Call it A Tale of Two Americas.
Last Sunday, Beverly and I took our horse-loving granddaughter to the renowned Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, where the night’s theme was Best of Mexico Celebracion.
It was a splendid three hours, and not just because the horses were beautiful, their riders skilled, and the bulls extra nasty [not one rider endured the eight-second challenge].
But what really captured my attention – and my heart – was the evening’s ode to the symbiotic relationship of Spanish, Mexican and Texas cultures that has enriched generations.
Narrators spoke in English and Spanish. Fort Worth North Side High School’s award-winning Mariachi groups played, sang and danced. Eight Mexican flags were paraded onto the Dickies Arena floor. The Mexican national anthem was played. Then a 17-year-old Latina offered a stirring rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner.
All to the delight of a near capacity crowd that seemingly relished the spectacle – peoples of various races, nationalities, and dialects, sharing the pleasures of a night of rodeo, Mariachi and colorfully-dressed dancers.
The next day – when Donald Trump was sworn into office for a second term – I couldn’t help but wonder what many of those seated around us were thinking now about their futures in America.
After all, Trump vowed during his campaign to pursue the largest mass deportation in U.S. history and to end birthright citizenship. And he quickly went to work to implement his vision of border security and immigration policy: Homeland Security prepared targeted raids in cities with large numbers of undocumented immigrants. And the Justice Department threatened to prosecute state and city officials who refuse to enforce the president’s policies.
Trump also declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, setting up possible deployment of active-duty military and National Guard for and potentially unlocking federal funds for new border wall construction. And he ended immigration enforcement protections in churches and schools.
In Oklahoma, where an estimated 90,000 immigrants are undocumented, the fear is palpable.
Within 36 hours of Trump’s inauguration, social media was full of rumors that federal agents were staging vehicles in south Oklahoma City in advance of raids.
That sort of fear mongering, in concert with the president’s actions, creates special challenges for educators.
“The best way that a kid learns is when they’re not scared or hungry or cold,” Santa Fe South Superintendent Chris Brewster told KOCO, “so we really do our best work to put a kid in a position where they’ll be open to learn.”
It remains unclear, he added, “what the [president’s] executive order will look like in our community,” but “anything that kind of distracts from the work we’re doing, we try to be aware of it but keep our head down and do the work that we’re called to do.”
Fear about how Trump might wield power even led to a remarkable moment at an inaugural prayer service at Washington National Cathedral, where, from the pulpit, Episcopal Bishop Mariann E. Budde, looked the president in the eye and said: “I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
Budde later told the New York Times she hoped Trump could “see the humanity of these people” and “acknowledge that there are people in this country [who] are scared … If not him, if not the president, could others?”
By week’s end, Fort Worth’s promise of an America that welcomes the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free felt overwhelmed by Washington’s harsh political realities.
