Immigration
We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.
#TBT 2007 Video: Latino Comedy Project “300”
A new age is dawning. We will never retreat. We will never surrender. Mexicans, tonight we dine… in SAN DIEGO!
DREAMer from Georgia, back in DF, tries to fit in (NPR audio)
Yovany Diaz was brought to the U.S. without papers when he was only seven, and he grew up in Georgia, speaking English. When his mom’s health issues required him to move “back” to Mexico City, this all-American ice hockey loving pocho found himself in a strange new world, even though it was “home.” James Frederick of NPR’s Latino USA has the story.
Boyle Heights’ The Tracks want you to ‘Go Out Tonight’ (video, lyrics)
Go Out Tonight is the debut release from Boyle Heights band The Tracks. The noir-looking video — with visuals from the 1961 film The Exiles — sets a contrasting stage for the band’s poppy high energy sound and escapist lyrics:
Mas…Boyle Heights’ The Tracks want you to ‘Go Out Tonight’ (video, lyrics)
Dear Trump Voter Ashley: We are real people, not your ‘Taco Tuesday’
Dear Ashley,
I don’t really know you very well. I met you for the first time when my family and I travelled to Rogers, Arkansas to see you marry my nephew. I knew my nephew at some point. I saw him grow up here in Los Angeles until my brother and his wife thought the streets of Woodland Hills too gang-infested and uprooted their entire family to the enclaves of my sister-in-law’s home state.
Shortly after, sometime in the 1990s, my mother and I travelled to Arkansas on an Amtrak train for two days (don’t ask – I still haven’t forgiven my mother for refusing to fly) to visit and see our family’s new dwellings.
You weren’t in the picture yet – your husband was still a teenager. Despite the torturous train ride, we relished the opportunity to spend time with my brother and his family. We were even excited to see a new part of the country.
Mas…Dear Trump Voter Ashley: We are real people, not your ‘Taco Tuesday’
Vote! Damian Lopez Rodriguez died to become a citizen (video)
Damian Lopez Rodriguez was brought to the USA without documents as a child — you know, one of those rapists and narcos from Mexico Donald Trump is going to deport.
Damian loved his new country so much he enlisted in the Army when he turned 18. After he died in Iraq, he was granted posthumous citizenship by President George Bush. Damian’s dad has faith his son in Heaven is voting in this election. Are you?
Play by play from East LA: ‘Undocumented Football’ (poetry video)
Today is the big game — Roosevelt vs Garfield — the Boyle Heights East/Los Angeles high school football rivalry that has lasted generations. The Roughriders meet the Bulldogs this evening at Weingart Stadium on Avenida César Chávez in Monterey Park.
In this 2013 poetry video, David A. Romero supplied the play by play.
In South Philly, immigrant restauranteurs worry about Trump (videos)
Donald Trump’s racist anti-immigrant rhetoric is a big worry for immigrant-owned businesses. The owners of a South Philadelphia staple, South Philly Barbacoa — around the corner from the famed Italian street market — are concerned about what a victory by GOP haters might mean for their family. [Video by Cora Cervantes.]
Mas…In South Philly, immigrant restauranteurs worry about Trump (videos)
MEXCLUSIVE VIDEO EXPOSE: In Texas, a ‘Pachanga for Trump’
What really goes on when Latinos for Trump throw a get-out-the-vote campaign party for their candidate? Pachanga for Trump goes into the belly of the GOP beast to find out the shocking truth. [Video by the Latino Comedy Project.]
Good luck with the 1954 miles of the US-Mexico wall (video)
Best of Luck with the Wall takes the viewer on a hypnotic visual voyage across the length and breadth the U.S.-Mexico border, stitched together from 200,000 satellite images. [Directed and explained by Josh Begley.]
Joad Cressbeckler: Migrants who survive AZ desert deserve citizenship
On The Cressbeckler Stance, talk show host Joad Cressbeckler says any Mexican who crosses the scorching-hot desert on foot has proved himself worthy of U.S. citizenship.
All we are asking: ‘Who’s Gonna Build That Wall?’ (music video)
Donald Trumpendejo wants a wall on the border with Mexico. “Who’s Gonna Build That Wall?” ask singers and writers Chip Taylor and Carrie Rodriguez. [Video by Jeth Weinrich.] But who is Chip Taylor?
Hateline, Las Vegas: This is your country on Trump (Fox 5 News video)
In Henderson, Nevada, an angry Anglo Trump supporter was caught on video last week cursing at Latino construction workers, calling them “illegals,” “wetbacks” and worse. Fox 5 Las Vegas reporter Miguel Martinez-Valle went to find out why the pinche potty-mouthed gringo pendejo was so angry.
CALL FOR COMMENTS: Have any of you pochos been subject to similar harassment lately?
Tell us below!
The reason Trump wants to build a wall? To keep America white
Emilio is a childhood friend of mine who we appropriately call Malo (mean).
Usually, Malo and I converse about old times; friends we have lost and experiences we shared growing up. So it surprised me the other day when he asked me, “Poule, why does Donald Trump want to build a pinche (damn) wall?”.
I gave him a short shrift answer that it was his solution to end unlawful border crossing.
Malo replied indignantly, either to my casual and shallow observation, or to Trump’s callousness:
I don’t have any fancy letters after my last name, Poule, but chale (no), that’s not the real reason he is trying to separate us from Mexico. Trump knows this country is changing in color, culture, and influence and he wants to stop it.
