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I finally made it down to the central library. I heard this homeboy, Gregory Rodriguez, was going to talk about his recent book: Mongrels, Bastards, Orphans, and Vagabonds: Mexican Immigration and the Future of Race in America. So you know me, Mr. Mexico Negro, had to get down there and hear what the guey had to say. Although dude confessed to giving the same single lecture sometimes twice on the same day, he turned out to be interesting. What I took from Rodriguez’s speechifyin’ was this: once again, here’s a homie who is overlooking the blackness inherent in Mexican identity. This is not a good look, since much of his work’s theme centers on ethnicity and social mobility according to constructs of class and race. His main theme played with the fact that Mexicans, historically, have had no problem riding the blurred lines of their ethnic identity— i.e.: Mexicanos will pass for white when it suits them, and will exclaim brown pride when that is the better option. It’s foul, but let’s face it: social mobility is a bitch. And while some Tio Tacos play ‘mighty-white’ to get ahead, there will always be darker family members whose skin tone doesn’t allow for such role-play. And so if one of us doesn’t get let in the front door, I’m of the mind that none of us should be going inside the big house unless we’re intent on wrecking it from the inside out. But rather than catch wreck, Rodriguez is comfortable playing the observer and letting things take their natural course from his rather passive point of view. The translation I walked away with was, “don’t rock the boat, someone else is bound to do it for us anyhow.” Thumbs down, homie.