Yanqui, go home
Last week, in an interview with the Daily Beast, John Leguizamo spoke candidly about the terrible state of our country. A vocal opponent of the current President and the Republican party, which he sees as anti-immigrant and anti-Latino, Leguizamo claimed to often consider giving up acting to run for office to directly and personally make a difference.
“You know, I love what I do. I would hate to give it up,… But if I could I would run for office in Texas. I would run someplace heinous to make a difference. Yes, I would run if my celebrity could get me elected, to get rid of gerrymandering and to allow people to teach Latino history in Texas which is 39 percent Latino and around 12 percent black, so we people of color are the majority. Why are we so beaten down there?”
While I respect Mr. Leguizamo and his work immensely, I found this to be a disrespectful, stereotypical, misguided comment, as well as a teachable moment. Here’s what is wrong with this sort of thinking:
“Someplace heinous”
Ever wondered why many consider Democrats “East Coast elites?” Here’s your answer. I concur with his opposition to the majority of the policies of the Republican conservatives in power across Texas. I understand his opposition to the heinous laws they’ve tried to pass regarding everything from immigration to reproductive rights. But in his statement, he, a millionaire from New York City, just painted 28 million people as being from a “heinous” place. Does this treat the 43% of Texans who voted for Hillary Clinton respectfully? Does this help the Democratic cause to have this attitude pervade the narrative? I don’t think so.
“If I could, I would”
Much of this interview is just a presentation of the views of a frustrated liberal voice trying to explain the wrongs he sees being inflicted on the less fortunate. But, it’s also a retread of the same stereotypical Yankee superiority complex that implicitly informs politics today. The idea that he could fix the problems in Texas (and there are serious problems to be sure) is facile and self-congratulatory. The idea that states like Texas or Mississippi or Arizona could and would be saved by stronger, more intelligent, more informed citizens from the North is a constant refrain in American politics. Yet, Eric Garner’s murder happened in New York City. Ferguson happened in Missouri. Flint is in Michigan. Baltimore is north of the Mason-Dixon line. It seems much easier to claim the power to “fix things” in a white knight hypothetical, rather than in your own backyard.
“Why are we so beaten down there?”
The problems in Texas are real. And according to this interview, Mr. Leguizamo would be willing to give up his fame and fortune to run for office in Texas because he feels that he could fix these problems. But in the same breath, he admits, he doesn’t know why, despite the numbers, “we are so beaten.” Then again, why would a Colombian/Puerto Rican self-made millionaire and lifelong resident of New York City understand the the roots of problem of a state almost two thousand miles away who’s immigrant population is mostly Mexican. Ask any Puerto Rican or Colombian what they know about the Mexican-American experience in the Southwest(or vice versa). I’ll wait.
I’ll praise him for at once asking the question while also admitting his ignorance, but thinking that he could solve the problem is insulting. Instead, I would urge him to remove his ego from the situation and take a moment to praise those in Texas fighting to make a difference. Mr. Leguizamo should spend more of his time and his fame and fortune to supporting the likes of Beto O’Rourke, Wendy Davis, or Progress Texas. He should spend time in the liberal leaning cities of Houston, Austin and San Antonio, and listen to their voices and their needs, and support their community leaders and candidates.
In short, before characterizing Texas as a “heinous” place that needs a New York savior, I ask Mr. Leguizamo and all “East Coast elites” to remember this: without Texas we wouldn't have had LBJ’s War on Poverty and so many civil rights laws. We wouldn’t have had voices like Barbara Jordan, Bill Moyers, Henry B. Gonzales, Lloyd Bentsen, or Anne and Cecile Richards. And without NYC, we wouldn’t have had Tammany Hall, Peter King, and Rudy Guiliani.
