Critics on All Sides Help to Prove a Point

One reader has been particularly annoyed with my column since it debuted earlier this year. He frequently calls me early in the morning and leaves long, chatty--but anonymous--voicemail messages.

“You need some diversity in your life, man,” he said after one column about a discussion I had with my son on affirmative action. “Seriously. Everything you write is Latino, Latino, Latino. You really need to get over it. You’re very myopic and have very ethnocentric thinking.”

My cranky caller is not the only one who noticed that I approach topics from a Latino perspective. But that’s what I was hired to do. When I came on board in January, my mission was to provide a fresh voice for our region’s large Latino community. And there’s nothing unusual about a writer who focuses on a particular segment of society--women, politicians, athletes or even the Mafia. Latinos just happen to be my beat.

Although I’ve had plenty of positive responses from readers of all races, some of you are still wondering why The Times would devote a column to a specific ethnic group. A few, sounding like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, have suggested condescendingly that my musings are wasting space and should be shuffled off to La Opinion, the Spanish-language daily co-owned by The Times.

That, of course, would ghettoize the column and defeat its purpose. Our sister publication does a fine job informing Latino readers in their native language. My job is to communicate across the cultural divide, to write for Latinos but also about Latinos for all readers.

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At times, that means walking a line as fine as the hyphen between Mexican and American. While seeking a wide audience, I must remain faithful to Latino readers who want me to reflect their own passions and preoccupations. Yet who can claim to speak for a population as large and diverse as Latinos are today?

To some, I’m too militant. To others, I’m too cute.

Several perturbed fans of Puerto Rican superstar Ricky Martin made it clear I didn’t represent their views with my column mildly critical of their crossover heartthrob. “Have you checked yourself in the mirror lately?” asked a miffed reader named Maria. “Did you forget what culture you come from? I think I sense a little touch of jealousy on your end.”

I didn’t mean to offend anybody. But that may actually work in my favor, says William Safire, the conservative New York Times columnist who once issued his 10 Commandments for launching a hot new column. Remember, he says, the only regular reader today is the irritated reader.

Commandment No. 5: “Create your own constituency of the infuriated at the outset. Readers no longer turn to columnists to tell them what to think; rather they turn to writers who cause them to say, ‘Why do they print this drivel? How can anybody think like this?’ ”

This summer, the alternative newspaper New Times gave me a mock award: The Best Journalism Hiring Mistake. The throwaway weekly dismissed me as politically correct (ouch!) and used a crude Spanish profanity to ridicule my position on bilingualism.

The honor would have meant more to me had the newspaper spelled my name correctly. But by adding an extra Anglo vowel to my Spanish first name, dubbing me “Augustin,” my critics helped make my point: We need to expand, not eliminate, bilingual programs for everybody in California. Otherwise, we run the risk of looking ignorant in a multicultural world.

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Many readers view my column as a reflection of demographic changes in society itself. Some say it’s about time. Others want to turn back the clock.

“I’m not alone in getting a little irritated with all this tribalism so prevalent at The Times and everywhere else these days,” wrote Carl Moore of Lomita. “I think you guys should be discouraging, not promoting, ethnic identity.”

But being bicultural, paradoxically, can be unifying rather than divisive. I can understand both sides because I am both sides. And since Southern California is becoming the Ellis Island of the new century, I’ve touched a chord with other Americans who resonate to the immigrant experience.

Like the Japanese American who cried in response to the struggles of a migrant Mexican kid who made it to college. The African American man who had the same talk with his son about affirmative action. The woman of French descent married to an Italian American who agreed we should all learn at least two languages.

Even my cranky, early-rising caller had to admit that he meets a lot of people on his sales route who are discussing the topics I raise.

“But we’re all laughing at you, man,” he gloated. “I guess people read your column, though. That’s good news.”

Finally. We agree on something.

Agustin Gurza’s column appears Tuesday. Readers can reach Gurza at (714) 966-7712 or [email protected]