latino
Johnny Sanchez on George Lopez: Yup, I’m Mexican (video)
Being brown, growing old, living as a short person — Johnny Sanchez shares TMI about the intimate secrets of Mexican-American men.
Pocho Ocho upworthy Latino quotes Chipotle should have used
As POCHO amigo Gustavo Arellano noted Friday, Chipotle Mexican Grill pulled a boner when it decided to put short stories from ten famous authors on its cups and bags but couldn’t find one Latino with words worthy enough to wrap its burritos.
There’s now a Facebook book group organizing around this issue and the Pochodores have been brainstorming inspirational packaging ideas as well.
First off all, short stories? Srsly? TL;DR, amiright?
Here are the Pocho Ocho more upworthy Latino quotes Chipotle should have used:
8. There’s a reason you separate the military and the police. One fights the enemies of the state, the other serves and protects the people. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the state tend to become the people. (Commander William Adama.)
7. Repression….Recession. It’s all the same thing, man. (Cheech Marin.)
6. In a way, all of us has an El Guapo to face some day. For some, shyness might be their El Guapo. For others, a lack of education might be their El Guapo. For us, El Guapo is a big, dangerous guy who wants to kill us. But as sure as my name is Lucky Day, the people of Santa Poco can conquer their own personal El Guapo, who also happens to be the actual El Guapo. (Lucky Day.)
Mas…Pocho Ocho upworthy Latino quotes Chipotle should have used
Richard Montoya and Edward James Olmos walk into a bar…
It was a hot afternoon, much like today. Walking into the cool darkness of East Side Luv in Boyle Heights was a relief. It was crowded, about two dozen people milling about, some busy setting up recording equipment, others huddled in small groups. Waiting. It was “media day” for Water & Power, which comes out today.
I’d watched the movie the night before in a small screening room somewhere in Hollywood. Dark, unsettling, violent, suspenseful, heartbreaking, redemptive … I had questions, but so did everybody else.
I was finally called over, and before long, the movie’s writer and director Richard Montoya and Edward James Olmos, the film’s presenter, were seated in front of me. I had 15 minutes, more or less.
Abelardo de la Peña Jr. (AdlpJr): What got you involved in Water and Power?
Edward James Olmos (EJO): The single most important thing about movies: The script, the story, the writing. Richard is a genius. Go watch the movie. You watch the movie, and you see, all of a sudden …
Mom feeds baby salsa to mooch burgers (photos, video)
(PNS reporting from RANCHO POCHO ESTATES) In a shocking file uploaded to the Internets last week, a mom in suburban Southern California has been captured on video feeding her baby hot salsa in a baby bottle in order to pay for her husband’s “picante burger” habit.
In the video, a spicy burger pusher known only as “Jack” — his true identity hidden by a grotesque disguise — rings the family’s doorbell and pretends to be religious missionary so the neighbors don’t suspect. “Do you have three minutes to talk about spicy hamburgers?” he asks burger-junkie Juan Desperado, who opens the door.
“I have some something here I think you’ll like,” the pusher says.
Census Bureau considering new race/ethnicity questions
The tricky choose-your-own race/ethnic questions in the 2010 United States Census didn’t work out as planned.
“As many as 6.2% of census respondents selected only “some other race” in the 2010 census (photo, top), the vast majority of whom were Hispanic,” the Pew Research Center reports.
The 2010 Census form asked two questions about race and ethnicity. First, people were asked whether they are of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin.
Then they were asked to choose one or more of 15 options that make up five race categories — white, black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander.
A separate question about Hispanic origin has been asked of all households since 1980, and the census form specifically instructs respondents that Hispanic origins are not races.
To address concerns about a rising share of “some other race” selections, a combined race and ethnicity question is under consideration for 2020 (photo, bottom), in which people would be offered all the race and Hispanic options in one place.
They could check a box to identify as white, black, Hispanic/Latino/Spanish origin, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander or some other race or origin.
