Joe Duarte
Thursday August 21, 2003
In a previous column I wrote about the tribal groupthink of white Americans who oppose immigration. Well, they are not the only Americans that define themselves by their membership in superficial groups.
As an American of Mexican descent, it has been quite a challenge to voice independent, rational, pro-freedom opinions without coming under rabid attack. White racists tell me how people like me have destroyed America and that I should “go back” to Mexico – where I’ve never resided. But they are not the only attackers. Even more ridiculous is when my own people try to take me down.
These people are what I call the Mexican Mafia. They want all Latinos to think in lockstep, lobby for more free social services, and vote Democratic. The obvious consequence of their approach is that Latinos remain utterly dependent on white America for handouts and free rides, instead of building a culture of self-responsibility, honor, and independence.
Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, I wrote columns for the East Valley Tribune. If the Trib had refrained from messing up my columns with bad edits and bizarre fact changes, I’d still be there. But I was there long enough to draw the attention of a couple of self-styled Mexican Mafia enforcers.
They launched a little covert operation. One of them, identifying himself as Carlos Mendez, a Tempe attorney, e-mailed me and asked all sorts of questions as part of a supposed interview for a newsletter of the “Hispanic Business Alliance”. He wanted to know where I was born (Tucson), where my parents were born (Mexico), what Hispanic organizations I belonged to (none), ad nauseum. In his dark little tribal world, these questions were important in establishing how “Hispanic” I was. He was vetting me - under the cover of a newsletter that apparently does not exist (he promised to send me a copy…), from an organization that likely does not exist as well.
Within minutes of my responses back to him, another loser was e-mailing the editors at the Tribune. This guy identified himself as E. Escobedo. In his e-mails to the editors, the erudite Escobedo claimed that my pro-liberty columns were making a “laughing stalk” of the Hispanic community. I still smile whenever I invoke the vision of gleeful stalks of wheat! Further, this intellectual powerhouse gratuitously lied to the editors and claimed that I never earned a high school diploma.
Surprise, surprise - there is an E. Escobedo listed as a Tempe attorney. The timing of their e-mails made it obvious that it was a coordinated little scam. What they hoped to achieve is unclear, and the whole elaborate operation was patently juvenile - its maliciousness trumped only by its sheer stupidity.
Let this story serve as a snapshot of a certain kind of mentality that pervades the political culture of Hispanic Americans. Let’s look at the root ideas and assumptions here.
This all starts with the identification of oneself as Hispanic or “Mexican”. There is no such thing as a Mexican or Hispanic race – Mexicans vary widely, and are a mix of indigenous Indian peoples and white European stock (Spaniard and French for the most part). There are blond, blue-eyed Mexicans and coffee-colored Mexicans of pure Indian blood. This is not a “raza”.
So what do Mexicans have in common? A language and a connection to an arbitrary political construct – the nation of Mexico. Mexico is a rather conventional nation, born of geography and language. Unlike America, it was not born with an idea of the nobility of human happiness-seeking and freedom. It was not founded on ideas period, and has been ruled by numerous dictators in its modern history. This means that there is no real ideological meaning to being Mexican – it just means that you’re from a country called Mexico, which happens to speak Spanish and lies on the southern border of the United States. You might be brown, or you might be white. You might eat white menudo (if from Sonora), or you might prefer red (if from Chihuahua). Or you might hate menudo.
None of these are very important things, certainly not important enough to define oneself by. Yet so many people are running around with a militant, fascist notion of being Mexican, as though this is everything they are, the full extent of their personhood. What’s more, these people are not even in Mexico.
Most of them are Americans, in fact – they just don’t like to say it. A Mexican is properly defined as a person from Mexico. A brown American who works for Intel and likes carnitas is not a Mexican.
The problem with swearing oneself to the cause of being Mexican in every trifling way is that it is not deep, it is not profound, and it does not inspire. Mexico is not eternal. It is less than two centuries old. In a century or two, it may not even exist. It does not represent eternal truth, or eternal ideas of inspiration.
Mexico is staggering in its beauty, and possesses a culture worth celebrating. But it is a mistake for any individual to define oneself solely by affiliation with an ethnic culture or perceived race. Plainly, it is psychologically unhealthy. It is a naked grasp for pseudo self-esteem – a sense of self-worth attained, not from one’s own achievements, but from the exaggerated achievements of one’s “culture” – meaning, the achievements of other people within one’s culture, oftentimes people who are long dead. The alert reader will be aware that my indictment is not exclusive to the Latino militants.
This lockstep cultural Nazism is not just foolish. When it becomes an instrument of political repression, it rises to the level of an enemy to combat. Many, many Americans of Latin flavor are being held down by a political movement that keeps them dependent on government aid and government schools. Their oppressors are not whiteys or Republicans, but La Raza and MECHA – the Mexican Mafia types who keep their people on the plantation with barbaric tribalist politics mixed with toxic socialism.
All Americans should embrace the ethic of individualism. Don’t waste your energy obsessing about your racial makeup or cultural identity. Happiness is found, not in stale allegiance to a bounded culture, but in energetic exploration and enjoyment of as many cultures as abound in this country. On that note, it’s time for me to go. My nana is making menudo again.
Great Column. I love freepers, I'd never have read that, but for a freeper.
Is this the same Joe Duarte who ran as a Libertarian for Congress in the last election?
The name Mexican Mafia is already taken and they are people you don't want to pi$# off.
Its natural for anyone to hedge his bets on nationality. Once many Albanians were Yugoslavians then they became Kosavars now they want to be Albanians circular logic but that is what mass immigration sows.