Essays
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Land Grab: The Untold Story of Fort Brown by Sara C. Bronin
“I believe in miracles, and just maybe you are the one to do something about this,” said the cover note accompanying a thick package of historical documents, clippings from the Brownsville Herald, and various Continue reading... 7/8/22
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Teaching the Truth: An Act of Love | Christopher Carmona
Education is an act of love. An act of compassion. It is what we pass on to remember that we were here. We survived to tell our stories. We survived to love our children. We survived to make a better world. Continue reading... 6/10/21
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Liberato Kani: Pushing Quechua into the Mainstream
Ricardo Flores, who goes by the stage name Liberato Kani, is a rapper and songwriter from Peru who is revolutionizing hip-hop, not only in his home country, but around the world with his bilingual Spanish and Quechua music. Quechua was the lingua franca of the Inca Continue reading... 4/5/21

​William Henry Ellis—U.S. Slave Who Became a Millionaire by Pretending to be Mexican
William Henry Ellis, also known as Guillermo Enrique Eliseo, was a former African American slave who found his way around the racist Jim Crow system by pretending to be of different ethnicity. The former Continue reading... 9/5/20

Mexican American Scholar Challenges San Antonio College Mascot
To the Officials in Charge of Approving the San Antonio College Mascot: My name is Christopher Carmona. I am the writer of the novel, El Rinche: The Ghost Ranger of the Rio Grande, a scholar, and an Continue reading... 11/28/19

Reaching Roma Through Cuaron's Sonic Landscapes
The intimate sonic patterns pulled from Mexico City in Alfonso Cuarón’s Oscar nominated film Roma arrive to our ears as a lifeline straight into the heart of nineteen seventies middle-class family milieu. We enter Cuarón’s childhood with our gaze closely locked on Continue reading... ​2/22/19

Immigration and The Treaty of Guadalupe
The date 1848 and immigration are indelibly linked, but it is a connection that many people, especially those espousing anti-immigrant rhetoric hardly ever make. 1848 is the year the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed and the United States Continue reading... 3/23/18
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Viva Cuba Libre: Evangelina Cisneros & the Fight for Cuban Independence | Chanel Cleeton
Growing up in a Cuban-American household, my family often spoke of Cuba, of their memories, of their hope that when Fidel died their exile would end and they would be able to return home. They spoke of Continue reading... 6/5/21

4[00] Years in Hell | Christopher Carmona
It did not start the day he was elected president 4[00] years ago. I remember the day after the election in 2016. I walked to my office to prepare for my classes. I thought about everything he said on the campaign trail. Everything that we knew they thought about us. Continue reading... 2/21/21

El Nuevo Normal: The Coronavirus Crisis & Latin American Apocalyptic Fiction
As I watched the skyline of the Loop rush by on my way to the South Side, uneasy about the maskless Uber driver, I realized I had unconsciously conflated my return to Chicago with the promise of the Continue reading... 7/2/20

In the Shadows of Statues
For one hundred years we have lived in the shadow of statues. Of monuments. Of the long white blanket of the American schism. This is a place where progress is preached like the word of God itself, while in the dark it whispers that we are not welcome. This is a Continue reading... 6/20/20
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Thieves: Land Ownership in Texas
An old Spanish proverb states, “a thief who steals from a thief is pardoned for a hundred years”. This is a perfect expression when it comes to land ownership/occupation in Texas and the United States in general. However, for the purpose of this essay Continue reading... 9/4/17
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The Hustler: Trump and the Mean Streets of L.A.
On the first day of class, I always inform my university students that I hold two PhDs. One from a premier research institution, UC Berkeley, and the other from one of the toughest neighborhoods in the country, East Los Angeles’ Ramona Gardens housing Continue reading... 9/25/16
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