El Gringo Loco

Two weeks ago, NPR invited Daisy Hernandez, a young Latina, to share her reaction to the Tucson shooting from a Hispanic perspective.

"It's safe to say there was a collective sigh of relief when the Tucson killer turned out to be a gringo," Hernandez said during her first-person commentary on All Things Considered. "Had the shooter been Latino, media pundits wouldn't be discussing the impact of nasty politics … they'd be demanding an even more stringent anti-immigrant policy."

Sadly, I thought, she’s probably right. But there I go again, focusing on the substantive meaning of a smart commentary. Apparently my heart should have stopped and my brain should have emptied when Ms. Hernandez uttered the Spanish word “gringo.” Per Fox News, Glenn Beck and a riled up posse of conservative bloggers, Hernandez’s use of that word is simply beyond the pale. The bright lights of the right imply she should be burned in effigy for injecting “race” into the discussion – even though the term “gringo” is not race-specific. (The NPR ombudsman blog has a good summary of this pointless, content-free debate here.)

Most dictionaries and the Spanish Royal Academy (the folks who define the language) say “gringo,” which is slang for “foreigner,” has several, mostly benign meanings. Yes, the word can be flung like a stiletto at non-Hispanics. But it is usually used to identify someone as the proverbial “Ugly American.” You know, the drunken and/or clueless kind that used to shoot up Mexican cantinas in the Old West – or the modern variety that tend to trash said establishments during Spring Break today. Oh, by the way, “El Gringo” is also a trendy restaurant chain in Southern California that specializes in Mexican food. It’s also the name for a popular cowboy boot brand. So much for "gringo" insulting the masses, as the right would have you believe.

So, gringo can mean many things, but the N-word it ain’t. Evidently, the array of gutless wonders on the right has never heard real Spanish epithets. Trust me – having grown up with many Spanish-speaking friends in Los Angeles, I can think of several descriptive insults that would fit the bill nicely. By comparison, they make the G-word sound like angelic poetry. Only the fact that The Portal is rated PG-13 prevents me from hurling a few at the clowns on the right who really deserve it.