A recent cultural offense in California got international attention: the Mexican who sold his 14-year-old daughter for cash and beer—a nasty mishmash of a tale with too many twisted hooks for the press to ignore. The beer angle may have initially attracted friends of the noble brew, but the pedophile and slavery aspects likely left a bitter taste of diversity depravity.
Time and more details have only added to the ugly.
The first reports were bad enough. A father from Oaxaca, Marcelino de Jesus Martinez, arranged with an 18-year-old neighbor to trade 160 cases of beer, six cases of meat, $16,000 and other assorted beverages in exchange for his 14-year-old daughter. And when the groom, Margarito Galindo, was not forthcoming with the loot even after the girl had obediently moved in with him, concerned dad Martinez went to the police to complain about non-payment.
Both men are illegal aliens from Mexico.
The Greenfield PD has been propagandized with the usual ethnic sensitivity training—look at this PowerPoint presentation [16.2 MB] on the fine points of Oaxacan indigenous culture on its website. But the police appreciation of diversity did not extend to endangerment of a child.
The initial charge against Martinez was Penal Code section 266D, taking money or valuables in return for allowing a person to live with someone to whom they are not married, a felony. (Slavery is illegal in California, but maybe the police didn't think of that.)
Police Chief Joe Grebmeier noted that Martinez' actions would not be illegal in Mexico, including arranging the marriage of a 14-year-old girl, because the age of consent is 12 in some locales. Greenfield police have heard rumors of girls that young being sold into marriage in the city. But the recent case is the first one where the perp went to the police and announced his behavior.
" 'There was no force, fear or coercion,' [Chief Grebmeier] said. 'What we're dealing with now is a difference in cultures. All of this would have been perfectly legal where they came from.' [...]
"But culture clash or not, Grebmeier said, he was compelled to enforce the law. He said he had appeared at community meetings to warn recent immigrants against pursuing underage marriages. And when his department looked into reports about the 14-year-old girl, finding a matchmaker and 'documents used in the negotiation,' he acted.
" 'I'm tasked with protecting my community, and 14-year-old girls need a lot of protection,' he said. [Teen's arranged marriage is allowed in native Mexico, By Steve Chawkins, LA Times, January 15, 2009]
It would have been nice for the Chief to voice more enthusiasm for the rights of women and girls present in American culture, rather than make excuses for Mexican illegal aliens. But politically correct police chiefs are common in Mexifornia, At least Grebmeier did arrest the perp when the chips were down.
The Mexican apologists began squawking just a few days after police arrested daddy Martinez. The local Oaxacan mouthpieces insisted that the situation was a "misunderstanding"—a characterization which reveals how little respect they have for our legal system:
" 'The use of terms like 'sell' is incorrect, because these are dowries that are requested,' according to a statement by FIOB representatives Gaspar Rivera Salgado and Rufino Domínguez. 'We know dowries are not an exclusive practice of indigenous communities. Other European and Asian cultures used to use them in the past and some still practice the tradition—yet they aren't accused of "selling" their daughters.' " [Oaxacans Indignant Over Case of Man who 'Sold' Daughter, By Mireya Olivera, Translated by Elena Shore, New America Media, Jan 17, 2009].
Actually, a dowry is defined as "the money, goods, or estate that a wife brings to her husband at marriage" which is the opposite of the Mexican arrangement. Even misogynous India has tried to stamp out the dowry practice, which is still the source of bride murders when the groom or his family is unsatisfied with their swag.
Time magazine used the correct terminology: Bride Prices: Native Mexican Custom or Modern Day Crime?. Its February 1 article on the Greenfield case included fascinating diversity details:
"San Juan Copala village council secretary Macario Garcia claims the bride price makes the husband commit to the marriage, reducing breakups. 'It is so the man gives value to his wife and so he won't easily leave her for another woman,' Garcia says, sitting in the shade of a wooden hut under the glare of rugged hilltops. In the ancient tradition, he explains, the suitor negotiates the marriage with the family through a so-called 'ambassador.' After a deal has been struck, the suitor then goes to meet and collect the bride at 2 a.m. on a Wednesday morning. Local custom also permits polygamy and some men in the Triqui region have up to seven wives." [Emphasis added]
Seven wives? Say, even generous Mohammed allowed only four to his randy followers. (Although Mo's assurance of 72 virgins in the Islamic Paradise must certainly rank as the top ogasmatronic religious promise in history.)
As a cultural aside, ordinary Americans still expect foreigners to assimilate to our law and customs, even after multiculturalism has been relentlessly promoted by elites as the highest good for decades. A 2005 Rasmussen poll found that two-thirds (67%) of Americans said that those who move to the USA should "adopt America's culture, language, and heritage." Just 17 percent thought it was acceptable for immigrants to retain their home culture.
