JE#1A

After reading the articles about Speedy Gonzales and viewing the cartoon posted, I am frustrated and annoyed by the people who would like to see these animated clips return to regular rotation on the Cartoon Network.  As a child growing up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, I loved Speedy.  I even altered the spelling of my surname (Gonzalez) to Speedy's spelling.  There were so few representations of Chicanas/os and Latinas/os at that time (not much has changed sadly).  Now, Speedy and his cohort of Mexican mice represent the most degrading stereotypes of Mexicans.  These cartoons remind me of the cartoons that portrayed Blacks as ignorant savages or minstrels.  Although Speedy may have always had the last laugh, he is the exceptional Mexican.  Slowpoke Rodriguez and the other alcohol-imbibing, marijuana-smoking, cheese-stealing mice are more representative of the "average" Mexican in the Anglo American consciousness.  Cartoons such as Speedy Gonzales and other racist cartoons should be reserved for the classroom as teaching instruments.  They must be contextualized with proper instruction.  For example, many of the episodes of Speedy Gonzales aired during the Bracero program.  While cartoons characterized Mexican men as lazy and shiftless, actual Mexican men were growing and harvesting the food that fed America.  As adorable as Speedy is, the character is a relic from an era when signs with the wording, "No Dogs or Mexicans Allowed" were common throughout the Southwest.  Images are powerful.  How would these cartoons play today juxtaposed the images of the thirty-three Dreamers detained at the Texas-Mexico border?  It is time for better representation of our community.  Speedy Gonzales, I'm afraid, is the Chicana/o Aunt Jemima. It is time to euthanize Speedy.  Set out the rat traps.  And the Taco Bell Chihuahua.  Call the dog catcher.