BE#1

When I was growing up, Speedy Gonzales never really fascinated me. I did not even realize that he was supposed to represent my culture or ethnic background. He was just another character on Looney Tunes to me whom I paid no mind too. He was literally irrelevant to me. The only time I can remember referring to this character is when we would call my friend, Cesar, Speedy Gonzales because he ran super fast. Other than this occasion, Speedy Gonzales was not part of my life in any meaningful way. Only recently, did I connect Speedy Gonzales to ethnic stereotyping, specially my culture. This cartoon character was in no way created to symbolize and or commemorate my culture but to humiliate it. This character is based on nasty stereotypes of my culture and background. Such stereotypes include drinking at the “cantina” or sipping on beer for most of the day. Another negative stereotype of Speedy Gonzales is that he is portrayed as a rat. Why would the creators of this character portray my culture as a rat? Do they think of people who speak with a Spanish accent or dress a certain way and wear sombreros as rats, as vermin? If this cartoon character is to make a comeback it would only turn progress backwards by displaying hate towards an ethnic group, which I belong too.

CIR Mousetrap

Thinking back to the first times I've witnessed Speedy Gonzales on the television screen, kinda gave me this internalized hate for being a belittled character and an ESL student. I think Speedy needs a vacation from that airtime and rather we should have his feminist counterpart "Consciencia Gonzales" take the stage and file lawsuits against all the ethnic stereotypes we've seen with Warner Bro's studios, Disney, and other companies. Although, I will admit I did think this episode was pretty cute in the battle against Sylvester. I can definitely see how this sort of displays the ongoing battle that never seems to end at the frontera.

Actually being a summer intern for the Arizona chapter of QUIP (Queer Undocumented Immigrant Project), we had a presentation of the sort of impact that recent legislation is having on the community and just surfaced the sort of benefits and fall-backs of the bill. At the end of it all, there's always room for improvement.

Is It Time To Bring Back Speedy?

Welcome to Speedy's Blog. Que suave. I get to write a blog with UCLA students and they get to write me back. Andale, andale! Here's our chance to talk about all that's going on with border politics this summer of 2013, starting with that Immigration Reform Act and a new show called "The Bridge," set in La Profe's hometown, El Chuco, Texas. So La Profe wants all of you (and especially the grad students) to put your thoughts here in this blog over the summer, so I thought you might like to see one of the earliest cartoons made about me, "Speedy Gonzalez: The Fastest Mouse in All Mexico." Maybe it's time to bring me back, what you all think?

Important: Each time you post, you need to click on Labels and write in your name like this:
LastnameFirstname (no spaces). That way La Profe can keep count of each of your posts. Arriba, arriba!