Happy and Painful Milestones for 'Americas' Columnists

By: Dave Astor As winter turns to spring, two Universal Press Syndicate columnists have three milestones in their thoughts.

Roberto Rodriguez and Patrisia Gonzales will mark the 10th birthday of their "Column of the Americas" feature during the first week of March. Later that month, Rodriguez will reach another, very painful, point in time: the 25th anniversary of being attacked and severely injured by law-enforcement officials while working as a photojournalist. Then, from April through June, a UCLA exhibit inspired by the columnists' research will focus on a milestone dating back centuries: the migration by ancestors of Mexico's indigenous population from what is now the United States.

The married couple -- who began their column in 1994 for the now-defunct Chronicle Features -- write about all kinds of topics relating to the Americas and the rest of the world. Among the subjects: immigration, the importance of not pitting different peoples of color against each other, human rights, and "social healing." That last topic, said Gonzales, "is something you rarely read about on the editorial page."

Gonzales and Rodriguez have also done a number of columns commenting on the Iraq quagmire, the Bush-administration doctrine of "pre-emptive war," and the president himself. "Since 2001," they wrote Jan. 30, "President Bush has attempted to convert universal outrage over 9/11 into an extreme right-wing mandate, exploiting fear in the process."

Their approach is usually serious, but humor is periodically part of the mix. "Column of the Americas" also occasionally contains heartfelt personal pieces -- such as those by Gonzales about her experience as a rape victim, "the art of visiting," and different kinds of love.

"We've gotten more literary in our writing," said Gonzales.

Being attacked a quarter century ago is one thing that helped shape Rodriguez's strong belief in human rights and fighting injustice. It also helped lead him to column-writing as a way to express his opinions and help channel the anger he felt for many years. Rodriguez was working for Lowrider magazine in 1979 when he photographed Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies assaulting a man preaching on the street. The deputies turned on Rodriguez and cracked his skull. He later won criminal and civil lawsuits that stretched on for seven years -- a period in which Rodriguez recalled being arrested and threatened many times by police who didn't want him taking his case to court.

The attack caused some memory loss for Rodriguez that affects him to this day. "I was an elephant prior to 1979," he said. "I could recall anything." Now, if he's interrupted during a speech, he makes sure he has good notes to get him back on track. But, though Rodriguez isn't that comfortable with speaking and feels it's "unhealthy" to talk about his traumatic 1979-86 period, he also thinks it's necessary. "Most of the people this happens to are either dead or never the same," he said. "Or they don't rise to a professional class and get into a position to speak out."

The exhibit at UCLA's Young Research Library includes maps the columnists found, starting in 1998, that indicate the indigenous population in Mexico has roots in U.S. locales such as present-day Utah.

"We're part of this continent. We've been here for thousands of years," said Rodriguez, who was born in Mexico. Texas-born Gonzales is of Kikapu/Comanche/Mexican Indian descent.

Gonzales and Rodriguez -- who are working on a documentary inspired by the maps -- last spring moved from Texas to California to teach a course at UCLA on "Sacred Geography: Going Back to Where We Came From." They are scheduled to again teach the course this summer at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where they moved in 2003 to pursue graduate degrees. Rodriguez, 49, is earning a Ph.D. in communications, with a focus on the importance of corn in the development of civilization in the Americas. Gonzales, 44, is earning a master's degree as she focuses on indigenous birthing methods different from the "medicalized" deliveries many women now experience in industrialized countries.

The columnists have written several books together and separately. Gonzales recently received an award for "The Mud People" (Chusma House) and will be working on a spoken-word CD of the book.

Both had daily newspaper backgrounds before becoming syndicated columnists. Gonzales was a reporter for The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen, and the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times. Rodriguez has written for papers such as the Inquirer, La Opinion in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and USA Today.