fishermen, and if the fishermen continue to cast their nets dependent on shark fishing, so that there are no other options across the border, the Gulf's biodiversity could be threatened. for you, that becomes a significant issue he says. In 2007, Science magazine published a report arguing that overfishing large sharks had destroyed native species in the ome time around midnight, the three men on Atlantic. The authors, five marine biologists, reported that typi- Hernandez's lancha tossed Boo yards of fishing line cal prey of hammerheads, duskies and other sharks—like the with dozens of dangling hooks over the boat's rails. cownose ray—are thriving with fewer predators in the water. In In American waters, the key is to unload quickly, set upS the line in known avenues for migratory sharks, and keep turn, those animals are destroying mollusk populations along the Eastern Seaboard. Scientists call the phenomenon a "trophic an eye out for U.S. Coast Guard boats. cascade"—one likely to be repeated in the Gulf. The sharks swam by in schools, groups of io or 15 at a time, "The decline of the great sharks matters to the ocean's ecosys- causing explosions of whitewater. The men waited in darkness tems:' says Charles Peterson, one of the Science report's authors for the catch to collect. In less than an hour, the seas had grown and a professor of marine biology at the University of North rougher. Swells buffeted the tiny skiff as the fishermen filled the Carolina at Chapel Hill. "In this case, overfishing of these sharks hull with sharks. The temperature dropped. The wind rose to a led to the loss of a fishery for shellfish and the loss of services howl, knocking the three men off balance. But the sharks kept that industry provided to fishermen and customers." During a coming, so the crew agreed to wait it out. single month, Peterson said, cownose rays—no longer kept in The catch was one of the biggest Hernandez had seen. He

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 11 tried to guess how many kilos they'd caught. Six hundred? Seven The helicopter found the lancha first. It was overturned, sur- hundred? There were blacktips, hammerheads and sandbar rounded by floating debris. La Cherna was holding onto the sharks, almost all of them cazones, or juveniles, about 2 feet boat, waving with one hand at the pilot. The helicopter dropped long. The crew would be paid 25 cents for every pound of shark a harness and lifted him out of the Gulf. Officers took him meat and $15 for every pound of fin. to the Coast Guard station, administered first aid, and asked As he loaded the lancha, Hernandez was seeing dollar signs. about the third fisherman, El Pelon. Then he noticed the hull sinking, saw the boat start taking on "He told us the other survivor was within shouting distance water. of him:' Lalor says. "So that really concentrated our efforts:' It was too late to ditch fish or gear. Water was coming from In his office at the foot of South Padre Island's 25-story high- all sides, pouring over the lancha's rails. A few minutes later, the rises, Lalor looked at a map of the Gulf on the wall, calculating three fishermen were swimming, trying to grab anything that where the current might have taken the missing fisherman. would keep them afloat. The boat carried no rafts, no signal Coast Guard officers swept the area for almost 36 hours. When flares, and only one life preserver. the sun set on the second day, Lalor called off the search for El Hernandez drifted from the sinking lancha, staring up at the Pelon. The station went back to its normal routine, running moon to gauge where land might be. He paddled slowly west morning patrol missions to the border. until he saw what looked like a lifesaver ring. He reached for it, threw it over his head, and started his ii-hour swim. N of long after he swam ashore, the Border Patrol dropped Hernandez off at the Brownsville- t. Mickey Lalor, the Coast Guard commander, Matamoros international bridge. That's always got the call around noon, after Hernandez was been the government's policy: Confiscate the equip- found by a Border Patrol agent. "Capsized lancha. ment and the catch (if they haven't been destroyed) and send L Six miles out." the fishermen back across the border. For now, there's no jail Lalor was used to getting calls about Mexican lanchas. At sentence and no fine for Mexican nationals who fish illegally least twice a week his men chase down illegal fishermen at 30 in American waters. or 4o knots, often blasting the outboard motor with a shotgun Still, the costs are high for fishermen like Hernandez. Not or firing pepper balls at the motors of fleeing boats. long after returning to Playa Bagdad, he heard news that the Mexican shark fishermen catch more than 55,000 sharks in Coast Guard had called off the search for El Pelon. American waters annually, according to an estimate by NOAA. It was a Sunday. He walked to Playa Bagdad's plywood Keeping them south of the border has become the focus of the church. island's station. Hernandez couldn't will himself back into a boat, which left Illegal shark fishing wasn't always a problem on the Texas- him unemployed and with plenty of time to pray. "I hope my Mexico border. Mexico's first shark fisheries, founded in the friend is alive," he recalls saying. "I hope he's across the border, 189os, were on the country's Pacific coast. Even then, most of the starting a new life for himself." catch was transported to Asia. But in the 19705, as demand for Inside the church, Pastor Rafael Garcia leaned on a row of shark fins grew, Playa Bagdad's fishery began to grow. Bagdad teal-blue pews, preparing to lead the Sunday service. Garcia, became one of the country's most reliable sources of sharks. who divides his time between preaching and shark fishing, Lalor had coordinated more apprehensions than he could had done this several times in the last year—delivered a count. But this was the first time he had been called to save a sermon while one of the community's fishermen was lost at lancha's crew, the first time he'd be trying to do shark fishermen sea. "It's a hard life we have here," the pastor said. "So much a favor. He sent three boats—the same ones used for high-speed tragedy." chases—to search for Hernandez's friends. The Coast Guard's Garcia mentioned El Pelon briefly and obliquely, asking his plane and helicopter left Corpus Christi to scan the Gulf from small congregation for prayers. above. Then he moved on to the scripture. Hernandez, who can't read, opened his Bible and tried to follow along. Through the church's open windows, he saw the Gulf ebb quietly. For weeks, Hernandez waited for news of El Pelon. Hearing Sala Hama nothing, he started to hope his friend had somehow survived. International Headquarters Then he got a call from someone down the beach. A body had it Come Visit us for LUNCH! In addition to our organic washed ashore across the border. The authorities needed some- coffee, pizzas, empanadas, pastries and pies, we now prepare made to order sandwiches, salads, one to see if it was El Pelon. and even black bean gazpacho. When Hernandez met the group of uniformed men at the Matamoros international bridge, there was no body, only a pho-

3601 S. Congress off E Alpine tograph. The face in the photo was missing its eyeballs. It barely Penn Field - under the water tower looked human. The torso was bloated and sunburnt. Hernandez (512)707-9637 www.rutamaya.net c'nc ■, our sda for mon!nli ca efulr recognized El Pelon's torn clothing, including a piece of orange rain gear.

12 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 The catch. photo by Daniel Lopez

"Yeah," he told the man holding the photo. "That's him:' Hernandez asks, raising his voice at no one. No one knew where El Pelon was from—as with many of Fifty yards from his hut, a lancha arrives with a boatload of Playa Bagdad's fishermen. No one knew if he had family back sharks. Fishermen pull out their machetes. They slice off the home, wherever home was. Local authorities buried him in an sharks' fins and pile the bodies in a truck filled with ice. One unmarked grave. fisherman slips a few peso bills into his pocket. Hernandez "It didn't seem right," Hernandez says. "But what could checks out the scene. He can't be sure which side of the border we do?" the sharks came from. He doesn't really care. La Cherna wasn't around to help. Hernandez's other shipmate He sizes up the catch, watches the fishermen take the last had been apprehended in American waters a week after being shark out of the lancha. Hernandez shakes his head. rescued by the Coast Guard. "Before we capsized," he says, "we had even more sharks Of the three crewmen, Hernandez is the only one still on than that:' ■ Playa Bagdad. He's not sure if he's ready to fish again, not even sure he wants to live so close to the ocean after seeing what it Kevin Sieff is an Observer contributing writer based in did to El Pelon. Washington, D.C. See his and photographer Daniel Lopez's audio "But what else can I do? What else am I qualified to do?" slide show on Mexican shark fishing at texasobserver.org.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 13 WHITE MAN'S BURDEN A Dallas suburb struggles with its sudden diversity. By Dave Mann

