Speedy Gonzales and Preconceived Notions

Speedy Gonzalez fell victim to political correctness and was yanked from the Warner Brothers character line-up.  A group of bitter Mexicans complained that Speedy Gonzalez was a racial stereotype.  Even though I grew up on cartoon characters like Speedy, I have never thought that all Mexicans were like him.  I always took Speedy to be just the product of the creative imaginations of Robert McKimson, Friz Freleng and Hawley Pratt.  Just because they designed Speedy to unabashedly display a gold tooth, ostentatiously wear a sombrero and often spout ”Ariba! Ariba!” doesn’t mean that McKimson, Freleng and Pratt thought that all Mexicans donned a “double-wide” hat, a gold tooth and spouted the Spanish word for “Hurry up!” all the time.  I had intelligence enough to realize that not all Mexicans were like Speedy.   

When I was in Elementary School, I once visited Mexico. Before I arrived there, I did not anticipate meeting  clones of Speedy.  I just approached the experience like I approached any experience with people in the United States.  I had an open mind and treated everyone on an individual basis.  If anything, the Mexican street vendors did a good job stereotyping themselves.  A lot of them yelled at my mother and sister, “Hey, big spenders!” and were quite aggressive to the point of almost grabbing them and forcing them to buy their wares. 

As much as I enjoyed viewing the Saturday morning productions of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies,  I took the cartoons for what they were meant to be, entertainment.  I enjoyed those programs like I enjoyed eating ice cream.  I did not expect to grow intellectually from eating ice cream as I did not expect to grow intellectually from watching Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies.  I did not watch those shows to educate myself.  I went to school and read books to learn.  I did not watch TV broadcasts to learn unless the program was a documentary.

If I were Mexican, I’d be more inclined to be angry at the ignorance of certain individuals who cannot decipher the difference between fact and fiction.  If I were Mexican, I’d also be more angry at my fellow Mexicans who, by their actions, influence other cultures to believe that all Mexicans are creatures to avoid at all costs.  For example, I’ve had no pre-conceived notions about African-Americans until I met one in sixth grade.  Abbey Yakob was an Ethiopian who moved into my town of Smithfield, Rhode Island.  He would repeatedly abuse me in whatever way suited his whim.  Since then (until I met up with a very loving minority owned theatre group Rites & Reason Theatre from Brown University and became one of its Artist-in-Residences), I had a very negative attitude toward African-Americans.  

People should heed my advice: If you want to avoid being stereotyped, conduct yourselves in a dignified manner and act respectfully toward others.  The more people act as dignified as they can, the more they will be free of the preconceived notions that make up stereotypes.