Mas…The reason Trump wants to build a wall? To keep America white
ON THIS DAY 1492: Strangers arrive from beyond the sea (toon)
‘That Mexican Thing Again’ ringtones make America great again (audio)
Make America Great Again with Mike Pence That Mexican Thing Again ringtones.
They’re the perfect audio identifiers for those extra especial phone calls!
Mas…‘That Mexican Thing Again’ ringtones make America great again (audio)
If elected, Trump will deport this Harvard University graduate (video)
In La Graduación | The Graduation by Anna Clare Spelman, we meet an undocumented Latinx DREAMer about to graduate from the Harvard’s Kennedy School with a master’s degree. Thank God Donald Trump promises to deport rapists and narcotrafficantes like her and her mom!
Happy Rosh HaShana from the Jews of Tijuana! Happy 5777! (video)
Mexico, like the United Estates, is a “nation of immigrants.”
In the 1900s, Tijuana welcomed Jewish refugees fleeing wars, hate and poverty in Europe, Asia and the Mideast.
Tijuana Jews, the story of the extended Artenstein family, has become a POCHO Rosh HaShana (New Year) tradition ever since we noticed rosh-ha-shana rhymed with Tijuana in 2012.
Mas…Happy Rosh HaShana from the Jews of Tijuana! Happy 5777! (video)
DEPLORABLES! Gay Latino at a right wing press conference (video)
Look! It’s crooked Hillary libtard propaganda from a sinner. Shameless!
Or, as Media Matters, who made this video explains:
Mas…DEPLORABLES! Gay Latino at a right wing press conference (video)
Pocho Ocho Top GOP Picks for Latinx Heritage Month 2017
“Hispanic” Heritage Month, the officially-approved celebration of Latinx and their contributions to the United Estates of America, started Thursday.
Donald Trump’s GOP has proposed their own list of praise-worthy Hispanix for next year’s fiesta — assuming Trump wins — and POCHO has gotten a sneak peek at their nominations.
Peep this Mexclusive list of the Pocho Ocho Top GOP Picks for Latinx Heritage Month 2017:
8. The Frito Bandito
7. The Taco Bell Chihuahua
6. The Chevy No Va
Ex Mex President Fox eats truck tacos, beats Trump piñata (video)
Mexican President Vicente Fox beat a Donald Trump piñata after eating at a taco truck last week in Los Angeles. “Tacos will make America great,” Fox said.
Business Insider has the story:
During an appearance on El Show de Piolín in Los Angeles, former Mexican President Vicente Fox found a new way to demonstrate his often-stated criticisms of Donald Trump: Beating a piñata of the Republican presidential candidate.
Mas…Ex Mex President Fox eats truck tacos, beats Trump piñata (video)
Surveillance Video: Mexican invaders jump border wall (GIF)
Mexicans are invading America — crossing the border wall in their taco trucks. Recent surveillance video catches these ill eagles in action.
Tamaleros on every corner are a good idea, too (videos)
See the guy with the tamales in the hot box on wheels? He’s well-known in San Pedro, home of the Port of Los Angeles, on the south side of the City of Angels. This vato — The Tamale Guy — even has his own reviews (good ones!) on Yelp:
Legalizing street vendors like the Tamale Guy is one of the key elements of the Manifesto of The Taco Truck Party, announced on POCHO last week by our Associate Naranjero Gustavo ¡Ask a Mexican! Arellano.
Via our friends at LatinoLA.com, here’s an academic analysis of the issues involved:
Why the City of Los Angeles Should Legalize Street Vending
Street entrepreneurs should not be criminalized
By Vanessa Alcantar and Robert D. Flores Jr.
“¡Tamales! ¡Tamales! ¡Tamales!”
Growing up in the East L.A. and Pico Union neighborhoods of Los Angeles, this shouting is something everybody in the neighborhood is accustomed to because it provides a sense of home. To everyone in our households, this is the cue to scour through the house for cash and hurry outside to catch the tamale lady in time before she takes off.
Brooklyn loves this taquero, and he loves Brooklyn back (video)
A Mexican immigrant brings a taco truck to Brooklyn, helps the neighborhood, has fun, and makes money. It’s the American Dream!
Music video for Trump: “No way, pendejo, it isn’t gonna happen!”
Video creators Greñudo Productions write that No Way, Pendejo! is “a measured and thoughtful meditation on the 2016 U.S. presidential election.” We’re pretty much in agreement, except we’d characterize the baboso Donald Trump as a “pinche pendejo.” [Editor’s note: A greñudo is a person with unruly, messy, unkempt hair.]
Top Taco Trucks Throwback Thursday #TTTTT (videos)
Because of you know who and you know why, we thought it would be chingon to take a look back at the taco truck videos that have graced POCHO’s pages over the years.
Did we mention we love tacos?
In no particular order:
From Michoacan to LA: ‘Chef Al Pastor’ and his American Dream (video)
His father wanted him to stay in Michoacan, work on the family farm, and do construction, but Raul Morales crossed over from Mexico at 17 to pursue his culinary dreams. Now, at 44, he’s his own boss, and a master of tacos al pastor. “Chef Al Pastor” was interviewed at his Los Angeles restaurant Taqueria Vista Hermosa.