Apart from Mexicans living in the states and Mexican Americans,
most people in the states do not observe the Day of the Dead.
Too bad. It is I think a healing experience. Passing the day with
the spirits of loved ones.
Last year I made an altar to my mother, her sister and their mother,
my grandmother. It was comforting thinking that perhaps they were
there enjoying the sugar replicas of their favorites stuff, in this
case boats and anything to do with the sea, and taking spiritual
sips from the three glasses of wine set for them.
If those Americans knew about Day of the Dead they could make altars
to the 3,000 people who died on 9/11. Or they could make altars
for the 1,100 Americans who have died in Iraq.
They could also make altars to the 13,000 Iraqi civilians who have
been killed in the war to bring democracy to them.
Today the news tells me the U.S. fired on Falluja’s favorite
lunch spot, blowing half the restaurant to smithereens. This was
because terrorists were suspected of hanging out there, eating lunch
and recruiting suicide bombers. Recruiting in the neighborhood should
be a snap now.
A few weeks ago I got on a rant about George Bush while discussing
the war with a friend. My friend is a political activist and film
documentarian who has spent the last year doing nothing else but
trying to get Bush out of the White House. He talks to a lot of
people about the war. When I mentioned civilian casualties in Iraq,
he said this: “If you think Americans care about Iraqi civilian
casualties you’re dreaming.”
When Cheney was asked about civilian deaths in Iraq he said that
was to be expected in a war. But do all Americans agree that it’s
necessary to drop bombs on a city full of civilians so that we can
liberate them? Our first reason for starting a war was to find and
destroy Weapons of Mass Destruction. When that didn’t pan
out, we switched our focus to trying to capture one man. Once that
man was captured, the killing of civilians continued in the effort
bring to them Democracy. But does Cheney’s attitude reflect
that of his constituency or are the members of his constituency
simply asleep at the wheel of Democracy, not paying attention to
what their elected officials are saying. People around the world
are paying careful attention to what our leaders say. A casual attitude
about killing civilians does not help our image.
People sometimes will say something to the effect that Mexicans
are in love with or into death. I think it must be the cock and
bull fights, and all the skeletons. Also, the death of Christ, Easter,
is a bigger deal here than the birth. All together I guess that
gives outsiders the impression that Mexicans are enamored of death.
I don’t know, I don’t think anyone likes death, especially
when it’s their turn. I would say that perhaps Mexicans know
death better than Americans.
I was talking with a taxista the day after the Pamplonada and we
were commenting on how dirty the streets were after the fiesta.
I told him that considering how many young people were in town for
the running of the bulls, that they had behaved very well. I said
that there probably would have been a lot more fights if they had
been Americans. “Yes,” he said quietly, “the United
States is a very violent country.”
Is it? Football is very violent, compared to say soccer. (The average
life expectancy of a professional football player is 57.) Our popular
movies are violent. We certainly have a lot more armed citizens.
Assault rifles will again be made legal. We, Cambodia, and Syria
are the only three countries in the last 14 years to execute a 16
year old. We would not sign a U.N. treaty against executing children,
while at the time we had seven children sitting on death row. We
are the only first world country that still uses capital punishment.
A dozen U.S. soldiers, with no approval from above, we are told,
took it upon themselves to torture Iraqi prisoners. The list can
go on.
There are demonstrations against all of this, but those activist
involved make up only a small percentage of the population of the
United States.
I do not, despite all of this, think that Americans are violent
people. I think, unlike Mexicans, they do not know death. I think
when the body bag comes home, the immediate family knows death.
But the general public is still living the movie version of the
war, completely oblivious to the horror that no one can imagine
who has not been there. They are helped in their delusions by the
reluctance of the media and U.S. Government to show true images
of the war in the name of good taste.
Perhaps some hang onto the fantasy that there was a reason for the
death. Therefore the death, although bad, is somehow good. And therefore
not so bad. Others will wake up.
I believe that if you lined up a hundred Iraqi civilians to be executed
in front of a hundred American civilians and asked the Americans
to make a decision about whether the Iraqis should die or not, a
hundred American hands would rise in protest.
Senator Bird said that Americans were sleepwalking into the war.
Here is another example of sleepwalking:
50,000 Americans die every year in automobile accidents. And cars
contribute to more deaths through pollution, yet everyone has or
wants one. Why do these deaths not matter? Why is there not a public
outcry about 50,000 Americans dying every year in automobile accidents?
If I tried to organize a demonstration whose objective was to rid
the earth of cars, it would probably be poorly attended.
So why are people not upset about a machine that kills so many people
every year? The answer is, it is part of their culture, and they
are asleep. This form of death is a way of life for Americans, and
has become as acceptable as civilian casualties.
We, all of us, need to wake up and reexamine our culture. It is
not about the war or the United States. It is only about death and
people’s perceptions or attitudes about death.
Lisa Simms will have an altar in her gallery at Zacateros 46 to
honor all the dead in Iraq from November 2nd to the 13th. People
are encouraged to bring candles to last the duration of the tribute.
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