Dirty Mexicans!

So, I was walking through Target yesterday with the kids--something we do at least once a week. And it's an unwritten law that we must always visit the toy department and the movie/book section just to browse. We made it out of the toy dept. without any major meltdowns--although Lola now goes crazy for all things "Hannah Bontanum." So we make our way to the book section and there is this older lady (ethnicity will not be disclosed) and a little girl about 3 yrs old. They were sitting on the floor in the middle of the aisle and the little girl hands the lady a Dora the Explorer book. The little girl sat down waiting for her mom/grandma to read it. The lady proceeds to open the book and after the first 2 lines says: "I don't want you to read this book. It has all those Mexican words in it. I don't want you to get all confused. Don't pick books with Mexican words."

Now...I've never heard anyone say the word "Mexican" and make it sound like a cuss word. But she had the uncanny ability to make "Mexican" sound dirty and vulgar. She sounded almost disgusted by those "Mexican words."

I stared at her in disbelief--I was speechless. First of all, she said that out loud with lots of people around. Secondly, we live in San Diego--minutes away from the U.S/Mexican border. Needless to say, there are quite a few Mexicans around. And lastly, Dora is way too funny looking to be Mexican--we don't want to claim her--let Central or South America have her! Us Mexicans will stick to Handy Manny--the Disney channel cartoon character that works as the city's handy man. Disney, however, made the mistake of giving him his own store. They should've just had him standing outside the local Home Depot.