Don’t call me a ‘Mexican,’ America! Also, I’m not a ‘Latino’
It’s a phenomenon older than the United Estates of America. We’ve named it Looking Down On More Recent Immigrants Syndrome:
- In 1751, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, a North American colonial with British roots, disparaged “stupid” and “swarthy” recently-arrvied German immigrants, who, he wrote, were too dumb to learn English, and did we mention they were “swarthy”?
- Discrimination against Irish Catholic immigrants by their English Protestant predecessors was one of the reasons 200 fresh-off-the-boat Irish United States Army draftees switched sides and fought for Mexico in the Mexican-American War of the 1840s. These deserters/heroes formed the famed Saint Patrick’s Battalion (Los San Patricios.)
- Hoity-toity German and Sephardic Jews who immigrated to the U.S.A. in the 18th and 19th Centuries were ashamed of the Hebrew homies who arrived later from Eastern Europe; the assimilated Jews banded together to “Americanize” the Russian and Polish immigrants in the 1880s.
Last week three latter-day Looking Down Syndrome sightings lit up our screen, INSISTENT MESSAGES from people who want you to know THEY ARE DEFINITELY NOT THOSE OTHER PEOPLE OVER THERE — those Mexicans and/or Latinos.
Mas…Don’t call me a ‘Mexican,’ America! Also, I’m not a ‘Latino’
Lowe’s Home Improvement, Latino style (Vine video)
It’s Rudy Mancuso, for Lowe’s. [Hover and click on the top left corner of the image to hear the audio.]
PREVIOUSLY ON RUDY MANCUSO:
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Hispanic Superman! (Vine video)
Cold outside? Snow on the ground? Tied to the train tracks as a locomotive approaches? No worries? No makes! Hispanic Superman Rudy Mancuso is on the job! [Remember: The Vine videos need you to click on the top left of the image to hear the sound.]
PREVIOUSLY ON CRAZY COLD AND SNOW:
Mas…It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Hispanic Superman! (Vine video)
Um, excuse me…we prefer to be called ‘white folk’ (photo)
We can’t track the original of this photo to give its creator props, so we’ll just heartily thank all Internet-enabled photographers, wherever they are. And whatever they want to be called, tambien. After all, what’s in a name?
PREVIOUSLY ON WHITE PEOPLE:
POCHO History 101: Public Enemy, Arizona, MLK Day (video)
Twenty-one years ago Public Enemy‘s epic By the Time I Get to Arizona spotlighted the Hate State of Arizona’s failure to implement the Martin Luther King Day holiday.
My friend’s stupid Chevy Nova has Hispanic GPS (Vine video)
Rudy Mancuso’s Hispanic-voiced GPS navigation amigo knows where Rudy needs to go, even if Rudy acts stupid. [With these Vine videos, there’s an audio/speaker/volume icon that pops up when you hover over the top-left corner on the video.]
Are they really ‘Beta Males’ — slackers without a cause? (NSFW video)
Two brothers and one amigo wonder what it’s all about, being responsible adults with degrees and stuff. From Hijo De Mi Madre Productions. [One F bomb.]
America to pause Monday for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, D.C.) America will pause Monday to remember the life and message of Ricky Martin Luther King Jr., whose Tengo a Dream y Dance! speech changed the nation forever.
Post offices and other public facilities will be closed, banks and stock exchanges take the day off and salsa picante and sweet potato pie – his favorite snack combo – are on sale all across America. Today would have been RMLK’s 34th birthday.
Despite his tragic death in 2007 (he was shot and killed by the president of his fan club before an appearance in Dallas) King’s promotion of “love, equality, justice, innocence, malice, refuge, oppression, freedom” has continued to resonate among confused Latinos and Anglos alike.
Mas…America to pause Monday for Ricky Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2014
Latino Stereotypes 101: Arsenio Hall and Felipe Esparza (video)
Arsenio Hall and (Last Comic Standing) Felipe Esparza head to Santee Alley in L.A.’s Garment Fashion District to see if they can pin down some Latino stereotypes. Hot sauce, Home Depot and “No hablo ingles” here we come!
