Feb 10, 2017
Sin Pelos en la Lengua:
Gathering our problematic Latinx faves.
There’s still two rules in the f**king Latino family,” George Lopez (comedian whom I always liked but loved even more as he began using his platform to be outspoken against DJT and the current administration) He said this to a pack theater in Arizona, “Don’t marry somebody black, and don’t park in front of our house.”
The crowd laughs and the laughter turns to booing when a Black woman stood up, middle fingers in the air, defiant of the anti-black statement. Now the night could’ve gone two ways:
Scenario one: George, having something deeper to teach in the stand up about the colorism that plagues our communities and understanding that concern from his fan on the joke, paused, joined his heckler in raising fingers and asked his fans to do the same in solidarity with Afro Latinxs and against racism in our community, politely asking his fan and the audience to sit down and listen to the rest of the funny story with a deeper talk about the painful practices that we still partake in oppressing our Black familia, creating a dialogue which will help build more awareness.
Scenario two: George shows off his mysogynoir and then inviting his jeering audience of other Latinx to join in as he has security escort the ex fans out. Then goes on twitter to tell us to get over it. Then continues with his ongoing activism against DJT because he is a racist. Conservative eggs, re-tweeting concerned fans and enjoying every minute of the left fighting itself.
Scenario numero dos is still playing out on twitter.
His demeanor is unapologetic, which is unfortunate because if he were, there is a real chance for growth, education and most importantly, propagation of the idea that as artists and activists good praxis translates to every aspect of our lives, including our art and what it says and the way we handle criticism when it we are called out for problematic behavior. And most urgently, we need Black and Brown people to hold each other down during this time and we simply cannot do that if we do not trust each other. I do not have a problem withholding my money and support for individuals whom are proven to be counterrevolutionary and reactionary.
“Baby, I’m Mexican and Arab,” Salma Hayek tells actress Jessica Williams as the discussion about intersectional feminism turned sour when Salma derailed the conservative with respectability politics and using buzzwords like victimization, some tone police shit “I’m from another generation, baby, when this was not even a possibility. My generation, they said, ‘Go back to Mexico. You’ll never be anything other than a maid in this country.’ By the heads of studios! There was no movement. Latino women were not even anywhere near where you guys are. I was the first one. I’m 50 years old. So I understand.”
“You don’t understand,” said Williams. And she did not. There was so much to unpack in these statement. This scene happened not more than a a few weeks ago and since then, Salma later apologized, after many write ups, angry social media status and commentary again, from conservatives about the liberals and those on the left eating its own.
I am not trying to jot down every singles time in the past few years when favorite Latinx entertainers, which is very small in the USA, have said and done something problematic to illustrate how little Afro Latinos can trust them with “representation” shit, I could spend a post alone on speaking about Zoe and the sin that will forever be black facing Nina Simone. Especially when it comes to older seasoned stars, oftentimes spoiled by fame (or infamy) which gives people a certain “can’t teach me nothing” demeanor to the table.
I am not here to yell at people of color dealing with internalized isms, but I am here to point out our hypocrisy when taking the mantle of justice issues and disparage and disrespect our Black sisters. Antiblackness needs to stop. Latinx issues are Black issues and Black issues are Latinx issues because you can be Black and Latino, and their life experiences are different than ours, all of our lives are experienced are just different, recognizing that and listening to other’s perspectives is not only a first step, it is one that you take constantly.
As a whole, America needs to make a lot more effort to be quiet and listen to what people of color have to say, but as the Latinx community in all the Americas, we need to recognize the deeply ingrained colorism at play in our lives and do better to be more intersectional and to understand Latinidad is nuanced and complex and we all experiencing differently, the faster we recognize the need for unity through honest dialogue and earnest learning the faster we can defeat the fascists, because at this time, being this recklessly insensitive is not an option.
The stakes are ye high:
