If Arizona ever becomes any kind of model for America, watch the hell out. Spend enough time here, and you’ll come to understand phenomena like the Maricopa County sheriff, the governor who stuck her finger in the president’s face, Tucson schools dropping Mexican-American Studies, and a whole lot more. I know it’s wrong to tar the whole state for the sins of however few, but damn, do they ever make it easy.
I’m here in this particular mobile home retirement community (i.e., trailer park)—home of the alleged “enviable 55+ retirement lifestyle”—to do whatever I can to get my 90-year-old mother’s double-wide cleaned up and sold. (For those of you who haven’t been following the Helen Chronicles, she’s in a secure memory unit staring into space while slowly dying, and I’m successor trustee.) If only it were as “simple” as that. Three days ago, for example, the local property owners association went beyond the usual “weed violation” threats and told me I have 30 days to get Helen’s trailer painted… so today I visited the office and explained that my mother was dying, her house is on the market (“as-is”), we don’t have money to spare, a potential buyer might not like the color I’d choose, etc., etc., and could they please give us a little consideration?
Hahaha. Needless to say, things did not go well. Considering that this is a place where fat white guys ride around on golf carts with big American flags, I guess this long-haired New Mexico freak did well enough just not getting lynched. I can’t for the life of me understand why any normal person would want to live here though. Oh, right.
[These images explained below...]
I tried mightily to appeal to their humanity, pleading poverty and all the rest:
“Can’t you at least wait a few months until the house is sold?”
“No, because the violation is in process.”
“How much would you fine me if we can’t get this done?”
“That’s up to the violations committee.”
“But what kinds of fines have been levied in the past?”
“It could be $10 a day, $50 a week, I just don’t know.”
“But on my way over here, I saw plenty of houses in worse shape than my mother’s…”
“Well, I’m sure they’ve received a violation notice, too.”
“This doesn’t make any sense. Don’t you take into account the family situation, a homeowner dying in a nursing home, the finances, and all of that?”
“The violation is in process, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Well, WHAT ABOUT ALL THE RACIST SLEEPING MEXICAN STATUES?!?”
“What sleeping Mexican statues?”
[Bending my head down and folding my arms] “They’re everywhere!”
“Those? What’s racist about that?”
Whereupon I scooped up my papers and departed. I guess the only Hispanos they encounter here are scrubbing out their bathrooms. I know, you might not think the things are so offensive. But what if Hispanic families here had little statues of fat white guys riding golf carts sitting in their yards? I wish they did!
The images above are some that I shot in about 10 minutes riding around this place. I didn’t have to cover more than a few blocks. As a special bonus, the last one is a little different and might mess you up in Taos even worse. Same cultural ignorance, though.
(Jesus…)
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{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Yeah, this place is as backwards as it gets (and I live in Phoenix).
The motto for WHITE PEOPLE is NEVER CALL THE COPS.
And, it’s HOA HELL here. Yes, I was cited for all sorts of weird
stuff (don’t know why) yet DOZENS of other properties with
THE SAME issues went on with weeds, etc. without ever fixing them. Hell, after a monsoon, roof tiles blew off. Well, they DON’T make that kind anymore, and since the color was off on a few, I said WHAT? You want me to replace the entire ROOF? They said “YES”. So I went up there with a can of spraypaint to get them to match. It’s Looney here. And people say people from California are nuts? Just visit beautiful Arizona, ANYWHERE, and that will show you what the meaning of “nuts” is. They will all vote Arpaio/McCain/Brewer/Pierce ALL of who need to be voted out of office (well at least Pierce was-it’s a start in the right direction)
Well, at least it’s not cold.
I really love the desert around here, too. When my folks first moved to this side of Tucson (’78), it was wonderful: just the one trailer park, no other houses, no nothin’. Now there’s tons of traffic, wall-to-wall houses, Circle Ks, meth freaks, God knows what.
I honestly don’t understand how there can be so much racism and ignorance about other cultures, though. I mean, Mexico is right there next door. Up in Taos, everybody gets along (Hispanos, Anglos, Indians), probably because they have to—just a few generations back, they were cutting each other’s heads off or worse. (Yes, there is worse: see Hampton Side’s Blood and Thunder re the Taos Revolt of 1847.)
