David Bacon: Dancing in Dark Times
Photos from the edge 32 - DANCING IN DARK TIMES (posted with permission of David Bacon)
David Bacon is an accomplished photographer and journalist. Check out his blog.
He writes:
"In many agricultural fields on the West Coast, you're more likely to hear Mixteco and Triqui spoken than Spanish. Both are common languages among the indigenous people of southern Mexico, many of whom now pick apples in California's century-old orchards or grapes for prestigious Napa and Sonoma County wineries. Without their labor, rural economies would collapse.
Yet Mixtecos and Triquis are targeted by ICE in immigration raids terrorizing rural communities. In farmworker families, mothers and fathers now give their children the phone numbers to call in case their parents get picked up on the way to or from work. It can be an act of bravery simply to walk to the store or drive at night.
Against this backdrop, when Healdsburg's Triquis and Mixtecos came out to celebrate the unique culture they brought with them on their two-thousand-mile journey from Oaxaca and Guerrero, it was an act of resistance. They call their festival the Guelaguetza. It includes a fabulous display of dancers in elaborate masks and tall headdresses performing to brass and woodwinds playing music from home. Every indigenous town in Mexico has its own dance; the Guelaguetza brings them together in all their riotous variety."
