Chevy's Fresh Mex - oxymoron or oxymoronic?

As a Tejana deeply rooted in the cultural landscape of South Texas, I have found my transplant to the Midwest to be...painful, to put it mildly. A recent example of my sense of "out of placeness" as a conscious Chicana/Tejana in the great white Midwest:

A few days ago, famished from a surprisingly productive day at the office, my partner and I decided hastily to eat dinner at "Chevy's Fresh Mex." Well aware of the fact that merely stepping into any establishment with the term "Fresh Mex" in it would merit the immediate revocation of our Chicana/o licenses, we reluctantly decided to pursue our curiosity, thinking "How bad could it be?" I soon found out just how bad it could be...

First off, upon entering what could be best described as the "Mexican Chili's," it became obvious that we were the only people of color in a sea of white Midwesterners who were either college students from the local flagship state institution, or locals (whose uniform often consists of thin cotton turtlnecks, wool vests, circa 1985 light wash denim jeans and snow boots...oh, and an overall "hearty Midwestern" physique). To the rhythms of upbeat salsa music (mind you, this is a purportedly "Mexican" restaurant), we were seated by the perkiest white (probably college student) hostess and soon after greeted by an even perkier white (probably college student) waitress. After placing my order, I began to examine my surroundings only to be accosted (not surprisingly) by the offensive "decorations" that hung along the ceiling and walls. As if the larger than life Cinco de Mayo banner displaying a "sexy Latina" sipping a margarita wasn't bad enough, I noticed framed sepia photos of indigent Mexicanos from around the early 1900's...the backdrop for white customers partaking in menu items such as "El Flavinator" and fresh tortillas made straight off of "El Machino," or tortilla making machine so innovative that it maintains Chevy's registered copyright. But the culturally insensitive moment that really made my jaw drop (and believe me, coming from the "Tex-Mex Disneyland" of San Antonio...this is hard to do), was the birthday acknowledgment offered to Chevy's customers. Led by the shaking of maracas, a group of approximately five wait staff members chant a birthday jingle (which I have apparently repressed as I can't remember how it went), after which the birthday boy/girl is fitted with a sombrero that they are to wear for the duration of their meal. The saddest part of it all? The staff song and dance was led by a Latino. And my partner wonders why I got drunk and beligerent that night...

But the even sadder part of the spectacle that was our night at Chevy's Fresh Mex, was the presence of the one inmigrante Mexicano bussing tables and wiping the bar...the hardest working person in the establishment and, no doubt, the lowest paid. What did he think about the circus of an establishment that makes light of, misrepresents, and commodifies who he is as a Mexicano just trying to get by in this white, foreign social setting...one that remains foreign and oppressive even to me, a third generation Tejana/American. Then I thought, he probably doesn't even have time to "ponder" issues of "cultural commodification" and what spaces like Chevy's say about mainstream U.S. society's total disregard and disrespect for its largest minority group. In this economy, he's probably just happy to have a job.

Perhaps one of the most profound explications on the condition of the Mexicano/a in the U.S. came from a Mexicana waitress at a locally owned Mexican restaurant who described the Mexicano/a community in this Midwestern town by stating, "Estamos aqui, pero no nos vemos." "We're here, but we don't see each other." In other words, we are here, but we are not visible...to each other or to mainstream society. Latinos in the U.S. are only visible as laborers - landscapers, cooks, nannys even - but not as equal members of society. Mainstream (read: white) America is fine and dandy when we're serving them, making their lives more comfortable - when we "do your lawns to make you look pretty" in the words of El Vez. But when we have any presence of equality or authority, we become a threat - a threat to the "comfort zone" of white privilege. If we become "visible" members of society - social equals - then they are forced to "see" the invisible brown laborers who make up the very (material) fabric of our society. But merely acknowledging the inhumane cultural oppression of Latinos in this society makes mainstream white Americans feel "uncomfortable." Good thing they've got places like Chevy's Fresh Mex, where offensive cultural stereotypes become cultural "comfort food," served up with a sombrero and a smile.