Mixed People Monday – Kid Cudi

Rapper Kid Cudi, whose real name is Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, has a Mexican father and an African-American mother.

The Overreaction File – Racist Mexican Barbie Doll

Leave Barbie alone.

Calm down people.

Not everything is racist.

There are more than 200 Barbies in Mattel’s Dolls of the World collection, all dressed in costumes that pay homage to different countries. The collection debuted in 1980 with Parisian, British, and Italian dolls and is aimed at kids and adult collectors alike. But the most recent versions, especially ones representing Latin America, are causing controversy online. The newest Mexico Barbie, released in June 2012, has been rediscovered by Barbie enthusiasts — and is being called out by critics recently for being offensive rather than educational. “@Mattel, maybe #MexicoBarbie should come with a taco instead of a chihuahua- you know, just to be really clear,” tweeted Jennifer Morales on Thursday. “Of course #MexicanBarbie comes with a passport!” @SavannahLime pointed out on Twitter. “She doesn’t want to be deported!”

Give me a break. There are some real matters of racism out there. That the Barbie has on a traditional dress (and I have seen dresses like this at Mexican celebrations) and has the very popular Chihuahua with her, is not one of them. If you look at the other dolls in the collection, representing other countries, they all wear traditional garments.

If they want to go after Barbie, there are better things to make a stink over.

Ann Coulter Now Blames Hispanics

Most divisive nominee.

Ann Coulter can’t help herself. Now instead of advising the Republican party that it is in their best interest to court the Hispanic population considering that group almost single-handedly handed Obama the White House, she is instead attacking Hispanics.

In a column she wrote a few days ago, in which she made fun of the Spanish language by titling it “America Nears El Tipping Pointo” she said this:

…Hispanic immigrants, who — because of phony “family reunification” rules — are the poorest of the world’s poor.

More than half of all babies born to Hispanic women today are illegitimate. As Heather MacDonald has shown, the birthrate of Hispanic women is twice that of the rest of the population, and their unwed birthrate is one and a half times that of blacks.

That’s a lot of government dependents coming down the pike. No amount of “reaching out” to the Hispanic community, effective “messaging” or Reagan’s “optimism” is going to turn Mexico’s underclass into Republicans.

She then takes it further with this gem:

…contrary to stereotype — Hispanics are less likely to be married, less likely to go to church, more supportive of gay marriage and less likely to call themselves “conservative” than other Americans.

Rather than being more hardworking than Americans, Hispanics actually work about the same as others, or, in the case of Hispanic women, less.

Yeah, if Republicans keep thinking like Coulter, Democrats may have permanent control of the White House.

Read her full column here.

“Mixed Mexican” and The Fallacy of Race

Funny and enlightening at the same time.

Saw this on Mixed American Life’s site. Very good video demonstrating the complexity of “race” and it’s non-existence. Worth watching.

Here is the video.

Arizona Rapidly Moving Forward To The Past

Arizona Talk Show Radio Host.

Here we go again with the state of Arizona. That state really is the “new Mississippi.”

Thank goodness this week the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional several aspects of Arizona’s crazy anti-immigrant law. But last week, Arizona had a prominent radio host, Barbara Espinosa, proudly defending her right to refer to President Obama as a monkey.

Geez.

I don’t know what to say. Really.

Here is the article.

Arizona’s “Hispanic Problems”

Come on Arizona. Learn the difference.

Seriously Arizona? Seriously?

The headline was simple: Arizona’s Ethnic Studies Program Ruled Illegal.

I’m really starting to wonder if Arizona is the new Alabama or something. That’s too bad considering I’m actually a big fan of the geography and natural beauty of Arizona. But when it comes to the politics and the us against them, especially when the them is the Hispanic population, they have lost me. First the ugly laws designed to push illegals out, a move that most rightfully saw as overstepping the state’s boundaries and also one that too easily targeted anyone with Mexican heritage, and now this.

I’m might have to get like Thelma and Louise and start driving around the state of Arizona to get to New Mexico and Texas. The wierdest  part of the ruling was this this:

Kowal’s ruling, first reported by The Arizona Daily Star, said the district’s Mexican-American Studies program violated state law by having one or more classes designed primarily for one ethnic group, promoting racial resentment and advocating ethnic solidarity instead of treating students as individuals.

