Snapping the Fingers
Written in a rush in anticipation of my first contact with Javier Rodriguez, unedited
by Ricardo Bueyhombre

I don’t really know Javier Rodriquez at all. But I can tell you with the certainty that I know my child is breathing in the room next to me that if I could snap my fingers, and make him Governor of California overnight… he’d be capable of doing a better job at being chief Executive than any other California governor in the state’s history. How’s that for an opening?

But… I am deadly serious.

I don’t have a clue on where he stands respecting the environmental issues which are so precious to me, or on a great number of other issues which I hold dear. But that’s where citizens go wrong. They’ve been scammed into thinking that all the ducks have to be in a row before moving in solidarity against the state. No, Javier would do a fantastic job in leading the way, especially if he were working in tandem with the coalition I envision as per http://oxtogrind.org/archive/364.

And besides, The Moment is here. The Window of Opportunity is begging for Don Quixote to enter.

Read what he says in his “The Immigrant Rights Movement in the Obama Era” http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/22326:

“Politically, what does it all mean? After six months of the new change you can believe in presidency, it can be said that the Obama administration is also looking at immigrants through the lens of criminality and potential terrorists and is seeking the consolidation of institutional persecution, disguized as national security. The political myopia is clearly on a collision course with the thinking of Latinos and immigrants as a whole, as so eloquently revealed in the findings of the PEW Hispanic Poll. So, the masks are off. ‘Welcome to the immigrant rights movement under the Barack Obama Administration’.”

“As of this writing 1,800 American Apparel workers in Los Angeles are on the verge of losing their jobs for not having papers and the move Janet Napolitano is making is part of a broader operation involving 652 work places and the result maybe that hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers nationally may lose their jobs. This is the climax of an administrative move begun in early 2008, by former President Bush through Immigration and Customs Enforcement of I-9 investigation of employee rolls. Plain and simple, Obama could have stopped it administratively with a presidential executive order, much like the campaign promise of 2008 to officially end raids. Surprisingly though, the president approves the measures.”

I quoted the above for one reason primarily. That is, to point out that whereas Obama could have transformed a total abomination with a simple presidential executive order — as he was obligated to do vis-a-vis his campaign promises — Javier Rodriguez WOULD (and could) take humane, socially-conscious action that the whole world is begging for… with any number of “executive orders” in the State of California… which would improve matters not only for the dedicated souls of the March 25th Coalition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_25_Coalition, but for the entire world. I do believe in ripples, yes!

And I can tell where his heart is at from his article. From his life’s work. The “other issues” which trouble my sleep, with which I wake every single morning… yes, I would put them into the hands of strangers like Javier. Because, for that matter, I don’t really know that much about any of the citizens who I have gathered together to push TOSCA (http://oxtogrind.org/archive/336), some of the non-politicians who I would have work with Javier in office, all else being equal. BECAUSE… we do not have the luxury of being able to postpone the radical action necessary… to make this a better world, to save this traumatized earth. Some of the niceties that anal-retentive souls insist upon will have to take a back seat, as they say. There is a deadline. We cannot proceed at the arthritic snail’s pace so typical of politicians.

For even if one doesn’t care about immigrant rights, there are sleeping children — not unlike my Marcelo… in the room next to me as I write — who are NOT immigrants… who don’t want to have anything to do with this country… whose heartbeats are terminated… who are taken from their parents overnight without warning… who can never return to this earth no matter how much their parents beg God… because some of our arrogant soldier teenagers and young adults (hopped up on high tech) are pushing buttons in Nevada and New Mexico… which direct drones overhead in Afghanistan. THOSE CHILDREN DO NOT WANT TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THIS COUNTRY!

Yes, I am mad. I am out of my mind mad with a resolve to end such horror. Not contribute to ending it. ENDING IT!

And in the process I will help the millions of people who comprise the lovely Latino community which Javier Rodriguez speaks for in his article.

I am going to snap my fingers.

I beg you to do the same so that the sound can be loud and clear.

Ricardo Bueyhombre (aka Richard Martin Oxman, Richard Oxman, O’Xman, The Ox, Marcelle Cendrars, Lisa Massaciuccoli, Boojum Cir et al.) can be reached at tosca.2010@yahoo.com.
P.S. One has to be totally ignorant about U.S. history to think that our numerous, ongoing military interventions overseas have anything remotely to do with spreading what we call democracy. And one has to be completely devoid of compassion (and enlightened self-interest, for that matter) to not want to do something about our abominations at home and abroad. On that note, I look forward to meeting you.