Hispanic Heritage Month will bring famous Latino cartoon artist Lalo Alcaraz to the UA to talk about his collaboration with Seth MacFarlane on the new show “Bordertown.”
Alcaraz will be in the Cesar E. Chavez building in room 109 from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. Thursday to discuss the show and answer questions.
Monica Contreras, a Mexican-American studies senior, who is involved in Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán—a student organization promoting higher education—said she is excited, but also concerned about the creation of a Chicano satire.
“When I saw the preview, I was a little bit hesitant about it, like, ‘Hmm … I don’t know how I feel about it,’ but I think [Alcaraz is] kind of playing on this stereotype in the media regarding migrant communities and Latinos in the U.S.,” Contreras said.
In the preview of “Bordertown” released by Fox, a Chicano is racially profiled by a police officer and then arbitrarily shot over the Mexican border in an American flag canon.
The preview leaves no doubt that MacFarlane intends to continue the tradition of “Family Guy” and leave out no race, gender or ethnic group. All topics dubbed politically incorrect are fair game.
However, according to the Washington Post’s interview with Alcaraz, the show has a diverse writing staff and four of the writers on the team are Mexican-American.
This show may be coming at the perfect time. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by 2020, more than half of U.S. children will be part of a minority and by 2044, white people will be the minority.
“It’s definitely a conversation to have and I think art really provides that forum to create dialogue and do it in a different way. So yeah, I think it will be really interesting to see,” Contreras said.
Alcaraz will also be speaking at Tucson’s YWCA on Bonita Avenue at 7 p.m. Thursday. The event is free but attendees must register at YWCATucson.org.
Other events coming to the UA during Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, include a performance by Austin’s 2015 Musician of the Year, Gina Chavez, who will be performing at the Gallagher Theater on Oct. 9 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Chavez is an acclaimed bilingual Latin-folk singer and songwriter.
Latino Flair local middle school and high school Mariachi groups and Folklorico dancers will perform alongside the Pride of Arizona marching band at halftime of the UA vs. Oregon State football game on Oct. 10.
On Oct. 15, the Adalberto & Ana Guerrero Student Center will be screening the movie “Underwater Dreams” from noon to 1:30 p.m. in Cesar E. Chavez room 211. The movie is about how teams of underdogs from Carl Hayden High School, who are the sons of undocumented Mexican immigrants, built a robot that went on to defeat MIT in a robotics competition.
Itzayana Leyva, a student worker at the Guerrero Student Center and a care, health and society junior, believes this is an important month.
“It’s not just limited to Hispanic students and that’s what most people think—that only a certain group of people can go to the certain cultural centers around the university,” Leyva said. “So I think it’s pretty cool that other people from other cultures and backgrounds get to come and see what we have to show and offer because we have a lot of speakers coming down and a lot of artists and a lot of professors come and talk also.”
For more information on upcoming events visit chsa.arizona.edu or make a trip down to the Guerrero Center on the second floor of the Cesar E. Chavez building.
Follow Michelle Jaquette on Twitter.
