Mexicentric Theater

Time for Friday Sardonic Theater!

So I am very to report that #CentralAmericanTwitter has materialized into a very affirming and supportive space for many English-speaking Central Americans from many parts of the isthmus. But as tends to happen whenever we claim a space for ourselves to talk about our experiences and trauma, we get haters and naysayers telling us no. Lately, there has been some increased harassment from Mexican nationalists.

And so, in the spirit of frustration over always having to defend our spaces, our experiences, and our culture, here’s a little theater of the absurd.

FYI: The play is not at all fictional. This really did happen. Back in 2015, when Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency and made his how infamous insults aimed at Mexicans, many of us also understood him to include pretty much all immigrants, since white supremacists really can’t differentiate between Latinxs. But during that period, many Latin Americans, including Central Americans vocally supported Mexicans on social media. Mind you, this was during the peak of Central American migration of unaccompanied minors, and we tried to have an inclusive conversation about migration, Mexicans kept and their injured honor kept taking up ALL the space.

Fast forward to December of 2016. By then, Donald Trump had changed his tune about Mexicans. Instead, he shifted his sights on Central Americans and made insulting and threatening comments. Of course, there was absolutely silence coming from Mexicans. As I harped about it at the time, almost no one reported on it. And so unfortunately, Mexican folx continued to take up space talking about how injured the Mexican reputation was because of Trump… despite the fact that as events unfolded, Mexico was quickly becoming the U.S. attack dog against Central America. Of course, trying to talk about this openly almost always ends in accusations of us being haters and divisive.

And so, we continue forth, doing our own thing.