PREVIOUSLY ON ARSENIO:
Mas…Latino Stereotypes 101: Arsenio Hall and Felipe Esparza (video)
Haters Gonna Hate: Big map of racist/hateful Tweets (infographic)
The infographic map-heads at FloatingSheep.org analyzed geo-tagged Tweets from one week in November last year to generate a hate map of the U.S.
Surprise, surprise — the Old Confederacy had the most haters when slurs about Latinos (Tweets using the word “wetback” and “spick”), African-Americans (“nigger”), Asians (“chink,” “gook”) were tallied (pan-racist map, above.) [Click maps to enlarge.]
Here’s the breakdown of “wetback” Tweets:
Mas…Haters Gonna Hate: Big map of racist/hateful Tweets (infographic)
LatinoUSA Audio: Al Madrigal and Lalo Alcaraz’ ‘Big Adventure’
POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz and POCHO Migrant Editor Al Madrigal (you may also know him from The Daily Show with Juan Estewart) are thankful for lots of stuff. Al is thankful that his son’s school’s athletic mascot is not racist, Lalo is thankful for his new Bordertown gig with Fox, and POCHO is thankful LatinoUSA with Maria Hinojosa let us share this audio from everyone’s favorite Latinos from the Future!
PREVIOUSLY ON LATINOS FROM THE FUTURE:
Mas…LatinoUSA Audio: Al Madrigal and Lalo Alcaraz’ ‘Big Adventure’
Arcade Fire’s new video ‘Afterlife’ is awesome and full of Raza
It’s new, and awesome, and Raza-filled. Check it out.
The Latin Grammys: America’s biggest anti-Mexican sham
Over a decade ago, I wrote an op-ed piece for what was called Pacific News Service but is now New American Media bemoaning how pathetic the Latin Grammys were due to their lack of Mexican music. “The definers of Latin culture,” I wrote then, “have decided that the most popular Latin music genre in the United States isn’t worthy of promotion because it might lead people to believe that Latinos are poor and culturally backward, not slick and ‘with it.'”
Mexclusive: Hollywood has called my bluff with ‘Bordertown’ at Fox!
Fox has just announced the pickup of a new animated TV show called Bordertown, debuting in 2014. It was created by the showrunner of Family Guy, Mark Hentemann.
I was offered a gig writing and consulting on the show, and I happily accepted.
This will be the first animated prime time network TV show with a significant number of Latino characters.
Over half the cast will Mexican or Mexican-Americans or Chicanos. It will be historic.
Mas…Mexclusive: Hollywood has called my bluff with ‘Bordertown’ at Fox!
Los Mocosos: ‘Brown and Proud (Soy Moreno, Soy Latino)’ [video]
We missed Brown and Proud when the San Francisco band Los Mocosos released this tune in 1998 — 15 pinche years ago! That’s why it’s on repeat today.
Thanks to Texano78704 for the tip:
Hispanic Heritage Month ends, many Hispanics unsure how to go on
(PNS reporting from BROOKLYN) Hispanic Heritage Month is over and without the corporate-approved celebration as a focus, members of the local Hispanic/Latino community aren’t really sure how they can go on being members of the local Hispanic/Latino community.
“Where do I go from here?” lamented Brooklyn native and prolific bloguera Marielena Gutierrez (photo, right.)
“Should I tell people to call me Mary Ellen for the remaining 11 months of the year? It’s not like they ever pronounce it right anyway,” she wrote on her PobrePickle blog.
Mas…Hispanic Heritage Month ends, many Hispanics unsure how to go on
Government shutdown halts Hispanic Heritage Month in mid-month
(PNS reporting from WASHINGTON, DC) Effective immediately, all Hispanic Heritage Month observations have been halted due to the current Federal Government shutdown.
HHM activities have been classified as “non-essential” and Washington has issued guidelines on toning down loud festivities and colorful displays as the U.S. Treasury runs out of funding.
As of midnight, October 15, all functions relating to Hispanic Heritage Month ceased, according to Felix Zaragosa of the General Services Administration.
“More than 2,900 Federal Mariachi Administration inspectors were initially furloughed, putting an end to inspections of mariachi uniforms and instruments. The FMA asked 800 employees to return to work last week,” he said.
