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.

"Ask A Mexican" Issues a Challenge to ALL ANTIs!

Our Friend and my idol, Gustavo Arellano, the author of "Ask a Mexican", is issuing the ANTIs a challenge.
"Who amongst you can truly say they hate the illegal Mexican but not the legal one? Who amongst you doesn’t care about culture but everything about the law?"
He will award a prize/recognition to the Top 3 responders. I invite ALL of my Readers to provide their responses here and to send Gustavo your answers. Here is his email address and his column. themexican@askamexican.net
From Ask a Mexican website:
Dear Mexican: I am a naturalized (legal) hispano in the U.S. and I just realized what the “illegal” craze is about. What immigrant-bashing citizens are trying to protect here are people like…me. Consider what this concerned a woman said to John McCain during a public meeting in New Hampshire last year. “I just think it’s not fair to all the people who came here legally and went through the process and now all the illegals, you’re just gonna give ‘em citizenship?” she said. “That’s not fair.” I have to say, I was moved. I came here legally, I went through the process and, you know what, I never cared whether the neighbor I buy my tamales from has his papers in order or not. Now I see why this woman wants to deport millions of people just like me. Because not doing so would be “unfair” for me. See, Mexican (I would say, Chicano), this concerns you, too. Anti-immigrant campaigns are made so people like you—rigorously legal immigrants—are treated fairly. Any words of gratitude? Carajo
Dear Coño: You honestly think “anti-immigrant campaigns” (your words, not mine) arise to protect legal immigrants? And they say it’s Mexicans who never bother to learn American civics and history! Where did you naturalize—outside a 7-Eleven? How do you account for Chinese getting lynched out of California’s Gold Rush during the 1850s, Japanese internment during World War II, the constant railings by Know Nothings about foreign cultures invading our shores without care for legal status, the centuries-long obsession with who’s white and who’s not right? The Mexican can’t help but to grin extra-grande when he hears people profess to love legal immigrants and hate the illegal ones. History just doesn’t prove it. If this were truly the case, anti-immigrant loons wouldn’t get their chonis in a bunch about language, ethnic makeup, and culture like they always do. They wouldn’t care about the rise of Univisión, chickens in the backyard, billions of dollars in remittances to the motherland—and yet they do. So, a challenge: who amongst you can truly say they hate the illegal Mexican but not the legal one? Who amongst you doesn’t care about culture but everything about the law? The best three responders (keep answers under 100 words) get a Border Patrol hat or a copy of my ¡Ask a Mexican! book—their choice!