Guest Voz - "Ask a Mexican" Answers the question "Why Do They HATE Mexicans So Much In Arizona?"

Guest Voz: Gustavo Arellano of "Ask a Mexican"
DEAR MEXICAN: I have a sister. I read your column each time it comes out in the Tucson Weekly. Once, we were talking about all the hatred against Mexicans in our state, and my sister said, “Sis, why do they hate Mexicans so much in Arizona?” I asked if she wanted me to ¡Ask a Mexican! and she said, “You think he would reply?” I said, “Let’s find out.” Would you please see if you can reply? Since we know you like us to use a funny name, my sister said to sign this . . .
Encabronada en Tucson

DEAR PISSED-OFF IN TUCSON: Wow, you and your hermana must be mega-nerds to have a conversation about whether I’d answer your question! Where were ustedes in college when I needed some company? Anyhoo, as faithful readers, you know my contention is that Mexican-hating has long been a characteristic of the American Southwest due to its proximity to Mexico and forgotten pasts we are condemned to repeat. Everyone now knows about your home state’s war against Mexicans, especially given that Governor Bruja—I mean, Jan Brewer—signed another Know Nothing bill in addition to the racial-profiling-loving Senate Bill 1070: House Bill 2281, which bans ethnic-studies classes in Arizona’s public schools. The law’s proponents claim such a discipline teaches racial division, but what they don’t like is that what’s taught is the unvarnished, ugly truth of its home state.

To give you just one egregious example: Did you know that in 1904, a group of Mexicans in the Arizona mining towns of Clifton and Morenci tried to adopt 40 Irish orphans, only to see their new wards kidnapped by gabachos furious that Mexicans dared try to raise white children? And that the gabachos weren’t prosecuted for their actions? True story, one Know Nothing Copper Staters desperately try to keep out of classrooms lest children connect the dots between past injustices and present-day stupidities—better to keep the masses dumb than honest, you know? If the American psyche has always possessed a synapse of xenophobia, then the Arizonan mind’s chunk of hate is a pinche cerebral cortex. Sorry that you and other good people must live among such a bola de pendejos.