THAT LATINO VOTE:...Well, OK, The Mexican Vote...Otra Vez Under The Microscope... White Vote Up!...Are Muslims Voting?...Italians?...Germans?...

 

By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas |...Yes, Mexicans are for abortion. Yes, Mexicans are for Uncle Sam. Yes, Mexicans are Americans and those people south of the border are merely more Mexican. And, yes, Mexicans (aka Latinos) will vote in the November General Election.

Their guy is Democrat Joe Biden, although there are some Mexicans (Latinos) who fully believe that voting for Republican Donald J. Trump makes them "Anglos." I know, what rot.

These, we all know, are tough times all across the land.

And no one knows more about demographics than politicians and political blowhards cat-quick to place our many ethnic groups in certain places along that long and winding shelf. People will vote.

All Americans will hope. That's the plan. Do your civic duty and go vote.

The press loves to head for the ghetto or the barrio and come back with an answer as to how Blacks and Browns will vote. You rarely see a story about how Whites will vote. Occasionally, you'll see a blurb about the Asian vote, never one about the Muslim or interracial vote.

Mexicans (Latinos)?

Well, there was this paragraph in a column published by the Los Angeles Times: [ Of particular importance this cycle is the coveted Latino vote, a cryptid that, if captured, will grant either party its deepest desire, like "Texas going blue" or "the collapse of the state of California." Determining how Latinos will move this year is key to predicting which way our country will swing, be it "hell, but slightly nicer to gay people” or "Turbo Hell 5000 (Homophobia Deluxe)." ] 

Capturing the Mexican vote will make Texas blue or the collapse of California?

Balderdash! But that one line has been written how many times in the past 20-30 years? Maybe with a different word here and there, but it's been out there like the flu pretty much every national election. Look it up. The Latino Vote, baby!

Just go vote.

Leave the histrionics to those who labor in the Desperate Grind, also known as the news business. It is one of those stories that comes with the moment. If we're voting, let's see what the crazy Latinos are up to! They're not up to anything special or different or telling. Latinos are busy at home and at work and at play. You want to send me a survey? Why?

In the passive Rio Grande Valley, a Latino stronghold if only by way of population, haughty and loose-khaki Mexicans will indeed show up to cast their vote. The voting booth does not clang when its door is closed. If that's a drape you cut through, well, it's not a post-surgery ward.

Just vote.

If you're a Latino (Mexican here), do it and be done with it.

No one will be eyeballing White people as they mosey in to cast their vote, so why should you care how anyone with a fancy pen or lighted computer keyboard categorizes you? Don't. No, not in these inelegant days. The hefty maid has left our fast-crumbling palace, and it's still hours before sundown. Someone jabbed a knife into the Naugahyde couch, and it's been ruined. The mangy, neglected dog has bolted the doghouse, and he knows something.

Just vote...

-30-