First things first: I do not watch Newsmax, and quite frankly I wouldn’t even know how to since I don’t have cable TV.
However, I couldn’t help but flagging a clip I found online about Rob Finnerty, a poor white television host who can no longer find an American Girl doll that looks like his daughter, because the popular doll brand has been … wokeified.
“My daughter is just a cute little 6 year-old white girl – we couldn’t find anybody that looked like my daughter. It was — the whole place, it was, like, wokeified”
Funny how the existence of a few black and brown dolls in a world where white dolls rule still triggers this kind of panic in white, right-wing folks.
Get yourself together, Roberto, we’re not that scary!
Newsmax host says he couldn’t find an American Girl doll that looked like his daughter: “My daughter is just a cute little 6 year-old white girl – we couldn’t find anybody that looked like my daughter. It was — the whole place, it was, like, wokeified” pic.twitter.com/JeWcZ7vZ2c
Soon after making its debut across social media, the 30-second spot had amassed more than 300,000 views on Twitter. And this blogger is pretty sure it had to do with Mexicans like herself jumpin in to troll him like only Mexicans can.
Below, some of my fave reactions (starting with yours truly, of course!)
This blogger doesn’t have a lot of background on this and apparently the author, Javi Salado, has apologized for the vignette. Still looking for official sources but the “OMFG” factor still stands.
The bigger, more simple version of a sign advocating for social justice is even better.
Looks like advocating for equality and social justice doesn’t go down well among some people. Take some Iowans, who found a sign posted outside a Mexican restaurant a little too… politically correct.
The story goes like this. Alfonso Medina, owner of La Carreta Mexican Grill in Marshalltown, Iowa, had placed the below sign outside his restaurant as a way to take a stand in favor of science, social justice, equality… crazy, right?
The original sign posted outside La Carreta Mexican Grill in Des Moines, Iowa.
According to CNN, the offending sign brought lots of hate mail to Mr. Medina, including one letter that actually blew up on social media. Said letter came from a customer, who addressed Mr. Medina by name, said he had recently spent a lot of money in his restaurant but that –upon seeing the sign– he’d never eat there again. This person actually ended the misive by calling Medina “a leftist Marxist.”
Mr. Medina took to Instagram to respond by saying: “We’re sorry your burrito had to get political, but it was the only way y’all would listen.” The IG post ended with a bang: “No Love, No Tacos.” Then, just like any genuine “leftist Marxist,” would do, Mr. Medina copyrighted the No Love, No Tacos slogan; adopted it for his restaurant and even paid for a large billboard to display it.
Filing under Mexicans: How can anyhone not like us?
In the latest sign that fighting racism in America is not really going to the heart of the problem, Trader Joe’s this week said it will be removing names such as Trader José’s, Arabian Joe’s and Trader Ming’s that critics say are racist and “perpetuates harmful stereotypes.”
The scrutiny comes after a group of young people created a Change.org petition demanding the company to “remove racist branding and packaging from its stores.” At press time, said petition had a little over 3,400 signatures, which is really not that much, considering we’re like 50 million Hispanics around. Said critics insists that Trader Joe’s labeling “belies a narrative of exoticism that perpetuates harmful stereotypes.”
But based on the reactions of many Latinos on Twitter and other platforms, it seems that the so-called stereotype bothers more people who are actually not Latinos lol. Or, in other words, as my pal @DealinRugs said: “There’s bigger fish to fry.”
Am I the only one who doesn’t care about Trader Joe’s having “Trader Jose’s” on every Latino food product? There’s bigger fish to fry. https://t.co/R82YgNFuCO
I don’t know man, I’m way more offended by many of your large corporations’ take on Mexican food, even if they’re not called Juan or José… (Yes, I’m looking at you, Pinche Quesarito).
My U.S. Census 2020 questionnaire is here and while I’m all game and ready to fill out and submit this thing, I will forever be puzzled by the “race” question.
See, when you reach the the “race question” while filling out the 2020 U.S. Census, you’ll get options within five racial categories (see photo below:)
White
Black or African-American
American Indian or Alaska Native
Asian
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.
This, of course, leaves this café con leche, whitish Mexican blogger born in Mexico practically in limbo, since I’m supposed to select “white” or “some other race” to comply and be able to go to the next window. (And I’m not alone: Remember this Puerto Rican dude during the 2010 Census who was pissed (with reason) and refused to fill out his Census form, because “Hispanic” was not an option under the Race box?)
Also missing in this section are people from the Middle East and North Africa, which I suppose are supposed to do the same: Select “white” or “some other race,” which I think will make it harder to locate where there is need for local bilingual services in schools or during elections, to name a few things.
I’m personally offended because “Human” is not an option under race, so I decided to use the “Some other race –print race” space to spell out N.P.I. (Ni Pinche Idea.)
Hispanics and people from the Middle East or North Africa, back in limbo…
As if things were not already difficult for Hispanics living in America these days, local businesses are now trolling us with a supposedly funny t-shirt that takes a jab at Hispanics by questioning their legal status.
The above t-shirt –that takes a page from the popular Got Milk slogan–was spotted a few days ago in Ebony Mart, a popular shopping stop for Hispanics in Port Arthur, Texas, by local residents who found it outrageous –and definitely not funny.
As of this writing, the store owner had apologized and reportedly stopped selling said t-shirts, which I’m willing to bet are Made in either Mexico or El Salvador, two of America’s main exporters of cotton apparel. 🤷🏽♀️
Bad hombres? Nah, more like The Three Amigos: Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, GuillermoDel Toro
The 91st Academy Awards are tonight, my friends, and just in time for the big night, The New York Times decided to troll Mr. Trump in a not so subtle way, by highlighting the multiple wins and box office dollars brought to the table by Mexican directors and artists.
