I was in Urban Outfitters with Georgia earlier and there’s so much Mexica-y stuff everywhere (same in Topshop and basically all other high street shops, most of them US shops)—skulls not unlike día de los muertos skulls, geometric patterns, woven backpacks etc. all of which are clearly appropriations of Mexican artesania. Which, whatever, I’m glad it’s cool to be Mexican or whatever, I’ve always known Mexicans fucking rule. But it’s totally unacceptable for people to strut around wearing this crap while simultaneously perpetuating an attitude that seems to be: if you talk shit about Mexicans, it’s not racism, because many Mexicans “look white”/because the ones who don’t look white are poor so it doesn’t affect my bubble/because people need to stop taking it so seriously/because Mexico’s cartel problems mean that it’s such a mess anyway so who gives a damn if people make questionable comments?

The casual racism has bothered me for years but never so much as when I spent a year abroad in the US and heard the way some people were talking (honestly it just makes you sound stupid andignorant) or worse, saw how people treated relatives of mine, many of whom work harder than I ever will and still aren’t allowed to become fully fledged citizens despite the decades of work they’ve done in the States and the amount they’ve contributed to the economy.

I can joke and banter as much as the next person but there are times when people aren’t taking the piss and are just being fucking nasty but they get away with it because shitting all over Mexicans is ok because oh, they’re probably all illegal immigrants anyway. You used to get a fraction of this sort of attitude in the UK with Poles, but it’s not as bad anymore. Still, it’s unacceptable and at the risk of sounding like a preachy foreigner, racism against Latinos needs to be taken much more seriously than it has been. So it really pisses me off when I see stories like the one I reblogged earlier this morning (there are thousands more where that came from) knowing that loads and loads of people are walking around in clothes that rip off Mexican culture. You only get to wear that shit if you’re not a jackass. End of song.