Inspired by a famously controversial cartoon mouse, university faculty and students plan to host local high schoolers on the campus next month to discuss racial stereotypes in the media.
In the coming weeks, Latino professor Ana Patricia Rodriguez and Salvadorian poet and actor Quique Aviles will be working with two Latino studies classes to create a series of poems, videos and skits deconstructing the Speedy Gonzales cartoon. The show — which starred a tan mouse in a giant sombrero who spoke broken English and constantly stole and drank beer — was banned from Cartoon Network in 1999 due to its negative portrayal of Mexicans.
At the end of April, the Latino Studies department will invite students from Northwestern High School in Hyattsville to the campus to watch the performances and discuss the implications of the cartoon. Rodriguez and Aviles said they hope the event will not only educate the high schoolers on the history of negative Latino stereotypes and the presence of racial injustice today but also help them build connections with the university community.
“Education should not just be in the classroom,” Rodriguez said. “We come to education with the idea that it’s individualistic. We need to become vehicles for the education of other people. We must take education beyond these walls.”
Junior government and politics major Paola Henry, who attends one of the Latino studies classes involved with the project, said it is important to expose the implications behind Speedy Gonzales because people do not always see them at first glance.
“[This project] is taking a popular image in American culture, breaking it down and showing the stereotypes,” Henry said. “There are a lot of things in pop culture that we take at face value and don’t realize the effects that they have on people’s mindsets.”
These stereotypes are especially significant for the students of Northwestern, which has a high population of Latino students and a low graduation rate.
“We want to show these students that college is literally right down the road and metaphorically in their realm of possibilities,” Rodriguez said.
Sophomore government and politics major Andrew Mulinge also saw this project as a way to connect high schoolers’ education with their heritages.
“Latino Studies is mostly left out [of curriculums],” Mulinge said. “It is especially essential at schools like Northwestern that are predominately Latino and black for students to be exposed to things that relate to their culture.”
Aviles said using a character such as Speedy Gonzales allows students to promote learning and activism in an artistic and creative way.
“[Students] can do something about what’s happening in the world … they can and should get involved,” Aviles said. “I believe that art is a great tool to do just that. It is a weapon that can be used to say things that need to be said about our times.”
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