The Yaqui Genocide The first half of the twentieth century is infamous today for its genocides, such as the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Holodomor, and the Japanese genocide against the Chinese, that proved to be the some of the largest in history. The rise of ultraconservative and fascist regimes, particularly in Spain, Germany, and Romania, led to the bloodiest and most devastating atrocities in human history. Perhaps some of the greatest genocides happened here on the American continent, where such things as scalp hunting, lynching, and smallpox endorsed by government actions led to the greatest population decreases in recorded history among the aboriginal peoples. Traditionally, these brutalities were thought to have ended after the Wounded Knee massacre, and thus never stretching into the twentieth century. On only the eighteenth day of the new century, Mexican troops (still loyal to the Diaz regime) attacked a gathering of thousands of Yaquis, killing about half and capturing about half. This event, known as the Mazocoba Massacre, would reignite la Guerra del Yaqui. In the following decade, small and unorganized Yaqui guerrilla militias provided the only resistance to a Mexican Army that deported tens of thousands of Yaquis to was essentially counted as slave work in a nation that outlawed slavery in its opening years. Brutal fighting continued on in the Sierra del Bacatete. The Yaquis, while being the last free Indian tribe to hold out north of Mexico City, achieved many firsts. They were the first tribe to stand up to an air force. They were the first tribe to fight with semiautomatics. At a train junction in San Marcos, Jalisco, they were herded into concentration camps that were in many ways precursors to those of Hitler. Only a few families escaped into the United States. Mine was one. The last of the fighting occurred in 1939. The Yaqui continued an uneasy relationship with the PRI government, but at least the years of deportations, massacres, and other horrors had largely ended. The next great struggle the people would face would come with NAFTA in 1994 and the U.S.s demand that Mexico remove indigenous title to much land and the American corn market destroyed the Mexican one. The Yaqui remain a unique group, stretching still from California to Texas to Yucatan as a great diaspora. Little is known today of the Yaqui Genocide. The information is all available; it is well documented. Now the question is whether people of all heritages can look at the reminders of past brutality and combat its modern incarnations. I am a Jew, a Rom, a Pole, a Rhinelander, a Yaqui, a Melungeon, a Cherokee (Freedman), and many other things. What matters to me is not that these things carry inherent meaning because there is no meaning if no one listens. What matters is that we all learn of the past and we confront what remains of it today. Posted 12th March 2012 by John Neshwaueshwa Location: San Marcos, Jalisco, Mexico
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 02:50:49 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015