he city of Irving, Texas, has long been any outsider—to win elected office, and the city has rebuffed known as a genteel white suburb—fed first numerous attempts to alter the system. by white flight from nearby Dallas and later That impasse may be ending, thanks largely to a 68-year-old, by the arrival of headquarters for interna- retired aircraft mechanic named Manny Benavidez. A longtime tional corporations such as Exxon Mobil Irving resident, Benavidez has twice run for the school board Corp. It's also known as the home of the and lost. In Irving, city officials are elected through at-large, DallasMI Cowboys. Driving into Irving from the east, you're citywide voting. Though each council and school board mem- greeted by the town's most recognizable building: white- ber represents a certain section of town, all are elected citywide. domed Texas Stadium, with its iconic hole in the roof under Many large cities in Texas and across the country allow voters which the Cowboys played home in each district to elect their repre- games for 37 years. sentatives. Single-member districts But Irving is changing fast. Anglos make up have proved successful as a way The Cowboys have decamped for African-American and Latino to Arlington-3o minutes to the just 35 percent of neighborhoods to elect minority southwest—where they'll play candidates. Not in Irving, though, in a new stadium this fall. Texas Irving's population, at least not yet. Stadium will be demolished. More Benavidez, along with many significantly, Irving—like many but the mayor and Latino community leaders, believes suburbs, and most of Texas for the voting system is unfair. So he that matter—is becoming much all eight City Council found a bulldog Dallas attorney less white. According to the lat- and, in November 2007, sued Irving est Census Bureau figures, in 2007 members are white. in federal court, claiming that the Latinos made up about 41 percent city's at-large voting system is of Irving's population. discriminatory and violates the Latino families have been moving to Irving for the same rea- 1965 Voting Rights Act. sons as Anglos: affordable housing, quality of life, low crime, On July 15, a federal district judge in Dallas agreed with good schools. The city's makeup has changed at a stunning pace. Benavidez, ruling that Irving's system had illegally barred In the 1980 census, Irving was 93-percent white. Latinos are minorities from winning city elections. The court forbade the now the biggest group, and Anglos the minority. Many expect city from holding another City Council election until it insti- the 2010 census to put the Latino population at more than 50 tutes single-member districts. percent. "The voting system was obviously pernicious," says Bill You don't need the census figures to see Irving's changing Brewer, the Dallas attorney who argued Benavidez's case. "It demographics. Just wander around town. Many restaurant signs was designed to exclude minorities from local government." and billboards are in Spanish. Even at the Barnes & Noble inside Whether or not it was designed to keep minorities out of the Irving Mall—a place you might expect to find teeming with power, there's no denying that has been the effect. Only one white folks—there is a large section of Spanish books. At the African-American has ever served on the Irving City Council, Starbucks across the street, customers on a recent Friday morn- though the city of more than 200,000 is about 12 percent ing were ordering lattes en Espanol. African-American. One former council member was half- Yet one place in Irving remains unchanged—city hall. Anglos Latino, though he didn't have a Latino name and didn't identify make up 35 percent of the population, but the mayor and all with that community. The seven-member school board histori- eight City Council members are white. cally has been all-white, although it's had slightly more diversity Those officials, and the sliver of the population that elects than the council: Two African-Americans were elected recently. them, are clinging to power. The city has tried to stem the influx No Latinos currently serve on the school board. of Latinos with tough-on-the-poor housing policies and zero- Some are holding on to the status quo. The City Council voted tolerance of undocumented immigrants. The white elite has in early August to appeal the federal court order to the Fifth maintained control with an election system that makes it nearly Circuit Court of Appeals, even as city leaders negotiate with impossible for a Latino or African-American candidate—or Brewer to settle the lawsuit and compromise on some form

14 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 of single-member district system. (The key point of dispute: Brewer and Benavidez want the entire City Council elected by districts; some city leaders, including the mayor, have proposed hybrid plans featuring from three to five seats from single- member districts, with the rest elected at-large.) Meanwhile, the city is seeking to reverse the court-ordered ban on elections so that Irving can hold campaigns while it appeals the lower- court ruling and negotiates with the plaintiffs. Whether Irving agrees to single-member districts or is dragged to them by the courts will set a precedent for other cities across Texas and the Southwest. As Texas becomes a majority-Latino state, many formerly white suburbs—places like The Woodlands, SugarLand, Plano, Farmers Branch—are becoming increasingly diverse. Like Irving, those cities will have to decide how or whether to bring minority leaders into a historically white power structure. The issue will become espe- cially urgent after the 2010 census reveals how many Latinos

live in these places. Running on an anti-immigration platform, Tom Spink bested photo by Dave Mann Latino civil rights activists are already talking about the Irving's first and only City Council member with Latino roots. Irving case as a road map for other suburbs to adopt single- golden retrievers. Immigration is no longer his top issue. He member districts. If Irving, despite its resistance, is forced to says Irving has made huge progress on that front. In 2007, after accept them, other communities might institute them volun- Spink's election, the city instituted one the nation's toughest tarily rather than endure a long court battle. immigration policies. Undocumented individuals detained by "Irving is in transition. It's no longer a white suburb. It's a Irving police are turned over to the federal immigration ser- big difference for a lot of the original citizens of Irving," says vice for deportation. At first, Irving was deporting hundreds of Al Zapanta. He heads the Irving-based United States-Mexico Latino immigrants a month, which led to angry demonstrations Chamber of Commerce, comprising major U.S. and Mexican in 2007 and accusations from Latino leaders of racial profil- companies. Zapanta straddles the debate. As a Latino, he wants ing. The controversy has died down (along with the number of to see at least some single-member districts in the city. He also deportations), but it fueled the perception among some Latinos has ties to the business community and says he doesn't want to that a white majority was trying to hold on to power. Spink says see all city leaders elected that way. He would prefer a 6-3 hybrid the program has been a success and cites the city's falling crime system in which six council members are elected from single- rate as evidence (crime has dropped 7 percent in each of the past member districts. Most of all, he wants the city to settle the two years). His new top issues are fighting nationalized health dispute out of court and institute a system that grants Latinos care—"I've got a lot to say about that," he says ruefully—and and African-Americans some representation at city hall. "Irving supporting Gov. Rick Perry's re-election. is the bellwether city in Texas:' he says. "If we do it right, it'll Asked about single-member districts, Spink shrugs. He has help other cities in Texas make the transition." no problem with the idea, he says, if that's what people want. He says he voted to appeal the federal court's ruling because, he lone Irving City Councillor with Latino roots was like other council members, he doesn't feel the city did anything James Dickens, who had one Hispanic parent. Elected illegal. While he's fine with a few single-member districts, he in 1999, he represented a district in south Irving that doesn't want to see the entire council elected that way, as it is T is at least 50-percent Latino, but he wasn't exactly a in Dallas. vocal leader for Latinos. Dickens never publicly discussed his This is a common refrain among those opposed to single Hispanic heritage, and because of his name, many Irving resi- member districts. Some in Irving look at places like Dallas, dents didn't know he was Latino. Los Angeles and Chicago, and see what they don't want to In 2007, a conservative named Tom Spink—angered by city become—Democrat-run, disorganized, corrupt cities. After leaders' failure to keep the Cowboys in town—challenged all, Irving began as a place for white people to escape that Dickens. Spink ran on an anti-immigration platform, espous- kind of city. ing zero-tolerance and deportation of undocumented immi- Spink, like many in Irving, speaks carefully about the issue. grants, and won handily. During the campaign, Spink said Race is always a sensitive subject, even more so when federal Irving had become a "sanctuary city." The fact that an anti- courts and the media are watching. But when white residents immigration zealot like Spink now represents a district that's who oppose single-member districts talk about not wanting to majority Latino symbolizes, for many, the problems with Irving's become "like Dallas," it's hard for minority leaders not to sus- voting system. pect that racial code is being spoken. Whatever their problems, Spink is a polite, soft-spoken man of 7o. He lives in a sprawl- those big cities are places where many minority politicians ing ranch house on a mostly Anglo block with his wife and four have been elected.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 15 scrap the at-large voting system. "They didn't listen to me," he says. "They're people who ben- efit from the present system in one way or another, and so they simply can't envision a change from the status quo. The truth is that change occurs anyway, and people will accept it. ... The town has outgrown the at-large system:' Still, proponents of single- member districts have been rebuffed numerous times. As early as the 197os, there were ballot initiatives for sin- gle-member districts. Since Benavidez filed his lawsuit, city leaders have fought it vig- orously at every step. Minority candidates have trouble winning under the current system for two main reasons. Although Latinos make up more than 4o per- cent of the population, many aren't citizens and can't vote. Moreover, many who can vote Mayor Herbert Gears is caught in the middle of Irving's demographic tensions. photo by Dave Mann don't. The majority of people who vote citywide are Anglos. Supporters of single-member districts dismiss the Dallas The second problem is money. Running a citywide campaign comparison. The dysfunction in Dallas or Los Angeles or costs more than a single-district campaign. For a minority can- any city isn't related to single-member districts, they say. It's didate who isn't well known to white residents, it's hard to raise a symptom of big-city politics and large city councils (Dallas enough money to introduce yourself. has 14 members). They point out that cities such as Arlington In 2003, Rene Castilla, who works at a local college and chairs and Grand Prairie have gone to single-member districts with- a city advisory committee, ran for an open City Council seat. out any trouble. He had once served on the Dallas school board and thought he Quite a few Anglos now see single-member districts as inevi- could break the color barrier in Irving. Castilla was seen as an table. Joe Putnam, who served on Irving's City Council for 13 years outsider. He had come from Dallas to a town that views all things and mayor from 1999 to 2005, has urged former colleagues to Dallas with suspicion (except the professional football franchise

