Commentary --
Mechicamerica: a nation focused on the future -- July 16, 2019
We should consciously intend to change the consciousness of Mechicamerica from being virtually silenced intellectually and culturally, that is, without our own voice, to a nation focused on the future as the motivation for change today. One way to interpret the 52 year Azteca cycle of life is that it was intended to compress time for those in that time zone, you might say, and force introspection, creativity, united effort and action. In much the same way, looking forward 50 years impels collective thought; I'm not sure it provokes collective action necessarily, but the very nature of the collaboration is itself a means continually to alter the paradigm, to take action with intent, concientizados.
Yesterday, I heard a multi-billionaire on “60 Minutes,” who amassed his fortune in computers and now is exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) inventions, predict that perhaps 40 percent of today’s jobs may be gone within a generation, within our 50 year cycle—because of robotics and AI. Not only does it mean a lot of people will be out of work, but they cannot just be idle or have no source of a livelihood. What will they do for a living or for meaning in their lives? Hardest hit, the rich man says, will be jobs that require repetitive motions, such as picking crops, preparing and serving food, even driving cars and trucks. (AI Superpowers, by Kai-Fu Lee; Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018).
Whether or not we believe this particular person’s predictions, we already see the loss of jobs due to robotization in manufacturing, even agriculture as harvesting becomes more and more mechanized, and in the advent of the driverless cars, the use of drones, and so on. Who will be most hard hit by this evolution in computerization of life? We don’t have far to look.
How do we preserve a way of life and an outlook on life with those odds facing us? I’m referring, of course, to our own culture and history. I learned this past week of another 50 year anniversary celebration, this one commemorating the Chicano Moratorium, which first took place August 29, 1970. Ruben Salazar died that day. He was a friend of mine and we had collaborated on a couple writing projects for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where I had been working at the time. Events like these should be held with the future in mind, redirecting our energy and our purpose to prepare for the next 50 years. It’s important to remember people and events after some years have passed—Ruben would have been 90 years old were he still alive, and I truly believe he would be championing the Blueprint intent and writing in its behalf as well.
We have to document how we managed to make it this far, but I truly believe that right now we are called to remember the future, that which lies ahead of us and that which only we can engage. Unless we do, whatever it was that the past 50 years accomplished or whatever events marked a turning point in Chicanan consciousness, the impulse—like surges of power which can cause a blackout or sudden spurts of action—must be understood as impelling us forward, not standing still.
We must turn our time and energy to enable the couple generations alive today to witness what’s happened as they look back 50 years from now. The Blueprint task group that has been meeting weekly since early June set February 2, 2020, as the kick off date for the first Mexicamerica fifty year cycle. February 2nd is the day on which the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed ending the invasion of Mexico by the United States and on which the Mexican American people came into being. Meanwhile, we have to lay the groundwork for the Blueprint to function effectively and widely.
The sense that many others around the country also feel the impulse to look to the future is shared by the small cohort of Chicanans who have begun meeting regularly to build on the Blueprint concept and evolve a core of ideas and strategies on the organization and mobilization of our gente forward. Yes, let’s celebrate looking ahead 50 years. This is part of our mission, to spread the concept and make Mexican Americans as a people and a nation commit to creating new memories and achievements moving forward.
Armando Rendón
July13, 2019
Yesterday, I heard a multi-billionaire on “60 Minutes,” who amassed his fortune in computers and now is exploiting artificial intelligence (AI) inventions, predict that perhaps 40 percent of today’s jobs may be gone within a generation, within our 50 year cycle—because of robotics and AI. Not only does it mean a lot of people will be out of work, but they cannot just be idle or have no source of a livelihood. What will they do for a living or for meaning in their lives? Hardest hit, the rich man says, will be jobs that require repetitive motions, such as picking crops, preparing and serving food, even driving cars and trucks. (AI Superpowers, by Kai-Fu Lee; Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018).
Whether or not we believe this particular person’s predictions, we already see the loss of jobs due to robotization in manufacturing, even agriculture as harvesting becomes more and more mechanized, and in the advent of the driverless cars, the use of drones, and so on. Who will be most hard hit by this evolution in computerization of life? We don’t have far to look.
How do we preserve a way of life and an outlook on life with those odds facing us? I’m referring, of course, to our own culture and history. I learned this past week of another 50 year anniversary celebration, this one commemorating the Chicano Moratorium, which first took place August 29, 1970. Ruben Salazar died that day. He was a friend of mine and we had collaborated on a couple writing projects for the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights where I had been working at the time. Events like these should be held with the future in mind, redirecting our energy and our purpose to prepare for the next 50 years. It’s important to remember people and events after some years have passed—Ruben would have been 90 years old were he still alive, and I truly believe he would be championing the Blueprint intent and writing in its behalf as well.
We have to document how we managed to make it this far, but I truly believe that right now we are called to remember the future, that which lies ahead of us and that which only we can engage. Unless we do, whatever it was that the past 50 years accomplished or whatever events marked a turning point in Chicanan consciousness, the impulse—like surges of power which can cause a blackout or sudden spurts of action—must be understood as impelling us forward, not standing still.
We must turn our time and energy to enable the couple generations alive today to witness what’s happened as they look back 50 years from now. The Blueprint task group that has been meeting weekly since early June set February 2, 2020, as the kick off date for the first Mexicamerica fifty year cycle. February 2nd is the day on which the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed ending the invasion of Mexico by the United States and on which the Mexican American people came into being. Meanwhile, we have to lay the groundwork for the Blueprint to function effectively and widely.
The sense that many others around the country also feel the impulse to look to the future is shared by the small cohort of Chicanans who have begun meeting regularly to build on the Blueprint concept and evolve a core of ideas and strategies on the organization and mobilization of our gente forward. Yes, let’s celebrate looking ahead 50 years. This is part of our mission, to spread the concept and make Mexican Americans as a people and a nation commit to creating new memories and achievements moving forward.
Armando Rendón
July13, 2019