Reading: Ahem, about that sombrero …
It ’ sulfur not so a lot that dressing up like a Mexican from 1915 is offensive, although people are offended when they are openly mocked. To be clear, speaking with an exaggerated stress, joshing about citizenship and tossing out punchlines involving the words siesta, beans, arriba, no bueno, ole and ay-ay-ay are — in most cases in which a Mexican costume party is concerned — parody. And punch-drunk stuff happens when people are in costume. hush, we ’ re used to it. People have been putting on sombreros and quoting Speedy Gonzales to us since Richie Valens changed his list. We are used to non-Latinos picking out a few cultural markers and using them as props and party favors during Fiesta, and on Cinco de Mayo and Diez y Seis — although in San Antonio, a fete can happen on any sidereal day. ad Most of us don ’ t give this more than a smirk or an eye-roll, as this doesn ’ t directly take food off our table. In fact, for those of us who know how to properly make enchilada or form a piñata the direction God intended, it actually puts food on our board.
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But unless you ’ re a mariachi or are planning to spend a long day out in the sun, the sombrero is impractical. That ’ south why we don ’ t wear them. The aglitter velvet numbers you see on mariachis and charros are ceremony. Mariachis play at weddings, quinceañeras, anniversaries, special dinners and glad events during which we like to hear songs that remind us of our past. But we don ’ t all dress like this, and even the charros and mariachi who do only dress up when there ’ s a performance involved. And that big straw sombrero ? That is a atavistic to an agrarian life that went away a long time ago. nowadays, we wear cowboy hats, Spurs caps and Selena newsboy hats — the like stuff you wear. even my grandfather was a Resistol guy. Those of us who do work out in the sun all day have figured out a better way to stay cool than those hats worn by El Guapo from “ The Three Amigos. ” so when we see you wearing a big sombrero at the party — or a bright serape or a talk through one’s hat Emiliano Zapata mustache — we know where you ’ rhenium coming from. You ’ re wearing a silly, outdated caricature of us. That you think it ’ second OK to do this shows us that you aren ’ metric ton worried about what we think about that caricature. It shows us you don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate know us at all. My mexican ma taught me that everyone deserves respect. Those whom we don ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate know, particularly, deserve respect because how we treat them defines not only who we are but besides how we will be perceived.
Think about this before you put on my great-great-grandpa ’ second hat so you can get your party on. none of us are wearing it ; a few of us will take discourtesy, but most of us will good roll our eyes. But everyone will see you coming. Mariaanglinwrites @ gmail.com