16 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 that bears its name). He was Latino, and he wasn't well known NIGHTOWER by the city's insiders. He had no name identification with voters and found it hard to raise enough money. On election day, he Chevron Soils Itself was defeated by a better-known, white candidate. Castilla sees a system that has locked out most minority Chevron Corp., one of the world's largest and most candidates and created a leadership elected by a small, like- profitable oil companies, has been running a carefully minded slice of voters. Irving City Council members hardly crafted PR campaign telling us what a gentle giant it is. A ever hold town hall meetings, community clean-up days, or TV ad solemnly assures us that oil and the environment outreach events seen in cities with single-member districts. are not in conflict. "This is not a liberal or conservative "They operate more like a corporate board:' Castilla says. "They issue," an announcer intones. "It's a human issue." make their decisions, and they give reports to the stockholders Imagine the amazement this claim brings to poor once in a while." people in the once-pristine Amazon rainforest of Ecuador. That closed political culture has led to strict housing poli- For a quarter of a century, Chevron's Texaco subsidiary cies that could limit the number of Latino families in Irving. contaminated the land, water and people of the region City officials have also cracked down on code enforcement at with an oil extraction process so crude, careless and apartment complexes, even condemning several low-income deadly that it still stands as one of the world's grossest apartment buildings. The reduced low-income housing stock examples of corporate insensitivity. In 1990, having taken has forced some families out of Irving, Latino community its profits, Texaco abandoned the region, removing its leaders say. assets and leaving behind a ruinous toxic stew. The man caught in the middle of all these tensions is Mayor This led the Ecuadorians to file landmark lawsuits Herbert Gears. He has worked with a nonprofit that helps immi- against Chevron and Texaco in New York City and Houston. grants earn their GED and find jobs, and he came into office Corporate lawyers convinced a U.S. judge that the case making friendly overtures to the Latino community. But his should not be heard here, but in Ecuador. The courts there political future depends on appeasing the Anglo electorate. used to be notoriously corrupt and corporate-friendly, so During an interview in his office, Gears says he supported the oil giant happily went to trial in Ecuador. But political the city's legal appeal to "keep our options open." He hopes the reform had swept the country, and Chevron now faces the city will reach a deal with Brewer and Benavidez in the next few likelihood of having to pay $27 billion in damages. weeks. He wants Irving to resolve the single-member district The gentle giant is reacting by roaring that it is being issue without further litigation and to set an example for other "bullied" by the people it harmed. It is attacking the Texas cities. reputation of Ecuadorian experts and judges, and has Brewer, the Dallas attorney, says that after the 2010 census, rushed back to the U.S. to beg that courts here take over many communities will have to redo their election systems to the case. allow the elections of more minorities to office, or face lawsuits. It's time for Chevron to come clean, own up, and He hopes the Irving case will prompt other communities to pay up. For updates and more information, contact "hopefully change their system voluntarily to allow our new chevrontoxico.com . friends and neighbors to participate in municipal elections:' If Irving—the once 93-percent white town that hosted For more information on Jim Hightower's work—and to America's Team—can change, it can happen anywhere. ■ subscribe to his award-winning monthly newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown—visit www.jimhightower com. Read more Dave Mann in "The Contrarian" at texasobserver.org.

144 s elected officials. R: Mayor Herbert Gears, Council members Rose tinaday, Allen E. Meagher, Lewis Patrick, Joe Phillip, x$am Smith, Thus Spin*, Rick , Beth Van Duyne.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 17 The Citgo refinery, July 19

a public meeting. (At press time, TCEQ had not responded, but a spokesperson told the Observer that any decision would be THE FIRE THIS TIME made after an investigation is completed.) Residents say there is a pattern of problems at Citgo. A "near-miss disaster" Since 1997, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in Corpus Christi has cited the refinery for 4o violations, two workers have died in explosions and fires, and half a dozen employees have been By Forrest Wilder injured. Some neighbors blame Citgo for health problems rang- ing from headaches and dizziness to cancer. A 2008 Texas A&M study—hotly contested by an industry toxicologist—found ben- he Citgo Petroleum Corp. refinery and the zene levels in the blood and urine of Hillcrest residents to be 280 Hillcrest neighborhood of Corpus Christi sit times those of the general population. side by side, separated by a fence. Hillcrest In 2007, a Corpus Christi jury convicted Citgo of violating is what environmental justice advocates call the Clean Air Act. The trial was a landmark—the first time a a "fenceline community"—a poor, largely refiner had gone to trial on criminal charges. For more than minority residential area exposed to high lev- 10 years, Citgo had been illegally storing oil in two roofless els of pollution from adjacent industry. tanks, releasing harmful pollutants, including benzene, into 1rWhen refineries are involved, fences don't always make for the surrounding community. During the trial, a state toxicolo- good neighbors. gist linked the emissions to short-term health effects including On the morning of July 19, an unspecified equipment failure nausea, sore throats and headaches. The judge in the case hasn't on the alkylation unit at the refinery released butane, hydrocar- issued a sentence yet. bons and hydrogen fluoride, sparking a fire that burned for two days and left one worker, Gabriel Alvarado, with severe burns he July fire probably wouldn't have attracted much and an amputated forearm. attention if hydrogen fluoride hadn't been involved. The incident was far from the most serious at the Citgo This isn't the cavity-preventing stuff in city water. refinery in the past decade. But it has sparked an outcry from T Hydrogen fluoride, or hydrofluoric acid, is a corro- environmental groups, safety experts, unionized refinery sive and poisonous chemical that can dissolve glass. Imagine workers and residents of Hillcrest and other neighborhoods what it can do to your lungs or skin. near the facility. They're not buying the official story from the About 50 oil refineries in the U.S. use HF to generate high- Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and Citgo: that octane fuel. Four of those are in Corpus—more than anywhere the chemical release posed no risk to the community and that else in the country. A trio of HF releases across the country this the authorities' quiet response—notifying only 15 to 20 nearby year, including Citgo's, has alarmed industrial safety advocates. households—was adequate. They argue that HF is obsolete as well as dangerous, and that safer Jean Salone, a Hillcrest resident who lives two and a half alternatives are commercially available. A bill forcing chemical blocks from the refinery, says she has talked to 6o or 7o neigh- facilities to use less-risky alternatives has passed one committee bors and that many felt ill following the release. "They did have in the U.S. House. Meanwhile, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, some health effects," Salone says, "eyes running, throat burning, a federal agency, is looking into the Corpus incident. sore throat, nose running. Apparently there were a lot of people "Everybody in the country is interested in this," says Fred Millar, that got sick from it" an expert on chemical facility disasters. "It's a near-miss disaster." More than loo Hillcrest residents signed a letter to TCEQ According to a Citgo risk-management document, a worst- criticizing the agency's handling of the episode and requesting case disaster would look like this: On a calm day in Corpus,

