Sister? No. Weird Uncle Nobody Likes? Yes.

If you read the El Paso Times today, you'd know that all of a sudden the folks at the city are reconsidering their undying love for all things Juarez.  The majority of El Paso is saying "it's about damn time" and they're not saying it because of the violence.

It has always embarrassed me to have people call Juarez our "sister city" and it's finally started becoming too much for the liberal Mexophiles at the city. 

Definition break here:  Mexophile - A white person obsessed with all things Mexico, Latino or Hispanic.  They view Hispanic people as zoo animals and they like to observe/celebrate them in their natural habitat.  The poorer the brown person is - the more interested a Mexophile is in them.  I could write a book on Mexophiles and how patently offensive they are to Brown people and they have no idea they are being that way.  Mexophiles are the worst exploiters of the already exploited.

The majority of El Paso has seen Juarez like I have seen Juarez - a city in a third-world country where Americans can employ people for slave wages, eat cheap food, drink cheap booze and break the law however they see fit as long as they have enough cash to pay off the cops.  Most of us have never seen anything sexy about Juarez... well, if you don't count those who take advantage of the rampant prostitution in the city.   The place sucks now and it sucked then.  It's not a nice place to visit or live because it's mired in poverty and corruption and that's not something new that came with the cartel violence - it has always been that way. 

I know a lot of you right now are having a hard time reading this because your head is spinning off your neck with righteous indignation, but I had to say what the majority of El Paso is thinking.  If Juarez was all that great, we'd be over there soaking it up.  Instead - the vast majority of El Pasoans do not visit Juarez and have never made it priority to do so - even before the city developed a 15-a-day murder habit. 

(pay attention to the next paragraph where I blame "whitey" - I will refer to this section when you call me "racist" in the commments section for not liking a city)

The city has always been at best the "Red Headed Step Child" of El Paso plagued by business barons looking for a place to find cheap labor that won't stand up for themselves.  The people at the top of the food chain in Juarez have done their very best to facilitate the manipulation and servitude of their very own people. The blame can be spread far and wide, but it doesn't change what Juarez is - something we're not proud of and never have been. 

While I have you in a anger fueled frenzy I might as well get something else off of my chest... Chico's Tacos sucks and it's embarrassing when our local political officials even mention it to outsiders.  It's disgusting food, served in a disgusting atmosphere inside disgusting decrepit buildings.   For God's sake the parking lot is jet black with spilled frying oil that stinks for blocks. 

Now, please do not hesitate to have a Level 10 meltdown in the comment space provided below.  The truth hurts and I'm sure you are severely wounded at this point and the only way you'll feel better is by calling me an asshole.   Get to it, and don't let me down - I want real thoughtless rage put into your comments.

Comments

[Tirey]

Sorry to disappoint, no thoughtless rage here. Just compliments on a funny (but sadly true) post.

[me too]

If we get rid of the "sister city" thing can we please stop bringing in mariachi's for every single El Paso event! You would think that's the only music we know how to play. I know we have lots of musical talent in El Paso that's not a mariachi band.

[Mike]

David,
I really want to be enraged. I really want to disagree with you after living here for 36 years. Unfortunately I can not. I do not think Juarez has EVER earned the right to be our sister. I do however like Chico's Tacos. I just can't stand to eat there if that makes sense.

[A. Edward Lewiston]

You hit the nail on the head. Juarez was never this mythical fantastic land. I just have to agree with Mike, I too like Chicos but prefer to eat at the newer, cleaner buildings. Whatever that means.

[ZSP]

Thank you David K for stepping up and saying what many of us feel but don't have the proper venue to express it. I've lived here for 40 years, didn't like Chico's Tacos then and don't like them now. LOL Oh, I've never understood the sister city thing either...and "me too" I hear you about the mariachi's. Need I go on?

[G. Rosiles]

Well, something to consider is if Juarez wants El Paso as a sister city. Come on, this is all political rhetoric which has its origins on an El Paso/Juarez conflict a few decades back. I don't think anybody in Juarez really cares about this "status." There would not be anything to be proud about El Paso either by the reasons just mentioned in your post ... including Chico's Tacos. Hey, perhaps there should be a similar survey about the negative impact of Chico's Tacos on El Paso's reputation.

Bottom line, many El Pasoans don't get Juarez because, hum, it is a different culture, and Americans are well known for their lack of interest in other cultures. Some may look at the Juarez' Cathedral and wonder if it is the Vatican just as in Jersey Shore (BTW that show is so demeaning to Americans in so many ways).

[agreeable]

I totally agree with ME TOO. Stop mariachi music. It's loud and usually not very good. And while we're at it, can we stop with the folklorico dancers, too? Everytime someone comes into the airport, we load it up with folklorico dancers and maricahis. It's not "spsecial" anymore.

[Diana]

Unbelievable. Goodbye.

[me too]

Diana what bothers you the most - the dislike of Chico's Tacos or the truth about El Paso?

[Ju]

OMG! A diehard and very public conservative touting the realities of colonialism and its aftermath??? And here I always simply had you pegged for a momma's boy with delusions of political punditry grandeur. Seems like maybe what you are is a closet old-fashioned liberal elite. Much like the old-time Republicans who ran on ideas vs. anger and division, alas, a relic.

P.S., this half-baked Paseña (I'm really a NM gal at heart) Mexican also finds Mariachi music greeting celebrities at the airport as stupid and embarrassing as the singing of the US national anthem in Spanish (by Latino singers who weren't even American). And yes, after 40+ years of hearing about Chico's tacos, I found them disgusting and a crime to humanity's health and the reputation of good Southwestern/ Mexican food! ewwww!

And PS 2, the politcally- and economically-correct term in now emerging economy. Third-world is pase and archaic.