440 Irrational Fear.

by

The other day I got an email asking me why Mike & Jolene don’t ‘act like Mexicans’.  I had to think about it for a moment.  There are a few reasons, I guess.  Firstly, they aren’t.  They’re Americans.  Maybe their families came from there, but that doesn’t mean they have to act like stereotypes.  I’ve known a lot of Mexicans. (and Asians, but not many black people for whatever reason.)  Sure, some of them live up to the stereotypes, but others shatter them completely.  I come from a pretty diverse part of the country.  You get all kinds of people, and the like minded ones tend to gather together.  I don’t know, is my worldview abnormal?  Should Mike and Jo just run around in sombreros, drinking tequila?  That certainly doesn’t fit in with my life experiences.   

 

35 Comments

I thought Mike was Mexican, but Jolene? I thought she was either Italian or Middle Eastern…I’m not sure where I got he Italian vibe from, but she has this sort of European look to her I can’t shake.

I have this friend from Brazil Who looks almost exactly like Brooksie so I just see Brooksie as her. Except she has beautiful dreadlocks instead of blue hair. You should draw Brooksie with dreads.

Whee, de-lurk.

I thought Brooksie was a light-skinned black girl, myself. The blue hair probably just threw me. :)

She’d probably be adorable tipsy on tequila, too.

Well, I never really gave any thought to the races of your characters. I just thought they were interesting characters.

As a Hispanic American, who definitely doesn’t meet any race’s stereotypes, “Mexicans” is definitely not a word I look forward to being referred to as. I’m glad you just see us as American, because truthfully, that’s how we see ourselves. And people should be over the whole race thing, anyway.

But, I do enjoy tequila.

Yeah, I thought Brooksie was from India Indian descent.
And, no, just because someone comes from a particular racial heritage or descent doesn’t mean they have to act in a stereotypcial manner. Now, their experiences growing up might be different because of their skin color, thus influencing their perceptions of what it means to grow up American.

Huh, I kinda thought Brooksie might be of Asian descent. I”ve known girls in Asian/American families who ended up shy and with strong feelings about authority. (I’ve also known such girls who were much more rebellions, but hey.)

hmmm, i always thought mike might be mexican, but i had brooksie fingered for an east indian. Oh well, keep up the good work, i rely on your comics to get me through the work day.

To be honest I hadn’t considered the races of the characters once while reading through the archives. I’m from Oklahoma and to be honest, we have all the stereotypes in abundance. Fortunately none of your characters fit in them much at all. It’s a bit refreshing to find a comic that doesn’t much bother with social tropes :)

Actually, I hadn’t really thought about their races either, although when the (obviously) black customer showed up, I thought, “Hey, the only black person, and she’s kinda dense? (Or hopefully faking, lol)” Then I thought, “Hey, what’s Brooksie?” and I had no answer. A lot of Hispanic and Black people in the US could sometimes pass for other races, just given how diverse our backgrounds usually are. If she’s Mexican, she likely has European traits (Spanish and probably others), as well as Native American traits, and possibly more. But nowadays, you can’t always tell race just by looking at someone. I’ve known Asian guys who looked Hispanic, and Hispanic guys who looked Asian, and a girl who looked Black (and kinda acted it, too), but would get pissed if you called her that b/c she was Polynesian. And there are plenty of Black people who are actually lighter than some White people.

And most of the White people I knew in high school said I didn’t act Black, lol (even though I am). I KRRUSH you, stereotypes!

A very good friend of mine is Mexican. I’m not sure what generation American he is, but the only time his heritage really comes up is when he’ll do something like only have one beer and then lament “I’m a bad Mexican” (for not living up to stereotypes).

i never really thought much about the characters races before. i assumed mike was some sort of latin-american, but jolene not so much. dont know why exactly, but i thought she was middle-eastern for some reason. and i find that comment to be sort of offensive. i am latin american, but i dont look or act “mexican” my sister gets mistaken for being a black and asian mix all the time, but im moslty thought to be what i am. stereotypical ppl are one of my biggest pet peeves, since prejudice goes hand in hand with ignorance.:/ but hey, thats life i guess.

To be honest, stereotypical Mexicans, to me at least, are…well, BORING as characters. Call me a racists, but when you place a character as a stereotypical mexican/asian/blackguy/whiteguy, they have no real room for depth. Besides, why do all Mexicans have to be the same? I find the difference between Jo and Mike’s characters wonderful and the fact that their race plays such a little part is not a major factor.

Hmm.. I had never considered the races of your characters… Though, if I had to guess, I would probably hazard that Brooksie would be either of a southern European Spaniard descent, or a Native American… I have several friends who are Cherokee and Ojibwa who have a similar skin tone and man of them dye their hair for various reasons… Mike on the other hand… The two tone/curly hair and the portly gut would give the impression of a well fed Italian Man. Depending on where you go in the country, there are many men who have that exact physique and hair style/color.Either that or another Native American with the unfortunate gene that makes one not able to digest certain foods properly and therefore become overweight… It’s a real condition that a few folks in my family have…lol It’s a fairly rare recessive gene, but boy does it become obvious when someone has it…

I thought Brooksie was from India. Probably because of the blue hair, which is Japanese, and India is the closest place with dark people to Japan.

I have this to say… they’re of Mexican descent? I just chalked them up as generic Americans of a darker skin tone. I’ve met some blacks that could pass for their skin color, and I’ve met some Middle Easterners that could also pass for that skin color, so I didn’t care. Although, now that you mentioned it, someone will make some crack (probably not online) about Brooksie’s ninja skills that will somehow play into some stereotype.

Huh…I never even thought much about race in this. I just thought she liked having her skin tanned lol.

Brooksie’s latina?

I guess with a name like Brooks, it just didn’t occur to me.

She looks more middle eastern to me.

J.T. – If you want to get technical she’s half white.

I always thought Brooksie was of east indian roots, didn’t have Mike pegged but would have guessed maybe jamacian background, Nina looks like she got nordic in her, and Carol’s got the celtic look, he other guys are less distictive

I never thought they were mexican…
I thought Mike was black…and that Joe was just really tan.
epic fail on my part, apparently >_<

I think they should, I run around in sombreros drinking tequila. But I’m Jewish.
Also, I thought Jo was just really tan too… though thinking about it a bit more, I don’t see her being outside much. And I never really thought about mike as a real character at all :3

Wait, Jolene’s MEXICAN? I thought she was just unusually tan. XD

And how exactly do you expect a social recluse who practices the art of not being seen and spends her free time watching obscure movies, to acquire such an “unusual” tan?
Jo doesn’t really seem like the outgoing type.

I admit, I assumed Brooksie was black because I am black and have the exactly same name as her, lol

Good a reason as any.

I just recently saw a video featuring a Pakistani girl who looked so much like Jo it was crazy uncanny. Blue hair and all.

I wish i had thought at the time to grab a screencapture, but it slipped my mind until I was right here in my current re-read, and now I can’t find her again.

…
to be fair, it was on PornHub. They change and lose videos on a regular basis.

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