18 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 150,000 pounds of HF stored at Citgo East suddenly escapes. conviction]. They're criminals. They've been found guilty by a The poisonous vapor drifts downwind through the city and jury of their peers, and TCEQ is taking their word for it." endangers more than 315,000 people. People in Corpus are After Canales and others started testing on their own, TCEQ probably unaware of this document, as it can only be viewed agreed to investigate, eventually finding that the oil residue under the supervision of a U.S. Marshal at a federal reading did contain carcinogens. The agency slapped Citgo with an room. It can take weeks to schedule an appointment. (Despite enforcement violation and invited Canales to work more closely repeated requests, the Observer was unable to view the docu- with the regional TCEQ office. ment by press time.) Then, 17 months later, came the fire. Hillcrest residents aren't focused on that scenario now. "Now, with this incident," Canales says, "it's like they haven't They're worried about already having been exposed to some learned anything." level of HF in July. Investigators with the Chemical Safety Board, the EPA, and ince the fire, no representative of the EPA or TCEQ the United Steelworkers (which is also looking into the Citgo has gone into the fenceline communities to ask what incident), say it's too soon to know what happened on July 19. people saw and experienced. Several sources point to a pattern of safety lapses at the facility, "That stuff is so powerful. They should have come outS [on July 19] or the next day to see if anybody needs to go in particular a failure to properly maintain pipes. Kim Nibarger, a union investigator who has interviewed workers at the refin- to the doctor," says Salone. No one ever came. From the day ery, says operators on the alkylation unit, which processes high- of the fire forward, residents have received little information octane gas constituents, saw "piping that was shaking, moving about what happened. erratically" shortly before the fire. A local official confirms that few people living near the refin- Neil Carman of the Sierra Club sees a parallel with a fire and ery were told about the potential risks of the fire. Randy Page, explosion in the same alkylation unit in 1997, which he says was assistant chief of the Corpus Christi Fire Department, says only caused by "a corroded pipe failure." 15 to 20 households within a quarter-mile of the refinery were "This is an ongoing problem:' says a former refinery employee notified. "Had this been something we were concerned with who requested anonymity, "and there's a reason that it's an ongo- coming outside the plant into Hillcrest, we would have con- ing problem: because they don't want to maintain or fix what tacted more," says Page, who's also a member of the Nueces needs to be fixed. It doesn't happen until you force the issue or County Local Emergency Planning Committee. something bad happens. Now something bad has happened." Like state environmental regulators, the committee relies Nobody knows how bad it was. Citgo says no hydrogen fluo- greatly on the advice of companies during industrial emergen- ride escaped the refinery fences. The TCEQ and EPA have both cies. In this case, Page says, favorable wind direction and data backed that claim. However, neither the state nor federal agency gathered by Citgo influenced his agency's decision to call so has actually seen Citgo's findings. few homes. By all indications, the wind was blowing away from State regulators have 16 fixed air monitors in the Corpus the residential areas near Citgo on July 19, and across Nueces area, but none measures HF. (Same with the mobile monitors Bay—lessening the risks to Hillside and other nearby neighbor- TCEQ used to take measurements during the fire.) The EPA hoods—but certainly not eliminating them. didn't arrive with its mobile monitors, which can detect HF, "Both Citgo and the LEPC should have erred on the side of until almost 34 hours after the Citgo fire began. caution," the Sierra Club and Corpus' Citizens for Environmental According to TCEQ, a Citgo air monitor found an HF con- Justice have written to TCEQ, "since the alkylation unit could centration of 5 parts per million several hours after the fire have released a large vapor cloud of hydrofluoric acid and it would started. Short-term exposure at that level can cause respiratory have been too late to evacuate areas that were not called." irritation, among other health problems. The measurement was Andrea Morrow, a TCEQ spokesperson, defends the agency's taken, reports TCEQ, "at the fenceline facing an industrial, non- response, writing in an e-mail to the Observer: "The TCEQ cur- residential area." rently has no data which indicate the public was exposed ... nor Carman says that sounds familiar: "This is the same baloney did the TCEQ receive any citizen complaints throughout the I've heard from industry for years: 'We have some pollution, duration of the event." but it hasn't crossed the fenceline:" "The unpreparedness of American communities can hardly Carman calls TCEQ's reliance on Citgo's reporting "appalling." be exaggerated," Millar says. "And that's because they've been Suzie Canales, an environmental justice activist in Corpus, says kept in the dark about this stuff." the agency's default position following Citgo emergencies has Until some sunlight emerges, Salone has her own plan for a been to trust the company. She points to an incident in February really bad accident. "I keep my keys and purse where I can grab 2008: An oil line ruptured, burning four contract workers and them," she chuckles. ■ sending hot oil spewing across Interstate 37 and onto cars, lawns, and homes. Citgo tried to appease the community by offering Read about Forrest Wilder's adventures trying to access Citgo's free car washes, but neighbors demanded an investigation. risk-management plans for Corpus Christi—and what he finally Initially TCEQ took the company's side. "We were just appalled," found after press time for this story—in "Forrest for the Trees" at Canales says. "Here Citgo's still awaiting sentencing [for its 2007 texasobserver.org.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 19 COMMENTARY I BY DAVE RICHARDS So Long to the Communist Threat hen Creekmore Fath died in June at 93, the state, the Texas Legislature was focusing its periodic red- we'd officially seen the last of an influen- baiting hysteria on the campus as a hotbed of radicalism. At tial cluster of liberal activists who came UT, Fath joined with Dixie, Mullinax, and Herman Wright of age during the Great Depression at to reorganize the Young Democrats into the Progressive the University of Texas. It's a generation Democrats. In 1936, Mullinax, Wright, and Dixie (with Fath worth celebrating, especially since they running the latter's campaign) ran losing state-legislature deserveIN plenty of thanks for what modicum of racial justice campaigns from their home counties. All ran on a Progressive exists in Texas. Democratic issue: taxing the extraction of sulfur, a notion Fath's often-storybook life (even his name sounds Elizabethan) floated by another influential liberal, Bob Montgomery. in many ways exemplified what set apart these UT liber- Montgomery was a favorite target of the red-baiters in Austin. als—Chris Dixie of Houston, Otto Mullinax of Dallas, Maury Soon after the election, at the instigation of Johnson friend Roy Maverick Jr. of San Antonio, Bob Eckhardt of Houston, and Miller, a powerful sulfur lobbyist, the Legislature began inves- Fath of Austin. And what kept them together. tigating Montgomery and trying to expose the Progressive I met Fath during my initial foray into politics, future U.S. Democrats as communists. Along with Montgomery, Mullinax Sen. Ralph Yarborough's losing 1954 campaign for governor was subpoenaed. "Three of us ran for the Legislature on a pro- against conservative Democrat Allan Shivers. The race was close gram to tax sulfur;' he told the lawmakers, "and were defeated enough to alarm the ruling elite. To win, Shivers campaigned on the charge of being communists." for the death penalty for Communist Party members, along Asked during his testimony whether he believed in the "profit with traditional racist attacks on the NAACP and integration. system:' Montgomery replied: "I most certainly do. I would like By 1956, Texas' conservative rulers were so worried about the to see it extended to 120 million people." Yarborough threat that they persuaded Price Daniel to abandon The UT liberals all went on to law school and into practice his Senate seat and run for governor against the liberal menace. in the early '4os. Fath and Eckhardt, one of the state's first labor That same year, U.S. Sen. Lyndon Johnson and House Speaker lawyers, briefly had a joint practice in Austin. Fath went into the Sam Rayburn decided to challenge the Shivercrats for control army during World War II and then served the aging President of the Texas Democrats. Yarborough forces, including Fath, also Franklin Roosevelt as an aide. mounted a challenge from the left. Back in Austin, Fath plunged back into politics. When I ended up an Austin delegate to the state convention from Johnson ran for Senate in 1948, Fath announced for Johnson's the liberal wing. We arrived to find ourselves locked out vacant U.S. House seat as an unreconstructed New Dealer. because the Johnson forces controlled the tickets. Some of us He and his wife, the daughter of a former secretary of state, got into the building through a women's restroom window. campaigned in a car with a canoe roped on top and painted Others made it to the floor with counterfeit tickets printed with the slogan, "Fath for Congress ... He Paddles His Own up by Harry Holman, a union carpenter from Austin. We Canoe." scrambled in to find the 200-plus-member Travis County Somehow the slogan didn't do the trick. Fath finished third delegation in disarray, equally divided between Johnson and in the Democratic primary. Then he went to work, with mixed Yarborough. feelings, for Johnson's Senate campaign. Liberals like Fath had At one point, the key vote was seating the liberal delegation never been cozy with the future president's go-with-the-politi- from Harris County. Travis County delegates had to be polled. cal-wind ideology. "We viewed Johnson with some reserve," Fath counted for the liberals, and Johnson lawyer John Cofer Fath wrote, with appropriate reserve, decades later in an auto- for the other side. At the conclusion of each polling, the two biographical essay. would solemnly announce results that were contrary. Fath had With no Republican Party to speak of, the state's liberal the liberals winning, Cofer had the Johnsonites winning. After and conservative Democrats were bitter enemies. Fath and polling the delegation three times and getting the same con- fellow liberals liked to call themselves "loyal Democrats." tradictory outcomes, Travis County had to pass without a vote. Shivers and Daniel preferred to be known as Democratic Even so, the convention was a success. The liberal dynamo Regulars who had supported GOP presidential candidates. from Houston, Frankie Randolph, defeated Johnson's candi- Johnson often tried to play both sides. With Fath and other date for the Democratic National Committee. The next year, liberals reluctantly behind him, he pulled off his infamous Yarborough won Price Daniel's Senate seat in a special elec- 48-vote "landslide" in a Democratic Senate runoff still noto- tion—the first liberal win since Jimmie Allred in the 193os. rious for its corruption. All of this strange carrying-on had its roots at UT in the 193os. In William Roger Louis's collection of autobiographi- While the university was the heart of intellectual ferment in cal essays, Burnt Orange Brittania (2006), Fath opens his

