NewsTaco

An attempt by members of the United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan of Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, to recruit new “knights” ended up doing a bit of the opposite, and freaking a few people out in the county to the point that the “valiant knights” had to do damage control.

Lorna Davis found a flyer on the doorstep of her job, assuming it business mail, and picked it up. It turned out to be an invitation to the KKK; offended, Davis called up the Klan to tell them that she didn’t want to find things like that on her property. However, Davis is not the only person in the area. Apparently these klansmen were contacted by several people in the towns where they spread flyers, feeling that the “Klan needed to make it’s presence known.”

The reaction of horror toward the flyers though was not just limited to Lorna Davis, apparently. The guys who posted the fliers made public comments about it. One of the distributors argues that the Klan is “not racist,” and that the violent Klan of history (read: domestic terrorism) is a thing of the past. He even apologized for offending people, saying it is “not our purpose.”

Despite being in an era where the Klan is in decline — to the point that they must anonymously post flyers in the dead of night in small towns — they are still picky about potential donors, writing in their flyer a list of “Twenty reasons why you (if qualified) should join, aid, and support the United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.”  The Klan’s website features a quote from the “national director of knights,” Thomas Robb, claiming that there is a “race war” being waged against whites, but they will remain “committed to a non-violent resolution.”

Really?  The Klan can whitewash it’s history as much as it wants, but the truth of the Ku Klux Klan and its past are a firm part of American history. The reality of what the KKK is and what it would like to be again are seemingly being kept at bay by tolerant, accepting people of all races. It’s time for the Klan to realize that it and other hate groups, regardless of what race they are composed of, are going to the trash heap of history.

[Photo By Image Editor]

To chat with Franco Mondini-Ruiz is to be sucked into his world — art museums, New York City, Mexican mothers, San Antonio art society, gay parties, baroque wedding cakes, 18th century aristocracy, Catholicism, pan dulce, his career as a lawyer — but somehow when he brings them all together, suddenly, it makes sense. A native of San Antonio, Monidini gradually found his way into the art world via art installations he would make at parties. Eventually he quit his day job as an attorney and threw himself into the world of art.

But, he told News Taco, 20 years ago the art world was a harder place for Latino artists. So, he did what any lawyer-turned-artist would do, and created a new business model for himself. Now he’s got upcoming shows in California, Oklahoma and Arizona.

“I used the model of the panadería. I want to make a lot of pan dulce, but I want it to be so beautiful that you say, ‘Thank God I’m Mexican!’ and I want everyone to buy all they want. I have a model where I am running a Mexican bakery and I am blessed because museums want a piece of it,” Mondini-Ruiz said.

Informal economies, he said, was his inspiration to lash out on his own as an entrepreneurial artist. You had to become your own business strategist in the early days, he said, because there were not very many ways to get into the art world when he started. Nowadays, it’s easier for Latino artists because you can find Latinos who are curators or museum directors or board members — “We have become part of the industry,” he said — although there is still the occasional condescension.

Nonetheless, he told us, “If anything there is an acknowledgement that there are lots of different types of Latino artists. Yet, as much as we try, contemporary art is a religion or a cult and it is pretty classist. Those of us that get in and can make the cut are usually middle-to-upper middle class kids who can speak the language. And even then, you’d better watch your aspirations because you can only go so far,”

If you’d like to see some of Mondini-Ruiz’s work and happen to be in Oklahoma in the next few months you can see his show, “Poodles & Pastries (and Other Important Matters): New Paintings by Franco Mondini-Ruiz” from September 8 through December 31.

Here’s a good indication as to where Oklahoma lawmakers’ minds are. The Associate Press is reporting

An illegal immigration bill being considered by lawmakers this year will target human smugglers and others who prey on illegal immigrants, but will do nothing to penalize employers who hire illegal workers, the House author of the measure said Wednesday.

The bill authorizes state and local police to “recommend immigrants for certain types of visas if the immigrants report and aid in the investigation of illegal criminal activity.” So immigrants can get a bye if they tell on the smugglers who brought them here, because human smuggling is against the law. But so is hiring the undocumented. This is where the Republican agenda runs contrary to itself.

Many Republicans across Oklahoma campaigned on cracking down on illegal immigrants, and the GOP swept to power during last year’s elections by extending their majorities in the House and Senate and capturing the governor’s office. But the push against illegal immigrants has run headlong into another Republican priority — creating a pro-business environment — and business and industry leaders have quietly resisted attempts to add more restrictions on the hiring of illegal immigrant workers.

You can’t have it both ways, can you?

The Oklahoma legislators that were voted into office last year are spearheading this initiative – and they’re trying to appease the Tea Party folks who got them there and at the same time not antagonize business and Latino voters. And they thought it would be easy…

(Executive Director of the Latino Community Development Agency, Patricia) Fennell said. “The Latino vote is gaining significance every year … and immigration has become the ping pong ball in the political game.”

What’s interesting is that some Republican legislators are saying they don’t like the bill, but you’d be surprised as to why (or maybe not):

“I don’t want to be tied to this bill in any way,” said (Sen. Ralph) Shortey, R-Oklahoma City. “Even the most ignorant people in the state will look at this thing and say it’s a pseudo-amnesty bill. This is not an illegal immigration bill. This is a ‘we want to help you be more comfortable in our state’ bill.”

