Quote:
|
Originally Posted by azimuth
FYI when I lived in Mexico, the term 'gringo' in reference to Americans was as derrogatory as the 'N' word. It is a racist term. We just don't recognize it.
|
It is especially offensive when accompanied by "pinche" as in "pinche gringo" meaning "bastard white American" or "mother f****r white American."
The man referenced in the article knew he was being offensive, hence he changed from "gringo" to "Americano." His original intent, however, was clear.
Apropos to this subject, yesterday morning I had breakfast at iHop (yes I need to occassionally satisfy the craving for high calories breakfast). She was born in Mexico but is her legally. She is very bright (and very pretty) which makes it a pleasure to talk to her.
On the subject of the marches she had two observations:
1. The Mexican government should stop being so corrupt. INstead of Fox trying to tell the US what to do, he should fix things in Mexico so people like her wouldn't have to come here, leaving her family behind, to earn a decent living.
2. The demonstrations were stupid, they only managed to economically hurt poor immigrants. The marches and marches also only managed to hurt the image of immigrants, giving fuel to people who are already naturally anti-Hispanic.
I think she is right on both counts. She is not the only immigrant who feels the same way about Mexico, its government and the marches.