It was painful to watch as the crowd in Mexico City booed Miss USA, Rachel Smith, at the Miss Universe Pageant on 28 May 2007. The Pageant sponsor, Donald Trump, seemed equally surprised. I wonder how soon, if ever, he will be back.
Miss USA, Rachel Smith, was also jeered by the Mexican audience during the interview phase. She was the contest's fourth runner-up. Rachel soldiered through her answer, describing an educational trip to South Africa. None of Miss USA's fellow Americans participating in the interview segment -- neither Minnillo, nor macho co-host Mario Lopez, nor the dashing Romo -- came to Smith's defense. Instead, Minnillo pleaded briefly with the unruly mob: "Okay, una momento, por favor." Lopez stood mute with a dumb grin on his dimpled face. Catcalls and whistles nearly drowned out Smith's reply until she wrapped up with "Buenos noches, Mexico."
In fact, Smith was subjected to anti-American hatred throughout the week-long event. During the contestants' national costume fashion show, Smith smiled bravely as a rowdy outdoor crowd hissed and booed at her. According to pageant observers, no other contestants received such treatment.
HOW LONG HAS THIS BEEN GOING ON?
Also, the last time the pageant was held in Mexico, Miss USA was abused in similar fashion. 1993 Miss USA Kenya Moore was infamously heckled when chosen for the semi-finals that year. How quickly we forget.
THE U.S. VS MEXICO: On February 15, 1998, the U.S. and Mexican soccer teams met at the Los Angeles Coliseum. The crowd was overwhelmingly pro-Mexican even though most lived in this country. They booed during the National Anthem and U.S. flags were held upside down. As the match progressed, supporters of the U.S. team were insulted, pelted with projectiles, punched and spat upon. Beer and trash were thrown at the U.S. players before and after the match. The coach of the U.S. team, Steve Sampson said, "This was the most painful experience I have ever had in this profession."
In Guadalajara in 2004 during an Olympics qualification soccer match between the U.S. and Mexico? The stadium erupted in boos during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." Fans yelled "Osama! Osama!" as the U.S. was eliminated by Mexico.
The following year, in March 2005, Mexican soccer fans again cheered the al Qaeda mastermind's name at a World Cup qualifier. ESPN reported the audience again booed and whistled during the U.S. national anthem, and plastic bags filled with urine were reportedly tossed on American players.
One Mexican fan told the Christian Science Monitor: "'Every schoolboy knows about 1848. . . . When they robbed our territory,' referring to when Texas, California and New Mexico were annexed to the U.S. as part of a peace treaty ending the war between the two countries, 'that was the beginning.'"
This bitterness is long-standing, deep-seated and stoked by top Mexican government officials and elites. But pointing this reality out in the context of our crucial national debate over sovereignty, immigration, assimilation, border security and the rule of law will get you labeled a bigot.
AND WHAT DO MEXICAN-AMERICAN POLITICIANS HAVE TO SAY?
HISPANIC LEADERS SPEAK OUT!
"They're afraid we're going to take over the governmental institutions and other institutions. They're right. We will take them over . . . We are here to stay." Richard Alatorre, Los Angeles City Council.
"The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot." Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico:
"We have an aging white America. They are not making babies. They are dying. The explosion is in our population . .. I love it. They are shitting in their pants with fear. I love it." Professor Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of Texas
"Remember 187--proposition to deny taxpayer funds for services to non-citizens--was the last gasp of white America in California." Art Torres, Chairman of the California Democratic Party,
"We are politicizing every single one of these new citizens that are becoming citizens of this country . . . I gotta tell you that a lot of people are saying, "I'm going to go out there and vote because I want to pay them back." Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor,
"California is going to be a Hispanic state. Anyone who doesn't like it should leave." Mario Obledo, California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and California State Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Governor Jerry Brown, also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton
"We are practicing 'La Reconquista' in California." Jose Pescador Osuna, Mexican Consul General ,
"We need to avoid a white backlash by using codes understood by Latinos . . . " Professor Fernando Guerra, Loyola Marymount University
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says speaking English in the United States is “common sense" and Congress should worry about "real” problems, not insignificant things like making English the official language of the United States. This is the same man, you may recall, who responded to the President's State of the Union Address, on behalf of the Democratic Party, in Spanish.
Let us not bring up the subject of integrity and our top law enforcement officers. How can you tell if a lawyer is lying? His lips move. Rocky Delgadillo, the City Attorney who ran for Attorney General has told people over the years that, in the words of the L.A. Times, "he made it out of his Eastside neighborhood by winning a football scholarship to Harvard University, where he was an Academic All-American before going on to become a professional football player." Turns out that what he meant to say all these years was, again in the words of the L.A. Times, "he never played in a pro football game and . . . his Harvard financial aid was not an athletic scholarship . . . ." Delgadillo claims to have played “a brief stint as a professional football player…”
Ace Smith, consultant for the Jerry Brown campaign said: “Mr. Delgadillo needs to take responsibility for these falsehoods and apologize for his actions. He should start by deleting the false statements about his non-existent pro-football career off his Rocky2006.com website.”
Born July 15, 1960, City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo is a native of Northeast Los Angeles. With his election as City Attorney in 2001, he became the first half-Latino to win citywide office in more than 100 years. Running unopposed, he was re-elected in March 2005 to a second four-year term.
Are these just the words of a few extremists? Consider I could fill up many pages with such quotes. Also, consider that these are mainstream Mexican leaders.
5 comments:
The pageant was in Mexico. Miss Mexico was one of the Top 10, did not fall, but did not make it into the Top 5. Miss USA fell and did make it into the Top 5. That's why the people were booing. It's simple, it's obvious - to the home crowd it looked like the judging was biased. The booing was not because of policies or racism. Many people (reporters included, such as the one who wrote the story) are forgetting that Miss Mexico was in the Top 10 but not in the Top 5, and now that's why people are talking politics instead of poor judging. For those saying it's because of politics, then why did the booing only happen after the fall, not before during the two previous eliminations (down to 15 then down to 10)?
My compliments to the American, since it was how she handled the booing, and her fall, that showed her to be a truly great woman (not one that only manages to do well when all goes well).The pagent organizers should express their shame that their event fell vicitm to political agenda. Those who booed should not be surprised if they engender resentment in America, just when immigration reform hangs in the balance - I hope they enjoyed their freedom of expression in jeering a beauty pagent contestant, since their political agenda was only harmed by their rude behavior.
Somebody please give Miss USAnorexia a cheeseburger or at least some sushi. She probably fell because her femur cracked from a lack of calcium and general malnutrition. Nice example honey. Hey I hear the Cinnabon is hiring for the summer. Better apply now dear.
It amazes me that how a little booing goes such a long way. All the racists and hate-mongers expressing so much resentment for Mexicans are nothing but hypocrites. I bet most of you were insulted and enraged when the new Miss USA turned out to be a woman of color. You have shown your true colors. Once you are able to spit so much hate for one ethnic group, you are able to do the same to others different than you. After all, if you think about it Miss USA looks Mexican, doesn’t she?
By booing, the Mexican crowd proved that they were unable to seaprate two distinct issues: the pageant and their political issue with the US over borders, security, and immigration policy. It also proved their less than civilized nature. Nice going Mexico, all you did is make yourself look like a bunch of backwater losers to the international community. Perhaps you need to grow up, fix the poor state of your own nation, rather than just run away from the problem; and then maybe you'll not wat to flee. It's highly interesting that there are so many Mexicans who want to come to the USA, yet it is these same folks' mindset that did the booing. It must be a mental abberation, it's the only explanation.In short: Mexico, grow up.
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