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Foreword
- Texas A&M University Press
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Foreword • • • You don’t have to be a political scientist to recognize that the face of our country is rapidly becoming a composite of faces from the entire world. The old racial and ethnic categories of identification are rapidly becoming obsolete. Will we become a new disunited tower of Babel with no possibility of communication, or will we become an ever-more united humanity, a unity as radical a breakthrough in the history of humanity as was the very foundation of the United States over two centuries ago? John Burke dares to tackle this fascinating challenge of the twenty-first century. Being a Mexican American mestizo and having studied and written extensively on the subject in order to know and understand myself and my people, it was with a great deal of enthusiasm that I read Mestizo Democracy : The Politics of Crossing Borders by John Francis Burke. It is truly a ground-breaking work that dares to explore the universal mestizaje taking place in the United States and its effects on our body politic. I do not know of another political theory in the United States dealing with this all-important topic. The term mestizo, originally used in Latin America to categorize the children of NativeAmerican and European parents,is now being applied to any person of racially or ethnically mixed origins. From the old and separate ethnic and racial ghettos of the United States is arising a new phoenix, the new human person in whose very body and soul are contained the blood and spirit of every human race upon the earth. A new humanity is emerging. This universal mestizaje is a natural product of the society started by the founders of this country who postulated as a foundation stone of this new government that all are created equal! If all are equal, all equally have the right to procreate and raise families. How can mestizaje not be part of a truly democratic society? In a society where all men and women are truly equal, friendships will develop beyond any race or ethnic barrier, love affairs will flourish, and children will be born. This is the natural product of a truly multicultural and multiracial • Foreword democratic society. It is happening and will take place at an ever-increasing pace. It was condemned in the past, somewhat tolerated in the present, but, I dare to say, will be celebrated in the future. Yet to my knowledge no one has studied the effects and challenges of this cultural mixing. John Burke tackles the mestizo outcome of the growing multiculturalism and multiracialism of the United States that very few are willing to explore or even to recognize. Until recent times racial and even ethnic mixture was frowned upon and even forbidden. Only in did the United States Supreme Court declare as unconstitutional U.S. laws against miscegenation. Yet today more and more young people are identifying themselves, with great pride, as products of two or more races. My students in various universities speak with great pride, but also with many examples of great pain, of experiences with the different ethnic sides of their families. Mestizo reality is not only becoming more and more common but is also being discussed by young people without any negative slurs. Among the many great merits of this book is the fact that the author is an engaging scholar. Not only has he been studying the subject for many years, but, more importantly, he has been living the reality of mestizaje, along with his wife, Mary Jane De La Rosa, and their children, Sean and Francisco.He lives and works in the mestizo reality of Texas and thus brings a unique perspective to the subject. He is a rare scholar because he not only bridges serious academic theory and grassroots involvement,but brings out how these different activities enrich each other. In addition to his contributions as a scholar, Burke is a dedicated church member who has put his ideas into practice, especially by fashioning outstanding multicultural and multilingual offerings by church choirs. Beyond his church work, he has been intensely involved in community-organizing projects and other works of the community. The twenty-first century will be characterized by the capacity to juxtapose identities. We therefore need to envision transnational and national political schemes that move beyond the territorial scripting of identity so as to realize dynamic and just democratic interaction. Mestizaje, in ethical terms, is a vital cultural...