Hope I don’t offend too many Arizonans with this. My wife and I just got back from having pizza over on 4th Ave. by the U. of A, where I was reminded that all kinds of diversity, creativity, and relative hipness are alive and well in at least one part of town—just not in Tucson Estates! And further buttressing Montysanto’s observation below, a large number of the Anglos associated with this trailer park come from the upper Midwest. I doubt many native Arizonans would ever live in such a place.
“Up in Taos, everybody gets along”
It’s somewhat the same in the Black Belt region of Alabama (where I go often for work, and to make photographs). While I don’t kid myself about what used to happen there (and may still happen), there’s a certain….. ease, I think, is the right word, in how people seem to interact. Where I grew up in the Midwest, the racial tension was thick. In the rural Deep South, not so much. Of course, it may be a factor that the Black Belt is where one of the great social revolutions in history began.
Yes, I think “ease” is the right word. Funny, isn’t it? As if in slaughtering each other face to face (important qualifier), different groups eventually come to an understanding of their common humanity.
Back on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, racial tensions were much higher than I’ve ever felt in northern New Mexico. That’s not to say everybody likes each other, but we get along. There is very occasionally a certain amount of racism directed at folks like me—interesting being a minority for once—but I think that’s also something of an insiders vs. outsiders kind of thing.
Why didn’t you get Kathy to do the pleading? Hmm … she might have looked to ‘elegant’ though and they would never have believed the poverty plea.
Well, no one is actually destitute, but the guiding principle is to conserve what Helen has so we can take care of her. Painting even part of the trailer is a foolish expenditure and has the potential for screwing up the sale. The property owners association is interfering with the family in a time of crisis, and there’s nothing I hate more than officious idiots hiding behind the “rules.”
Kathy wouldn’t have done any better with these people, I’m afraid. I can’t wait until I never have to deal with them again.
“Petty people in positions of power” that is an HOA!
They are the type of people that never colored out side the lines
in life and don’t know how to handle it.
I will never live where they have an HOA!
No damn kidding. My wife’s sister and brother-in-law live in a “nice” part of Dubuque where all the houses are exactly alike. They aren’t allowed to hang laundry outdoors, and everybody has to use the same color & type of approved pine bark mulch in their yards. And no, they certainly can’t have vegetable gardens.
The two of them are eminently fine folks, but I could never, ever live that way.
Are the sleeping Mexicans racist or simply kitschy? Wouldn’t this depend on (a) whether they are offensive to the local Latino population, and (b) whether the esthetically challenged whites who like to display them know that they are giving offense to that population? Probably it’s a mixed bag on both scores, but you would know better than me.
Would it make it any better if the statues showed Mexicans in noble poses or dressed as stockbrokers? Somehow I think not. Wouldn’t that give offense for an entirely different reason – it could be interpreted ironically?
Perhaps the real problem is that whites have the upper hand here and any depiction by them of less privileged ethnicities seems either condescending or pejorative. Even if, as I suspect, these little statues are mostly bought and displayed because they are cheap, cute and sentimental, not making any kind of statement at all – the poor man’s attempt to put something attractive in his otherwise challenged front yard.
Picking up on a theme from another post, I suspect that one wouldn’t see those statues in the yards of upper or upper-middle class folks. Therefore I wonder whether some of our contempt – and even the loose accusation of racism – isn’t a form of snobbery coming from the richer and better educated, who don’t like to miss a chance to sneer at mass culture or lower class whites. The latter are probably as oblivious of the attitudes of their betters as they are of the attitudes of the sleeping Mexicans depicted in the statues. (The statues were likely made south of the border anyhow.)
Oh, good Lord!
Google “sleeping Mexican statues,” Ken. They’re in the same category as the black lawn jockey statues and perpetuate the racist myth of “lazy Mexicans.” If I were of Hispanic heritage, I’d find them quite offensive. Hell, I DO find them offensive. Anyone who thinks they’re “cute” or “kitschy” simply lacks the ability to put themselves in another’s shoes. If one is looking for cheap decoration, there are thousands of other equally affordable choices. And if anyone buys these because they think the statutes are somehow “Southwestern,” they’re out of their minds.
