Emphasize This

I know, I know, it's late...so late in fact that in less than an hour, today's paper will be yesterday's, but I've been so engrossed in the John Lennon biography I've been reading that I decided to put off my post. However, this morning as I rubbed my groggy eyes and got ready for work, a little tidbit jumped out at me from the front page of the B section.

In Gail Rosenblum's article about Darcy Fox, a rape survivor and advocate for victims of sexual assault, Rosenblum writes, "It is extremely important to Fox that I emphasize a few things: First, the attacks occurred on their four-star, all inclusive resort. Second, the 20-something man who hit on her, then drugged her beer when she rebuffed his advances, was American, not Mexican."

I don't mean to undermine Fox's advocacy or achievements, but I have to ask--why does Rosenblum have to "emphasize" that the attacker was not Mexican? At first, I wanted to give both Fox and Rosenblum the benefit of the doubt and conclude that they wanted to nip in the bud any reactionary, racist statements generalizing Mexican men as rapists that might have surfaced if not for this qualification. However, after I reread the paragraph, I saw that there was no doubt that this was not their intent.

Look at it again: "The attacks occurred on their four-star, all inclusive resort," as opposed to a seedy motel, where you'd expect date-rape to take place. This part of the message is laudable--don't take your safety for granted; date-rape can happen anywhere. However, the second part is rather cringe-worthy. It says, "even that nice white tourist in khaki shorts with the digital SLR camera strapped around his neck can rape you," as if rape perpetrated by non-white Mexican locals is par for the course. It says, American is to Mexican as four-star resort is to grungy flophouse with cockroaches embedded in the frayed shag carpeting.

I point this out not because I think it's politically incorrect, or because it's offensive (although it is the latter), but because it neatly perpetrates the tired stereotype of the "dirty" Mexican. And while there are undoubtedly some people--namely, people who buy into this stereotype and live in sheltered suburbia--who need to be told that the nice white guy who buys you your margarita is just as, if not more, likely to rape you as the Mexican who sells you a michelada on the street, I don't think it is necessary to "emphasize" her attacker's nationality. The implied racism, however ambiguous, undercuts Fox's real message. The focus here should be on her advocacy for better care for rape victims in Anoka County. But for this reader, the ham-handed "He was American! Really!" aside is entirely distracting.

Maybe I'm not giving Fox and Rosenblum enough credit--maybe they did intend to be diplomatic with this statement. I just think that if that's the case, it could have been stated in a clearer, more thoughtful way.