Thread: Hispanic group calls for boycott of RodeoHouston

Hispanic group calls for boycott of RodeoHouston

By ALEXIS GRANT
Feb. 26, 2008, 11:18PM
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

A group of Hispanic leaders on Tuesday called for a boycott of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, saying show officials haven't done enough to include Hispanics.

Tejano musicians, local politicians and Hispanic organizations gathered at the University of Houston as part of the newly formed group VIVE Tejano-Houston to protest the show, which starts Monday.

"We request our friends across the whole state of Texas not to attend the Houston Livestock Show," said former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos.

Ruben Cubillos, the group's co-founder, said rodeo officials are disrespecting Hispanics by hiring non-Tejano performers to play at the show's main venue on Go Tejano Day. He also said Hispanic students should be awarded more rodeo scholarships, and the show needs more Latinos at the executive level.

Rodeo officials defended their efforts after holding a pep rally at City Hall on Tuesday to proclaim Friday as Go Texan Day, saying Go Tejano Day —and the rodeo in general — is about Hispanic culture, not just one type of music.

This year's Go Tejano Day on March 16 will feature Duelo, a norteño band from Roma, and Los Horoscopos de Durango, an act from Chicago.

Neither play Tejano music, a Texas product that's influenced by Mexican sounds and incorporates rock, blues, jazz and country. While Tejano bands are scheduled to play on smaller stages, a Tejano act won't take center stage because the genre's popularity has waned in recent years, said Leroy Shafer, chief operating officer of the show.

"If, in fact, they're asking people to stay away because they're trying to keep this genre of music on a big stage, then they're asking people to go against the very essence of what this day is," Shafer said. "They're asking them not to come out and celebrate being Hispanic."

Show officials are not planning to change the music lineup.

This is not the first time Go Tejano Day lacked a traditional Tejano artist on the main stage, show organizers said. That happened in 2001 and 2002.

Responding to the group's other complaints, show organizers said nearly a third of the 927 students who attended Texas universities on show scholarships last year were Hispanic.

The Executive Committee, the show's highest level of volunteer leadership, includes 11 active members and six lifetime members, but no Hispanics. Those members are elected based on years of service and leadership, as well as economic contributions to the show.

"We have several people on track to get on that committee, but they won't be short-cutted," Shafer said.

State Sen. Mario Gallegos, D-Houston, who said he tried to negotiate with show officials, attended the Tuesday meeting in support of the boycott. He expressed interest in another discussion with rodeo officials.

"We're open to sit down and talk, and talk for real," he said.

Gallegos and others expressed concern that rodeo officials are overlooking contributions Hispanics have made to the event.

"To not put a Tejano star under the big tent," Gallegos said, "deprives me and my kids of learning about my culture."

Several Tejano singers who have previously performed at the rodeo attended the Tuesday gathering, including "Little" Joe Hernandez, a recent Grammy Award winner.

Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia, who also joined talks with show officials, said she opposes the boycott.

"However, the issues raised merit serious discussion with rodeo officials," she said in a statement.

A Texas Southern University student who was present when the boycott was announced told the group of 60 that a boycott would only punish other musicians who have worked hard.

"I don't think it's right to boycott," said Alfredo Treviño, who has already bought 14 tickets for Go Tejano Day.

About 14 percent of visitors who attended rodeo performances last year were Hispanic, according to show officials. That number increased to 82 percent on Go Tejano Day.

Some on the Go Tejano Committee shunned the boycott.

"They're completely out of line," said George Hernandez, a committee volunteer. "We're not chartered by the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to hear Tejano music. If they want their music heard, they should join a music association."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5571677.html

"To not put a Tejano star under the big tent," Gallegos said, "deprives me and my kids of learning about my culture."

OMG...what the heck is this guy talking about? Funny, many of the officials opposing the silly boycott are Hispanic TExans themselves. It's a rodeo...there's no law, or requirement that they have to specifically hire people of any certain race/ethnicity nor have any certain race/ethnicity represented on any governing board. It's a money-making operation and the best fiscally qualified people should be hired or appointed regardless of their ethnicity.

Lest we not forget the famous and moving words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King:

(Excerpted from complete speech)

...I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

The people who scream racism are normally the most racist. We have become a nation of people who see a racist behind every door, our great liberal media love to break an election down to whites, Hispanic, black, women, etc, etc, it disgust me, in order for a community, country to survive it must be one.

"We request our friends across the whole state of Texas not to attend the Houston Livestock Show," said former state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos.

Even though he is a former State Senator, this is the kind of garbage we are electing to represent us. I'm really getting sick and tired of all these ethno-centric race hustlers with hispanic last names who are elected to represent the American People. They only seem to care about one issue and it's not the American People.

They are having a stupid tejano band, yet the protestors claim enough has not been done to represent the hispanic people. The ignorance displayed by these people gets more astounding by the day.

According to some quick research I've done, this event began in 1931 and has now grown to be known as the largest event of it's kind in the world. An average of 2 million people per year attend and otherwise participate in this event.

One can only imagine the revenue generated by this event.

This is just another example of something successful built by the American people which, yet again, the ehtnocentric groups are trying to seize control of.

Does anyone know where to look to find out just who is funding these people? I'm betting LaRaza has something to do with it.

click on the link to see how many replies have been left on the Chronicle's website. when i read the story two hours ago it was well over 1,000

A group of Hispanic leaders on Tuesday called for a boycott of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, saying show officials haven't done enough to include Hispanics.

Oh that tears it right there!!!!!!!!! Has any one seen a Mexican Rodeo? I have here in SoCal and it's all abut Mexico and their culture. Oh this makes me so mad I could wear plywood shorts in a woodpecker park over this baloney.

LOL Bulldogger I'm from So Cal as well and in my experience, EVERYTHING with these people do is about their race and culture.

Perhaps they want to include steer-tailing into one of the Rodeo events in Houston. This is a common event at Mexican Rodeo's where a Mexican Cowboy rides after a steer then grabs his tail trying to wrap it around a back leg to bring the steer down. This event is disgusting and American Cowboys are sickened by this in-humane event. American Rodeo promoters and stock contractors protect live stock and while it my look rough on the animal it is not cruel or inhumane treatment. If you attend a Mexican Rodeo in any of the border states all you will hear is mariachi music and see waves of Mexican flags flying. If that is what they want introduced into the traditional American
Rodeo they are seriously underestimating the anger it will generate among American Cowboys and Cowgirls.