According to the US Census 17% of the population of Oklahoma City is Latino; that’s about 98,600..

Follow Victor Landa on Twitter: @vlanda

[Photo by .Kayne.]

Today is tax day!

Airfares will probably rise about 15% this year because of rising fuel prices, making the average fare about $390.

Tornadoes that hit several states over the weekend are among the most deadly in history; “241 twisters over 14 states, killing at least 44 people from Oklahoma to North Carolina,” reported The Los Angeles Times.

A year after the BP spill in the Gulf Coast, some of the oil is still causing problems, even as the Gulf communities begin to recover.

U.S. officials are worried that citizens are going to be increasingly caught up in Mexican drug-related violence.

The oldest man in the world, 114 year-old Walter Breuning of Montana, died Thursday; the story has tips to longevity.

6 people died from tornadoes that stretch from Oklahoma to Arkansas; among the dead was a 6 year-old boy.

Congress passed the 2011 budget, now the two parties are to begin fighting over next year’s budget.

Despite all the suffering caused by the sketchy financial maneuvers of Wall Street types leading up to our current recession, no one has been arrested or prosecuted. A story in The New York Times explores why.

Food and gas prices are climbing like crazy; gas prices hit $5 a gallon in California and people are hijacking trucks filled with tomatoes.

[Photo Courtesy Facebook]

Latinos now outnumber Native Americans in Oklahoma, a state that has marketed if not truly valued its Native American heritage. The Native American Times (via AP) reports that, with recent Census data, Latinos have come to compose 9% of the state’s population, with Native Americans behind with only 8.5%.

Over the past decade, the number of Hispanics has nearly doubled from 179,304 in 2000 to 332,007 in 2010. Hispanics now account for 9 percent of the state’s 3.75 million residents, compared to 8.5 percent for Native Americans…

Oklahoma’s history has been linked to Native Americans decades before it gained statehood in 1907. It is home to dozens of sovereign tribes, many forced from their homes along the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. It’s also the birthplace of iconic cowboy and humorist Will Rogers, a member of a prominent Cherokee Nation family who was born in Indian Territory that later became the state.

While the 85 percent population spike has allowed Hispanics to become the state’s largest minority, the population of people identifying themselves solely as Native Americans increased from 273,230 in 2000 (7.9 percent of all Oklahoma residents) to 321,687 (8.5 percent) in 2010.

When all combinations of mixed-race people are included, over 12 percent of Oklahomans claim some level of Indian ancestry.

As I wrote previously, Latinos are going to affect the rest of the country even as they themselves become more “Americanized.” Although Oklahoma does have a long history of honoring its Native American ancestry (at least on paper, from what I’ve heard and read it’s still a pretty racist state in some places), it could be that Latinos drifting into that state would also identify with their Native roots — albeit Mexican Native roots. This could, in some way, boost Oklahoma’s Native American culture.

On the other hand, it could also detract from the state’s focus on Native American culture and shift that to Latinos. However, I’d like to point out that there’s no good reason the two can’t co-exist. The narrative is always that “this minority is displacing that minority” when the truth of the matter is that there can be both. There’s no good reason there can’t be both — other than the fact that “the powers that be” will only allow one group to play the “minority” when it comes to allocating resources.

Let’s hope the people of Oklahoma are able to make the third option — purposeful co-existing of cultures — work.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD.

[Image Courtesy OK Tax Commission]

The highest percentage ever of Oklahoma’s public school children are Latino, according to recent figures. About 12% of the state’s school population is Latino, compared to 55% white, 18% Native American, 10% African American, 2% Asian and 3% multiracial.

This is an interesting development for several reasons. First, we recently saw that the majority of California’s students were Latino and that Oklahoma is trying to follow Arizona’s lead with its anti-immigrant laws. Two such contradictory realities — a growing Latino population coupled with anti-Latino sentiment — is sure to create chaos in Oklahoma in the future.

What’s more, the Latino population across the country is growing, even in places not historically known for its big Latino population. I’d hate for this phenomenon in Oklahoma to result in anti-immigrant or anti-Latino violence, but we’ve already begun to see this in places like Connecticut, for example. Stay tuned.

[Photo By DB King]

I wish it weren’t necessary to bring such things up, but we have to keep an eye on these developments. Arizona-type anti-immigrant laws are spreading like mala yerba.

The Associated Press is reporting that “some state lawmakers from south Oklahoma City have been pushing harder for tough immigration laws as the city’s Hispanic population has grown.” The push comes from legislators from areas that have seen the highest rate of growth in Latino population. One such legislator, newly-elected state Sen. Ralph Shortey, R-Oklahoma City, told the AP that he “plans to file legislation that would mirror an Arizona law requiring police to question the immigration status of people they suspect are in the U.S. illegally.”

A Latino member of the Oklahoma City School Board, David Castillo, calls the anti-immigrant push “growing pains.” “I believe that is what we’re going through in Oklahoma, especially in south Oklahoma City,”  he said.

If you want to put a number on that painful growth, it’s 67 percent between 2000 and 2009.

[Image courtesy Mike Licht]