One man's take on his culture's stereotypes

Gabacho: A gringo. But Mexicans don’t call gringos gringos. Only gringos call gringos gringos. Mexicans call gringos “gabachos.”

One man's take on his culture's stereotypes

By Gustavo Arellano

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Dear Mexican: I believe that the words people use to describe other people, intentionally or unintentionally, reflect their political values. You described César Chávez as hating “illegals” and as being ethnocentric early in his career. This isn’t the first time you’ve used the word “illegal” to describe undocumented immigrants. If we are going to use that term to describe undocumented immigrants, then a lot of U.S. citizens who have committed crimes such as drug trafficking, corruption, murder, embezzlement, rape, warrant-less wiretapping, harassment, stealing, and many, many others, are really the ones who should be called ILLEGALS. Using this term only plays out to the right-wing agenda and contributes to the bashing of immigrants and Latinos. --Saw You Once Moderate a Panel Discussion

Dear Pocha: This was the question I fished out of your ramble: “Why do you use the term ‘illegal immigrant’ in your column, when it’s such a hateful term?” I use it to make a point: It’s the most moderate term to describe those millions of folks who live in this country in violation of immigration law. Know Nothings love to use “illegal alien” because it allows them to describe Mexicans as an invading menace. To avoid using “illegal” implies that something is shameful about the word and their status, and we should all therefore avoid using it. Not this Mexican.

I’m engaged to a Mexican who doesn’t have papers, but I’m an American. For two years, he supported me while I was a stay-at-home mom. Recently, he’s been unable to work because his working permit expired, so I got a good job and started supporting the family. To me, he is doing the best thing he could for his family by being a stay-at-home dad. Why is it that his familia can’t be just as supportive about it? Since I started working, they haven’t stopped nagging about him not being the man of the house, and letting a woman support him. If he doesn’t have a problem with it, why should they care? --Chulo, I’m Home!

Dear Gabacha: Your problem is all in your man’s family and not a Mexican thing, since a gabacho solely supporting us is as big a Mexican wet dream as retaking over the southwest United States and Guatemala for good.