latino
Latino Heritage Month Hero Video: Dick Tracy’s sidekick Go Go Gomez
Dick Tracy’s 1961 TV cartoon partner Go Go Gomez saves the day in The Copy Cat Caper.
Mas…Latino Heritage Month Hero Video: Dick Tracy’s sidekick Go Go Gomez
Who are these so-called U.S. ‘Hispanics’? They’re Mex to the max
Mexican-Americans — all 34 million — make up over two-thirds of the U.S. Latino population according to the Pew Research Organization:
Mas…Who are these so-called U.S. ‘Hispanics’? They’re Mex to the max
What’s in a trend? Google tracks ‘Latino’ and ‘Hispanic’ over time
Hispanic or Latino? This question comes up all the time, and not just during Hispanic Heritage Month, which we insist on calling Latino Heritage Month.
Is there a trend? We asked the Google NGram Viewer to search their big index of published books to see how many times the word “Latino” and the word “Hispanic” were used over time.
Mas…What’s in a trend? Google tracks ‘Latino’ and ‘Hispanic’ over time
Official spokesman for U.S. Hispanics quits: ‘It’s a bullshit job!’
(PNS reporting from MIAMI) Gerardo Lamas, the official spokesman for all Hispanics in the United States, resigned Wednesday night.
“This is a bullshit job and I’ll never be able to please anybody,” he told PNS in a late-night phone call. “I mean, I’ve been at this for a while, and let me tell you, it hasn’t gotten any easier. Que effin’ lastima, right? I’m throwing up my hands!”
“The truth is it’s ridiculous to expect one person to be able to speak for millions from diverse backgrounds, geopolitical situations, economic castes and region-specific cultures,” he said. “Rachel Maddow calls, Fox News calls, Esteban Colberto calls, and even your guy Al Madrigal from The Daily Show calls. Thank God for Caller ID!”
Mas…Official spokesman for U.S. Hispanics quits: ‘It’s a bullshit job!’
Anjelah Johnson: No, sorry, I don’t speak Puerto Rican (4 videos)
Pocha Anjelah Johnson from San Jose (408 shout-out!) may not speak Spanish, but she doesn’t speak Puerto Rican either. [This video was one of our most popular and then got yanked from YouTube. We just found this alternate version online, apparently video’d right off someone’s TV.]
Over at LatinoRebels.com, Bella Vida Letty says Anjelah’s new video has her performing in “brown face.”
Here’s the video she objects to. What do you think?
Mas…Anjelah Johnson: No, sorry, I don’t speak Puerto Rican (4 videos)
Local Chicano decides to start calling himself ‘Hispanic’
(PNS reporting from IRVINE, CA) Roland Vega, 33, formerly known as “Rolando,” has come to an important moment in his life: He’s transitioned from a “Chicano” to a “Hispanic.”
The decision to change the way he self-identifies came as somewhat of a shock to his family and his homeboys, but not necessarily to Vega’s former Hispanic fraternity brothers.
He made the announcement on Facebook Sunday night.
“You know, Roli — er, I mean, Roland — was always the most radical Chicano in the fraternity, but c’mon man, he was studying accounting. I kinda always knew he was going to end up a Hispanic,” said Ed Taboada, Vega’s college roommate.
Mas…Local Chicano decides to start calling himself ‘Hispanic’
NPR: Who are the refugee kids at the border? (audio, video)
Researcher Elizabeth Kennedy interviewed a 12-year-old boy who returned to El Salvador barefoot; he had been robbed of everything he owned.
"I asked him if he was going to try again," says Kennedy, "and he just burst into tears and said, 'What would you do if you were me? I haven't seen my mom or my dad in 10 years ... and no one here loves me.'"
Since October, a staggering 57,000 unaccompanied migrant children have been apprehended at the southwestern U.S. border. Sometimes, they’ve been welcomed into the country by activists; other times they’ve been turned away by protesters.
Mas…NPR: Who are the refugee kids at the border? (audio, video)
As the Illegal Mexicans and Muslims Invade (a poem)
AN ILLEGAL POEM
By Illegal Immigrants
I cross river,
Poor and broke,
Take bus,
See employment folk.
Nice man
Treat me good in there,
Say I need
Go see Welfare.
Stop the gay Muslim Chinese terrorist illegal aliens! (video)
Conservatives explain how gays, Muslims, Mexicans and President Obama are all working together to destroy the moral fabric of America. Video’d at an anti-immigration protest in Houston, pro-immigration supporters also chime in while dancing.
Watch: A song – ‘Besame Mucho’ – grows in Bushwick, Brooklyn
Peep this sweet, short video: Singer Juan Bautista sings Besame Mucho while waiting for the G train and director Randy Gordon-Gatica adds footage of openly-Latino Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York.
Americans demand answers: Is my new neighbor Latino? (video)
What do they look like? How can we tell? Is my new neighbor a Latino? Please tell me #whatlatinoslooklike.
PREVIOUSLY ON WHAT ARE YOU…
Mas…Americans demand answers: Is my new neighbor Latino? (video)
Taco Bell plans poetry-grilled ‘Verso-Quesarito-Burrito’
(PNS reporting from CHICAGO) Cheesy burrito fans and hashtag activists, your prayers have been answered! Taco Bell will debut a new menu item Monday – the Verso-Quesarito-Burrito, a burrito wrapped in a quesadilla with Mexican poetry written on the tortilla.
The VQB is a ground “beef” burrito with rice, chipotle sauce and reduced-fat sour cream in a grilled quesadilla full of melted American cheese.
You can also order the quesadilla-burrito hybrid with shredded chicken or steak. As an added bonus, the Verso-Quesarito-Burrito will feature poems written on the tortilla by Mexican day laborers. They’ll be versifying using only gluten-free ink, of course (photo.)
Mas…Taco Bell plans poetry-grilled ‘Verso-Quesarito-Burrito’
Behind the scenes at the L.A. County Museum of Art (photos)
POCHO amigo Ramiro Gomez, a SoCal guerrilla artist who we first met when he started placing cardboard cut-outs of previously-invisible immigrant workers around Beverly Hills and Hollywood, now has his work in art museums (as well as in the homes of private art collectors.)
Recently, he visited to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) where he saw more immigrant laborers toiling tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the museum clean and tidy.
Gomez snapped some photos of the museum custodians and then painted their images onto postcards from the LACMA gift shop, like this postcard of the Urban Light sculpture/assemblage.
He described the image this way on Facebook:
I am greatly inspired by the way The Impressionists saw a scene, and by the Social Realists who wanted to draw attention to the everyday conditions of the working class. The figures I paint are my impressions of people I’ve seen working. In places like LACMA, the art on the walls is not what captures my full attention, but rather, my eye is also drawn to the people walking around maintaining the space. If there is anything I’ve learned from art history, is that my job as an artist is to capture what life is like in my time period, and scenes like this, I feel, best represent what I see. [Custodians near Urban Light, LACMA 4″ x 6″ acrylic on postcard]
Can you match the laborers on the postcards with the janitors in the photos?
Mas…Behind the scenes at the L.A. County Museum of Art (photos)
That Chipotle thing? America loves beans but hates beaners (video)
You know that thing about Chipotle Mexican Grill and how they couldn’t find any Mexican or Latino writers to decorate their bags?
POCHO amigo Gustavo ¡Ask A Mexican! Arellano explains:
Americans love Mexican foods, he says, but hate Mexicans. In other words, they love the beans but hate the beaners.
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.]
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