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<\/a>Bill and Bernice Velez enjoying retirement in Quebec.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cWhen I go to a Mexican restaurant I would gladly pay the musicians to stop playing.\u201d John (not his real name) did not like the noise level. This statement came up casually as part of a conversation that I was having with a few friends at a mathematics conference in California. John had taught at a Hispanic Serving Institution for years and this was the music of his students. But all that he could say about it was that the music was too loud. I have heard this reaction to this wonderful mariachi music all of my life. In high school a teacher asked me to bring in \u201cSpanish\u201d music and I brought in a mariachi record (see below). The teacher was appalled and had me turn off the music, not even completing a song. She expected something softer, not the wild expression of emotion that is such a part of Mexican music.<\/p>\n
Mariachi music is loud. When you have one or two trumpets in a room, full-throated singers accompanied by \u201cgritos\u201d (Yells of joy) from the audience, it is loud. But those \u201cgritos\u201d are an indication that the music and words are connecting with the audience. Going back to the conversation with John, I mentioned a traditional song, \u201cLa espiga\u201d (grain, like grain of wheat) and loosely translated the words for him.<\/p>\n
Qu\u00e9 poco le importa al sol \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>What does the sun care El agua ignora la sed, \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The sea ignores our thirst John was surprised. He said, \u201cOh, there\u2019s poetry in that music.\u201d What must have been John\u2019s concept of Mexican music? Was it just to convey noise, to somehow blot out our thoughts? The sentiments expressed in this music deal much with the heartache of love, unrequited, lost, then found, then lost again. And it is sung with such emotion. But also notice how much it alludes to nature.<\/p>\n There is a mathematical culture, and that extends to music. Mathematical culture was not created by Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It was imported. With that came the formalism of mathematics from Europe, and its music. In my career as a mathematician, at mathematical events that I have attended, music is a rarity. But if it does appear it has all of the hallmarks of classical music. Contrast this to a meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). In between sessions, music from Latin America, the Caribbean and Native American music loudly fill the halls. A SACNAS conference is a celebration!<\/p>\n How effective can our mentoring be of students when we are so ignorant of their background, of their culture? Our faculties continue to lack minority representation. If faculty think so little of their music and culture, what must faculty think of them? Now add to this that many of these students are first-generation college students and probably also in need of financial aid, further separating them from the life experiences of college faculty.<\/p>\n Our mathematics departments physically sit on lands that belonged to Native American nations. Walk around any mathematics department. Do you see any evidence of that history? Our departments are oftentimes surrounded by a local culture, yet when a local student walks into a mathematics department, it is like going to a foreign land.<\/p>\n The mathematical enterprise has not treated minorities well. Just look at the data on the production of minority Ph.D.s in mathematics and the paucity of minority faculty in our departments. Yet we all know that mathematical training is of absolute necessity for the future. I join with my community when I sing:<\/p>\n The mathematical sea ignores our thirst<\/em><\/p>\n Mathematics is brilliant, as are many mathematicians. How is this brilliance impacting the lives of students? It is unfortunate that choirs of humanity sing, in many different languages and dialects:<\/p>\n The mathematical sun blinds us<\/em><\/p>\n We live in a very complex and diverse society. We cannot hope to understand all of the different cultures that now grace our mathematics classrooms. But we should not hold any of them in disdain. The music of my youth: Miguel Aceves Mejia singing \u201cLa espiga.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\u200bque el indio no tenga techo.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>that the Indian has no roof.
\nQu\u00e9 poco te importa a ti\u200b\u200b\u200b \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>How little you care
\n\u200bTodo este mal que me has hecho.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/em>all the harm you have done me.<\/p>\n
\n\u200bel sol no sabe que alumbra,\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>the sun shines blindly on us,
\nY tu no tienes coraz\u00f3n\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/em>And you have no soul
\n\u200bPorque has dejado penumbra\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/em>Since you have left me in shadows.<\/p>\n
\nWhat can we do about these matters? I would like to make a few suggestions.<\/p>\n\n