Hispanic Heritage Month is nearly upon us, so what better time than to examine a very-OC* phenomenon: the Mexican who isn't Mexican! The person with un nopal en la frente who nevertheless trashes wabs, the brown version of Uncle Ruckus on the brilliant The Boondocks. La naranja has spawned some of the worst enemies of Mexicans over the decades–and, unsurprisingly, most of them were Mexican!
After the jump: the list, in no particular order save the first slot!
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1. Lupe Moreno: The queen of self-loathing Mexicans, and someone Chicano activists despise to the point that mean-spirited parodies about her continue to float around the Internet. Moreno, of course, is the token Mexican for the California Coalition for Immigration Reform who has made it her life's mission to stop illegal Mexicans because she was once married to one and because she claims her dad was once the biggest human smuggler in the United States. Famously said white people are the Jews in the Reconquista, and her race are the Nazis.
*Jeff Schwilk: Head of the San Diego Minutemen, by far the nastiest faction of the movement. His bio claims he's of “Spanish” descent, which is the same thing dark-skinned mestizos have claimed for centuries despite all evidence to the contrary. To further bolster his Mexican credibility so he can trash them (and Asian women, for that matter), Schwilk's bio also notes he “worked 3 1/2 years in a car wash with hard working Mexicans in the early 80's,” “his best friend in school was half-Mexican,” and that Schwilk “speaks some
Spanish and Korean.”
*Tom Fuentes: The longtime chair of the Orange County Republican Party is another one brown-skinned cabrón who claim not a single drop of Mexican blood courses through his veins–it's all Spanish conquistador, ¡papi chulo! Under Fuentes' reign, the GOP set up poll guards near heavily Latino precincts, fully backed Proposition 187, and backed Bob Dornan's ridiculous claims of Mexican voter fraud against Loretta Sanchez. Which brings us to…
*Loretta Sanchez: The daughter of Mexican immigrants who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into lending her name to a bill that would help the undocumented children of immigrants. Sanchez has mentioned how light her skin color is more times than the combined remarks of every Latino politician I've ever reported on, heard about, or read up on. What's with the obsession, Loretta? And Loretta apologists: can you find me another Latino politician so obsessed over their skin tone? If you can, I promise to stop making fun of Loretta on this point FOREVER.
*Myself: Because most of the haters will post my name in the comments below, so why not beat them to it? And for the record: I'm lighter than Loretta Sanchez, and still am pinche prieto.
*Honorable mention: The entirety of the SanTana City Council save for Vince Sarmiento, who is Bolivian. They have shown the country that Mexicans can gentrify Mexicans just as good as whitey. Hooray for assimilation!
Anyone I miss?
*Also known to occur in East Los Angeles, San Antonio, and parts of Arizona…
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