Quarterbacking While Mexican

This is part of the ARticle please read very Intresting!

With one tricolored mouthpiece, USC’s Mark Sanchez has done more to advance the image of Mexicans in Southern California than a thousand marches could ever hope to achieve.

Last Saturday, the sophomore backup quarterback led the Trojans to a 38-0 mauling of Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish. Reporters asked Sanchez afterward why he protected his teeth with a plastic mold decorated like the Mexican flag—green, white and red, with a miniature eagle clutching a snake while perching on a cactus—right in front of his incisors. The 22-year-old didn’t flinch. “It’s my heritage,” he stated.

Describing the mouth guard as “sweet” and “cool,” Sanchez went on to explain that using it was a “a portrayal of my love for my race” and hoped that his fashion flair “inspires” young Latinos who follow USC to do what he does: quarterback while Mexican. When a reporter told him some Trojans fans already were race-baiting his dental decision on radio and on Internet chat boards, Sanchez remained unfazed. “I didn’t know it was that big of a deal,” he told a reporter. “Was it bad?”

The mouthpiece and subsequent interview might not be as iconic a civil rights moment in sports as the raised fists of Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos, or Jackie Robinson’s first Major League swing, but Sanchez’s actions are nevertheless profound. In this era when many Americans fret that Mexican immigrants and their children are destroying this nation, it’s stunning that a prominent athlete such as Sanchez professes pride in his spicy roots—and also does it so nonchalantly.

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Sanchez—who is technically a third-generation Mexican American from ritzy Mission Viejo in Orange County—notably didn’t identify himself as a Mexican American, Chicano or even American. Nope, just as Mexican. The first two qualify his identity, while Sanchez (like so many of his peers, myself included) doesn’t feel it necessary to proclaim he’s an American. That’s kind of a given when you speak fluent English and were born and raised in this country. Giving such a shout-out to your pedigree is akin to Boston Red Sox fans donning Irish green ball caps, or New Jersey wiseguys crooning “Volare” along with Dino—an expression of ethnic solidarity, not sedition.




As a Mexican American my self its great that somebody has the courage to speak of his own ethnicity. He has to be in one of the hardest places to speak about it due to the fame that USC has with football. Many people will read and many people will judge unfairly for his actions and his remarks of being "Mexican" I my self a follower of sports am proud that somebody is embracing there culture and talking about it publicly. This is what i have been talking about, like they said this in my opinion does more than several marches. We as Mexicans in this country need to get educated and start making a name for our self's and our culture. WE must build of cultural capital and make everyone realize that we have much more to offer to America than just labor. We are an up and coming people with many talents and hopes. It all starts with one person, and in this case Mark has left a mark of college sports one that i hope many will follow I do however understand that everyone's situation is different that it might not be as easy for the next person to be in that situati9on where he or she can be proud of their culture. Through time my hopes is that no media or people will stop anyone from expressing their culture while still being a part of the United States. We are one nation many people.

Tucker Carlson falsely suggested Puerto Ricans living in Texas are immigrants to U.S.

Media Matters, in America

Summary: It was MSNB’C Tucker, Host of the Tucker Carlson said to the guest of the day Jesse Diaz, the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, “you may be counting Hispanic immigrants from Puerto Rico," after Diaz said that "only 55 percent of illegal’s are of Mexican descent." How can this be though, how can somebody so influential in the4 media get that wrong. If he would know better he should have known that all Puerto Ricans are Citizens of the United States. The Jones-Shafroth Act of 1917 granted U.S. citizenship to all residents of Puerto Rico. This shows that there is still a huge disconnect between Puerto Rico and the American Citizens. I wanted to pose this question to several of my friends in class on what they knew about Puerto Rico and Most importantly asked them if they where automatically citizens if they where a territory of the United States. Sad to say none of the ten people that I asked knew very much about the Puerto Rican Culture, food music anything like that and out of the ten only one said that they were automatic citizens of the U.S. As we read the book by Jose Sanchez we talk about Puerto Ricans not having much Cultural Power in the United States. Often when Latinos are mentioned in the Media most people predominately think of Mexican decent just due to the sheer size of the population. Puerto Ricans have always been in the back drop in music, theater, and the media. As Jose stated in this book, “Puerto Ricans experienced an exclusion and rejection in the film industry. Hollywood showed no interest in putting them on the silver screen” We can see the effects of this today, still today there are not many Puerto Ricans that are being represented. That is why we As Americans are oblivious to the Puerto Rican Situations and it clearly shows when a MSNB’C host Tucker somebody who is respected on MSNBC cant get his info right than what does that show.

