Ken Burns Hates Mexicans

Blame the Wetbacks

Not that anti-immigrant hysteria in the media is anything new, but it's sobering, sometimes, to see the venom edited into one three minute clip.

Quote of the Day

It's election day. And Andrew Sullivan notes on a must read post that 1.5 million people have donated money to Obama's campaign. Via the internet. The significance of that, he writes, is astounding. Again, 1.5 million...

That's how many people have now donated to Obama. No one has ever come close to this in history. And it was done by the Internet, destroying the power of major donors to control a candidate, empowering so many to make a difference and altering the face of campaign finance for ever. And yet the Democrats are seriously considering rebuking this astonishing achievement in favor of an old nepotistic pol whose campaign, when it hasn't been incompetent and complacent, has been straight from the Rove playbook.

Any Democrat who spurns this achievement is destroying their own party, and its future. This has been a revolutionary campaign already. Because it has been built as much from below as from above. And because it has brought so many to believe in their country and its politics again. I don't care if I am thereby tarred as an Obama kool-aid drinker. The facts remain, and one day, the MSM will absorb them.

He Just Wanted To Do "Hoodrat Stuff"

Along with the release of Grand Theft Auto IV last week came the expected condemnations. The game's too violent, degrades women, encourages petty crime, the sexual content too mature for teenagers, debases society etc. etc. The reviews, one the one hand, have not only been raves, but now frequently turn up on the front pages of mainstream publications suggesting the widespread acceptance of video games in contemporary America. The New York Times, for instance, calls Grand Theft Auto "a violent, intelligent, profane, endearing, obnoxious, sly, richly textured and thoroughly compelling work of cultural satire disguised as fun. It calls to mind a rollicking R-rated version of Mad magazine featuring Dave Chappelle and  Quentin Tarantino, and sets a new standard for what is possible in interactive arts." Personally, as a visual storyteller, I'm intrigued by the narrative possibilities of these kinds of games. On the other hand you got TV news stories like this one, which happened probably around the same time GTA IV hit the $400 million worldwide sales mark. Was the joyriding little kid driving his grandma's car like a video game? Quien sabes. All I know is I want a PS3 so I can  get in on the virtual mayhem myself.

The Politics of Dancing

So I'm in the middle of making some TV reality/doc shows, twelve total, an all-consuming activity which not only results in a admittedly lazy dependence on YouTube blog posts for loyal KenBurnsHatesMexicans readers -- apologies -- but also a serious back up of programs on my TiVo. But one show I never miss is Dancing With the Stars. Not only because the ABC series features the dancing talents of Cheryl Burke (be still my heart), but I'm a sucker for the Pas0 Doble. Imagine the irony, then, of getting offered two free tickets to this Monday's taping of Dancing With the Stars -- and having to turn them down. Like I said, I'm in the middle of production. We'll be flying to San Antonio that day. Oh well...

The upside, of course, is I'm going back home: breakfast tacos 2 for 99 cents; "G-o  S-p-u-r-s  G-o" spelled out with white styrofoam cups stuck into people's chain link fences (talk about the art of Phantom Sightings); Esteban Jordan live at Salute on Friday nights (the "Jimi Hendrix of the Accordion" -- video proof here); Henry's puffy tacos (over eight million sold); Bill Miller iced tea; the big wide aisles of HEB; plus I can finally figure out why my fellow Tejanos went for Hillary. I mean, what's up with that?

Will be shooting four episodes of the TV show during San Antonio's Fiesta Week. For those non-Texans out there blissfully unaware of the cultural and political dynamics of Fiesta Week -- beyond its apt description of as Mardi Gras, but with Mexicans -- I leave you with this clip from my movie Speeder Kills. And for those of you sadly unaware of the delights of the Paso Doble, I leave you with this clip from last season of Dancing With the Stars, where Mario Lopez introduces America to his Chicano family before dazzling us with his version of the Latin ballroom dance. Have a good weekend.

Chingo Explains the Poll Tax

Here's a new educational video from Aztlan's best performance artist, Chingo Bling. (Oh, and the MacArthur Foundation?, por favor, check out the Tejano's CV and give the vato a Genius Award already...)

A Gathering Storm

Am heading up to the conference of the National Association of Independent Latino Producers this weekend so won't have time for an entry today. But I'm already starting to meet up with various friends from across the country as we all gather for the annual meeting of Latino filmmakers, all five of us. Kidding. In any case, casual conversations, of course, have frequently led to the Democratic primary, and the negative tone coming out of the Clinton campaign post-Texas and Ohio. It's not a promising couple of months we envision. And possibly, should events continue in this destructive manner, a trend that will have repercussions past November. I leave you then with this excerpt from this post by Andrew Sullivan. He articulates those sentiments best, emphasis mine:

The reason so many people have re-engaged with politics this year is because many sense their country is in a desperate state and because only one candidate has articulated a vision and a politics big enough to address it without dividing the country down the middle again. For the first time in decades, a candidate has emerged who seems able to address the country's and the world's needs with a message that does not rely on Clintonian parsing or Rovian sleaze. For the first time since the 1960s, we have a potential president able to transcend the victim-mongering identity politics so skillfully used by the Clintons. If this promise is eclipsed because the old political system conspires to strangle it at birth, the reaction from the new influx of voters will be severe. The Clintons will all but guarantee they will lose a hefty amount of it in the fall, as they richly deserve to. Some will gravitate to McCain; others will be so disillusioned they will withdraw from politics for another generation. If the Clintons grind up and kill the most promising young leader since Kennedy, and if they do it not on the strength of their arguments, but by the kind of politics we have seen them deploy, the backlash will be deep and severe and long. As it should be.

He has a million little donors. He has brought many, many Republicans and Independents to the brink of re-thinking their relationship with the Democratic party. And he has won the majority of primaries and caucuses and has a majority of the delegates and popular vote. This has been a staggering achievement - one that has already made campaign history. If the Clintons, after having already enjoyed presidential power for eight long years, destroy this movement in order to preserve their own grip on privilege and influence in Democratic circles, it will be more than old-fashioned politics. It will be a generational moment - as formative as 1968. Killing it will be remembered for a very, very long time. And everyone will remember who did it - and why.

The Polls Close at Seven

Self-exiled in California, missing Texas is a perpetual state of being. But on this election day, I am especially depressed I'm not back home. Anecdotal evidence from conversations and emails with various friends in San Antonio and Austin suggests a huge turnout and widespread interest. Hoopla for days. When even my mom can talk the finer details of Texas' particularly strange primary/caucus voting rules I know campaign interest is high.

Hard to predict exactly what's going to happen as all polls remain too close to call, but one agreed-upon trend is the importance of the Mexican American vote. Too much has already been written to rehash the wonkish details -- will Mexicans vote for a black guy?, is the Clinton/Obama split among raza generational?, why did Hillary pose with that mariachi kid? -- but one mainstream (read, gringo) attitude seems to be changing: their simplistic understanding of  Brown people and a demographic complexity they are only now beginning to recognize.

Two things always invite scrutiny of Latinos by white people: when they want to sell us something or they want our vote.

When reporters and campaign strategists looked at raza in Texas for insight into voting trends they didn't discover a monolithic block, but discovered instead recent immigrants in Houston, 3rd and 4th gen non-Spanish speakers in San Antonio, college students in Austin, and those crazy people down in the Rio Grande Valley who love their Whataburgers. All different yet all Tejanos and each with different ideas on what they wanted in a candidate. It's a complexity that made itself known in articles in the New York Times, Newsweek, Daily Kos, and others. And while it's easy to make fun of an East Coast reporter just discovering Mexican Americans actually like to watch Project Runway -- just like people do in New Jersey -- it's a improvement from a couple of months ago when the depth of his cultural understanding of Tejanos was the enchilada plate at his favorite Jackson Heights Mexican restaurant. But let's see what happens. It remains to be seen, however, if this desire for understanding continues beyond election day. I don't have my hopes up.

Hero of the Day

Geraldo Rivera is a badass. Lou Dobbs sucks. Go here to watch.

They Copied a Mexican - Or Vice Versa

For fans of The West Wing, the idea of a young, idealistic candidate of color wowing the country with a dynamic message of hope and change is nothing new. Tejano Matt Santos beat Baraka Obama to the White House two years ago. The folks over at Slate.com have noticed the same parallels between both campaigns and made this little video. Excuse, please, the car ad you'll have to endure for about twenty seconds...

"You Got It Take It Away...!"

In honor of tonight's Democratic presidential debate, and in a gesture to party unity, I present to you this campaign song by Tejano legend Johnny Canales telling raza why they should vote for "Heeelary Cleeenton." A sample of the Spanish lyrics, badly translated into English, go something like this:

A strong president, she can end the war
And give health care to all the people of this land

Fair immigration laws and a better economy
I don't have to think twice, for Hillary I will vote

Hillary, Hillary Clinton (for her I will vote)
Hillary, Hillary Clinton (for her I will vote)
For Clinton I will vote.

Listen to the song here. You can even download it to your iPod. I did. Filed it under "H," between Hermanas Mendoza and the Hives.

And for those of you living outside of South Texas and wondering who the hell is Johnny Canales, imagine Ed Sullivan if he spoke fluent Spanglish, was short and brown, and was prone to saying "you got it take it away" as he introduced the guests on his TV show. So in addition to the clip of The Johnny Canales Show intro I've included below, be sure and  check out this must see video of Johnny interviewing Selena and making fun of how back in the day, at the beginning of her career, she didn't speak Spanish. Except, of course, how to say dinero, and donde esta la mall.

Thanks to Evy, my favorite Hillary supporter, for the tip.