Lalo Alcarez’ “La Cucaracha” is one of the most insightful, engaging, and downright hilarious comics in the publishing world. He has a somewhat askew take on society, politics and relationships. He is also one of the few successful Latino comic artists in the country who actually incorporates his ethnicity into his daily work.

The Houston Chronicle has just announced that they will be discontinuing La Cucaracha. In the heart of the American southwest, a singular, regionally relevant, voice is being silenced, and a community that is sorely under-represented in the media is again being neglected and disrespected.

Alcarez is a talented artist with a strong following. Earlier this year, when the Los Angeles Times announced that they were ditching La Cucaracha, there was a reader revolt that resulted in the Times reversing their decision the next day and retaining the comic strip. Alcarez is hoping for a similar outcome in Houston.

From his website:

“In a replay of March 2007’s brief firing of La Cucaracha from the pages of the Los Angeles Times…the Houston Chronicle, home of maybe the largest comics pages in the nation, has dumped La Cucaracha and replaced it with a New Zealand based strip about penguins. Now, experts agree that the huge Latino population of Houston, Tejas must have its penguin-themed entertainment, but somehow there is no room for a strip that explores pro-immigrant and Latino-themed issues like La Cucaracha.”

It is simply unconscionable that the Chronicle would drop this strip at this time. We are entering a highly charged election season that already has too few voices that challenge the establishment – especially from the perspective of one of the most significant, and significantly ignored, block of Latino voters. To some degree the Democrats recognized the importance of this community by participating in a Spanish language debate sponsored by Univision. And, of course, they have a viable Latino candidate in Gov. Bill Richardson. Republicans however, refused to appear at a similar debate. Alvarez addressed this issue, and in doing so, demonstrated why it’s so important for his voice to be heard. Who else at the Chronicle is producing editorial cartoons with messages like this one:

You can help to support Alcarez by contacting the Chronicle and asking them to keep La Cucaracha. Public pressure was proven effective at the L.A. Times and it can work at the Chronicle as well. So write or call and express your support for this unique artist and for diversity in the the arts and the media.

Phone: 713-362-3222
Email: comics@chron.com

Once again Boston has shown itself to be a little too tightly wound. What is it that makes these people quiver at the sight of toys and pranks?

The latest episode of skittishness is the arrest of an MIT student who is accused of wearing a “fake bomb” at Logan International Airport. Never mind that the allegedly fake bomb is nothing more than a circuit board with a battery attached. Forget that it was being worn on the outside of a sweatshirt in full view of everyone (not something a terrorist is likely to do). And ignore completely that the student, Star Simpson, is enrolled at MIT where students commonly engage in creative inventions.

The foregoing notwithstanding, Boston’s finest still managed to overreact and assume the worst. This, of course, is not the first time. Back in February, the city ground to a halt because a cable tv network left some litebrite toys around town to publicize the premiere of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force cartoon series. As I said at that time:

“Once again we are reminded of the ever-present danger posed to society by artists. The free exercise of creative expression continues to be amongst the more serious threats to an ordered and manageable population. No wonder responsible governments spend so much of their time and resources suppressing such subversions. Without such efforts we would be forever vulnerable to the horrors of independent thought and action.”

In both incidents, the media became a willing accomplice to this conclusion jumping. Every headline and teaser blasts the words “Fake Bomb” as if there had been an actual determination that this was the intent. A responsible press might have considered describing it as an “electrical device” of unknown purpose. But that wouldn’t grab as many viewers or sell as many papers.

I had no intention of weighing in on the Michael Vick dog fighting story, but some of what I’ve read around the InterTubes™ just begs for some enlightenment as to the media’s handling of this.

Lawrence O’Donnell wrote an article at the Huffington Post that he ironically titled “What’s Wrong with Killing Dogs?” The point was to suggest that compassionate people who are outraged by Vick’s treatment of dogs ought to be equally outraged by the inhumane treatment dished out by the beef and poultry industries – to say nothing of hunters and others who kill for sport. O’Donnell correctly observed that people have an irrational preference for the welfare of dogs and an indifference to the suffering of other species. This is an angle that the media has thoroughly ignored.

Let me say, unequivocally, that I think Vick’s activities are disgusting, but I think Dyson Foods is 1000 times more disgusting. I mourn for the dogs that Vick harmed, but I also mourn for every gentle, peaceful cow that ended up in some glutton’s Big Mac. And what of all the birds and fish and what are perversely refer to as “game?” I think everyone who laments the fate of these dogs and does not feel the same about all the other animal victims of mass murder in the this country, are hypocrites.

However, this news eruption is just a new flavor of the “missing pretty white girl” syndrome that our media loves so much. Vick is this week’s Paris Hilton. They’ll exploit him for ratings because of his celebrity, and ignore 100 other atrocities that occur contemporaneously. This story further reveals how the media values one type (race?) of victim to the exclusion of all others. It reeks of a disingenuous compassion with blinders on.

If I thought that the promotion of this story would lead to a deeper examination of animal cruelty in America, I might be consolable. But all the talking heads are concerned with is whether Vick will still have a place in the NFL when he gets out of jail. It’s just pathetic.