Radio Silence

May 1 is scheduled to be "A Day Without a Mexican," so named for the great-idea-lousy-execution 2004 movie in which Californians wake up one morning to find all the Mexicans simply vanished overnight. Some folks are also calling May 1 El Gran Paro Americano 2006 ("The Great American Boycott 2006")...

By Robert Wilonsky

April 21, 2006

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May 1 is scheduled to be "A Day Without a Mexican," so named for the great-idea-lousy-execution 2004 movie in which Californians wake up one morning to find all the Mexicans simply vanished overnight. Some folks are also calling May 1 El Gran Paro Americano 2006 ("The Great American Boycott 2006") or Un dia sin immigrante ("A day without an immigrant"), take yer pick. But whatever your brand name of choice, the intention is to prove to gringos that if you want your south-o'-the-border immigrants outta here, via HR4437, at the very least your house might get a little messy and your lawn might grow a little weedy a week from Monday.

I am not sure how this helps the cause, but Clear Channel-owned KEGL-FM (97.1, La Preciosa) will feature on May 1 an entire day without its on-air staff uttering a single word. In a press release sent out yesterday, on-air host Alex "El Genio" Lucas had this to say on the subject of not saying anything: "As the morning host for the La Preciosa Network, words are my life. But sometimes silence makes a bigger point. Many of our listeners will be observing 'A Day without a Mexican,' and our silence is a way of saying 'We hear you.'" I can't stress this enough: Every single time I turn on the radio, I wish it were A Day Without a White Person. --Robert Wilonsky

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