Week of Sept. 1-5

This week was great because we got Labor Day Monday off and it gave me a nice outlook for the rest of the week. Also, because we got into some reading with the opportunity for class discussion (haha). No, but this was the real first week of class, in which the class actually started to participate and not just stare towards the front of the room.

On Wednesday, we looked at the film Birth of a Nation (1915) and how this film, widely considered to be an early innovator in terms of editing and cinematography, and its KKK theme affirmed and built upon the stereotypes of African-Americans. With this, we attempted to connect the stereotypical portrayals of African-Americans in film to those of Mexicans and/or Mexican-Americans. Some we discussed were: the buck, mammy, uncle tom, the coon and the jezebel/mix-race. Many of these same stereotypes apply to portrayals of Mexicans in film. I feel like we talked about this in regard to the Alamo reading, but we just didn't delve far enough into the topic for it to be pertinent and as I have only a small amount of notes on this reading, we must not have deemed it too necessary or interwoven with the story of African-Americans. But also, I remember there being a problem with everyone having this particular reading, so we must not have focused on it because not everyone (including me) got the article before class. 

Also this week, we talked about the Chon Noriega piece on stereotypes surrounding Latin-Americans (meaning those citizens of the United States with Latin ancestry). His piece centered on the need for 'stereotypes to die' and the campaign that several Chicano groups around the country launched in order to attempt to stop the onslaught of overtly racist advertising that contained stereotypes about Latin-Americans. Basically, the onslaught of media and advertising was being allowed to proliferate and feed on the cultural need for difference in the society. The brown face caricature that advertisers were painting has probably affected an entire generation of people, even those who would identify themselves as Latin-Americans. Also, we talked about the Arizona minutemen article. This article also talks about Cesar Chavez and how he was no more tolerant of illegal immigration in his day than the minutemen are nowadays. I was shocked to find this out as I had always thought of Chavez as a revolutionary who called for equal rights for his and all races in the United States. He still remains that, but it turns out that he also, reportedly, called immigration officials whenever there was an illegal immigrant found working in the fields (Chavez was president of the United Farm Workers Union). It even seems that he helped to organize a 'wet line' to stop illegals from coming into the U.S. This turned bloody and violent and seems to echo through past as a reminder of what can happen when those not OFFICIALLY appointed to a position will handle the power (coughMINUTEMENcough). We also watched Los Trabajadores (2001), which explores the topic of illegal immigration and day laborers in Austin, Texas, through the story of two of them, Juan and Ramon. 

Brady