South Texas Newspaper Creating Controversy by Judging “What is Appropriate for Hispanics”
Recently an article appeared in The Monitor, a newspaper in McAllen TX, by the columnist, Andy Comer, entitled Hispanic Wal-Mart is Muy Racist The writer of the article who admits he has no familiarity with the local culture takes it upon himself to be a judge for whether an Hispanic themed Wal-mart would be appropriate for local Hispanics. The article has ignited controversy in the South Texas border region called the Rio Grande Valley where the population is 90% Hispanic. For some residents it evoked strong emotions and memories of times past when paternalismo de los anglos was the rule of the day. The following is my own opinion.
Imagine growing up in a place where your ethnic group, the majority, made up more than 80% of the population but had no elected leaders. The wealth was held by about 10% of the population who were in an different ethnic group. For the majority group if you spoke the language you learned from your mother in school you could spanked by the principal or even expelled. Over half of the majority ethnic group never graduates from high school while most of the minority group goes to college.
The majority group volunteered to fight in war to prove it’s patriotism but still got hassled by border security forces when they drove out of the area where they were a majority. You were always referred to by your ethnic label not your national label. Your ethnic label was not a term that could be considered synonymous with your nationality.
You had to fight for the right to be called a citizen, to be buried with honor as a fallen soldier serving your country, to vote, to go to college, to get a better job, and just to be accepted as everyone else.
No, I am not talking about South Africa instead I am talking about what it was like for many of us and our parents who grew up in the Rio Grande Valley years ago. Today many take it for granted that being a Hispanic and being an American are equal and not mutually exclusive terms but it was not always so. No group of Americans is prouder than the Hispanics of the Rio Grande Valley to be Americans but we all know that it came at a price when we were forced to blend in as much as possible and not be different.
Now we celebrate our American and our Hispanic status together. We can listen to English or Spanish media and freely speak both or either language we want. We can shop in an Anglo grocery store or in the bodega en el barrio. We do not let anyone define for us what is Hispanic or what is American. It is especially not up to you, Andy Comer, columnist of The Monitor newspaper which by the way has been cited by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists for not participating in programs to give Hispanics opportunities in journalism like other newspapers such as the Corpus Christi Caller- Times, to determine for Hispanics what they will and won’t accept and what they think is racist or not.For us racism is not a joke or something to be make light of in a cute newspaper column. With all due respect it is not something you are in a position to ever understand. By your own admission you have not tried to learn any Spanish and it seems have not tried to learn the culture of the people your newspaper serves. You are missing out on how special we hold our unique Rio Grande Valley.
Tony Magaña grew up in McAllen Texas, attended Texas A&M University, served as an officer in Army Reserve, and holds a doctorate from Harvard University. The co-founder of Contempo Magazine has participated in Valley business for over 20 years.He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
