Nancy Polikoff reports in The Bilerico Project that the California Supreme Court has agreed to hear the challenge to Proposition 8 filed by National Center for Lesbian Rights and others. They will rule on the matter by the end of April. Should be interesting.
Nicola Griffith 
Since John Marshall socked it to john Adams, I have been a fan of supreme courts. California Supreme Court tell them again. You can live as you please, but you can’t control how other people choose to live.”Respect for the rights of others is peace,” as Benito Juarez said.
Let’s hear it for Benito Juarez. It’s such a simple stance; I honestly don’t understand why so few people get it.
I really hope the supreme courts do right by their citizens and return to them what’s been taken away by hate and ignorance. That’s such a nice phrase: <>el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz.<> As to Benito Juarez having said it… my cynicism over popular Mexican history makes me doubt it. Can I rant about Juarez? Feel free to scroll past. Rant coming!The figure of Benito Juarez makes me very bitter. It represents one of the many crossroads where Mexico went further into hell. I believe Maximilian of Augsburg was the true human rights activist, not Benito Juarez.Maximilian, was the one who tried to pass laws to ensure the indigenous population was entitled to equal civil rights. He wished to make sure they were able to keep their independent languages and culture and practice their own religion. Maximilian also tried to return the treasures that the Catholic church had seized in the form of property, idols, gold, etc. from the natives. He refused to enforce a religious dictatorship and instead established a moderate government that represented the interests of every class. Maximilian made many powerful enemies, including the US—who wasn’t happy with the notion of Mexico becoming a liberal Monarchy supported by the European royal houses. So Maximilian was executed. Once Maximilian was out of their way, the Catholic conservatives and the US forces appointed Benito Juarez as the first indigenous Mexican president. From then on, he was used as a mouthpiece to tell the natives we could all achieve honorary whiteness if we worked hard at it. Benito was part of the fantasy and charade that allowed the <>status quo<> of ignorance and exploitation to prevail in Mexico. This strive towards honorary whiteness is still very rooted in our culture, which can be seen in the gross amounts of whitening skin cream and hair bleach and makeup being sold there. Because we can all be white if we try hard enough, Benito Juarez taught us that. Ugh…
Karina, WHEW! I just saw the quote at the anthropology museum in Mexico City. I liked it. But thanks for the rant anyway. It was instructive.
Karina, WHEW! I just saw the quote at the anthropology museum in Mexico City. I liked it. But thanks for the rant anyway. It was instructive.
karina, thanks for the info. I’ve heard of Maximilian of course, but had never heard of Benito Juaraz. I was in a rush, didn’t look him up, just assumed he was a Good Guy because, hey, it’s a nice quote…
barbara, when did you go to Mexico City? How cool! I like that museum, in spite of all the lies it showcases. It's still better than nothing.nicola & barbara, I think you would have probably come up with the same “Benito Juarez is A Good Guy” result if you had googled him. Which is part of what makes me mad about the situation. He is indeed hailed as a national hero. How else would they make us try to be more like him? In the free textbooks the government hands out at elementary schools, Maximilian is the rich and evil white guy who tried to enslave Mexico under his empire, while Benito Juarez is a saint. I have to look at Benito's hypocritical face every time I get a 20-pesos bill. Ugh. I love hanging out with hard-core historians—the kind that get their eyes and fingers infected with fungus because the archived material they work with is so forgotten and old its rotting away in darkness. The documents they dig up are dangerous in so many ways, they shed light on how cunning storytelling can serve to manipulate a nation. Popular Mexican history has been conjured up by some of the best ghost writers ever. They've come up with such inspiring bullshit it's hard not to go along with the flow. Thank you so much for reading my rants.;-)
No, thank you. It’s so easy to swim along in the superficial layer of information. Rant here any time you like…