You are hereStupid Stereotypes, Vol. I: Cancun Hotel Tosses Rigoberto Menchu
Stupid Stereotypes, Vol. I: Cancun Hotel Tosses Rigoberto Menchu
Nothing like ending your day with a story of overt racism. According to the Guardian and elsewhere, staff at Cancun's Hotel Coral Beach assumed that Rigoberto Menchu -- the Mayan activist, author, Nobel peace prizewinner, and current presidential candidate in Guatemala -- was an indigenous beggar or street vendor, and demanded that she leave the premises.
Sad, but not surprising. God forbid that a Mayan woman wear traditional Mayan dress.
On the other hand, if George Bush, John Edwards and every other white male politician who dons denim and work boots got mistaken for day laborers and sent out back... that would be funny.
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| Rigoberto Menchu | 25.87 KB |
| Tell me again which one looks presidential? | 30.46 KB |
| Tell me again which one looks presidential? | 159.78 KB |
| Tell me again which one looks presidential? | 39.98 KB |
| Tell me again which one looks presidential? | 40.35 KB |
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Given that Menchú is a documented fabulist, most notably where it concerns the events for which she was nominated for the Nobel Prize (see David Stoll's Rigoberta Menchú and the Story of All Poor Guatemalans), I am not surprised to hear of incidents where she is not taken at face value.
I agree it would be humorous to see George Bush treated like the hired help when dressed in his denim and boots, working so diligently to clear the brush at the ranch.
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