Writer: Sarah Punjwani
“Y’all know what’s funny to me, that Mexicans take the heat for all Hispanics.”
On May 30th a young woman with the Tiktok handle @sexccartel deliberately voiced
her opinion on her Mexican American heritage and the pride she takes in her culture, despite the derogatory stereotypes. With over five hundred thousand views, SexCartel was met with overwhelming support as well as some backlash when she stated that “we get called killers, rapists, taking jobs, illegals” she explains that “in reality it’s not just [Mexicans] crossing the border, we’re just here to work.” This statement itself was met with support from the Latinx and immigrant community as many Latin Americans suffer the same xenophobia and hate faced by Mexican Americans.
Cartel then continues explaining that “you know that makes me mad, a lot of these other Latinos be like “did you just call me Mexican?” Who wants to be Mexican.” “BE GRATEFUL.” She states “we’re taking all the heat!” Cartel’s statement has proven to be accurate now more than ever as the rise of hate crimes against Mexican Americans has steadily increased since the 2016 election. In a report by Reuters news Brain Levin, California State University’s director of the Center for the study of Extremism claims that “Attacks against Muslims peaked around 2016 when terrorism was the concern. Now immigration is the number one issue and Latinos are being targeted.” The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistic report claimed that there were 552 victims of anti-Hispanic hate crimes in 2017, which had then risen to 671 victims in 2018 within a single year. Though these attacks are spread throughout much of the Latin American community, a common belittling term xenophobes love to use is “Mexican.”
Let’s take a look at our president, shall we! In early 2016 Donald Trump ran for president on his anti-immigration platform declaring that we will “build a wall and Mexico will pay for it!” During his presidency, Trump had been openly critical of Mexico more than any other majority Latinx countries, criticizing Mexico for its border policies and corrupt government. This then led to Trump openly defaming Mexico and their citizens. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” he says “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime.They’re rapists.”
Donald Trump’s diminishing words against the Mexican American community has
inspired white supremacists in the United States to commit terroristic hate crimes against Latinx people. On August 3rd, 2019 a white supremacist gun downed 23 people at a Walmart Supercenter claiming his motives were to “shoot all the Mexicans.” Mexicans have become a larger target for white supremacy groups day after day taking “the heat” for the small percentage of Latin American people who come to the US either illegally or who commit crimes here. Yet many Mexican Americans continue to stand up for the Latinx community and Mexicans as a whole, so
why are they left standing alone?
@sexccartle 's Tiktok soon sparked a mass conversation about Latinx people coming together to support the Mexican community as she claims “we’re supposed to all be in this together!” “I know it’s not all Latinos who are like this” she counteracts “but there are Latinos that every time somebody calls them a Mexican they get so offended” somehow inferring that “Mexican” has become a derogatory term. To this many Latinx and Hispanic people responded that the term “Mexican” actually invalidates and erases their own culture, which differs from Mexican culture. "though cultural differentiation is a valid argument, one must recognize the effect Mexican prejudice has on the whole Latinx community and their quality of representation". It is about time the Latin American community starts validating the experiences of Mexicans who take the blame for an entire body of Hispanics and Latin Americans alike because like Cartel states “we’re all supposed to be in this together.”