The Adelante Alliance, a non-profit supporting low-income immigrant communities in Brooklyn, protests in solidarity with the Women Support Occupy rally, Sunday at Zuccotti Park.
Rosa Rolanda Covarrubias, 1923.
Lauro Garza, head of Somos Republicans, which is …
the largest organization of Latino conservatives in Texas… [he] has quit the Republican Party because of what he described as the anti-Latino rhetoric of GOP leaders…Garza, who had identified as a Republican for 30 years, said [it] in Spanish.
more.
(via thesmithian)
JOHN LEGUIZAMO RIGHTS A TRAGICOMEDY
Back in August, I got into a small YouTube mail fracas (I know) with Yannis Pappas, the white male comedian who portrays “Maurica Rodriguez,” a stereotypical sassy Latina from the Lower East Side. Someone sent his video links to my boyfriend, who is in the band Das Racist, suggesting he might like it. God knows why; that person should delete all Das Racist mp3s from their iTunes immediately, since Pappas’ “Maurica Rodriguez” is in fact, actually racist.
Like many whites (and non-whites) dressing up as ethnic female characters (i.e. every season of Saturday Night Live), Pappas’ portrayal of Maurica is an extension of a racist stereotype, in this case his notion that the Lower East Side (read: poor) Latina is inherently sassy, trifling, and—don’t forget—SPICY! Pappas also uses his Latina-face to liberally utilize the n-word, which he seems to relish, and of which mama don’t take no mess.
I left a comment saying all those things, not really expecting any response since, you know, it’s a fucking YouTube comment. So obviously I was amazed when dude totally wrote me back! In personal YouTube Message! POSSIBLY THE FIRST OF ITS KIND! His response:
finally!!! congrats! you are officially the first negative comment for maurica since she was created! the only one! you get the attention! you’re right that is exactly like i created her i just wanted to use the n word, be sexist and rasict and not funny and see if i could get people to think it was funny, not racist and not sexist. I tricked them all except you! you’re amazing! you are going to do great things!!!
love always,
Detrond
the guy who plays Yannis Pappis. Yannis Pappas is just a stand up comedian character i play.
you’re amazing! great work.
It didn’t surprise me that Yannis Pappis (or Detrond, the Greek-American who plays him) reacted so defensively. (What completely surprised me was that he sent me a YOUTUBE MESSAGE! YO!) It also didn’t surprise me that his defensive email seemed to justify or deflect my comments with an “everyone else likes it, you must be stupid” attitude. Furthermore it did not surprise me that his immediate response was an attempt at gaslighting since I was, allegedly, his first negative comment. (Really? And he’s performing this character in New York?)
What did surprise me was how much his response bummed me out. Not that I expected him to be like, “You’re right… it’s time for me to re-evaluate my entire act!” It was even the fact of his response in the first place, with entitlement that doubled the way Maurica smarted my heart. Like, not only did he feel entitled to assume the role of “Maurica” based on his condescending view of Latinas, but he felt entitled to then shit on a Latina for expressing her dismay. White male privilege on white male privilege on white male privilege. I didn’t respond, of course. Because fuck that guy. But I’ve had it in the back of my mind for months, since it happened.
So today, in a lightweight internet k-hole, I discovered John Leguizamo’s “House of Buggin,” a short-lived follow-up to “In Living Color” that featured mostly Latinos. (Leguizamo’s refusal to make the cast more white contributed to the show’s cancellation after one season.) ((Yes, I shocked myself that I didn’t already know about “House of Buggin.”)) About 30 minutes into the YouTube wormhole, I discovered this clip, from Leguizamo’s 1993 one-man show “Spic-o-rama,” a story of a family in Jackson Heights preparing for a wedding. Maurica is a wholesale bite off Leguizamo’s “All My Life” bit, watchable below. But Leguizamo’s portrayal of a middle-aged Latina is one of the tenderest, realest, most feminist bits of cross-dressing comedy I have ever seen. This clip’s two minutes long, yet his character is deep, humbling, and legitimately funny—he doesn’t exploit his vision of her life, but brings it to light while giving her a natural spirit. It split me open, a bit, before it healed me. I will love John Leguizamo forever.
Vestimenta Flor de Piña. Danza de Oaxaca, México.
submission from jesusnez
Oaxaca is basically the best place on earth, also, in case you didn’t know.
Mujeres revolucionarias o Adelitas
submission from morena-bonita
Above, still one of my favorite videos by Los Rakas, an ill Bay Area-via-Panama rap crew who are performing in New York at the Spot this week, AND who will be on my radio show on EVR.com on Saturday, July 23, 4-6 PM.
So my latest Riff City column is about the varying tiers and types of Latin music in NYC, and how this month is INSANE AND AWESOME for great Latin music happenings in the city, including Remezcla’s free The SPOT warehouse, and Latin Alternative Music Conference (now in its 12th year, for shame if you ain’t know) which is happening as we speak. Rita Indiana is playing both. READ THE COLUMN HERE.
Mexican Town Launches Women-Only “Pink Taxis” to Undercut Super-Creepy Cabbies
It turns out that some of the male taxi drivers in Puebla, Mexico are pigs. It might even be the case that most have boundary issues when it comes to their female passengers, indulging in constant leering, harassing, and propositioning. So the city invested some money and, following the lead of other municipalities all over the world, created a fleet of women-only Pink Taxis. Naturally this has engendered vociferous objections from some quarters:
“Some of the woman who have been on board tell us how male taxi drivers cross the line and try to flirt with them and make inappropriate propositions,” said taxi driver Aida Santos… “In the Pink Taxi they won’t have that feeling of insecurity, and they feel more relaxed.”… Women’s rights activists are aghast at the cars’ sugary presentation and said the service does not address the root of the harassment problem. “We are in the 21st century, and they are saying women have continued worrying about beauty and nothing more,” said Vianeth Rojas, of the Network for Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Puebla. “They are absolutely not helping eradicate violence against women.”
They’ve already got Pink Taxis in Bangkok. In Moscow – where the problems go way beyond harassment, up to and including semi-regular rapes and murders – a private entrepreneur launched a Pink Taxi all the way back in late 2006. The critics who attacked that initiative were a lot more vulgar, throwing around exactly the kind of “you’re all a bunch of lesbians” nonsense you’d expect.
Back in the Mexican context, we find ourselves deeply unsympathetic to the critics. The new Pink Taxi fleet might not be doing much to “eradicate violence against women.” It’s also not doing anything to, say, resolve the EU3′s concerns about how Iran’s undeclared nuclear facilities undercut the efficacy of Tehran’s agreement with the P5+1. That’s not what it’s supposed to do.
What it’s supposed to do – and what it has the potential of doing – is lift a nagging, grinding worry from the lives of Mexican women who dread having to get into a cab to go about their daily affairs. It removes an implicit sexist blackmail: “withdraw yourself from public life or volunteer yourself to suffer harassment.” That’s a fine start. Let’s not hold the good hostage to the perfect.
YES TO THIS.
(via fuckyeahmexico)
