A lifetime of servitude, goodbye Lupe Ontiverios.

 

 

  It is .... offensive that Ms. Ontiveros remained in this role her whole career making it seem that she NEVER gained any skills through the years.  This damages they way we look in societies eyes.

  It saddened me to hear about Lupe Ontiveros' death yesterday.  This Latina actress who said she had played the role of a maid over 150 times during her career, made me reflect on the role that the media play in portraying our Latina women as uneducated, unskilled, laborers; or the "hot" and "sexy" bimbo.  In some cases these two types are combined into the lusty maid who is lover to the boss making us look disloyal too.  It makes me think of racism and how it is entrenched in our society which keeps reproducing the same story over and over again.  Ms. Ontiveros said on an interview that she gave NPR that she longed to play other roles like a judge or a lesbian woman but those opportunities were just not afforded to her and she needed work.  Lupe Ontiveros looks like my mother and my mother in law and although they started life with little experience as ALL people do regardless of race, they went through their education and personal growth periods and evolved as the wise, successful women that they have become.  It is therefore offensive that Ms. Ontiveros remained in this role her whole career making it seem that she NEVER gained any skills through the years.  This damages they way we look in societies eyes.

   It makes me think that we MUST put our foot down and stand up for ourselves and if we need to change careers, professions, positions, etc. then we MUST.  Let's stand together in opposition of the continuous oppression of our people.  Even though society is accustomed to viewing us in these roles, we as Latinos should agree not to participate. The portrayal of Latinos as ridiculous, loud, dumb, funny, exotic and childlike characters must stop.  Following are a few titles featuring offensive portrayals of Latinos that I have seen over the years:  

• Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986, Bette Midler and Nick Nolte)
• Maid in Manhattan (2002, Jennifer Lopez, Ralph Fiennes)
• Crash (2004, Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle) 
• The Proposal (2009, Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds)