Social problems about Racial discrimination 6 hrs 3 pages

VIVENCIAS: Reports from the field

MOCKING MEXICANS FOR PROFIT

Bernadette Marie Calafell Syracuse University, NY

I had arrived in Syracuse, New York, for my first academic job by way of Carrboro, North Carolina, although I am originally from Phoenix, Arizona. As a Chicana living in the Southwest for the majority of my life in Mexican and Chicano/a communities, I had a strong sense of self and pride because of the rich history of the land for Mexican peoples. This feeling was strengthened in North Carolina by the growing Latino/a population and the awareness that the Latino/a presence could no longer be ignored in the United States. I still had hope that Latino/a representations would be allowed more complexity even though Latino/as had become commodified more than ever via the Latin explosion. Moving to Syracuse, I welcomed the possibility of meeting other Latina/os such as Puerto Ricans or Dominicans, and getting to understand life on the East coast. However, my sense of optimism for my future in Syracuse was shaken in April 2004 when I heard an advertisement on a local radio station for a company called Tuxedo Junction. In the advertisement, a thickly accented Mexican man slurring his speech shares how willing he would be to trade in his car, his tortillas, and maybe even his Maria for a tuxedo from Tuxedo Junction as faux Mexican music played in the background.

After hearing the advertisement, I was flushed, I was embarrassed, and I was humiliated. Here I was, a young Chicana professor, in a new community with students who most likely had no real frame of reference for Mexicans and Chicano/as other than the mediated representations they received daily. How would this advertisement not only affect the way they viewed me but all other Latino/as in Central New York? Furthermore, I was not quite sure what the implicit connection was between Mexicans and tuxedos. I was angry. All I could hear over and over again were the words of Chicana poet Michele Serros (1993, 30), ‘‘This is my culture, my entertainment, nothing to laugh over, this is me.’’

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Although I was not naı̈ve enough to believe that the misrepresentation and stereotyping of Latino/as in the media and advertising no longer occurred – after all, this was a subject I frequently taught in my classes and conducted research on – I could not believe it would come this close to home or make me feel so vulnerable. Prior to this incident, I had always been looking for examples that would jar my relatively complacent and privileged students in my Rhetoric of Ethnicity course into some understanding of the materiality of ideology in their everyday lives – and here it was smack dead in my face. How ironic that this incident would erupt on the very last day of class nicely tying together everything we had learned. All semester long, I had taught my students about the responsibility we have to talk back, as cultural critic bell hooks (1989) would say. We had spent a great deal of time examining the history and politics of representations of Latino/as in the United States and now I was left with the question of what to do. I began researching Tuxedo Junction and found that they had stores located in

Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, with corporate headquarters in Buffalo. I drafted letters to the radio station as well as Tuxedo Junction and circulated a petition asking for the removal of the commercial. I also sent the information to the Latino/a listserv on my campus in order to begin a discussion of the issue, to find a solution, and to make our presence known in the community. However, I felt I could not sit on the issue much longer because each time the advertisement played I was horrified and embarrassed by its blatant racism and stereotyping. I had a nagging suspicion that this type of advertisement would never have seen the light of day in a city like Phoenix with a strong Latino/a population, yet here, in my relatively new home of Syracuse, it played continuously. Frustrated, I called the corporate headquarters of the company and

spoke with the president of the company, Cal Cleveland, explaining my position. Mr. Cleveland, who listened patiently and was open to my critiques, shared that the company had not intended to offend Latino/as and in fact they had test marketed the ad in other parts of the country to find it the most popular ad they had ever devised. Furthermore, the company employed several Latino/as who were not offended by the advertisement. He explained to me that the advertisement had been meant as a throwback to the old Cheech and Chong skits and specifically a Cheech Marin character. Upon hearing this, I offered that if that were the case, then perhaps the company might consider that the target audience for the radio station (a primarily Hip-Hop and R&B station) were males between the ages of 18 and 25, who most likely had no idea who Cheech Marin was other than the guy on Nash Bridges. The thick accent and slurred speech did not necessarily trigger memories of Cheech and Chong as much as it triggered an affect of foreignness or otherness, which served to reinforce Latino/as as outsiders. The character was clearly coded as Mexican because of his accent and the things he referenced. There is not a large

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Mexican population in Central New York, so those Latino/as who do live here are most likely Puerto Rican and Dominican. If Mr. Cleveland’s workers enjoyed the advertisement, it was probably because most likely they were not being laughed at. In addition, to ignore or deny that tensions exist between Latino/a groups or to encourage those tensions, specifically between Puerto Ricans and Mexicans, is simply irresponsible and ignorant. After hearing my reasons for the removal of the advertisement, Mr. Cleveland

graciously apologized and shared his own discomfort with shows like The Sopranos, which vilified and stereotyped Italian Americans of which he was one. Rather than begin another discussion about issues of power and difference, I thanked him for listening to me and agreeing to pull the advertisement. I share this story for several reasons. First, I believe as educators it is our

responsibility to demonstrate these sites of the materiality of the ideologies of racism and white supremacy to our students, especially when they exist in their own backyards. Too often, our students see these concepts as abstract or as terms that are remnants of past problems that ‘‘negative people choose to dwell upon.’’ Second, if we can continue to ground these theories in everyday experiences, institutions, and cultures in which our students interact, then perhaps we can force them out of their complacency. Third, as academics we must make the connection between the work we do in our journals and classrooms and the community. Cases such as this provide an excellent example. In addition, one thing that was very evident from this experience is that a lot

of people have no idea whom we are talking about when we talk about Latino/as. It became very clear to me as this incident progressed that a similar advertisement would never be geared towards African Americans, yet somehow Latino/as, Native Americans, and gays and lesbians continue to be targeted and mocked. Is this because as Latino/as we lack voice, visibility, or power? Or is it that the stereotype of the subservient Latino/a continues to be indoctrinated in ways that authorize this behavior? Although our numbers in the United States are increasing, have we really gained any political clout, or are we simply fodder for the entertainment industry? We must not be afraid to deal with the tensions within our own communities. For example, other than the tensions I have already mentioned, when this incident was used as a case study for a local multi- university conference session about diversity in the classroom, several Latin Americans who participated noted that they were not offended by the advertisement. However, others who were born in the United States shared that they were uncomfortable with the portrayal. The point is that we must recognize and honor the differences in our histories both inside and outside of the United States and not use our own ethnocentric perspectives to discount or deny others, feelings and experiences.

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About the author

Bernadette Marie Calafell (Ph.D. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is Assistant Professor of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and affiliate faculty in Latino-Latin American Studies at Syracuse University. Her research interests are in Performance Studies, Queer Theory, and Critical Rhetorical Studies.

References

hooks, bell. 1989. Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. Boston, MA: South End.

Serros, Michele. 1993. Chicana Falsa and Other Stories of Death, Identity, and Oxnard. New York: Riverhead.

Latino Studies (2006) 4, 162–165. doi:10.1057/palgrave.lst.8600149

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