Mexican schools provide drug songs (real nice...not)

Mexican schools provide drug songs
Library book glorifying traffickers draws criticism

Monday, February 21, 2005 Posted: 6:30 PM EST (2330 GMT)

story.vert.corridos.ap.jpg
Experts say the corrido is Mexico's national song form.

MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's school libraries are stocking a book that includes the lyrics of "narcocorridos" -- folk songs that glorify drug traffickers -- causing a storm of criticism in a country where the drug market and its violence have become part of life in thousands of communities.

Opposition activists are livid that the administration of President Vicente Fox, which has declared a "war on all fronts" against drug gangs, allowed tens of thousands of copies of the book "100 Corridos: The Heart of Mexican Song" to slip into grade-school libraries.

The book, printed by a private publishing company but bought in bulk by the government, contains lyrics for songs like "The Red Car Gang," which describes Mexican cocaine smugglers shooting it out with Texas Rangers:

"They say they came from the south/In a red car/Carrying 100 kilos of cocaine/bound for Chicago ... "


http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/americas/02/21/mexico.songs.ap/index.html

According to the article, only a handful of the songs are actually narcocorridos. Folk songs of any culture, of course, are not always pretty in content.

This paragraph was particularly interesting:

"That's bad, because we have a problem in this country where drug traffickers sometimes pave a town's road, build its school or hospital, and thus have a much better reputation among some people than the police. We have to work against that."

One way to work against it is to actually provide the services the public needs, which are apparently provided only by drug lords. Jane Addams "Why the Ward Boss Rules" remains instructive.

(to the tune of "Are You Sleeping?")

Marijuana
Marijuana
L S D
L S D
Doctors make it
Teachers take it
Why can't we?
Why can't we?