# How racist was the Speedy Gonzales character? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, cartoons-animation\ **Created:** [October 20, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371 "2020-10-20T00:23:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/81 "2020-10-23T21:07:10Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The question is whether a non-Mexican group or entity should continue producing content that bears the marks of racist stereotyping. Well, but that’s not the only question. There’s also the question of what to do with content that was already produced decades ago. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/82 "2020-10-23T21:57:51Z")
I was never exposed to the stereotype of the lazy Mexican at the time I watched the cartoons, and although Speedy may have had friends supporting this trope that did not make an impression on me. Having spent much more time with Mexicans, the trope strikes me as particularly inappropriate. I mean, Mexicans are the hardest working people on Earth. In Mexico, most stores are open early and late. If you call a Mexican plumber, he arrives on time, does the job efficiently, charges you a very fair price even if he had to cut up and fix areas to get to the pipe or go to the store for parts. Rather than beg for money, far more common to sell chicle or produce or baked goods or delicious food. This might not apply to resort areas, but **in terms of hours worked per week, Mexicans are busier than any other country.** Topping the World Atlas list, ahead of South Korea. Working more than 500 hrs/yr _more_ than Canadians. So where did this stereotype come from, anyway? > **[Average Working Time By Country](https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/average-working-time-by-country.html)** > > Working time refers to the period of time that a person spends doing paid labor. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/83 "2020-10-23T22:03:00Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > So where did this stereotype come from, anyway? - Likely a misinterpretation of the siesta. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2020, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/84 "2020-10-23T22:48:48Z")
I can’t say whether or not there were “some” but I mostly remember it as in the link provided by @pasttense [above](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/42), more just admiring and proud of their friend, who sometimes was their hero. Again by way of analogy I’ll even go out from the tough independent woman shows with some stereotypical women images too - to The Mary Tyler Moore Show. “Some” of the images of other women on the show may have sometimes been classic stereotyped tropes. That did not make her being a single working woman any less significant in its time … even if by today’s standards the character might not hold up to be groundbreaking by any means. They were not the best cartoons Warner ever made, that I’ll agree with! ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/85 "2020-10-24T00:38:46Z")
No, it’s not a right-wing motto, it’s a left-wing axiom. If Mexicans don’t care or even like the fact that non-Mexicans produce such a character, then there is no question as to its non-racist nature. People form Belgium cannot tell MExicans “you’re wrong, it’s racist” like white cnanot tell black “the n-word is racist, don’t use it” ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/86 "2020-10-24T01:07:26Z")
This is grade A fertilizer. No one is telling Mexicans what they can do. Only conservatives complain about black people using the N word, not liberals. This is about what Warner Bris. should do and it has nothing to do with polling Mexicans. You can’t propose a single reasonable way to accomplish that anyway. So this is just conservative crap doodle. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/87 "2020-10-24T03:11:13Z")
FWIW, this isn’t one of those, “well, some Hispanics don’t mind!” **BigT** already mentioned it, but there was a huge [out cry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speedy_Gonzales#Concern_about_stereotypes) from Hispanics when the Cartoon Network pulled Speedy cartoons. Go figure. (As for names, it was better than the Road Runner. Dude barely had any kind of name) ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2020, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/88 "2020-10-24T16:37:22Z")
You are saying that it is ok from blacks to use a clearly racist term invented by whites to hurt them, but it is not ok for Mexicans to enjoy a slightly racist cartoon because it was made by whites that also white find it racist. That’s the typical paternalistic attitude of “those people don’t get that they are being offended, I need to teach them” BTW, I’m not complaining at all about the n-word. I never use it because it’s a despicable term. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/89 "2020-10-25T01:16:18Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I had one, too. What cereal did that come in? > > I never wanted to actually erase anything with it, because then it would erode away. Can’t be completely sure, but didn’t it come with Fritos? Not the big bags but rather those snack packs? The boxes containing individual-serving bags to stick in your lunchbox? I’m pretty sure I did not send away for it. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/90 "2020-10-25T05:15:54Z")
actually wikipedia suggest speedy and frito are almost the same character > **[Frito Bandito](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frito_Bandito)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > The Frito Bandito was the cartoon mascot for Fritos corn chips from 1967 to 1971. The Bandito was created by the Foote, Cone & Belding Agency and animated by Tex Avery. The character was voiced by Mel Blanc, who used an exaggerated Mexican accent not unlike another character of his, Speedy Gonzales. The Frito Bandito spoke broken English and robbed people of their Fritos corn chips, a reference to the "Mexican bandit" stereotype in Western movi... ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/91 "2020-10-25T05:52:56Z")
I imagine it probably comes from the same place “Black people are lazy” comes from, back in the 1800’s in America (and presumably in other countries with caste-style hiring) when whites would employ hispanics/free blacks they wouldn’t pay them “white mans wages” and as a result the workers purposely wouldn’t give them “full work”. Once fairer wages were introduced worker productivity skyrocketed, but the stereotype remains. Of course as an observation as a Mexican-American myself, I also feel there is a thing I’ve seen to this day where the “first generation” hispanic immigrants are the hardest workers you ever met, but then their children wind up becoming INCREDIBLY lazy because their parents worked so hard, even more so than black/white friends I had growing up. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/92 "2020-10-25T06:46:34Z")
And part of the reason I posted was a bit of a false dichotomy. The choice is not to show him or not to show him. They found a compromise–the character continues to exist, but they no longer depict him in racist ways, and (as others noted) put disclaimers on the old cartoons. Racism may not be up for a vote, but whether something is a harmful stereotype is pretty much defined by culture. Just how harmful it is can only be determined by the minority in question. And, if your goal is to mitigate that harm, you’d better be willing to listen to that minority to learn what would be the appropriate ways to deal with it. You can’t say you’re against racism and still exclude minority voices. That’s what created the problem in the first place. And, BTW, this is why modern anti-bigotry efforts are so big on allyship and amplification. The whole idea is that the ally, as part of a relative majority, has more say, and thus can be a megaphone for the concerns of the minority. We amplify their message, not act like we know better than them. It’s not even just with racism. It applies when men think they know what’s best for women, when straight people think they know what’s best for LGB people, and yes, when cisgender people think they know what’s best for trans people. That’s just a sneakier form of bigotry we have to work against, lest we accidentally do it ourselves. Paternalism is a form of bigotry–see the “noble savage.” And it’s an easy one for those of us who are confident in our knowledge to fall into, same way Pride is (as often depicted in media) such easy deadly sin for those trying to avoid the other six. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371/93 "2020-10-25T15:33:25Z")
I agree with this and I think what it reflects is that there are many competing considerations that have to be balanced—who is doing the creating, who is in control, who is getting the revenue, whose voices are included, what are the specifics of the depiction, what is the context? My point is that claiming that “X percentage of Mexicans polled say it’s nit racist so it isn’t racist” is NOT a valid argument. You have to work a lot harder to (1) show that your supposed statistic has any validity and (2) include all the other considerations. And you have to be aware that this is one of the go-to arguments that actual racists make. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-racist-was-the-speedy-gonzales-character/923371.md?page=4)