Those of you who watched the Oscars last Sunday probably saw Alejandro González Iñárritu give his very short speech. In case you didn't, or in case you forgot, González Iñárritu won the award for best director and his film for best film and I don't remember what the third award was for. He said, "I want to dedicate this award to my fellow Mexicans, to those who live in Mexico, and I pray that we can find and build the government that we deserve."
He also said, "I just pray that they [immigrants in the US] might be treated with the same dignity and respect as those who arrived before and built this incredible nation of immigrants."
Quite a lot of people in Gringolandia as in Mexico noticed and commented. My favorite column is by Jorge Ramos writing in Reforma. Anderson Cooper is the US version of Jorge Ramos, but Jorge Ramos has Andersoon Cooper beat by a mile (or maybe 1.61 kilometers), although maybe because he has such varied places to express himself and those places don't mind references to writers like Octavio Paz..
Among other things, Ramos said,
"It isn't easy being Mexican these days. If you live in Mexico, you are live in one of the most violent countries on the continent and, possibly, one of the most corrupt."
To me it appears as if the President and some of his cronies don't even realize they are corrupt: it is a fairly small club they belong to, and they only talk to each other, or so it seems. Maybe they say, "Well, everybody does it." And perhaps everyone they know does.
Ramos goes on to talk about undocumented workers (or what a lot of people in Gringolandia like to call 'illegals' or worse:
"And if you live in the United States without a work permit, visa or residence permit, it is very possible that at some point you might have been discriminated against and even persecuted.¨
Because we live in a largely working class colonia we know some people who have gone to Gringolandia and returned. Not too many, maybe one I can think of, really wants US citizenship or wants to return because he prefers life there. Legal immigrants have to return to keep their legal status in case they ever want to go again to work.
Ramos continues, "There is little to celebrate. But when there is, no one stops us. So the cyber fiesta for winning four Oscars—film director Alejandro González Iñárritu (3) and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki—is attention-grabbing. These Oscars follow the two won last year by Emmanuel Lubezki [his first] and director Alfonso Cuarón.
"We Mexicans are good at partying. Our fiestas are inversely proportional to our squabbles. The more problems there are, the more we enjoy partying. In Labyrinth of Solitude, Octavio Paz wrote:
"The second part of Iñárritu's remarks, about Mexican immigrants living in the United States, was equally strong:
Ramos continues, "There is little to celebrate. But when there is, no one stops us. So the cyber fiesta for winning four Oscars—film director Alejandro González Iñárritu (3) and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki—is attention-grabbing. These Oscars follow the two won last year by Emmanuel Lubezki [his first] and director Alfonso Cuarón.
"We Mexicans are good at partying. Our fiestas are inversely proportional to our squabbles. The more problems there are, the more we enjoy partying. In Labyrinth of Solitude, Octavio Paz wrote:
'It is significant that a country as sad as ours has so many and such lively fiestas. For us, the fiesta is an explosion, an outburst ... There is nothing more lively than a Mexican fiesta.'"But, also, our fiestas are a form of protest. We take advantage of them to complain and let off steam. Once again Paz:
"In the swirl of the fiesta, we explode. More than opening up, we tear ourselves open."
"Iñárritu's speech in accepting one of the Oscars channeled the anger and frustration felt by many Mexicans on both sides of the border:
"Having come to office via an election questioned for tricks and serious allegations of conflict of interest, Peña Nieto is not an Oscar-winning President. If we have two Oscar-winning filmmakers, why haven't we been able to find a good director of the country?
"The second part of Iñárritu's remarks, about Mexican immigrants living in the United States, was equally strong:
'I just pray that they might be treated with the same dignity and respect," said Birdman's director, "as those who arrived before and built this incredible nation of immigrants.'
"More than half the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States are Mexican. They live persecuted and in the shadows. And the current Congress and Republican governors, mostly, are trying to block President Barack Obama's executive action that would try to help millions of these Mexicans. It is difficult and frustrating being Mexican and undocumented in the United States.
How could Sean Penn have joked,'Who gave a green card to this bastard?' Fortunately, the audience didn't laugh."Ït went over so badly because It reflects many Americans' xenophobia and rejection of Mexican immigrants."
How could Sean Penn have joked,'Who gave a green card to this bastard?' Fortunately, the audience didn't laugh."Ït went over so badly because It reflects many Americans' xenophobia and rejection of Mexican immigrants."
Or maybe worse, total lack of interest in Mexico and Mexicans. A relative, a well-educated successful man said he doubted many people in Boston where he lives ever thought about Mexicans. This didn't seem to be an issue of concern with him.
Ramos went on, "In a television interview after the award, Iñárritu was asked about how weird it was that two Mexicans, consecutively, have won an Oscar for best director. 'That's suspicious,' he responded with humor. But, actually, these Oscars destroy many of the stereotypes about Mexicans.
"It isn't easy being Mexican, either inside or outside of Mexico. But when things are tough, the wins are richer, they have more impact, and the fiestas are a blow-out. For there, among the tequilas and the Tweets, I again heard the phrase: Success is the best revenge."
"It isn't easy being Mexican, either inside or outside of Mexico. But when things are tough, the wins are richer, they have more impact, and the fiestas are a blow-out. For there, among the tequilas and the Tweets, I again heard the phrase: Success is the best revenge."