20 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 often-witty entry by writing, successfully sued the notori- "The history of my life can be ous Texas Ranger, A.Y. Allee, summed up by saying that I on behalf of Pancho Medrano am devoted above all to two and others involved in the things: the Democratic Party famous 1966-67 farm workers' and the University of Texas:' strike at La Casita Melons in He might have added Rio Grande City. On the polit- liberalism to the list. After ical front, along with Frankie failing in his one run for elec- Randolph, Dixie was the driv- tive office, Fath went on to be a ing force behind the Harris political rainmaker and strate- County Democrats, the first gist behind the '5os and '6os organization that truly took Yarborough campaigns, and the battle to the Shivercrats. the early '7os near-misses of He was, as founding Observer Sissy Farenthold for governor. editor Ronnie Dugger once "He could pick up the phone said of him in these pages, and call," Farenthold recalls, "tough as cactus." and "I don't care what county So was Mullinax. Not long it was, he'd know somebody into his career, Mullinax did there. There would have what was almost unthink- been no campaign without able for the times: He filed Creekmore." a damage suit on behalf of a While Fath was working young black man against the for a more liberal-minded police chief of Nacogdoches, Texas, fellow UT'ers Dixie alleging police brutality. The and Mullinax joined Herman case was lost, of course, but it Wright in Houston, repre- speaks volumes about these senting labor unions in what liberals' tenacity; Mullinax was becoming an industrial later told me he always car- center. Unlike their British Creekmore Fath (1) with his first law partner and photo by Alan Pogue ried a firearm when he drove counterparts at Cambridge, lifelong liberal pal, Bob Eckhardt. with his client back and forth who wandered off to commu- across East Texas. nism, the Texas liberals mostly remained staunch New Dealers. These liberals practiced classic coalition politics. Among In 1948, Wright linked up with Henry Wallace and became the other accomplishments, they brought together elements of Progressive Party candidate for governor. Dixie and Mullinax organized labor with historically disenfranchised blacks and broke with their friend and supported the Democrats. Shortly Latinos—to the point where, by 1962, it was no longer politi- thereafter, Eckhardt joined Dixie in his Houston practice. cally possible to attack the NAACP or the GI Forum, Hector Maury Maverick Jr. practiced law in San Antonio and soon Garcia's Hispanic organization. When John Connally ran for joined Fath in the political arena. governor in 1962, he became the first establishment Democrat Maury Junior, as he was called, became one of the state's to court and win segments of this coalition—reportedly at the foremost civil liberties lawyers. Early on, he represented a urging of Johnson. black prizefighter, Spotty Harvey, in a challenge to the Texas One other thing to know about Fath, Eckhardt, Dixie, prohibition against interracial boxing matches. Later he Mullinax and Randolph, along with another great liberal, sued the state on behalf of John Stanford, secretary of the Minnie Fisher Cunningham of New Waverley: They all helped Texas Communist Party, attacking the search and seizure of found the Observer in 1954. Stanford's library and correspondence in a case that made it While they never lived to see the Texas they'd worked toward to the U.S. Supreme Court. After leaving the Legislature, he since the 193os, Creekmore Fath and his liberal cohorts made spent his later years writing somewhat incendiary columns many previously unthinkable things happen. (And Fath got for the San Antonio Express-News, inveighing against the to witness the once-unfathomable election of Barack Obama Vietnam War and later speaking out about the plight of the before he died.) They opened the way for a progressive future Palestinians. in the state that could be broader and far more influential. Eckhardt, who died in 2001, ended up in both the Legislature It wouldn't hurt the new liberal Texans to aim for the same and Congress, championing progressive populist causes and kind of integrity and stubbornness that Fath and the "commie becoming a leading advocate for open beaches. (See Gary Keith's liberals" showed. ■ excellent biography, Eckhardt: There Once Was a Congressman from Texas.) Dixie was always a pre-eminent union lawyer. He Dave Richards is an attorney and author.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 21 BACK OF THE BOOK I BY BRAD TYER Going with the Flow

ANOTHER RIVER, ANOTHER GOODBYE.

It was not my fight. That was not even my part of the country anymore; I had been a piece of property on the Colorado's living out of the state for years. I knew, though, that it might be years again before I got south bank a few years back and set up back with time enough on my hands to make the trip, and what I wanted to do was his livery there, just downstream from wrap it up, the river ... the truss bridge. He still rents tubes, now —John Graves, Goodbye to a River covered in red cloth, with bottom buck- ets and his name printed on the side. He's have something in common rented inner tubes, which confused the added canoes and kayaks to his stable. with Laura Bush, and it's lady on the line. She connected me with We spent a while catching up—we don't not narcotized adoration of Frank Howell, who ran a tire-and-wheel see each other often, but we're becoming George W. shop on the edge of town. old friends over the years. Then I loaded John Graves' Goodbye to a So began a long series of summers dur- my canoe and dragged it down the wood- River is my favorite Texas book, ing which a group of friends and I would en steps of the launch he's built at the too. It's a common choice, but no less gather on selected Saturday mornings bank and slipped it into the water. Which defensible for being so often chosen. I and caravan out Interstate io. We'd stop was low. Seems like it's almost always like the book for all the usual reasons: at the local grocery to beer up and float low. The float takes about four hours in the companionable company, the crisp the 6.5-mile loop from that truss bridge a tube when the water is optimal, but thinking, the thoughtful eye, the slow to Beason's Park, less than a mile away I've meandered my way through plenty precision of Graves' sentences, his hived by road. of five-hour floats on this stretch. Frank swarm of memories. It was always perfect. Nobody else was says it's taking about six hours today. What I think I like most, though, is the out there. The river was a skilled host- It takes about two in a canoe, which way Graves so smoothly toggles between ess, slowly swirling the io or 15 or zo of hardly seems long enough. almost Olympian remove and intimate us into shifting configurations that could It's not much of a river, but I've got- admission. Having excused himself seem almost ordained. The beer and the ten attached to it. It's green and wide and from the messy business of joining the sunstroke helped. thin when the mud's not up, and there's fight for or against the proposed dams One day we got squatted on by a heavy- nothing you'd call a rapid, just a few that threatened to turn his stretch of the duty lightning storm. We couldn't figure brief riffles. The first landmark is a low, Brazos River into a string of reservoirs, out whether to ride it out in the river (the scrubby island where we used to beach Graves proceeds to tattle on himself. low spot) on the rubber tubes, or under the tubes and have a smoke and look Or was that, maybe, an excuse for a the trees at bank's edge (don't trees get hit around. The banks on both sides alter- childishness? What I wanted was to float all the time?) or beyond the trees in open nate between tree-lined jungle and low my piece of the river again. pasture, where we'd be the tallest targets sand bluffs topped with bald pastureland. I have a piece of river. It's the Colorado around. We ended up at the tree line, The wildlife tends toward the pedestrian: River, in and around Columbus, Texas. huddling under the tubes in the slapping egrets and kingfishers and herons, and It's mine because I claimed it. Not by rain. People cried. the occasional eagle. Sometimes a gar will any birthright—I grew up in suburban Then there was the time a buddy roll; sometimes a water snake undulates Houston near an unnamed and channel- showed up late and we launched without alongside for a while. Frank swears that ized "bayou"—but because it found me. him. He swam the first stretch to catch last month some of his tubers floated up I hadn't been looking. I was driving up with us, emerging naked from the on a 5-and-a-half-foot blue catfish trying home from Austin in the early 199os and deep water like a mirage, his shorts in to eat an egret in the shallows. I would I ended up on the Hwy. 71 business route one hand, two Lone Star tallboys in the like to have seen that. through Columbus, which led me across other. He hung onto the side of a cooler This time I saw a deer browsing on the the old truss bridge over the Colorado. I tube the rest of the way down. bank, uncharacteristically unconcerned hadn't seen that view before and I liked with a flashing red paddle. I don't usu- it. It was hot, so I stopped and stripped to hen I pulled into Columbus ally see them here. She must have been my shorts and waded in. The water was last weekend, Frank Howell as hungry as Frank's catfish. sluggish and green and just barely cooler and his wife Evelyn were There are scattered houses backed up than the air. sitting on the porch of their to the river, and some swooping sandy W beaches. There are a few more commer- Later I called the Chamber of boat barn watching the river. Frank no Commerce and asked if anyone in town longer owns the tire center. He bought cial-looking picnic areas scooped out of

