Mario Gallegos Has His Hand Out

With a tiresome consistency, yet another professional Grievance Monger - State Senator Mario Gallegos - has put himself forward to right another perceived wrong, in this case the supposed lack of representation of Hispanics and Blacks in the executive committees of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. He's also upset that HLSR doesn't award scholarships to illegal immigrants, and has proposed a combination of legislation and civic pressure to force them to do both.

Before we discuss the merits of his proposals, much less his motivation, we must first ask whether Gallegos is even qualified to offer comment on the motives of the HLSR. To answer this question, one need go no further than a Google of his credentials to discover the measure of the man:

His personal history is that of a city boy and lifelong government employee, and a chair jockey to boot: his job for 22 years with the City of Houston was as a Dispatcher for the Fire Department. His Senate bio and other sources reveal no involvement with, or apparent interest in, rodeo, horses, livestock, Future Farmers of America, or for that matter anything to do with HLSR. That is not to say that he has no "country" cred, but it is not apparent from his public record that Gallegos has ever mounted a horse, much less knows how to ride one, and he has also devoted not 50 BTUs of effort to the Rodeo in terms of personal effort.

As to his likely motivation, Gallegos' Wikipedia profile includes this gem: "In July 2001, Gallegos was named one of the worst legislators in Texas by Texas Monthly magazine in their biennial feature. The authors noted that Gallegos was 'a retired firefighter who threw gasoline on every combustible issue', and noted his penchant for injecting race into seemingly innocuous legislation. In July 2005, Gallegos was again named one of the worst legislators in Texas by Texas Monthly".

His affiliations, loyalties, motivation and activities have been overwhelmingly for the advancement of causes that support the Hispanic community, not exactly the resume of a Uniter, much less somebody who has the moral authority to pass judgment on others.

Gallegos' penchant for rabble rousing and Anglo Baiting aside, it's funny that he has had no interest in making a commitment to HLSR himself, working up through the ranks as all members are required to do, performing countless hours and long years of service to elevate their status. Of the dozens of people I know who contribute to the rodeo, my impression of HLSR is that of a volunteer organization that encourages commitment before privilege, and not, most emphatically, ham-fisted attempts by anyone to push themselves to the front of the line. The simple fact is that - like so many other civic organizations - the vast majority of members will never rise very far in the hierarchy, yet are still content to make their contribution.

It also strikes me that the HLSR has over the years done a very good job accomodating their Hispanic constituency, a decades-long tradition of Hispanic Trail Rides, exhibits and performers to name but a few. There has long been a Go Tejano day, and HLSR has actually provided a continuing venue for Tejano music at a point in time when it has next to zero popularity with the larger Hispanic community. Ironically, this was another point of contention between Gallegos and HLSR last year, when the venue for the Tejano concert was downgraded to make room for Norteno and other more popular forms, arguably out of consideration for Hispanics attending the rodeo who - as we stated earlier - apparently could care less about Tejano music.

Finally, to his point that the Board of HLSR is all Anglo, I reply: you might want to read the listing of Board members; there's some distinctly Hispanic sounding names on the list. My second reply is, if there aren't a lot of Hispanics on the board, so what? HLSR is a private organization. If we take Gallegos' suggestion at face value, does that mean there should be proportional representation of Anglos and Blacks on HISPAC, a Hispanic interest group that he belongs to?

If Mario Gallegos wants to influence the direction of HLSR, here's my suggestions:

- He shouldn't assume that Anglos are bigots.

- Stop trying to fashion himself into the Hispanic Quanell X, using race and ethnicity to divide rather than unite.

- Renounce "La Raza", otherwise known as "The Race" - an organization which celebrates the superiority of Hispanics over other ethnicities and races - or, at the very least, lobby for proportional representation at La Raza and HISPAC to include Anglos, Blacks and other ethnicities.

- Exert more of energy to advance the Community's interests, and not just the Hispanic Community's interests.

- Join the HLSR.

- Volunteer for committees.

- Work his butt off at HLSR for a decade or two.

- Embrace Rural culture.

- Participate in a Trail Ride, although he might want to start small before working himself up to Los Vaqueros Rio Grande, Hispanic riders who travel a total of 386 miles, the longest Trail Ride in HLSR.

In other words, if Gallegos wants position and privileges for himself or anybody else, let him (or them) do it the old fashioned way: earn it.

Black and Hispanic Trail Rides are legendary in their number and the commitment of their members. More to the point, few of the thousands of Black and Hispanic participants seems to care about Mario Gallegos. We shouldn't either.

One final bit of advice for Mario: lighten up, and pull that giant stick out of your butt. Portraying yourself as a victim and Anglos as the Bad Guys is so 90s.

OK, that's two bits.