Introducing the Rednexican

In the fall of 2010, Alex Reymundo, a Mexican-American comedian and actor, introduced me to a term that I had never heard before — “red-nexican.”[1] According to the urban dictionary, a rednexican is “a Mexican with Redneck tendencies” or “the co-mingling of a Redneck and a Mexican that occurs in rural areas.”[2] In a television broadcast of his latest comedy DVD, filmed live in the American heartland city of St. Joseph, Missouri, Reymundo illustrated just what it means to be a “red-nexican” during his performance.[3] Reymundo is a self-styled “red-nexican.” He was born in Acapulco, Mexico and lived there until he and his family moved to the United States.[4] For the last seven years, Reymundo has lived in Kentucky. He is currently married and has two children that he refers to as his “little hick-spanics” because their mother is from Kentucky.[5] What is interesting about Reymundo (and his comedy act) is that he shows Americans a different side of the Latino experience in America.

While Reymundo’s “red-nexican” may be a new cultural phenomenon, Alex Reymundo is not new to American comedy. Reymundo, along with comedians George Lopez, Cheech Marin, Joey Medina and Paul Rodriguez, was one of the original Latin Kings of Comedy.[6] In addition, Reymundo’s film credits include Joey Medina’s 2003 film “El Matador” and Pixar’s animated feature “Cars.”[7] Alex Reymundo also had a one-hour comedy special on the cable network, Comedy Central, in 2007 called Alex Reymundo Hick-Spanic: Live in Albuquerque. Reymundo subsequently received an ALMA Award in 2008 for “Outstanding Comedy Special.”[8] Currently, Reymundo is opening up for Ron “Tater Salad” White (his brother in law), the comedian best known for his work with The Blue Collar Comedy Tour.[9]

Reymundo’s phrase “hick-spanic” is much like his “red-nexican” in that it describes an identity that is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural. The urban dictionary defines hickspanic as being a “cross of a Hispanic person who grew up in a rural hick town. A Hispanic person who has hick tendencies. A hickspanic sporting a rebel flag on their truck. Also a Hispanic person who knows “Dixie” by heart.”[10] This multicultural and multiethnic identity is interesting because it is not a Latino identity that is often represented in popular American culture. There have been cultural studies explorations of the “pachuco” identity of the 1930’s and 1940’s and the subsequent “Chicano” identity that evolved from Mexican-Americans in the 1960’s.[11] However, for the most part, these Latino identities have largely been urban identities. In addition, the geography of these identities has, for the most part, been limited to California, New York, or the greater Southwest. Until Reymundo’s “red-nexican” and “hick-spanic,” there have been no Latino identities from the American South. It is the connection to the American South that makes the “red-nexican” such an interesting phenomenon.

While some might argue that Reymundo’s “red-nexican” is just a cultural anomaly, “red-nexican” and “hick-spanic” identities will likely become much more common in America’s future. There are nearly 51 million Americans who claim Latino or Hispanic heritage in the United States. In addition, most Southern states have experienced nearly a 100% increase in Hispanic and Latino populations over the last ten years. This suggests that if the current population trends continue, there will be many more “red-nexicans” and “hick-spanics” in America’s future.[12] However, the fact that there are many more Latinos and Hispanics moving to the American South and becoming “red-nexicans” and “hick-spanics” is not, in and of itself, important. The important question is “what are the factors in American culture that contribute to the genesis of this American identity?”

Christina Gillham’s article, “Doughnut Hole Country” in Newsweek gives us clues as to why this “red-nexican” identity may be forming in America’s heartland. In the article, Gillham interviews Patrick J. Carr and Maria J. Kefalas, the authors of the book Hollowing Out The Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means For America.[13] Gillham reports that one of the Carr and Kefalas’ solutions to help revitalize rural communities is to bring in immigrant populations. In the interview, Kefalas claims that all over the rural South and Midwest, immigrants are “rapidly transforming these communities and keeping their schools open, keeping companies going, keeping Main Street alive, keeping churches alive.”[14] Kefalas goes on to add that “folks understand — and certainly governors all over the region understand — the power of these folks to transform aging and demographically vulnerable communities.”[15]

In Hollowing Out The Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means For America, Carr and Kefalas claim that small towns should seek to embrace immigration whenever possible because immigration has the potential to transform local economies.[16] However, merely immigrating to these small towns is not enough. According to Carr and Kefalas, the immigrants must be integrated into the community in order to promote and facilitate contact between natives and immigrants.[17] While the trends in immigration to small town America suggest that there is an economic dimension to this “red-nexican” and “hick-spanic”phenomenon, it is the contact between natives and immigrants, the degree in which the immigrant populations are integrated into the community that produces what Alex Reymundo calls “red-nexicans” and “hick-spanics.”

It is in the realms of culture and not economics that the immigrant to small town America becomes a “red-nexican.” Alex Reymundo is one of the 25% of Latinos and Hispanics who marry outside of their ethnicity.[18] In addition, many of the 25% of those who marry outside of their ethnicity marry white or “Caucasian” spouses.[19] While the statistical analyses do not make any geographic or population distinctions, it is safe to assume that in areas without a large Hispanic or Latino population and without a vibrant Latino or Hispanic culture that multi-ethnic and multi-cultural relationships would not only be possible but would be probable. In addition, there is less economic stratification based on income (no affluent suburbs or upper class enclaves) in small town America so the various social classes share common social spaces as well. In addition, culturally, the small town American South is one place where Latinos and Hispanics can assimilate well.

While the rednecks from the South have often been vilified as xenophobic racists, it is fairly easy to assimilate into their culture as long as those who seek assimilation are willing to go along with the redneck ethos. United States Senator, Jim Webb (D-Virginia) illustrated this point in his book Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. According to Webb, the Scots-Irish are the dominant ethnic group of the South, however, they refuse to see themselves as being ethnic because of their commitment to their individualism. Webb contends that the Scots-Irish are not likely to put an ethnic label on themselves (they are “Americans”) and most of them don’t even know their ethnic label. Therefore, the Scots-Irish culture of the South is a culture that is not grounded in “blood.” According to Webb, it is such a populist and assimilative culture; other ethnic groups have gravitated toward it.[20] If this is the case and we are to accept Webb’s argument at face value, one must ask, “What is it about this culture that causes Latinos and Hispanics to gravitate toward it?”

One of the most prominent similarities between the two cultures is the hyper masculinity of the redneck and the Mexican macho. In “Carne, carnales, and the Carnivalesque: Bahktinian ‘batos,’ Disorder, and Narrative Discourses,” Jose Limon writes, “The Mexican macho is a humorist who commits chingaderas, that is, unforeseen acts that produce confusion, horror, and destruction. He opens the world; in doing so, he rips and tears it, and this violence provokes a great sinister laugh. The humor of the macho is an act of revenge.”[21] In many ways, Limon’s chingaderas is remarkably similar to the discourse that one might find within the cultural space of redneck masculinities. Gail Sweeney discusses this in “The King of White Trash Culture,” a chapter in the book, White Trash: Race and Class in America. For Sweeney, “carnival is a place of laughter, bad taste, loud and irreverent music, parody, free speech, bodily functions, eating and feasting, a place where excess is glorified.”[22] Sweeney goes on to paraphrase the literary theorist, Mikhail Bahktin when she writes:

the carnivalesque inhabits the space that counters and subverts institutions of authority and repression, the dominant hegemonies of Church, State, and, in capitalist democracies Industry. The pleasures of the carnival are subordinate pleasures: unruly and lower class, vulgar, undisciplined. During carnival, the working class are not working; they are out of their place and out of line.[23]

According to Sweeney, the white trash or redneck identity that is most commonly associated with the American South is not just an ethnic identity within the larger category of whiteness, but is also an identity grounded in social class. Because the Mexican macho and the redneck likely would occupy the same social class and use similar discursive practices, over time, a Latino or Hispanic assimilation into the more prominent redneck culture would be likely. One can see traces of this assimilation in the “Texicans” of Texas. However, because there is such a vibrant Latino and Hispanic culture in Texas, the assimilation is a much more subtle one than one might encounter in Alabama or Mississippi.

