FACING OUR PREJUDICES SQUARELY; WE'RE IN IT TOGETHER: STILLMAN ONE OF FIRST CITY MOVERS TO COME FROM MATA

By Juan Montoya

If ever there was a dog whistle blown in Brownsville, it's the one used to raise local residents' ire against people they associate with our sister city Matamoros.

Almost sublimely, some pundits stir the cauldron of prejudice and disdain that has been an omnipresent  factor in the relationship between residents of the twin cities.  In some quarters of our town, there has always existed a deep contempt and scorn for people who were either born or live in our sister city.

As a matter of fact, twin cities is a misnomer because the first settlement of Mata was in the mid-1700s while Brownsville was carved from the ejido lands north of the river which belonged to land-grant families like the Cavazos, Hinojosas and the Ballis in 1850, almost a century later.

But to many here, the residents associated with Matamoros are the "other" "del otro lado, "lotranos," mejcicles,"mojados," mojarras," "de la Popu," or other disparaging descriptions.

In general, many local residents heap scorn upon our neighbors, never realizing that a lot of the people who lived and worked in Matamoros or northern Tamaulipas are American citizens who are part of a middle class and upper middle class - and even sometimes part of the wealthy elite -  who just happen to do business there.

The pity of it is that some of the most rabid anti-Mata people are often of a lower social, educational and economic level than the people they look down upon. It's reminiscent of the poor whites in the south whose prejudice made them blind to the fact that many times some of the blacks they looked down upon were often better educated and had a better station in life that they did despite their second-class status in that odious system.

And even though they may have been looked down upon by other whites for being "white trash," they took the false pride that at least they were not black. 

In many cases, these people from Mata had businesses there, attended schools here, St. Joseph's Academy, for example, and are entitled to participate in the political process because they were born in the United States or have attained naturalization.

Many people from Matamoros have a double nationality. They can live legally on either side. And we should welcome them here. After all, Matamoros residents have a long history of contributing to our cultural and political life. Former Texas Secretary of State  and Cameron County Judge ( and before that county commissioner) Carlos Cascos is a Matamoros native who served our community admirably.

And the family of former county judge, Texas Secretary of State, and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza's family came from there. We're sure that there are many more examples of individuals who have contributed positively to our social, economic, educational, and political life.Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. says his abuelita was from San Fernando and Mayor Tony Martinez's kin hail from El Control.

Even Charles Stillman, Brownsville's "founder," was a merchant in Matamoros before he crossed the Rio Grande and made his fortune running the Union blockade with Confederate cotton and acquired (stole?) thousands of acres of land-grant properties. In a sense, he was the first of "Los Juniors" to cross the ditch.

In fact, some Matamoros historians say that there is a Stillman branch in northern Mexico.

We now have representatives of this binational group on the city commission, the Brownsville Navigation District, and many have been appointed to various boards. 

Given the situation that this city's traditional leadership has brought us to, it couldn't be any worse. It's nowhere but up.

Up until the current times of insecurity, they had no need to get involved in politics here.

In fact, they were involved in politics in Matamoros and Tamaulipas and had become part of the ruling elite there. But northern Mexico's version of Ireland's "The Troubles" has forced this group to come back home. Instead of disparaging them, we should welcome their participation in our civic life. 

Mexican capital is the driving force in Brownsville. Ask any Realtor. The real money in Brownsville is capital that has come from across the river fleeing the extortion of  of La Maña, our own border version of Italy's "Black Hand" and the savagery of bloodthirsty cartels.

They bring an entrepreneurial spirit that has been missing locally. The restaurants, businesses, and new development that used to flourish in Matamoros are flourishing here as a result, a good thing for this poor community.

Yeah, some are haughty, demanding, and authoritative, but that is a carryover from the social relations that exist in Mexico. The demarcation between the haves and the have-nots is much more marked there as is the established social status. It's just a matter of time before they get culturally acclimatized to our customs and traditions of individual rights and social equality.

These people are not going to stand in line for housing, food stamps, or welfare checks, regardless of  local chauvinists' wishful thinking. They're here to do business. 

And, pundit Jerry McHale's success as a soccer coach - a game he did not know until he was assigned  as Porter coach and bought a book on the sport in Matamoros - was because of the kids at that school from Matamoros. Let him tell you in is own words.

"I returned to teaching in 1980 at Porter High School. I was teaching English as a Second Language (ESL) and the vast majority were students from Matamoros. They were an ostracized group. They must have reminded the Brownsville Mexican-Americans of their roots who apparently didn't care to recall their humble origins. If you didn't speak English, you were an inferior beings."

You didn't hear him complaining about "Los Juniors de lotrano" when his team went to compete against tough teams in San Antonio and brought back the trophies that set the foundation of the district as one of the top soccer powers in Texas.

Just as the talent of these kids has put the Brownsville Independent School District on the state and national maps as a soccer powerhouse, let's hope that the entrepreneurial spirit and the civic engagement of this group entering politics regenerates our social and cultural life.

In fact, we should encourage the other groups among us - the Korean community, the African community, those from the Middle East and Asia and the Indian subcontinent - to join us in the voting booth and on the ballot. After all, politics makes the world go round.

 No one group has a monopoly on civic engagement or political leadership. We should welcome them all. After all, our local citizens participation rates in the voting booth are dismal. We say the more the merrier.