You’re an attorney. Try to imagine lawn ornaments depicting fat rich lawyers with their foot on a poor man’s head. I think you’ll understand.
I checked out the phrase, as you suggested, John, and got to several websites in which the question of racism was discussed. I don’t think there’s a conclusive answer to be drawn from these sources. One person calling herself part latina declared flatly the statue was not racist. Another said his part latina girlfriend thought it was just an “idyllic representation of a man relaxing” and she was therefore not offended. On the other hand a latino guy, who wasn’t willing to call it racist, did object because “the notion is awfully stereotypical”, and someone else echoed that sentiment, saying her latino boyfriend is “very offended”, again for the reason that it is stereotypical. Most of the commentary from the non-latinos saw these things as innocuous, though with some exceptions, which were generally esthetically based.
All this sort of adds up to me as a mixed bag of the usual confused human gropings after art and meaning, mingled with politics, not a beyond-the-pale demonstration of racism, even if some true racists might like these things for that reason. (I doubt seriously than any member of the ACLU likes them.)
As for satirical depictions of lawyers, well, you’re right about my not having seen yard ornaments on those lines, but it’s not as though the popular culture lacks for that kind of caricature elsewhere. Most lawyers sort of laugh at this stuff. No one gets offended. Most stereotypes (like those of ruthless grasping lawyers) have some kernel of truth in them, else they wouldn’t have got to be stereotypes. Stereotypes aren’t nuanced depictions of the world, but they ain’t all wrong. We on this continent ought to stop being so touchy about what we think and say and just try to act kindly toward one another. And, yes, this means that where a word or image clearly gives offense to a particular group, it ought not, as a matter of common courtesy, to be used. That’s why we all stopped using the word “niggardly” a few years ago, even though any half-educated person knows it has no connection whatever with the n-word. Why run the risk of giving offense and hurting someone or riling him up just for the sake of making a pedantic point about English usage?
Now, there is a double standard here. Does anyone think references to the culture and stereotypes of rednecks and poor white trash are going to disappear anytime soon? This is a group which seemingly cannot be offended, insulted or oppressed. Indeed don’t we think it is rather smart of us to denigrate them? Anyhow, it all just sort of rolls off the backs of the good ol’ boys, so I guess there’s really no offense being given at all. Likely this will be possible some day for other groups. I hope we live to see that.
I’m well aware that not all Hispanos consider such ornaments racist or offensive, but you damn sure won’t see many (if any) of these in front of Hispanic homes. As for me, I’d be afraid to even ask the question where I live. It would be insulting and stupid.
If I had a home in Taos with any of the statues pictured above sitting out in my yard on a public street, I have no doubt whatsoever that they would quickly be stolen or smashed. The fact that emigrés from the frozen north put them in their yards here in Tucson is a reflection of their own Anglo ethnocentrism and cultural ignorance.
There is another element here, of course. “Hispanic” doesn’t necessarily mean Mexican. There are plenty of Hispanos in New Mexico, for example, who can trace their family roots back over 400 years in this part of the world, people whose ancestors came from Spain and emigrated north from Mexico City to escape the Inquisition or just to live. I’m sure there is considerable sentiment in their ranks against illegal immigrants (Mexicans). But I can’t imagine that any of these people buy such statues.
Tell you what, though: I’ll go hide behind a bush while you ask them, “Why not?”
Those observations about hispanics were pretty interesting, John. It’s all rather complicated here on this continent, isn’t it? At least for those who care to think. I’m pretty likely to ask just about anybody, “why not?”, once I get to know them. Until then what’s the point? The flying-off-the-handle off-the-cuff stuff makes for fireworks in barrooms and in the blogosphere, but it’s pretty shallow stuff. In my idea of good discourse, nobody gets a pass on account of race, ethnicity, religion or place of origin, and nobody gets penalized. Everyone has to stand and deliver on the merits and be judged accordingly.
“Hispanic” is an adjective, not a noun. And I still double-dog dare you to come to South Tucson to ask about “sleeping Mexican statues” and expect anything like “good discourse” to result.
