Get a grip
CHICAGO — Life would get darned tedious if we demanded apologies, started YouTube campaigns and generally freaked out every time something insulting was implied about Latinos.
Imagine if Mexican-Americans had decided to tar and feather Boomer Esiason in reaction to comments he made last week on whether his old team, the New York Jets, would be looking to replace their current quarterback, Hispanic heartthrob Mark Sanchez.
“If you watched Mark Sanchez the last month of the season, he was like a Chihuahua standing on Madison Avenue and 36th Street entering the Midtown Tunnel, eyes bigger than you-know-what, and just so shaky,” Esiason told WEEI Sportsradio in Boston. Esiason later told ESPN he wasn’t making a reference to Sanchez’s heritage—“It’s a skittish dog, and he’s been a skittish player.”
Since Mexican-Americans and Chihuahua enthusiasts didn’t raise a stink, few people heard about the Sanchez slam—which is as it should be.
Too bad some in the Puerto Rican community didn’t take the same approach with a recently aired ABC television pilot for a “Bosom Buddies”-like cross-dressing pal comedy revolving around the pharmaceutical industry. One scene between two characters included the line: “But I’m Puerto Rican, I’d be great at selling drugs.”
I, and many others, would never have heard about this critically panned show had the reaction to that one line not included furious social media and blog postings, a Change.org petition demanding apologies, denouncements from politicians and a YouTube campaign featuring Puerto Ricans affirming their heritage and declaring “I DO NOT sell drugs.”
I’m half-Ecuadorean and half-Mexican, and between Mexican cartel and Ecuadorean drug-trafficking violence headlines, I sure don’t want to be associated with drug dealers either—nor should anyone be associated with drugs just because of their Latin American roots.
But let’s get a grip here: We’re talking about a comedy TV pilot that few people saw and most critics have written off. And it’s not as though TV shows and movies don’t prominently feature white drug dealers all the time—I don’t recall anyone being offended by Mary-Louise Parker’s character as an upscale, suburban-mom drug dealer in “Weeds.”
Is it now the duty of members of any category of the population—women, various religious faiths, ethnic or racial minorities—to take offense and rebel any time they feel they are slighted?
I always say that if you go around looking to be insulted, you’ll never be disappointed. But hey, if Puerto Ricans want to exercise their First Amendment rights this way, then more power to them, I guess.
But Darlene Vazquetelles, the Los Angeles-based actress who started the effort to put positive Puerto Rican images on YouTube, was in Chicago filming a movie over the weekend and asked me to make sure people understood that social media blew this whole thing up way beyond her intentions.
“I’m honestly not asking an apology from ABC or Amaury (Nolasco, the Puerto Rican actor who delivered the line) or anybody—I’ll still watch ABC and the show,” Vazquetelles told me. “I’ve decided to leave behind the anger I felt when I first saw the episode. I know not every (Latino) was offended—I just want to concentrate on starting the new year with a positive way to break stereotypes.”
Esther Cepeda is a columnist for the Washington Post Writers Group. Her email address is estherjcepeda@washpost.com.
Jan 11, 2012 at 2:11 p.m.
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@brightside: interesting article, but I think the takeaway should be this - one should not judge people based on their membership in a group, people are individuals. When I was growing up, we were taught that judging someone based on a group identity was called prejudice. I still believe that to be true, despite today's immediate leap to call someone a racist (particularly when it's completely unfounded such as those who criticize Obama for example).
So, while those who object to this apparently tasteless TV show (that I have never heard of) are completely justified in their objections, the larger point is to treat everyone as an individual. Those that demand to be treated fairly should remember the Golden Rule. This would solve so many societal problems.
Jan 11, 2012 at noon
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This article gives a more resposible stance on the matter in an eloquent manner that I would never be able to achieve. Open your mind and read http://emorales7.wordpress.com/2012/01/0...
Jan 11, 2012 at 9:34 a.m.
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Nice comment Christopher!
If you really want to see a group that gets slammed regularly, put yourself in the place of a white male. Since we are presumed to be running everything, having all the wealth and power, etc., it's pretty much open season on us, and we aren't even allowed to defend ourselves. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else responds to this with an "oh poor you" type comment, reinforcing what I just said.
Jan 10, 2012 at 9:22 a.m.
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Esther,
It looks like you agree that the sitcom's tried-and-true method of resorting to the racial/ethnic stereotype for laughs is in poor taste. Your contention seems to be that no one was going to watch the show, so why bother with the slur. You don't seem to consider that we live in an age where even the smallest bit of video, even video that airs only once, can go viral and have new life, seemingly in perpetuity. If something is in poor taste, what's wrong with calling attention to it? Would your position be the same if this had happened in the #1 rated comedy? In other words, you suggest this is not worth the effort. But how does one know when to speak up and when not to?
The reason few people fret about Mary-Louise Parker's portrayal of a drug dealer is: 1) it recasts the idea of a drug dealer by undermining what audiences expect; 2) white females have a plethora of character associations, and "drug dealer" is often not one of them. On the other hand, Puerto Ricans, and Latinos generally, have far more limited character associations on screen, and these tend to be of a pejorative nature. Gang members, drug dealers, ex-cons, and the like are more often associated with ethnic minorities than with white females. Parker's character doesn't reinforce a stereotype in an audience's mind, while the line from "Work It" does exactly that, it plays off of and gives new vitality to a stereotype we wish would disappear.
I recognize that you are pointing to a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy here---that if we call attention to something that few were going to notice in the first place, we've somehow undermined our own position by making it widely known. I disagree wholeheartedly. Not only does this show our collective power to denounce offensive material, it demonstrates our willingness to challenge these microagressions, which may lead to more deliberation before people use such base slurs and stereotypes in the first place. We ought to have little tolerance for these supposedly innocent jokes and stereotypes that are available for mass consumption.
Christopher Gonzalez
@chrsgnzlz
www.thislatinolife.com
Jan 10, 2012 at 6:45 a.m.
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I think when we become numb to these types of jokes or stereotypes we become part of the collective problem. If the massess want to be part of mediocrity, we will never see an end to these types of situations. If it had been an anti-semitic joke or jab made in the sitcom, the show would have been canceled.
Jan 10, 2012 at 6:18 a.m.
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Some people just look to be insulted by anything, I have pitty for people that are so sensitive they can't take a joke or they are so uptight they are looking for offensiveness when there truly is none.
Jan 10, 2012 at 5:44 a.m.
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Why does anyone think they have a right to never be insulted?
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