A study commissioned by Mexico’s National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) concluded that skin color “has an influence on the level of education that people reach as well as the employment opportunities available to them.”
Oh, look! Scandinavian Mexicans
And that is not all. A previous study by Mexico’s National Council to Prevent Discrimination (CONAPRED), also showed that a whopping 20 percent of Mexicans’ “don’t feel comfortable with the color of their skin and many feel they had been discriminated against because of their physical appearance, mainly for being dark-skinned.
“Discrimination against people of brown complexion has been normalized for a very long time,” Evelia Reyes, a social and cultural history educator at the College of Mexico, told Mexico’s Animal Político.
You don’t say.
I’m no social worker or history educator and know almost nothing about research. But I’ve been watching Mexican television long enough to have an idea or two of where this whole “normalization” comes from.
Oh, and if you want to be further depressed, WATCH the video below. SIGH.
If you ever broke a piñata –and had to sing the accompanying song that goes with it, you’ll see how brilliant this is. Sign by Jessica Solt. Photos: Laura Martínez
Being Hispanic in the U.S. has become a sort of act of resistance for many of us. Not only because we have to deal with a president who launched his candidacy by calling Mexicans a bunch of rapists and criminals, but because that same presidency seems to be enabling all kinds of racist behavior towards “these people” (i.e. Latinos, Hispanics, Beaners or whatever you want to call “my people.”)
In one of the most recent of these episodes, a video went viral this week showing New York attorney Aaron Schlossberg verbally attacking deli employees for –wait for it– speaking Spanish. In Manhattan. At a deli. Imagine that!
In the video (which was first reported by Latino Rebels), we can see Schlossberg complaining aggressively to the deli’s management, saying “your staff is speaking Spanish to clients when they should be speaking English. Every person I listen to: he spoke it, he spoke it, she’s speaking it,” he says, pointing angrily at several people in the place.
The hero of the afternoon: The dude with the big Bluetooth speaker
Needless to say, Schlossberg’s tirade got Latinos very angry (and many reasonable non-Latinos, of course) but I’m happy to report that “my people” responded in the best way possible: By throwing him a Latin FIESTA right on his block, outside a posh apartment building on West 60th Street, in the heart of Manhattan.
The party, which took place on Friday, May 18, was organized by a group known as Millennials for Revolution on Facebook who invited people to show Schlossberg that speaking Spanish is not a crime and that “we will gladly educate you on our culture and language by throwing a big fiesta.”
And it was goooood!
It was only 5:30 pm but dozens of people were already gathered, listening to music, waving improvised signs and chanting things like Hablamos español! I don’t know exactly how, but I found myself joining the crowd dancing to some good ol’ Latin favorites: From Celia Cruz’ Quimbara, to Elvis Crespo’s Suavemente and –yes– several versions of Despacito. Ay!
Next time you go to a Starbucks and order a venti, tall, mocha, latte, foamy frapuccino (or whatever the hell it is they call a coffee over there) make sure to leave some room for … racism.
In the latest episode involving the coffee chain and a non-white person, a Latino customer says that when he received his drink, it came with the word BEANER written on it –even though he clearly told them his name was Pedro, which apparently is synonym of “Mexican.”
I’m not entirely sure why, but these type of “incidents” are happening more and more frequently in this melting pot we call America. Perhaps it’s just part of the whole process of making it GREAT AGAIN. 🤔
Corintia Cruz (above) thought it was an awesome idea to campaign under the slogan of: Corintia, la güerita que te ayuda, which loosely translates as Corintia, the little blond woman who will help you.
I have no idea what her political platform and/or proposals for the people of Veracruz are, but given the fact that she is from the PRI, I’m pretty sure she’s pretty adept at helping … herself.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering: No, my country is *not* racist.
For reasons that escape this non-Scottish, freedom-of-speech-advocate Mexican blogger, students at this fine institution have been banned from wearing “offensive fancy dress costumes,” which according to said institution, include “Mexicans, gangsters, mental patients and camp men.”
“It is also not acceptable to use props to emphasise racial characteristics in order to convey an individual or character. A good costume should be clear enough that you do not need racial or cultural additions.”
I don’t know about you but I still don’t understand how a Scottish person smoking a gigantic plastic cigar and wearing an Andaluz hat qualifies as “a Mexican.” Besides, someone still has to explain to me how my people (i.e. the Mexicans) ended up in the same bin with gangsters and mental patients.
On the heels of Coca-Cola pulling its controversial ad featuring a group of white Mexican kids bringing hope — and sugary drinks — to an indigenous community in Oaxaca, a group of mixe indians from the town of Totontepec came on to share their own message.
Using the same footage of the now infamous Coca-Cola spot, the mixes take the stage to share stories about their community’s lack of water and an alarming increase in diabetes levels, brought about by — what else? — sugary drinks like Coca-Cola. Among other things, their message (in mixe language featuring Spanish subtitles) includes the following statement by one local student:
“Fifty years ago, cases of diabetes type 2 in our indian communities were rare; now they begin to be an epidemic. In order to remain united, we must preserve our dignity, our health and our culture. In Oaxaca, we drink tejare, tea and clean water.”
News of the spot was first reported by SinEmbargo.com.mx in Mexico. Here’s the video, in mixe language with subtitles in Spanish. Stay tuned as I will be translating the whole message very soon. I just need to get this out for the sake of giving the mixes the space they deserve.
This happened.
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