Fe fi fo fum. This guy I was doing a job for yesterday came in from lunch and showed me the words Fe fi fo, fe fi fo fo written on a some kind of laminated board. He said "read that and see if you can see what it says". So I read it aloud. Fe fi fo, fe fi fo fo. I don't get it. He says it's Mike Tyson's lawyer's number. Ok, you are going to think I am dumb, but I really thought it was some code and I still didn't get it.
Bill explained it to me later, after we had left there. Apparently it was a slur on eubonics. I was finally home and sitting at my desk playing my pirate game when I realized what it really meant. I am either not prejudice, or I am really dumb, one of the two. Sorry my mind just did not go there when first presented with the joke. I didn't even know it was a joke.
So there was this little Hispanic guy there name Lupe working for Mr. Fe Fi Fo and he came up to me after the laminated board presentation and said in his broken English "You think that was funny?" I say "Not especially". So I preceed to tell him about Jack and the Beanstalk. I say I think it has to do with Tyson's lawyer being a giant killer or something. Seriously, that was what I was thinking.
I like this little guy Lupe. He's really cute (physically and personality wise). Between my horrible Spanish and his passing English, we managed to communicate for the last 2 days with each other. I find out what state he is from in Mexico and I tell him I know someone else from that state that lives here too. She is married to one of the Tapia brothers. I ask if he knows the family, he does not. The Tapia's are a big family here in town, lots of Tapia's and all related in one way or another to each other. I am figuring he must live in Berryville if he does not know the Tapia's.
So I go to my next job and there is Emelda Tapia (who I adore) helping prep the new restoration I am doing the locks for. She has her oldest daughter there who is like a senior in high school now. I tell Emelda I met this guy named Lupe who is from her state and even knew where San Felipe was (her home town). I tell her that Lupe is really cute (que lindo) and maybe only 20 or 21 years old. Her daughter suddenly looks up and gets this smile on her face. Emelda grins widely at her daughter and laughs. I tell them he is working down at Eagles Nest for the next week or so, she can catch a glimps of him there.
I really like Emelda. I think to myself that in another place and time we would be friends. But here, in Eureka Springs Arkansas, we are only two people who make minor, idle chit chat (mainly because my Spanish is horrible and her English is about as good as Lupe's was). I have known Emelda for at least 8 years, I have watched her children grow up.
Emelda lives in a world where the only jobs she can get is doing meanial labor (as in housekeeping and such). Partly it is because her English is not that great, but mostly it is because she is a Mexican from Mexico. She would not be able to get a front desk job here because of her English, but I suspect that she wouldn't be able to get one even if her English were exemplary. I know that the cultural differences are part of why Emelda doesn't want to be my friend. That and I am gay and I don't think she quiet gets that being gay thing.
We have a lot of things going against there ever being a real friendship between us. If my Spanish were better, that would help. But 12 years removed from having to speak Spanish to survive and my Spanish is very rusty and very bad. I also never took Spanish in school, so my Spanish is street slang from LA. It's not enough to instill trust in people. I am still a gavacha in their eyes. Still "Whitie".
I understand why Emelda and her huge extended family are hard to get close to and become friends with. I don't trust "Whitie" either. Whitie has hurt me too, but I can't explain that to them in terms they can understand, my Spanish sucks too much for that. That and the cultural thing. I don't understand their culture enough to explain it in words they can understand. How do you explain you are shit on too because you aren't really "Whitie"?
Emelda's younger children will talk with me. They speakEnglish because they are American's. They are first generation and they learned English in school. The older girls will not talk with me. Part of that is their age (teenagers ack!). But then even as children they did not talk with me much. Her boys on the other hand are motor mouths and will talk to you for hours if you let them.
I understand Emelda and her extended family's wanting to stay distant from Whitie. I just wish there was a way to cross that barrier. One of these days one of her kids or maybe grandkids is going to marry into Whitie and then she/they will have to deal with it. Too many people from California are moving here. They don't have the same prejudices that people from the mid-south may still have about Hispanics. They will all assimilate as time goes by.
In the mean time, I am sitting here in Arkansas knowing that the Hispanic community lives with the same prejudices that the Hispanic community in California has faced since Whitie came there and took their lands from them. I am also sitting here in Arkansas thinking I wish that prejudice didn't create such a barrier to friendships.
I am thinking that jokes like Mr. Fe Fi Fo's joke don't help bridge the gaps created long before we were all born. I am thinking I want to be able to be friends with people just because we "click", not because our cultures are the same or our skin color matches.
So yeah Lupe, I don't think it's funny. It was a bad joke and in very poor taste. Don't repeat it, it's not worth the breath from your body son. Trust me on this one.....
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