A 2006 Zogby poll determined that only 26 percent believed that current immigrants were assimilating adequately, and 67 percent thought immigration should be reduced so the melting pot could begin to work on those already here.
Assimilation is working in one respect: By the time Salinas County held the preliminary hearing on Friday, Jan 30, daddy Martinez was duly lawyered up with counsel who said his client was "as much a victim as the girl in this case".
The courtroom scene must have been Babel from hell. Martinez doesn't converse in English or Spanish. He speaks the language of his Triqui tribe. So proceedings and testimony had to go from Triqui to Spanish to English and back again. The girl testified in Triqui, saying that she was kidnapped. But none of the reporters were curious about whether she attends school, which is also required by American law, so that aspect remains unclear.
Here's a fascinating bit of Mexican culture that turned up during the hearing:
"[Defense attorney J.] Hernandez maintains the case involves 'me la robo,' a custom sometimes carried out in parts of Mexico by young men who have no money for a traditional dowry. Under the practice, the young man takes a girl, with her cooperation or not, and has sex with her, then asks her parents for permission to marry her. Because of cultural and religious taboos surrounding virginity, permission is usually granted."[Greenfield Girl Testifies She Was Kidnapped by Teen, By Virginia Hennessey, Monterrey Herald, January 31, 2008]
Is this the kind of diversity we want in America? Primitive indigenous practices from Mexico's back country? There's a reason why we don't want 14-year-old children to make life-determining decisions—they are not mature enough.
In addition, the couple never did get married—apparently the Triqui custom is far less formal—but Gallindo did have sex with the girl every day of the two weeks that they were together.
If they wanted to live according to their tribal culture, they should have stayed put in Oaxaca—no problema, then.
But the day ended with Judge Larry Hayes charging daddy Martinez with a list of crimes, namely the felony charges of procuring a child for sex, aiding and abetting statutory rape, and child endangerment; plus a misdemeanor count of cruelty to a child. The accused could be sentenced to 8 years in the slammer if convicted on all charges. Hope springs eternal.
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised at Greenfield's's unpleasant treatment of young girls—this is not the first instance of indifference to Mexican piggyman behavior. In 2001, concerned citizens in the town contacted the INS because of a menacing crowd of foreign farm workers who gathered every morning and afternoon when schoolgirls walked through downtown to watch them and catcall.
"Frustrated by what they saw as the Police Department's ineffectiveness, parents, school workers and even some students turned to the INS.
"'These guys come out here twice a day, you can set your watch by them,' said one downtown worker who asked that her name not be used. 'They stare at the girls, and follow them and push up against them and intimidate them.
"'It's so infuriating,' she said. 'I've complained to the police, and they just shrug and ask, "What do you expect us to do about it?" It's just sexist.'"[A Town Divided: INS deports 39 after schoolgirls and parents complained of harassment, By Maria Alicia Gaura, San Francisco Chronicle, April 16, 2001]
Kidnapping and rape are crimes. The parents were simply trying to protect their kids by taking pre-emptive action against a dangerous situation where those crimes might happen.
Needless to say, the parents were called "racists" and threatened by the local reconquistas. But the moms who raised the alarm were Hispanic, just like most people in town (88 percent in 2000).
This situation was another case of non-assimilation. Mexican males regard public harassment of women and girls as normal behavior and the right of men. Mexico City has made attempts at retraining, but it's a tough sell there to turn down the volume on traditional machismo. In 2006, the big suits launched a campaign of public service announcements designed to decrease workplace harassment of female employees.
But it must not have worked out well. Perhaps billboards showing sex dolls dressed as office workers sent the opposite message to what was intended. The government apparently gave up on efforts to shape behavior, and turned to simple physical restraint; the authorities designated a number of buses in the capital city as not available to men, to the great happiness of women thrilled to be able to get around without being groped.
As one Mexican man remarked about the necessity for the program: "Truly in this society there is no culture of respect for women."
Amen to that. Yet many Americans are shocked and dismayed when they catch a glimpse of Mexican culture's dark side.
The press loves to pontificate about Mexico's alleged family values. But that fantasy doesn't hold up when the facts are revealed.
When a 14-year-old girl is sold by her father for cash and beer in a farm town 80 miles from San Jose, Americans should realize that the diversity train has run off the tracks and needs to be stopped entirely.
Brenda Walker (email her) lives in Northern California and publishes two websites, LimitsToGrowth.org and ImmigrationsHumanCost.org. The Greenfield case reminds her of sociologist Robert Putnam's remark, "The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined."