Mas…Government shutdown halts Hispanic Heritage Month in mid-month
Mom puts cross on son’s front lawn to mark another failed relationship
(PNS reporting from HOUSTON) Sara Maestas placed a two-foot-high cruz on her only son’s lawn early this morning — a cross in remembrance of his latest failed relationship.
The 32-year-old transactional lawyer got dumped Saturday night by his novia, less than 20 minutes after he blew off a dinner date. And now his mother’s white polystyrene cross, adorned with flowers, sits front and center on Benjamin Maestas’ lawn in Montrose.
Just before a scheduled 6 PM Saturday rendezvous at Hugo’s Regional Mexican Cuisine, girlfriend Vicki Gardea got a text from Maestas saying he couldn’t meet due to “a short deadline to close on a shopping center for a multinational client.”
Mas…Mom puts cross on son’s front lawn to mark another failed relationship
California immigrants hail Jerry Brown’s veto of jury duty bill
(PNS reporting from SACRAMENTO) Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed legislation Monday that would have made California the first state in the nation to allow legal immigrants who are not citizens to serve on juries.
The governor has recently approved bills expanding the rights of immigrants, including legislation allowing those in the country without documents to apply for driver’s licenses and practice law. Democrat Brown said serving on a jury, however, was a civic duty that should be exclusive to citizens.
Ronaldo Santa Flojeraz (photo), 36, a client of the of Los Angeles Immigrant Rights Labor Center, welcomed Brown’s decision. “Thank you, Governor Brown, for vetoing that bill,” he told PNS. “I was not looking forward to having to avoid the jury duty summons mailers sent by the local courts. I got better things to do.”
Mas…California immigrants hail Jerry Brown’s veto of jury duty bill
Does this sound familiar? ‘You’re a Latina/o? But you speak so well!’
If you are Latina or Latino, you may have heard comments such as, “Wow, you speak so well… You are not like them… You are really smart… OR You are different and they will really like you.”
You might even be asked repeatedly where you are from if your first answer is a city or state in the U.S.
Remarks like these are called microagressions, according to Silvia L. Mazzula, PhD (Asst. Professor of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY).
These …”subtle forms of racism,” she writes, “…communicate hostile and racial insults. Microaggressions are things said or done – many times unconsciously – that reflect a person’s inner thinking, stereotypes and prejudices. They are difficult to recognize because they are brief, innocuous, and often difficult to see. Why are they important to talk about? Because microaggressions are pervasive and have a detrimental impact on people’s psychological and physiological well-being.”
Mas…Does this sound familiar? ‘You’re a Latina/o? But you speak so well!’
George Lopez on Arsenio Hall: Obama must be half Latino (video)
It’s only logical, the way George Lopez explains it to Arsenio Hall.
Hispanic moms: Serve Jimmy Dean® for a dubious breakfast! (video)
¡Hola, Hispanic moms! Serving your Hispanic family a dubiously-healthy breakfast is just a button-push away with Jimmy Dean® Brand croissant, egg, sausage and cheese breakfast sandwiches. Not only are they graded F for nutrition but you can heat them in the microwave to pretend you care! Each delicious serving packs a generous 60% of the daily recommended fat allowance and that means 45% of the cholesterol quota AND 60% of the saturated fat limit.
Wait, there’s more! Each sammich features a full half ounce of protein and over a third of your daily allowance for salt. Jimmy mexplains:
CHICAGO–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–The Jimmy Dean brand (www.jimmydean.com), America’s favorite traditional breakfast sausage brand* will release a new Spanish-language TV commercial this month to promote its popular line of breakfast sandwiches to Hispanic consumers.
Mas…Hispanic moms: Serve Jimmy Dean® for a dubious breakfast! (video)
@SaraChicaD and @omgitseddieg: Latino Stereotypes (video)
Our very own Sara Ines Calderon — (@SaraChicaD on the Twitter) — is Eddie Garcia’s guest star for a discussion of Latino Stereotypes and How to Address Them.