The judge, who found grounds to withhold 10 percent of the district’s monthly state aid until it comes into compliance, said the law permits the objective instruction about the oppression of people that may result in racial resentment or ethnic solidarity.

Which means in the state of Arizona, according to this, there can be no ethnic studies of any kind. Save of course for the standard teachings based on predominantly European perspectives. I am sure the intent of that law was a good one. But a reality that doesn’t allow for cultural studies, which is not the same as teaching a “racial” separation is silly. There is a difference. One that Arizona clearly does not get.

But then again, maybe they do and this isn’t about the class. Here is a link to the full article.

What Ever Happened To That Post Racial America We Expected?

The bloom seems to have come off the rose for some.

When Barack Obama became our next President, many of us bought into the idea that his victory signaled a “Post-Racial America.”

We were clearly wrong.

It will take more than the first bi-ethnic President to get us to that place. And we should have known that. But what is more surprising, at least to me, is that in many ways it appears President Obama’s victory has actually caused a lot of people to get worse about their issues regarding so-called “race.” For some on the right, possibly angry that a man with his complexion is the leader of this country, they have been emboldened to speak with even more venom on matters of ethnic difference. The Tea Party, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, The Birthers, even Dr. Laura and the whole “N-Word” controversy, they have all seemingly gone truly insane since Obama came into office. (well some were insane any way I guess)

But it is not just the people on the Right. For some on the Left, I think the expectation of a drastic change, in a short amount of time, an expectation that did not come to fruition, also made them crazy too. And for some Blacks, the fact that racism still exists, that their lives did not change because a partially Black man is in the White House, caused them to also get angrier at perceived slights. We’ve always had incidents of ethnic tensions and animosity, but it’s hard not to think some of the tensions are worse. The recent attacks in New York City’s Staten Island, of Blacks assaulting Mexicans and Mexican-Americans, is I think, a factor of the new tensions, and somewhat related to the anti-immigrant talk in the country now, led in part by Arizona’s crackdown on illegal immigrants.

Even the major brouhaha in New York, and the ensuing national debate, over the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque,” is a sign to me of a country not going forward in the way many of us had expected. The religious intolerance, and that’s what it is on this issue, since Islam is being acquainted with terrorism, when Islam did not attack the World Trade Center, idiot terrorists did, is another indicator that our prejudices have become more open rather than better.

But maybe the positive in this, the silver lining if there is one, is that things have to get worse in order to get better. So maybe all of this coming out in the open, as painful as it is to watch and hear, is a step in the right direction. Maybe getting all these feelings out in the open is indeed a sign of progress. After all, we do have to deal with it and until we put it out there, there can be no dealing with it.

So looked at that way, maybe the “Post-Racial America” is indeed closer. We just have to get through this growth period before we get there. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get too much uglier before it gets better.

Arizona Law Is About All Of Us

Who's next?

It’s easy to think that the new Arizona anti-immigrant law (and that’s what it really is, even though they claim it’s about crime and illegal immigrants) is only about Mexicans coming over the border.

It’s not.

That law is really about all of us. This is probably one of the very best examples of that old MLK saying, “Injustice anywhere, threatens justice everywhere.” When a law says that people can be questioned, and have to prove they belong here, just based on the suspicion of a crime, that really opens the door to  a whole lot of legal ethnic profiling, not just of Mexicans and Mexican Americans, but also anybody who looks like other, or for that matter, anyone who simply looks “suspicious,” which means a whole lot of different things to different people.

Frankly, I can’t help but think part of this is just the outgrowth of right wing anger at Barack Obama. If they can’t touch him, they’re going to try to make life miserable for anybody else who is “other.” I’m not surprised that this law came about during this time when there is so much contempt from the right about Obama and the face of our country looking a bit different these days than it has for its entire existence up to now.

But whatever the reason, all of us need to stand with the most obviously targeted group, Hispanics, on this one. Because if they can succeed with this kind of initiative for one group, they will most definitely find other ways to make issues with others that don’t fit the old mold. This isn’t an affront to Hispanics, it is really an affront to all of us. And we are all at risk.