JE#10 BarbaAlexandra

10 characters:

1.     David

2.     Diego

3.     Lauren Adrian

4.     Ivon Villa

5.     J.W.

6.     Mama Chona

7.     Felix

8.     Miguel Chico

9.     Rudy Robles

10.   Ismael 

The Chosen 5:

1.     Lauren Adrian

2.     Ivon Villa

3.     Rudy Robles

4.     Mama Chona

5.     Miguel Chico

Setting: An open space between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River

Host of the Talk Show: Speedy Gonzalez

Speedy Gonzalez: Hola ev-ery-bo-dy!! Buenos dias y bienevenidos to this years 1^st Annual Border Summit Talk Show. Nos reunimos ahora to discuss different types of borders and how they impact nuestras vidas. Yo espeako Spanglish pero como today I will only be asking the questions, I want us all to go around and introduce ourselves y decir whether you would prefer todays discussion to be in English or in Spanish. Okay we’ll start a mi derecha. Oh, pero before we begin, les quiero pedir que porfavor se respeten, today’s discusheen  might get a little heated, but let’s try to respect one another, okay?

Rudy Robles: Good morning everyone, my name is Rudy Robles and I would prefer to have this discussion in English, since I can’t really speak any Spanish. You see I’m a third generation Mexican American, so I don’t know my Spanish too well.

Lauren Adrian: Hello everyone, my name is Lauren Adrian and I would also prefer to have this discussion in English. I hardly speak any Spanish either.

Miguel Chico: Buenos dias a todos. My name is Miguel Chico and I don’t want mind having this discussion in either language because I speak both English and Spanish fluently. I have brought my grandmother with me today and I think she would much prefer Spanish.

Mama Chona: (entire speech is heavily accented) Miguelito don’t speak for me. Good morning everyone, my name is Encrnacion Olmeca de Angel, but my family calls me Mama Chona. It is such a shame that you Rudy, and you, Lauren, cannot speak Spanish cuando tienen el nopal en la frente.How could your parents allow such a thing? Es una verguenza. I taught all my children and grandchildren to speak in both fluently, not like those malcreados that can hardly speak either, but any who, I digress. I would prefer to have this discussion in English since for the most part it seems like that’s the popular vote. Despite my accent, I speak and understand both.

Ivon Villa: Hello everyone my name is Ivon Villa and while I speak both English and Spanish I would also prefer English. I’d like to remind everyone (looking at Mama Chona) that Speedy asked us to respect one another. Borders, bot external and internal, are a sensitive topic, but we must have an open mind an open heart. I have ben called a Pocha for the way I speak Spanish and I would not like to be called that in this space, thank you very much. We are all Mexican American, I assume, and the Mexican American experience is very different for everyone, but that does not make any of us better than others.

Mama Chona: Who invited this marimacha? I can say whatever I want to say. Aye Dios mio santo, en lo que me meti, todos de ustedes son una bola de mal educados. à WHAT WORD WOULD MAMA CHONA LIKE TO USE ON PEOPLE?

Miguel Chico: Grandma, please! I am very sorry everyone, my grandmother obviously has a lot of borders of her own, and that is exactly why I brought her here today! To learn about different borders and hopefully leave with a much more open mind.

Speedy G.: Orale! Let’s all be good neighbors. Apenas empesamos y already ther’s tension. You know what? Ivon tiene razon we are all different and I do want this space to be accepting so, just speak however you feel most comfortable, vale? So, before I go on to my next question, are there any borders in particular that you all would like to discuss today?

Lauren: Actually, yes there is. I have come here today, in part, to spread awareness about the murders that are occurring at the El Paso/Juarez border. I wouldn’t be surprised if you have not yet heard of them, there is a lot of silence surrounding those murders. I am an America news reporter and I recently wrote about the murders of Juarez. Have any of you heard of them?

Ivon: Oh my! Yes! I am from El Paso and live so close to that border, yet not even I had learned about the femicides!! My sister was a victim of the same perros, desgraciados that abduct these young mujeres and rape, torture, murder and mutilate them. It is so sad that these young, hardworking women are being killed off on their way to work. It is unjust and .. (gets cut off)

Mama Chona: Hardworking women? Indias pendejas. Serves them right, those women should be home, taking care of their children and husbands. They’re probably callejeras too.

Miguel Chico: Mama Chona! Apologize to Ivon for what you just said! Did you not just hear her? Her younger sister was almost killed by the men behind the murders. No woman deserves to die and they are not callejeras, I read something about them while I was in college and they are honest women just trying to earn a living. Isn’t that what you tried to do when you fled Mexico for America in 1910, tried to make a living for your family? I suppose that makes you a callejera, qualquiera too, now? And STOP calling those women Indias, even if you deny it YOU are India yourself!

Mama Chona: How dare you put my business out in the open like that Miguel? You should be ashamed, disrespecting me in front of all these people when I raised you. Your parents and I gave you everything! If it was not for me you would be speaking English and Spanish like these nobody’s! Y no soy India, I am Spanish!

Miguel Chico: I swear grandma, I love you, but this is exactly why I brought you here today. I am ashamed of being Indian when I should not be, don’t you see that’s how the colonizers continue to control us, continue to make us feel ashamed for not being who they are. We suffer from historical amnesia and a colonized mind and if you don’t realize this we will continue to pass on this unspoken shame to the rest of our family!

*Everyone watches in silence, scared to interrupt because it has turned into family drama*

Speedy Gonzalez: Okay, Okay everybody! Let’s calm down, this is not Luis Sin Censura. We all have family issues of our own, but I think that what’s important to note here and what Miguel Chico brought up is that historical amnesia is a cause of borders because we become ashamed of who we are. This brings me to my next question, do any of you feel like you have a cultural border?