Culture Clash Theater Group

As I was researching Mexican-American theater I ran into something very interesting. Often you really don’t hear much about Mexican American Theater or any kind of plays that depict Mexican Americans so to me it was odd to find a theater group that used a lot issues that revolved around our community and used theater as a way to bring them to the forefront of American Discussion. Founded on May 5th, 1984 (Cinco de Mayo) in San Francisco's Mission District, Culture Clash is Richard Montoya, Ric Salinas and Herbert Siguenza. They have become the most prominent Chicano/Latino performance troupe in the country. Their work gives immediate dramatic voice and expression to people in a certain time and place. What I gather from this group is that they not only Tackle the clashes that we face as Mexican Americans but they also incorporate other Races as well into their skits, so it dives into problems that we all face here in the United States and often but a comedic feel to it. Culture Clash made television history with the first-ever Chicano sketch TV show: Culture Clash, which aired on several Fox syndication markets. In 2002, Culture Clash produced interactive video installations for Cheech Marin's Chicano Now--American Expressions national touring art show. "Culture Clash is the recipient of numerous awards, commissions and grants, including a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Latino Spirit Award, the Los Angeles Hispanic Media Award, the Nosotros Golden Eagle Award for Outstanding Theater Group, The Liberty Hill Foundation award and dozens of city and state proclamations commendations." It is great to see that their are people out there willing to tackle issues that most of us only talk about but never take action on. It’s great as A Mexican American to be able to associate with a group like Culture Clash.

VIVA OBAMA

There has been a lot of Media Attention Recently on the Latino Vote Supporting Hilary now a day. It seems like every news outlet has every Latino Voting for Hilary Clinton. Well I saw this Clip on CNN news and i that it was a great video, it is of a Mariachi singing a song for the support of OBAMA so there are many Latinos out there in support of Senator Obamas bid for President. This in my opinion is great Marketing for Obama, and a great way to Rally Latino Votes. What else can be more influential than Music especially Mariachi Music to Pump of the Mexican audience. I also found this media clip from a Texas News paper that also had Mexican Americans supporting Obama. This is what it said "At the Presidential level, the Mexican American Democrats hereby announce their overwhelming support for Senator Obama. Senator Obama stated “My commitment to a humane and sensible immigration system is unparalleled…we want to bring the undocumented out of hiding and put them on a path of earned citizenship.” This position and his commitment to issues that matter to the Hispanic community won Senator Obama the endorsement of the Mexican American Democrats in Texas." So though the Mass media may have All Latinos overwhelmingly supporting Hilary there are many out there that support Obama and its not quite one sided as you are lead to believe.

Mexican Directors/filmmakers

Mexican Americans are starting to be a presence in the American Culture. WE often hear a lot of our food our music and our art. Yet we really never hear much about Mexican Americans in the Film Industry when it comes to big time Celebrities or Film Directors. W are often never main characters On TV or in Hollywood Films. From my perspective as a Mexican-American I can honestly say I grew up not noting any body on TV who was Even Latino Let alone Mexican. I have compiled a list of Mexican-American Film makers. See if you can see any body that is familiar to you.

Sergio D. Acosta
Edward Carrere - movie art director
Moctezuma Esparza
Hampton Fancher
Bill Melendez - animation film director and producer[43]
Gregory Nava
Edward James Olmos
Robert Rodríguez[44]
Craig Saavedra
Luis Valdez

Someone that you might be more Familiar with is Edward James Olmos. Edward James Olmos (born February 24, 1947) is an Emmy-winning and Oscar-nominated American actor and director. Some of his most memorable roles were Gaff in Blade Runner, Lt. Martin Castillo in Miami Vice, Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver and Admiral William Adama in the Battlestar Galactica re-imagined series. If there is anybody who i admire more it would be James. He has really paved the road for many young Mexican actors and Film directors in the United States. We are the largest minority In the United States, it is about time we start seeing a presence in the main stream media. With the barriers that we face, including Racism, Classism, Latinos are a talented group of individuals with bright minds. America will soon realize that Mexican-Americans can contribute a lot to our American Culture and change up and stir what we now know was Hollywood or even smaller TV arenas. There is nothing more powerful than to have positive roll models on TV and even more powerful when they resemble you.

Mexican and African American Conflict In California

Recently there has been a lot of attention on the Conflict between Mexicans and African Americans. This to me came to me as a surprise because I honestly didn’t know how many murders and crimes have been committed due to this conflict between the two sides. I searched every major news agency and found several stories that related to this topic. This is not only happening in LA but other areas of California and other parts of the Country. Where you are seeing an emerging Latino Population in areas where it has been traditionally African American. What is every ones view on this topic.

Latino Comedy Project!!

So the Video (300 Mexicans) that I posted not to long ago was actually done by the Latino Comedy Project. The LCD is raved to be one of the funniest sketch comedy troupe. They have worked with Carlos Mencia, Fred Willard, Gabriel Iglesias, Pablo Francisco and Rob Corddry of "The Daily Show," among others. They also produce clothing, an example that i saw was a maternity shirt that said Anchor baby and under that a large number. This was placed right at the belly. So i was wondering that LCD is projecting our culture to millions of people from a comedic standpoint. Do you think this hurts or helps the community? I am not going to lie, i myself found 300 to be somewhat rude and tasteless but I have seen other videos and comedians do it in a way where its not offensive so I am undecided on the matter. What are your thoughts of this? Feel free to take a look at their website. http://youtube.com/user/LatinoComedyProject