22 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 The Colorado River near Columbus, Texas, Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009. photo by Brad Tyer the private undergrowth than I remember world of Goodbye to a River, or to any I'm more inclined to enjoy David from my last trip. river experience of mine, as an egret is M. Carroll's Following the Water: A About a third of the way down, there's a to a catfish. The expedition pursuing the Hydromancer's Notebook, published this long, graceful bend to the right. To the left first descent of the gorge was sponsored month. Management and math are for- the bank is bluffed, and the bluff is fronted by National Geographic and took place eign to me. Naturalist Loren Eisley wrote, with thick stands of bamboo. This, I'm in a highly pressurized environment of "If there is magic on this planet, it is con- pretty sure, is the place I remember from competition and stress. After the aborted tained in water;' and it's magic that claims a spring trip close to io years ago. I was trip the Chinese government shut down me on a river. on the river after midnight under a quar- access to outsiders. I saw it again Sunday. I drove through ter-moon when I drifted around this arc The river itself is huge, the charismat- periodically heavy rains to get to the facing the outer bank, like a huge, curved ic megafauna of the whitewater world, river and put in under grumbling projection screen, watching I don't know inspiring suitors and advocates. It's too clouds. As so many times before on that how many thousands of fireflies dancing wild to run and too remote to ruin. looping stretch, those clouds left open against the deep-black backdrop. The Colorado is a hard-used and semi- a pocket of sunshine, rimmed by heavy Farther down, silty little Cummins scenic stream at best. It's not the kind of blue, that followed me downstream. Creek enters from the left. Even farther river that gets people worked up about Only once, on a broad, windy stretch down, near the end, are the ruins of a tim- saving it, but that doesn't mean it's not near the end, did I drift beneath a gray ber retaining wall designed to keep the threatened, It's water, after all, and water wisp, and it rained on me lightly in river from undercutting the railroad that is under siege. bright sunshine, drops hitting the water still runs through the trees above. When Bloomberg Press is releasing Susan J. at an angle, backlit and glistening. It was my friends and I first tubed the river, Marks' ominously titled and genuinely as magical in that moment as anything Frank had winked and called it the "Snake scary Aqua Shock in October. Robert on the mighty Yarlung Tsangpo, or John Wall," though I never saw a snake there. Glennon's Unquenchable arrived in April. Graves' history-soaked Brazos, or any Livery literature doesn't call it the Snake James G. Workman's Heart of Dryness is river anywhere. Wall anymore. Now it's the "Great Wall of out this month. Paddling in that rain, simple math Columbus" or just "The Wall." The premise of these books is that we're began to seem like fuzzy abstraction, and running out of water in its usable forms magic—for the moment anyway—the 've been reading The Last River: The much faster than we're curbing consump- natural state. ■ Tragic Race for Shangri La (Todd tion or replenishing dwindling sources. Balf; 2000). It's about a 1998 kayaking Water issues are multilayered and deep- With this issue, managing editor Brad I expedition on Tibet's waterfall- ly complex, but in another sense, they Tyer bids fond farewell to the Observer. studded Yarlung Tsangpo through the amount to simple math: More and more He's off to Ann Arbor on a Knight-Wallace uncharted Tsangpo Gorge—a trip on people struggling for access to less and Journalism Fellowship at the University of which one of the four boaters drowned. less water, a seemingly inevitable dimin- Michigan, where he plans to write a book That story is about as unfamiliar to the ishment calling for sober management. about a river.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 23

Radney Foster photo by Katherine Bomboy

t's been nearly two decades since The years since Foster's salad days confirming his legacy as a tastemaker Radney Foster's debut solo album, have been mixed for the Texas native. of contemporary pop-country. Del Rio, TX 1959, charted two top- First he moved from Arista Nashville Whether that legacy is something to io hits ("Just Call Me Lonesome" to the subsidiary Arista Austin label cheer or decry is yours to decide, but I after sales started to slip with album Foster will make his case for the former and "Nobody Wins"). With its commer- cial-ready pop melodies and dance-hall No. 2, Labor of Love. Then he moved to at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, at Gruene instrumentation, Del Rio was at the independent Americana label Dualtone Hall ("Texas' Oldest Dance Hall") near vanguard of a new country music fla- Music Group in 2001. This year marks New Braunfels, where he and his band, vor, as much adult contemporary as Foster's initiation into the world of the Confessions, will celebrate the release honky-tonk. Nowadays just try finding a self-released CDs. Even as his mass of his latest CD, Revival. Gruene is a song on country radio that wouldn't fit appeal faded through the '9os, Foster's legendary venue of loth-century coun- right in on VHL You can't do it. Foster songwriting remained in demand in try music, so it figures that Foster, one and his contemporaries made country Nashville, as it had been since the mid- of the people responsible for dragging safe for the coasts and the coasts safe 198os. Superstars like Tanya Tucker, country into the 21st century, would for country, and the rest is multiplati- Keith Urban and the Dixie Chicks have feel at home there. See greunehall.com num history. made a buck covering Foster's songs, for info. —Josh Rosenblatt

24 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 REVIEW Wide Angle BY LILIANA VALENZUELA

elving into Eduardo "Buffalo Bill," "Father of the Boy Galeano's latest book Scouts," "Father of the Bomb" is akin to opening MI RRORS and "Barbie Goes to War," all the D a box of fair-trade, way to the present. As advertised, 78 percent cacao bonbons. You STORIES OF ALMOST EVERYONE the book is about almost every- enjoy the chocolate melting thing and everyone. The key to in your mouth until a tinge of enjoying it is to relax and trust ancho pepper or cinnamon stabs Galeano's choices and moral your conscience and makes you compass. stop and wonder. Galeano deliv- The book includes a handy ers the literary and philosophical name index and table of con- riches of his incisive intelligence, tents, as well as some charming but he also asks you to think. To antique illustrations. Mirrors reconsider your assumptions, does not include footnotes or your prejudices, and your place a bibliography, as earlier works M this world. did, but much of Galeano's mate- Born in 1940 in Montevideo, rial amounts to the sum total of Uruguay, Galeano is the author the world's knowledge, the con- of Memory of Fire, Open Veins of tents of our collective brain, as Latin America, Soccer in Sun and it were. This is a book to read Shadow, Days and Nights of Love EDUARDO slowly, savoring it, allowing it to and War, The Book of Embraces, sink into both the intellect and Walking Words, Upside Down, the heart. The rewards of such and Voices of Time. He lived in GALEANO attention are rich. exile in Argentina and Spain R A tti , ki KY MARK HU }:1) These deceptively simple for 12 years before returning to vignettes, written in an intimate Uruguay in 1985. He's revered by voice, challenge and delight. the Latin American Left and stu- Galeano lets us know that we dents, but he is not as well known Mirrors: Stories of Almost Everyone are all complicit in history, that in the United States. Or he wasn't By Eduardo Galeano our gain is often someone else's until Venezuelan President Hugo Translated by Mark Fried pain. Yet he's never dogmatic, nor Chavez gave President Barack Nation Books does he have an ideological ax to Obama a copy of Open Veins of 365 pages, $26.95 grind. He is more interested in Latin America at an internation- myth, fable, legend and history, al summit this year, rocketing Galeano's downtrodden of all cultures and times? weaving past with present, making con- sales on Amazon from 54,295th to No. This unpretentiously ambitious book is nections. In "Americans" he writes: 2. Who knew Chavez could be a South an answer. "Official history has it that Vasco Nunez American Oprah? If Galeano is now on Mirrors is arranged in semi- de Balboa was the first man to see, from a more readers' radars, all the better. His chronological order, beginning with summit in Panama, two oceans at once. is an indispensable voice. entries on the "Origin of fire," "Origin Were the natives blind? / Who first gave In Mirrors, Galeano regales us with of the division of labor," "Origin of beer," names to corn and potatoes and toma- tales from our shared history in an and so forth. He then explores Mexican, toes and chocolate and the mountains inclusive manner, from cultural creation Egyptian, Hebrew, Hindu, Roman, and rivers of America? Hernan Cortes? myths to major historical figures and Chinese and Greek histories, among oth- Francisco Pizarro? Were the natives mute? inventions to significant current events. ers. He pays an extensive visit to Europe / The Pilgrims on the Mayflower heard It is a truism that history is written by and its religions, condemning the perva- Him: God said America was the prom- the victors; what if, Galeano seems to sive violence Europe has visited on the ised land. Were the natives deaf? / Later ask, history were told instead by the world in its quest for global supremacy. on, the grandchildren of the Pilgrims vanquished, the oppressed and the Then it's on to entries on "Churchill," seized the name and everything else.

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 25 Now they are the Americans. And those And that time it was on doctor's orders:' bear fruit. of us who live in the other Americas, who Galeano offers other lighthearted entries While certain of these historical figures are we?" with comic titles, but always with a tinge and facts may be well known to some Mirrors touches on curious and fasci- of irony. readers, and while others may feel that nating facts, including early European Mark Fried, who translated Galeano's Galeano is preaching to the choir, the culture's aversion to water. The entry last several books, does a good job of author's unexpected angles and conclud- "Cursed Water" tells us that "... except in conveying Galeano's sparse style, his ing twists keep readers hooked. It's the baptism, bathing was avoided because it directness and his conversational tone, writer's way of linking the past with the felt good and invited sin. In the tribunals while maintaining the musicality of the present, them with us, the political and of the Holy Inquisition, frequent bath- original. These stories could be told at the personal, the global and the local. It's ing was proof of Mohammedan heresy. a campfire or read out loud to adults at storytelling with a conscience that trans- When Christianity was imposed on Spain bedtime, one or two at a time, letting forms Galeano's truths into art. ■ as the only truth, the crown ordered the them linger. The blog of the American many public baths left by the Muslims Literary Translators Association reports Poet and literary translator Liliana razed, because they were sources of that instead of making multiple passes at Valenzuela's most recent translation is perdition. ... The elegant Sun King of the text, Fried reads the source multiple Habia una vez una quinceaiiera: De nina France, the first man to wear high heels, times until he can hear it in his head. a mujer en EE.UU., a nonfiction book by bathed only once between 1647 and 1711. Then he translates. The method seems to Julia Alvarez. Valenzuela lives in Austin.

PREVIEW

"All the While" (oil on panel, 32" x 24"; 2009), by Texas artist Angie Renfro, is on display at the Wally Workman Gallery,1202 W. 6th St., Austin, through Sept. 3.

