Dear Mexican,
Why won't Mexicans vote for a black man?Hillary Hater
Dear Readers,
Dozens of ustedes have sent the above question since the Iowa caucuses, forwarded mainstream media reports on this supposed phenomenon, and cringed with me when pundits took as gospel Hillary Clinton pollster Sergio Bendixen's assertion to The New Yorker that "the Hispanic voters—and I want to say this very carefully—have not shown a lot of willingness or affinity to support black candidates." So, to all parties who buy into the hype: callensen el osico. Shut up. Stop with the racial pendejadas, and go tell your pols that sharing tacos with Mexicans for the news cameras is one step removed from blackface.
The negrito-hating Mexican voter meme floating around America these days is the biggest ball of political mierda since Tom Tancredo. It presupposes that Mexicans choose candidates based only on race, whether backing their own or opposing another. The funny part about this claim is reality: Mexicans largely ignored the presidential run of New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and have supported black politicians, from the days of Vicente Guerrero (the mulatto Mexican president who outlawed slavery in 1829) to big-city mayors like Tom Bradley and Harold Washington to even Democratic Party presidential candidate Barack Obama in his various Illinois campaigns and this one. Concluding Mexicans won't elect blacks because they've so far mostly sided with Clinton instead of Obama during the primaries is a continuum fallacy as ridiculous as the sorites paradox. In otras palabras: How many Mexican votes must Obama earn before people will stop insisting Mexicans won't vote for him because of his skin? Five? 1,000? All the banda in Texas? Heaven forbid Mexicans support a nationally known personality with whom they're more familiar instead of a first-term senator from a flyover state. And anyone ever think Mexicans are more inclined to vote for Clinton because they like her centrist policies more than Obama's liberal promises? But try telling either of those points to gabachos, who forsake logical explanations for the easier rationale that Mexicans just don't like negritos.
Are there Mexicans who won't vote for Obama solely because he's black? Absolutely—and they deserve deportation, just as anyone who refused to cast a ballot for Mitt Romney due to his Mormonism and not because the half-Mexican is a flip-flopping Know Nothing merits the damnation of Gehenna. If you need a better litmus test of potential Mexican love for Obama, refry this: If the man openly proclaimed support for amnesty instead of the qualified mumbo-jumbo he currently offers, Clinton would be reduced to eating at famous taquerías for the wab vote—oops, too late!
As for the Mexican's personal vote? I sided with Obama in the California primaries, but mostly because I despise the idea of the Clinton and Bush familias occupying the White House since 1980. But come November, I'll be stumping for the same candidate I've supported these past 52 years: MAD Magazine icon Alfred E. Neuman. What, yo worry?
Reader Comments
It seems racism is even a bigger part of Mexican society than it is American society. Though it's never been openly acknowledged and confronted in Mexico. Thus there is a lot more than just "we like Hilary" to the fact that Obama is getting only 35% of the Hispanic (mostly Mexican) vote in this country. Oh, and of that 35% one can guesstimate that almost all of it comes from those under 35, and thus most of those were born and raised in the U.S.
It'll be very interesting to see how Obama does in Puerto Rico, which of course has a very different culture than Mexico.
But I agree that Mexico hasn't figured out its racism issues, nor their sexism issue for that matter. FYI, among my Mexican friends though, the opinion is pretty much 50/50 on Obama v Clinton, and the only time race (or gender) is brought to the table, it's in terms of who's more likely to win the overall election, not as a deciding factor about who's more qualified.
Of course, since PR isn't a state (mainly bc the people haven't voted to petition for statehood), its citizens can't vote in the general election (though they can of course serve in the armed services, which has always seemed a like a real ripoff to me).
And desiring deportation for anyone who disagrees with you? That's pretty admirable. Very open-minded and democratic.
And your constant denigration of white people as "gabachos". Very hip.