If you took Dave Chappelle, Dr. Ruth, Dr. Phil, Noam Chomsky, William Prescott and mixed them all together you would get Gustavo Arellano. He has been labeled by some Mexicans on one end of the spectrum as a Vendido (sell out) and by others a quintessential intelligent articulate writer and every thing in between.
To the average Joe on the street, he is one cocky and insulting beaner. To his fans he is a hero that tells the unvarnished truth about racial issues and stereotypes about Mexicans and their Latin American kin.
Love him or hate him he has a weekly reach of over two million with his syndicated column, “Ask a Mexican.” This week the Houston Press dropped his column in print which set off Mexicangate. The official reason and story for this action given by the editor Margaret Downing was:
“Ask a Mexican” by Gustavo Arellano is not canceled. The column, which has been running with us for more than three years (since May 4, 2006) is no longer in our print edition but appears online at www.houstonpress.com.
We made this change about two weeks ago. Due to a just-discovered technical error, the column did not initially appear online, but is there now.
Like most newspapers, the Houston Press has been moving more items to online-only publication. Many of our listings are there. To be online is not a relegation to “the back of the bus” since we regularly add new coverage to our online effort with its unlimited space.
In print, space is limited and has become increasingly so. In the last year, we have dropped the comics that we carried for far longer than “Ask a Mexican.” By moving “Ask a Mexican” we freed up half a page that could be used for other writing and we still retained it in our online publication — which we did not do with the comics.
While I certainly understand the disappointment of some of our readers, to say that not carrying the column in print shows a lack of commitment to the Hispanic community is nothing but hyperbole, given that we regularly cover Hispanic artists in all their genres, and we publish extensive stories about Hispanic leaders, immigration concerns and social services issues regularly.
And we remain committed to doing so.
Some local Hispanic activists and writers don’t buy it and they have voiced their opinions and protest to try and get the column back in print. I for one am one of those Mexicans that picks up the HP just to read Mr. Arellano’s column.
In my opinion, coming from print media, I doubt the HP will reconsider although all things are possible. These days one key advertiser has a louder voice than all the two plus million Hispanics that now make up the majority of Houston demographics.
To see and hear the depth and passion behind the caricature and satire, you have to see this video and follow the interview I did prior to this controversy breaking.
Q. What is your current reach with radio and number of papers that carry your column?
A. I have my show on KPFK-FM 90.7 in Los Angeles, online at kpfk.org. Ratings are tiny, so I have no clue. 39 papers run my column, with a collective circulation of over two million, but I wouldn’t venture to say that many people read my column. My guess? My best friend, my brother, and I.
Q. I heard your podcast on how you got started. Is the goal the same or has it changed over the years?
A. The goal of the column? Always has been to debunk stereotypes of Mexicans in an informative, hilarious fashion
Q. How would you segment the groups of readers from your mail responses?
A. The totality of America. Racists, nerds, Latinos, whites, old, young, and from across the country. Obviously, I get more questions from the cities that carry my column, but the readership is beyond diverse. And the big majority of them don’t hate Mexicans.
Q. Have any papers dropped your column due to negative responses?
A. Not a single one. The only papers that stopped carrying my column folded.
Q. How do you feel your brand of journalism is different or the same as Lou Dobbs?
A. It’s different in that I tell truths and Lou Dobbs is a big, fat liar.
Q. Do you make up the questions? If not do you select your editorial calendar or your editor?
A. The only question I made up was the first one: Why do Mexicans call white people gringos? I select the questions I want to answer.
Q. What kind of a response do you get when you travel doing book signings?
A. Overwhelmingly positive. In fact, I’ve only had one disruption at a book signing, and the coward stormed off because I pointed him out.
Q. What is your opinion of Hispanic journalists covering the Hispanic news?
A. They ostensibly have a better grasp due to the shared ethnicity, but that doesn’t mean anything. You still gotta do the job.
Q. What is your opinion of Hispanic media?
A. We sure like our women in bikinis…
Q. Give me your general forecast for 2012 elections and what role do you think Hispanics will have?
A. Too early to tell. Obviously, Latinos will make a bigger percentage than ever before, especially in swing states.
Q. What is the one column that touched a raw nerve or resonated with your audience?
A. When I asked readers whether I should retire the column’s logo. Thousands responded to it, saying they understood my reappropriation approach, and urged me to keep it. I did. And anything talking about anal sex will do the deed.
Q. Who have you modeled your writing style after?
A. The OC Weekly brand of journalism: hard-hitting, hell-raising, and always an entertaining read. Afflict the comfortable, comfort the afflicted.
Q. What quantifiable positive results if any do you know you have achieved?
A. I dipped a column in a pH mixture, and it came out positive.
Q. What are your long term plans?
A. Find the Holy Grail of horchata (a rice beverage)
Source for picture: The Mexican Will See You Now, New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/fashion/24mexican.html?pagewanted=all