26 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 REVIEW The Godless Christian BY TOM PALAIMA

obert Jensen, a self- that so many of us have chosen to described radical live—no matter what our gender political activist and ALL MY identity, race, socioeconomic class R associate professor or views on our country's role in of journalism at the University BONES world affairs—in ways that per- of Texas at Austin, is probably petuate systems that harm others still best known to Texans across SHAKE and our world. the political spectrum for his All My Bones Shake SEEKING A PROGRESSIVE PATH is Jensen's commentary in the Sept. 14, 2001 TO THE PROPHETIC VOICE answer. He notes that in his past Houston Chronicle: "U.S. just as political writings he left "one guilty of committing own violent obvious question unasked and acts." Public reaction to Jensen's unanswered: What does it mean view after 9/11 prompted then- to be a human being?" For him, UT President Larry Faulkner " [r] adical feminism, anti-racism to issue a statement defending theory and practice, traditional freedom of speech, but calling anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist Jensen "misguided" and "a foun- movements, and the best thinking tain of undiluted foolishness in ecology" have been useful for on issues of public policy." The analyzing and understanding "a controversy consumed time and o a ctlitortt + 11 wEkh P kt I profoundly unjust and immoral energy that could have been 'messaging' has eclipsed modern world." He admits his better spent on the issues Jensen efforts on these fronts have not Naar?{ Klein. author a raised. The Shock Doctrine brought about much change. He has continued to organize, Jensen, a publicly avowed athe- act, speak and write critically about ist, "turned to theology and even- our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tually joined a congregation," St. American economic and military All My Bones Shake: Seeking a Progressive Path Andrew's Presbyterian Church imperialism, gender identity and to the Prophetic Voice in Austin, in December 2005. He politics, racism, and the forms By Robert Jensen distills the questions leading to and strategies of dissent. His Soft Skull Press this choice into one big, vaguely books— Writing Dissent: Taking 256 pages, $15.95 utopian question that might make Radical Ideas from the Margins to readers feel like Alice tumbling the Mainstream (2001); Citizens into the rabbit hole: of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim do we make them? Our Humanity (2004); The Heart of In All My Bones Shake, Jensen poses Which practices, systems, and fun- Whiteness: Confronting Race, Racism and these options: damental conceptions of what it White Privilege (2005); and Getting Off means to be human are consistent Pornography and the End of Masculinity You can be a man, or you can be a with a sustainable human presence (2007) contain a strong personal element. human being. on the earth, respectful of other life, All My Bones Shake is no different. You can be white, or you can be a in societies that provide the neces- Jensen thinks American citizens should human being. sary resources for all people to live a take responsibility for, and change, what You can be an American, or you can decent life, within a culture that fos- is done in their names by those who con- be a human being. ters individual flourishing alongside trol and manipulate power and public You can be affluent, or you can be a a meaningful sense of collective iden- opinion. He criticizes liberals and pro- human being. tity, helping us to take seriously our gressives for not doing enough—a posi- obligations to ourselves, each other, tion with which liberals and progressives Jensen leaves out religious belief. and to the non-human world? are unlikely to disagree. The questions We may ask why Jensen has a positive are: What changes do we want, and how attitude about human beings, given Jensen quotes his good friend, leading

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 27 theater historian Oscar Brockett, on articles of Presbyterian and Christian reception into St. Andrew's "irregular" the importance of definitions: "Allow faith. Still, he wants to be accepted by and reclassified him as merely "baptized:' me to define the terms, and I will win its believers. The kindest thing to call Jensen says, he cried "for something that every argument we have." If we let Jensen this is paradoxical. I think had to do with a fallen world." define the term "religion" as "organized Jensen explains that he was attracted This egocentrism, if nothing else, might religions," which often lose sight of the to St. Andrew's by the liberal beliefs and give reasonable people cause to doubt the values inherent in their core beliefs, practices of Rev. Rigby and his congre- sincerity of Jensen's Christianity. then we can say that All My Bones Shake gation, especially in matters of gender The rest of All My Bones Shake explains addresses this proposition: politics. Jensen's feelings of attachment his personal, alternative theology. He to St. Andrew's intensified when Rev. expresses dissatisfaction with those who You can be religious, or you can be a Rigby wrote him a letter of support interpret religion narrowly and do not human being. during the controversy surrounding accept as Christian people like him, who his 9/11 op-ed. have radically different "conceptions" of Jensen would redefine Christian reli- Jensen cites Rev. Rigby's translation of God. gion to help himself lead a good life as the Apostle's Creed "from the original Jensen stresses, correctly, how tribal a socially and politically aware human Greek" as an inspiration. But key points human beings are. But tribes, like ethnic who believes and practices Jensenist in the translation correspond so loosely groups, depend on recognized defini- Christianity. But it is difficult to call what to the original Greek versions in the tions of membership. Characteristics he is doing "religion:' standard historical manual of faith, the like a collective name, a shared history, Reading Jensen's thoughts on his reli- Enchiridion Symbolorum Definitionum et belief in common myths, and a shared gious experience, I was struck by his Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum, culture are crucial. It is understand- resemblance to what spy novels call a that it might as well stand on its own able that thoughtful believers would (( mole," an agent accepted into an ene- merits without appealing to traditional not know how to handle someone who my's espionage organization who gathers authority. denies their basic beliefs while claiming intelligence and spreads disinformation For several years, Jensen participated in to be one of them. It is logical that they to destroy it. The difference is that Jensen the political activities of the church while would make honest inquiries for serious is known to be a mole by his Presbyterian making no secret of his atheism and his reasons, and unfair of Jensen to accuse minister, Jim Rigby, and the faithful who disinterest in two questions that all world them of meanly applying labels or embrace him. Jensen remains an atheist. religions past and present address: Where persecuting a rogue thinker. He openly denies the existence of God does the world come from, and what hap- St. Andrew's eventually admitted as conceived by the religion he wishes pens to us when we die? Jensen by exploiting the technicality to join. He denies Christ's divinity and In March 2006, Jensen declared in a of his youthful confirmation, claiming resurrection, two key beliefs girding all published essay, "I don't believe in God. he already was an official Presbyterian. Christian religions. I don't believe Jesus Christ is the son Church authorities, meanwhile, drafted Others have shared my skepticism. of a god I don't believe in." On April new guidelines about belief that allow for Unitarians, Jensen writes, tell him he is 1, 2006, Rev. Rigby posted an essay on lots of wiggle room. one of them, and ethical humanists say AlterNet explaining that St. Andrew's This whole business, and this book, are he would be right at home under their received Jensen as "an attempt to build unlikely to change the prevailing social, tent. Yet Jensen claims personal and connections." political, economic or religious order spiritual comfort in the St. Andrew's When the Committee on the Ministry much. They hold the same perverse fas- community, partly because he was raised of the Presbyterian Church (USA) ques- cination that Oliver Sacks' extreme cases and confirmed as a Presbyterian, though tioned how a person with such avowed of anomalous psychological behaviors he admits to being a bored nonbeliever (dis)beliefs could be admitted into one offer. Like the flap caused by Jensen's throughout that experience. of its congregations, Jensen viewed the 9/n editorial, it distracts us from seri- All My Bones Shake gives us insight process as a "charade" and "an asser- ous problems. into the tension between religious belief tion of dominance by those who wanted I was left with the feeling that the and the ways believers want to lead their clear answers to inherently perplexing " prophetic voice" in the title is Jensen's lives. Heresies generally start with an questions about the meaning of the label own, and that what he is saying will be as individual who views orthodoxies in [italics mine] 'Christian." He sees bad perplexing to thoughtful people of good unorthodox ways that appeal to enough intentions because he fails to do what will and sympathy as the sound of one of the faithful that others who hold Jesus Christ, whether human or divine, hand clapping. ■ heretical beliefs can remain comfortably stressed in his preaching: that we step among the flock. Heretics are believ- outside ourselves, sympathize with oth- Tom Palaima is Dickson Centennial ers who think differently about, and ers, and treat them as we ourselves want Professor of Classics at the University of challenge, tenets of faith. Jensen denies to be treated. Texas at Austin, where he teaches classical his belief in virtually all the fundamental When the church declared Jensen's and Mycenaean Greek.

