los venditos
... Senator George Murphy referred to this type of Mexican as “built to the ground,” meaning that he has the perfect stature for picking cotton, melons, or any other type of fruit. The farm worker is portrayed, with his “sombrero,” or big brimmed hat and his “huaraches,” or sandals. He is considered the “Volkswagen of Mexicans,” dependable, economical, and hardwearing. He can work long hours under the sun for “pennies a day” and poor living conditions. “A plate of beans and tortillas will keep him going all day.” All the farm worker needs is a variety of chiles and a shack to live in, which Governor Reagan, “with our model in mind,” is so generous in providing for a home. Although an apartment or a house would be a more comfortable place to live in, especially after all those long working hours. But Governor Reagan probably thinks that the farm worker does not need a comfortable, more expensive house, since he is only a Mexican who, most likely, lives under the same conditions in Mexico. Besides the farm worker is not allowed in the U.S. permanently, so a shack is all he needs, but of course he will have to share it with “six, seven, even ten” other farmers. The Governor is probably afraid to treat the farm workers nice and give them a decent house or apartment, because maybe they will like the U.S. too much. So much that eventually they might not want to return to Mexico, and this is not what Governor Reagan wants. Miss Jimenez is very impressed with all of the farm worker’s qualities, especially the fact that he can be exploited without complaints. He is probably an illegal immigrant who does not dare to go on strike for fear of being deported. Although now, the new farm worker models “have the new feature of going on STRIKE.” They also have the feature of having their skin made out of a grease-like texture “which allows them to slip and slide right through the crop with no trouble at all,” but unfortunately Miss Jimenez dislikes this characteristic, because it makes the farm workers look dirty and oily. She also dislikes the fact that the farmworker model lacks the ability to speak English. This model does not fit the description of what she is looking for. Honest Sancho shows Miss Jimenez the second Mexican model. He is Johnny “the pachuco,” or second generation Mexican. He is portrayed as a gang member. Johnny does “anything and everything for city life.” He is stereotyped as the typical Mexican-American who is born from parents who are either farmers or low- income citizens. He lives in the city, but in a poor “barrio,” or neighborhood like South-East Los Angeles. He is as a drop out from high school who follows the influence of his, role model, friends and neighbors, who are probably gang members, thieves or drug dealers. He is trapped in his life with no encouragement to go to school, get ahead, and look towards a better life. He eventually becomes a gang member himself and starts to sell and smoke “marijuana.” “He’s a great scapegoat.” He knows where to hide and is loyal to his gang member friends. Sancho names some of Johnny’s qualities, “He’s bilingual; he knife fights; he steals,” and “he gets arrested, but not without resisting of course.” The police love this particular model. “The LAPD just bought twenty of these to train their rookie cops on,” since they are so soft and wonderful to beat up. If they accidentally kill one of these Mexicans, nobody will make a commotion. It will be one less Mexican to worry about. Miss Jimenez has fun beating Johnny up, but he is not the type she is looking for. “No, no, no!” She argues, “We cannot have any more thieves in the State Administration.” With this argument, Miss Jimenez accepts the fact that Mexicans are not portrayed as thieves only. Thieves exists everywhere even in the American Society, like the State Administration. The irony is that the American thieves in the government, unlike the Mexican, gang members, thieves of East L.A., have the means to rob quietly. The politicians’ spotless, and educated, American image lets them get away with their crime. The third Mexican model Miss Jimenez is shown is the “standard Revolucionario and/or Early California Bandit type.” “He is well built, sturdy, durable. This is the International Harvester of Mexicans.” He’s portrayed as the legendary “bandito” Pancho Villa who fights for the Mexican Revolution and the rights of the Mexican people. He is portrayed as the fearless, invincible hero with his macho, savage style, and his loud resounding “Viva Villaaaaa!” “He runs on raw horsemeat and tequila.” He fights battles, gets drunk, and spends a lot of his time in brothels, surrounded by women. He “rides horses, stays in the mountains, crosses deserts, plains, rivers, leads revolutions, follows revolutions, kills, can be killed, he serves as a martyr, hero, movie star.” His image is international, even in Hollywood were movies like, “Viva Zapata, Viva Villa, Villa Rides, Pancho Villa Returns, Pancho Villa goes back, Pancho Villa meets Abbott and Costello,” were made about his romantic, macho and heroic character that captivates the women. “He’s a genuine antique!” Miss. JIM-enez is impressed by his charm and versatility, but he is not an American product. His image is too Mexican and not the, clean-cut, americanized type the government is looking for. After much disappointment, Miss Jimenez is shown the last model. This model’s name is Eric Garcia. He is portrayed as the presentable Mexican-American male who is “bilingual, college educated, ambitious, intelligent, well mannered, clean,” and very patriotic towards America. He will do anything, including selling out his Mexican culture, in order to be accepted into a higher class American society. His resemblance is exactly as the Anglo model, “except that he comes in a variety of darker shades: naugahyde, leather or leatherette.” He is good looking with a light tanned skin color, and nice facial features. He is dressed neatly in a suit and glasses. His well-groomed appearance lets him enjoy himself in fancy cocktail parties, his favorites. “You can keep him running on dry Martinis, Lagendorf bread.” Although Sancho admits that Eric is “also programmed to eat Mexican food at ceremonial functions,” after all, he is Mexican-American. Miss Jimenez asks if he functions on boards? Sancho responds, “you name them, he’s on them. Parole boards, draft boards, taco quality control boards, surf boards, and two by fours.” Eric is stereotyped as the type of guy who can do anything and can work in any type of job. He could be a draftsman, a surfer, construction worker, or a manager of a fast food restaurant. Perhaps, Eric is a parole board officer or a priest. Eric is a Mexican-American who has the distinguished American image, which helps him function in politics. His political speeches are to expose the Mexican’s social problems, which do not apply to him directly because he is not Mexican but Mexican-American. In his speeches, He describes how Mexicans are stereotyped in this country and what they need to do to become, like him, accepted in an American society. He says, “The problems of the Mexican stem from one thing and one thing only: he’s stupid. He’s uneducated. He needs to stay in school. He needs to be ambitious, American, American, American!” Eric’s ambition to fit in, the American Society, has made him become like a puppet who will say and do anything he is told, even If it means to speak against his own people. After hearing Eri...