It might be entertaining, though.
Take any adjective signifying a people or a nation. Add “s” or any other plural signifier to it (or put a “the” in front of it) and you get a bona fide noun or noun phrase signifying the whole of this people or nation. Think of “Americans” or “the English” or “Mexicans”. Of course the adjective itself was formed from a noun signifying the country or territory or people. The sequence is “China”, “Chinese”, “the Chinese”; “America”, “American”, “Americans”; and so on. Why would “Hispaniola”, “Hispanic”, “Hispanics”, differ from this general pattern? Maybe you are making the point that we should be using what I presume is the correct spanish word, “hispanos”. This sounds like it would be courteous when addressing a spanish-speaker, but after all you and I are conversing in english, so Idon’t quite get the point. In Quebec french-speakers don’t feel under any obligation to refer to the rest of us as “the English”; amongst themselves it’s always “Les Anglais” (sometimes the adjective “maudite” is added!).
I reckon the “good discourse” I envisage would have to precede and lead up to the matter of the statues, rather than the other way round.
See below.
I can see why politicized members of the latino community would not like this statue. Generally, I can see why upwardly mobile members of that community and the “new class” of technocrats and knowledge workers would not like it. That doesn’t surprise me. Do these voices speak for all latinos? Maybe, but I’m less certain about this. But let’s grant that if you’re a half-awake white person you will not want such a statue, not only on esthetic grounds but on account of giving offense to many and possibly most members of the latino community. Granting all this still leaves open the question of whether the dopey whiteys who like this statue are racist – a word we all ought to use sparingly.
Straw man. All I ever accused them of was ignorance. But I’d hate to see what happens to any brown or black family that tries to move to Tucson Estates. Not that they would, of course, but still.
We can agree on the ignorant part of it, and maybe we ought to despise these people for their ignorance. But what’s the straw man? You quoted yourself in all caps as asking the question, “WHAT ABOUT ALL THE RACIST SLEEPING MEXICAN STATUES?”, and you headed your post with the reply: “What’s racist about that?” You rejected the suggestion that the motivation was kitschy rather than racist. Come on, John, it’s a bit disingenuous to say you weren’t attributing racism to the folks who put out these statues. Of course, you may be right. Or you may not be. Surely that’s what we’ve been debating.
speaking of the racist “sleeping mexican” image:
http://news.yahoo.com/sleeping-mexican-proposed-mural-draws-tx-protest-173022324.html
and living in any place with an HOA must be total hell. it sounds like living in The Village from Patrick McGoohan’s “The Prisoner” – you must conform! and if you refuse you’ll be forcibly lobotomized so you will conform anyway!
fucking sheep….
Thanks for that link. I want you to know that I’ve just been contacted by Gabriel Velasquez, quoted in that news report. Unfortunately, he lost his position on the city arts advisory board as a result of speaking up. Mr. Velasquez also attached a copy of the story from the Chicago Tribune, which “illustrates the reach of the controversy,” in his words. The quotation from San Antonio artist Jesse Trevino is outstanding as well and ought to put to rest any doubt about how the “Sleeping Mexican” stereotype is regarded in the Latino community…
Damn, did it feel good to hear from him. One doesn’t get that kind of validation every day. I hope things work out the way they should in San Antonio.
Seems to me that such homeowners’ association rules exist precisely so they can be *unevenly* enforced. They are there so the “guardians of public decency” can use them when they need to, when certain “undesirables” show up, or when they need to make things difficult for residents who are different, or who do not toe the party line.
Can you afford to set the trailers alight and walk away?
If that’s the case, my brother is going to have to clean up his act considerably. He damn well better, too, because he’s agreed to take his trailer as part of his share of the estate, which works out best for everyone.
Before we left Tucson this time, I had to contract to have one whole side of my mother’s double-wide painted. Eight hundred bucks!
Geez.
They are requiring you to paint just one side?
They just wanted me to paint one panel of one side. But that would have made the rest look bad, so I did the whole side AND the gutters. The way this place is oriented to the street, that makes sense for resale, anyway.