The sting of an insult from ‘Jack and Bobby’

I hardly ever watch TV anymore, but recently I purposely made time to view a new television series on the WB called “Jack and Bobby.” The program’s interesting premise had caught my eye. “Jack and Bobby” covers the lives of two brothers who are being raised by their single and strong-willed mother. The catch is that one of the boys will one day grow up to become president.

For a while, I thoroughly enjoyed the show. The dialogue was real, the performances were quite believable and the production values were good. But all of a sudden, a crucial plot point changed everything for me.

The boys’ father had abandoned the family several years prior and, during all of this time, the mother had Bobby, the younger son, believing that their father was a Chilean anthropologist who went back to South America and was subsequently killed for political reasons.

Then the “horrible” truth was revealed. The father, it turns out, was not a South American intellectual after all but rather a Mexican dishwasher.

Bobby was so distraught over this bombshell that he suffered a severe asthma attack and was immediately rushed to the hospital. I too felt sick to my stomach, seeing such an utterly distasteful scene on national television.

Weren’t any of the show’s staff or crew aware that this scenario might offend some people? Obviously not. They made a specific choice to make part of the boys’ heritage into something negative.

I am an American of Mexican descent. My parents were both born in Mexico and one of the first jobs my father got here was that of a busboy. And I have never once in my life felt ashamed of this. On the contrary, I am deeply proud of my parents’ sacrifices and of the fact that I, my brother and my sisters have grown up to be educated and productive human beings.

But according to the people behind “Jack and Bobby,” being the child of a Mexican is something to hide and run away from. And if you are going to be Latino, it is preferable that you come from a prosperous South American lineage. Because being a plain old Mexican is not romantic, not exotic enough.

Too many in the media are oblivious to the fact that Latinos are part of every single fabric that this society is made of. For example, my circle of Latino friends includes business owners, an accountant, a chief financial officer, a corporate vice president, a writer and a chemistry professor. Yet many Anglos in the entertainment industry seem to believe that only people who resemble themselves are capable of leading interesting lives.

Every year, studies show that minorities are vastly under- and misrepresented on network TV. This same research also notes that black, Asian and Latino children are the ones most effected by this discrepancy. And now we have “Jack and Bobby” saying that being Mexican is downright shameful.

Once again, Hollywood demonstrates how shallow, insensitive and ignorant it truly can be.

*

Alejandro J. Diaz is a writer and independent filmmaker. Originally from Chicago, he now lives in Los Angeles.