Cholos and Surfers

In Jack Lopez's personal article entitled Of Cholos and Surfers he explored the idea of a Latino male child who wished that he could become a surfer in East L.A. In this article the speaker had a favorite surfer magazine that he loved reading, entitled Surfer Quarterly. This magazine was the typical magazine that all the surfers would read and would have a subscription to. For the speaker to get this magazine was a big deal to him since he always wanted to become a surfer. It was also a big deal for the speaker to have the magazine in the eyes of the Latino community of East L.A. When the speaker went out to purchase the newest edition of Surfer Quarterly, his father and a Latino male who was working at the register were making fun of surfers and the surfer magazine. They were making fun of the surfer magazine because they do not accept surfers in their community. They do not understand and respect surfers because that was the way that they were brought up. Even though this magazine had a deep spiritual meaning to the speaker his father still mocked it. As a father he should have accepted the fact that his son wanted to be a surfer. This just proved that the barrier between Latino and surfers was huge. When people in the neighborhood saw the speaker with the magazine they visioned him as a typical surfer, with Bermuda shorts, flip flops, and a t-shirt. In his neighborhood they saw surfers as inferior citizens when compared to the Latino community. Even if the surfers were in fact of Spanish decent, like the speaker, and wanted to surf the Spanish community would still look down on them as if they were not one of them. One example of this is when the speaker walked down the street one day when a "cholo'' who wore ''typical cholo clothes", a wool cap, a long  Sir Guy shirt with only the top button buttoned and baggy khaki pants, tried to fight the speaker just because he was dressed like a surfer. It wasn't until the speaker said that he was a Mexican that the cholo accepted him as one of his own and walked away from the fight. Another time when surfers or non Latinos were discriminated against was when a kid was stabbed and killed because he wasn't colored. This further proved that the Latino population believed that their race is higher up in the social pyramid than non-colored people. This is wrong and messed up, the Latino picking a fight with someone because he is not of the same race as him, or because he is wearing something different or for just being different. Once they can finally accept the fact that everyone is equal they can work together to make East L.A and the rest of the world a better place for everyone. The surf magazine was truly an cultural artifact to resemble surfers and how they are seen as by the community around them. This magazine is like a cosmetic magazine for a beauty paler, it resembles them as someone who deeply cares about their beauty. This article just shows that you can't judge a book by its cover, because you never know how they are under neath.