Pico de Orizaba

Pico de Orizaba
Taken from Huatusco, Veracruz, the closest town to Margarita's family's ranch.

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

A commentary about the Ricardo Arjona/Intocable song/video and interview "Mojado"

"El Mojado" ("The Soaked"; the indocumented migrant)...Ricardo Arjona was part of the Guatamala Nacional Basketball team before becoming one of the most succesful folk-pop singers of Latin America... If I'm correct, like many other Latin American pop/rock stars, he lives in Miami...
This is the video of how and why the song "Mojado" was produced... A wonderful view of the border between Tijuana and San Diego... along with the interview of Ricardo Arjona and the "Mexican" Norteño band "Intocable" (Untouchable)... I put Mexican in parenthesis because Intocable actually is "American" ("Gringo")... Yes, you heard me correctly... and yes, they "look" Mexican and they speak Spanish... But they are "American" citizens and not Mexicans... meaning that they were born and raised in the U.S. (Texas)...and as they explain during the interview, they have absolutely no experience with Mexican immigrants in the U.S.; all they know about the "mojado" experience is what they read in the papers, meaning that their families are "American" for more than one generation and no one else has been crossing the border seeking refuge with their families...  

Arjona wrote the song as a criticism of the reasons why Latinos have the need for travelling "illegally" to the U.S. wishing that the pueblos/countries of origin could offer the would-be "illegals" the ability for addressing the needs of their families (adequate education, clothing and food) without people abandoning their families and risking their lives in the crossing and in the U.S.  

"Mojado" (Wet) is the term used in Mexico that originated from the idea of having to cross the Rio Grande or Rio Bravo swimming in order to enter the U.S.  Arjona says that the word has two significances... the second significance is that the immigrant is "wet" from all of the tears they shed upon finding themselves so far from their families and all that is familiar... in the name of looking for a better future for themselves and their family... I would say that there is a second significance of tears: tears shed by those left behind who never hear from their father, son, husband, brother and female equivalents because those people died in the desert or were killed by assailants... or became immersed in addictions on the other side... or they created a new family in the U.S... and stopped being in contact with their spouses and children... stopped sending money back...  

Now, if the video and interview were in English, I think "Americans" would have a much easier time seeing the point I've been trying to make for years... that "American" doesn't have only one reality, one face, one language or one culture... and that most "Americans" have ancestors who entered the U.S. for the same reasons (lived through the incredibly similar experiences; living in a hostile nation, within an incredibly different culture... standing out as "sore thumbs")...  

It's funny, in the book "Rabbit Run" by John Updike, one of the characters tells the main character Rabbit that she believes her family is originally Mexican... (The story takes place in semi rural Pennsylvania in the late 50s or early 60s)... Rabbit responds to his lover, "But you're too tall to be Mexican!" and she calls him a jerk... I mention this because "Americans" tend towards believing that Mexicans are very short... Well, come live here to know the truth...  Half of my 8 brother-in-laws are taller than me...  Most of Margarita's male cousins are taller than me...  Many Mexicans are taller than me... I'm 5'6"...  Yes, I'm short, although not incredibly short... So, if many Mexicans are taller than me, then I guess they aren't what "Americans" believe them to be... I think this is important... all of this... if you are truly against the "Trump" anti-immigrant/anti-Mexican movement and all that it seemingly stands for... for putting it into perspective...

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