28 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 POETRY I JOSH SLOTNICK

TRIPLE DIGITS (To Quinn, July 2007)

Jostling like electrons "Two-fifty?" customers shoulder for position in a wide wiggling queue 6' across My farmer friend says he doesn't have enough pressure, The people in front extend to me, enough hours in the day, over our farmers market table, to keep his place from going dry stuffed plastic sacks of salad mix, bunches of carrots, before the water makes it around again handfuls of tomatoes What would it be like? he asks all poised for my right-now attention Regular people pass by the scorched earth on their way to the river beach A shaggy baggy regular guy hands me a bunch of broccoli What would it be like? and I put it on the scale To not care about water? "That's three dollars in broccoli" I say I cannot remember and this has always been your life "How about two-fifty?" I see them downtown, regular people I am rushing to get back, stuck at the light Triple digits, third day in a row They slink through the crosswalk, Irrigation pipes on my shoulders burn through my shirt iced coffees in hand, cool shades, slow sundress steps, Sweat stings my eyes shorts slid halfway down boxers What would it be like? You are gone this afternoon and evening, being a regular kid You will know, soon enough An intern 5 years your senior helps me move And I will inhale these colored clouds alone irrigation lines and remember all this The pipes clank on each other, bouncing with his all-over-the-place paces The broccoli in the bag, not as beautiful as it could be, He sets them down, walks back and forth, picks them up, but respectable, the latches slip from their hooks the silhouetted mountains are in it, your farm childhood, He retraces his steps the sweat in my eyes, the burn on my shoulder, Graceful as a moth careening around a porch light the relentless worry for water or a drunk headed for the door It's all there, in a sack

Watching him, "No, not for two-fifty I wince Not for three bucks And I know You can't have the broccoli it won't be long and you will really be gone Who's next?" How many evenings have you and I done this? While the sky goes pink to orange, the mountains flatten to silhouette in the west JOSH SLOTNICK farms with his family near Missoula, We flop lines of pipe from one side of the mainline Montana. He sells at the Missoula Farmers Market. to the other Occasionally, he writes about these things. juggle end caps, openers, T's and elbows soak the big squash for hours keep the seed beds damp the mowed beds dry where I will till on Sunday We close the gate water roostertailing through the hot air

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 29 DATELINE I MEXICO CITY Mayan Maiiana BY MELISSA DEL BOSQUE

y friends and family hysteria last April, had subsided to a nag- teenagers. They all wore masks. in Mexico speak of ging concern by July, when I flew into My Mexican friend made a sour face. their country these Mexico City. "They are totally overreacting," she said. days as if it were As I shuffled through customs, I was told Studying public health in college, we the victim of some to fill out a questionnaire asking whether I learned that these masks do little to pre- cosmic ill fortune. had a fever or a cough. Fortunately I had vent influenza virus from infecting you— WavesIS1 of bad news pummel the country neither. A woman in a black-and-white the virus is small enough to pass through day after day: narco-violence, kidnap- military uniform with the unenviable job the porous masks. Still, I felt a slight panic pings, earthquakes, a global economic of collecting the questionnaires stifled a when I saw the masked family. I could crisis, and a swine flu pandemic that in yawn when she took mine. As I exited, a understand their fear after months of hys- April turned the world's third-largest man in a white lab coat sat behind a desk terical headlines. According to Mexico's city into a ghost town. next to a thermal scanner that detects secretary of health, 415 people had come The other day a well-traveled writer fever. His desk was backed into a remote down with swine flu in July—a huge dip friend who lives in Mexico City conjured corner of the airport, where it seemed from the peak of 2,969 cases in May, but a mystical reason for her country's mis- no one had strayed for weeks. His head still something to consider. To date there fortunes. She spoke darkly of the Mayan bobbed toward the desk as he struggled have been 16,60o confirmed cases and 146 culture's coming "sixth sun." We are to stay upright and awake. swine flu deaths in Mexico. The numbers approaching Mesoamerican end times: The only other signs of the pandemic are dwarfed by the United States, which The Mayan calendar ends its 25,625-year were government-funded cartoon post- has the most confirmed cases in the cycle on the winter solstice of Dec. 21, ers exhorting travelers to cough or sneeze world at 40,617, with 263 deaths. There 2012. According to ancient Mayan texts, into their arms or a tissue—but never were twenty-four deaths in Texas. we are approaching the end of the 13-year the hands! My friend glanced over at me. "Don't "period of darkness" between the end As I headed toward the city's zocalo- worry:' she said, brushing off my panic of the Mayan Fifth Sun and the begin- the massive plaza at the city center—I saw with a wave of her hand. A bigger concern ning of the uncertain Sixth, an interim few people still wearing surgical masks. for her, and for many other Mexicans, during which dramatic realignments of To help quell hysteria, the government was the country's ailing political system. consciousness will, or will not, prepare had passed out more than 6 million, On July 5, the country's old guard—the mankind for a golden age. which sold out at the height of the scare. I Institutional Revolutionary Party, known With that cosmic abyss looming, my spied a news vendor with a surgical mask as the PM—won a majority in the mid- friend and other Mexicans have adopted inexplicably dangling around his neck as term elections. Until 2000, the authori- a triage mentality. To take on all of the if it were some kind of good-health talis- tarian PRI had run the country for 70 country's struggles at once would be not man. The only people who seemed to be years. Mexicans seem to blame the PM only maddening, but unproductive. That's taking the masks seriously were tourists. for most of their country's problems, but one reason that the continuing swine flu A European couple passed by snapping voters there also suffer from a dearth of pandemic, which threw the country into photos, trailing two sullen, embarrassed viable alternatives.

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30 THE TEXAS OBSERVER AUGUST 21, 2009 101.44, According to ancient Mayan texts, we are approaching the end of the 13-year "period of darkness" between the end of the Mayan Fifth Sun and the beginning of the uncertain Sixth, an interim during which dramatic realignments of consciousness will, or will not, prepare mankind for a golden age.

I reported the presidential election to election fraud. Since then AMLO, as provided roofing materials to the most in 2000, which saw the historic win by many Mexicans refer to Obrador, has trav- impoverished voters (only to take them Vicente Fox and the National Action eled the countryside preaching to loyalists, back after he won). Party, or PAN. Many young Mexicans but offering few workable solutions for the The losing PRD candidate, Jose Maria brimmed with hope after the PRI was myriad problems facing his country. Medina Bocanegra, alleged that ballot toppled. Older Mexicans were more cau- The PRI's most recent sweeping win boxes had been tampered with and that tious, and more cynical. "The rich always shocked President Calderon's PAN party some valid ballots had not been count- get richer, and we stay poor no matter and the PRD—a shock that still ripples ed. The PRD and other parties asked the who wins," an old man who shined shoes through the countryside. In the small federal election committee for a recount. in the Reynosa Plaza told me. Being young town of Teportlan, an hour west of "We are asking the government for a myself at the time, I shared the younger Mexico City, the PRD lost the mayor's clean election this time," Medina told generation's enthusiasm and hoped it race for the first time since the PRI was me. Medina said he would like to see meant that new leadership would finally toppled in 2000. Political activists from peaceful change, but many are too angry begin addressing Mexico's endemic cor- the PRD and other parties have united to watch and wait while the slow wheels ruption and crushing poverty. in opposition to victorious PRI candidate of Mexican bureaucracy turn. Almost a decade later, the old PRI Gabino Rios Cedillo. On a recent Sunday I decided to return to my friend's mys- party bosses are back with a new slogan: morning, cars mounted with loudspeak- tical explanation for Mexico's problems. "Proven experience, new attitude." The ers circulated through Teportlan encour- According to the ancient Mayan texts, most likely hope for reform, the leftist aging citizens to rise up against Rios. Mexico and the rest of us are transition- Party of the Democratic Revolution, or One commonly aired accusation is that ing between worlds. The post-2012 world PRD, had its worst showing in 18 years. Rios paid voters from 500 to 1,500 pesos of the Sixth Sun is up for grabs. It could Three years ago, PRD candidate Andres (approximately $50 to $150 in U.S. dol- amount to apocalypse or a huge leap for- Manuel Lopez Obrador nearly won the lars) each for their support. ward. Either way, it will be, the prophe- presidency. Many Mexicans still attribute Rios, the owner of a construction cies say, no more and no less than what his loss to PAN candidate Felipe Calderon supply store, is also rumored to have we choose, now, to make of it. ■

AUGUST 21, 2009 TEXASOBSERVER.ORG 31 A 21st Century Observer? Believe it. While we expand on our 55-year history of fearless investigative reporting and incisive commentary, we're also building a daily Observer online.

Check out these new features at www.texasobserver.org:

Purple Texas by Bob Moser ... in which the Observer's editor reports on, pokes fun at and scrutinizes the implications of Texas' 2010 elections from a progressive populist point of view.

La Linea by Melissa del Bosque ...in which our investigative reporter looks at immigration politics and culture along the Texas/Mexico border, dispelling stereotypes and myths along the way.

The Contrarian by Dave Mann ...in which our associate editor casts a critical eye on the conventional wisdom about Texas and ferrets out hidden stories, bogus facts, and the lies and truths behind the official story.

Forrest For The Trees by Forrest Wilder ...in which our staff writer serves up underreported news about the Texas environment and digs deep beneath the environmental headlines.

Loon Star State by Ben Sargent ...in which the Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist offers his take on the nuttiest, weirdest, most outrageous happenings and politics in the strangest state in the union. Go to www.texasobserver.org/loonstarstate to sign up for e-mail updates on the latest cartoons before they come out in print.

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