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Do You Think This is Racist? Yes or No?

By Maria Gomez - April 12, 2008, 11:44AM

Do you think this picture is racist--Yes or No?
http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/ask-a-mexican/ask-a-mexican/19246/

Comments (13)

YES, along with the Native Indian Mascots still being used.
But you have to copy and paste the link.

Posted by girl from the bronx
April 12, 2008 12:12 PM | Reply | Permalink

Click here also

http://www.mexica-movement.org/racismofaskamexican.htm

Posted by Maria Gomez
April 12, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink

http://www.ocweekly.com/columns/ask-a-mexican/ask-a-mexican/19246/

Sorry, I don't know how to make it into a real link that works. If someone can do it, please post it correctly. Thanks

Posted by Maria Gomez
April 12, 2008 12:16 PM | Reply | Permalink

unflattering caricature at least.

Posted by storm
April 12, 2008 12:18 PM | Reply | Permalink

In all seriousness, this thing runs in alternative weeklies, and is a real insult to Hispanics. Would they put a Jewish caricature or a Black? Not a chance.

Posted by Maria Gomez
April 12, 2008 12:35 PM | Reply | Permalink

Well, Gustavo will tell you to get over it. The column is 4 years old I believe and that's the second or third caricature he's had with it, IIRC. He says it's satire and defends his column from his suburban background. The op-ed pieces he's written for the LA Times are laughably ignorant, at best, but what can you do? The only people who seem to like him are white bigots.

Posted by fabooj
April 12, 2008 1:12 PM | Reply | Permalink

Yes. That's the difference between satire and crossing the line. The audience and how they respond to it. Thank you for making that clear.

I hate political correctness taken too far. But the feelings and very rights of people matter more than the "satire."

Posted by Maria Gomez
April 12, 2008 1:25 PM | Reply | Permalink

In a word, yes. That said, I think you have to give people leeway to use those stereotypes ironically.

I live in New Orleans, and one of the most famous Mardi Gras parades here is the Zulus (forgive me if you already know all this), in which African Americans put on blackface and march with a Zulu king. What makes the Zulu parade so uproariously funny is that its satirizing two things. First, the Zulus are sending up the old racist stereotypes about blacks (the parade club was founded in the beginning of the 20th century, when those stereotypes were much more common). But the Zulus are also using those stereotypes to lampoon the rich white parade clubs, like Rex and Comus, that set themselves up as dignified (sort of) medieval pageants, crowning kings, holding royal debutante balls, etc. This pageantry stems from the Old South tradition of chivalry--a bunch of slaveholding SOBs pretending to be characters in a Walter Scott novel--and I think the Zulus are implicitly pointing out the connection between that Romantic image of the Old South and its legacy of racism. So here, using those stereotypes ironically can be a way of criticizing racism and the social institutions that help create it.

I should say that I'm not sure that "Ask a Mexican" is doing something that sophisticated, but I think it depends on the intention and the context. I also know you asked for a yes or no answer, so sorry about that.

Posted by dsc
April 12, 2008 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink

Where I live, white people are getting quite the laugh. And it's not a good one. And ask you, would you expect a newspaper to run a similar picture with a column called "Ask a Jew?"

I welcome your longer comments. Satire only goes so far.

Posted by Maria Gomez
April 12, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink