A Gringo in Mexico, Part II

A rude awakening in Mexico City – continuing the story from Part I.

Shortly after being educated on the term gringo and its potential derogatory implications, I was buying a plane ticket to a favorite resort that I frequented, Puerto Escondido.

The beach there is amazing; a natural breakwater divides the beach between water with huge waves for body surfing, and a calm beach for just relaxing and going for a cool dip. This by the way explains my dark, tanned skin in the picture accompanying Part I. In my first year with the Philharmonic, I had a very nice deal where I worked for two weeks, and was off for two weeks – I went to the beach twice monthly.

Ah…good times…

At the AeroMexico airline ticket counter, I botched something in Spanish quite spectacularly, got nervous and had a major brain meltdown. Everything out of my mouth just started coming out wrong and I froze.

An impatient Mexican man dressed in a business suit behind me chimed in to help – or rather to hurry it up so that he could get to the counter. He sighed heavily, rolled his eyes and with pained expressions he translated the details of the travel package I was buying.

I thanked him profusely for helping, to which he responded with a strong upward hand gesture. Speaking in a huff, he said:

Pinche gringo, you need to learn Spanish or go back to your own country.

I was stunned. His eyes glared at me with an intensity that I had never experienced before. Not only did he call me gringo, but he combined it with the pinche profanity that I had been warned about.

(How many times had I heard that exact same quote in the U.S., but reversed and directed at immigrants there?)

Sheepishly, I finished buying my ticket and left the counter embarrassed, humiliated and angry.

This was an extreme and isolated case, but after that eye-opening epiphany I was very conscious of being a gringo and in what context I felt like one. Granted, the intent is dependent on tone and context, but there were a few other minor instances where I felt it as derogatory and demeaning.

Ignorance is not bliss

On occasion colleagues in the orchestra would use the gringo term – they would usually apologize or correct themselves and use norteamericano. A few times an open, friendly debate would ensue during orchestra breaks on whether gringo was a derogatory remark or not.

It remains a controversial term today whose meaning is still an open issue.

While the incident at the AeroMexico ticket counter was one of those very rare and extreme moments, it heightened my awareness and sensitivity to being discriminated against

and

moreover, to being discriminatory towards others.

The Mexico City Philharmonic at that time was a mixed group of nationalities: Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, North Americans, South Americans, Russians, Georgians and Poles. The experience I imagine, was a lesson in tolerance and understanding for all of us.

Diversity is a strength

Kudos to the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba for recognizing that talent exists in all of us and deserves to be recognized. As creative artists pursuing an ideal, we should all be above such destructive things as racism and prejudice.

Taking this a step further and abstractly applying it to the music world (and the ulterior purpose of this post), it could also be said that there is no logical reason to debase one method of schooling or instrument type or style of playing to elevate another.

Some musicians like to make a sport of doing this and it really is unfortunate.

Diversity makes us stronger, boundless and more vital as people and as musicians. If we all looked and sounded the same, life would be pretty boring.

Preference for one thing or another of course is perfectly natural and acceptable. Prejudice on the other hand, can be short-sided and limiting. It is something we should all avoid.