This Latino or Hispanic assimilation into the rural South is the basis for Alex Reymundo’s next project. According to his biography, Reymundo has inked a development deal with Showtime. Under the agreement, Reymundo is to star in a comedy series called “Hick-Spanic.”[24] Loosely based on Reymundo’s life, “Hick-Spanic” is a situation comedy that focuses on a male character of Mexican descent to be played by Reymundo) and his blonde-haired, blue-eyed hillbilly wife. The family lives in a small Kentucky town with their two children and their extended family.[25] While Reymundo’s new project is clearly a case of art imitating his life, the larger phenomenon of the “red-nexican” in American culture clearly suggests that Reymundo’s “Hick-Spanic” will be a project that imitates part of the future of American life as well.

[1] Reymundo, Alex. Red-Nexican. DVD. Directed by Scott Montova. 2009. Image Entertainment.

[2] “Urban Dictionary.” http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=redneck%20mexican&page=2.

[3] Reymundo, Alex. Red-Nexican. DVD. Directed by Scott Montova. 2009. Image Entertainment.

[4] “Alex Reymundo’s Biography.” New York Times, May 4, 2009. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/1122245/Alex-Reymundo/biography.

[5] Reymundo, Alex. Hick-Spanic!. . Directed by Scott Montova. 2007. Image Entertainment.

[6] Reymundo, Alex. www.alexreymundo.com.

[7] Internet Movie Database. “Alex Reymundo.” www.imdb.com.

[8] Comedy Central. “Alex Reymundo Biography.” http://comedians.jokes.com/alex-reymundo/bio.

[9] Reymundo, Alex. www.alexreymundo.com.

[10] “Urban Dictionary.” http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Hickspanic.

[11] Sánchez-Tranquilino, M. Cultural Studies, ed. John Tagg. New York: Routledge, 1992.

[12] Humes, Karen, Nicholas Jones, and Roberto Ramirez. “Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010.” U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf.

[13] Gilliam, Christina. “Doughnut Hole Country.” Newsweek, October 30, 2009 http://www.newsweek.com/2009/10/29/doughnut-hole-country.html.

[14] Gilliam, Christina. “Doughnut Hole Country.” Newsweek, October 30, 2009 http://www.newsweek.com/2009/10/29/doughnut-hole-country.html.

[15] Gilliam, Christina. “Doughnut Hole Country.” Newsweek, October 30, 2009 http://www.newsweek.com/2009/10/29/doughnut-hole-country.html.

[16] Carr, Patrick, and Maria Kefalas. Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America. New York: Beacon Press, 2010.

[17] Carr, Patrick, and Maria Kefalas. Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America. New York: Beacon Press, 2010.

[18] Humes, Karen, Nicholas Jones, and Roberto Ramirez. “Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010.” U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf.

[19] Humes, Karen, Nicholas Jones, and Roberto Ramirez. “Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010.” U.S. Census Bureau. http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf.

[20] Webb, James. Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America. New York: Broadway, 2005.

[21] Limon, Jose E. “Carne, carnales, and the Carnivalesque: Bahktinian ‘batos,’ Disorder, and Narrative Discourses.” American Ethnologist 16, no. 3 (1989): 471–476. http://mitotedigital.org/mcallahan/pdfs/Limon_Carne_Carnales_Carnivalesque.pdf.

[22]Wray, Matt, and Annalee Newitz. White Trash: Race and Class in America. London: Routledge, 1997.

[23]Wray, Matt, and Annalee Newitz. White Trash: Race and Class in America. London: Routledge, 1997.

[24] Comedy Central. “Alex Reymundo Biography.” http://comedians.jokes.com/alex-reymundo/bio.

[25] Comedy Central. “Alex Reymundo Biography.” http://comedians.jokes.com/alex-reymundo/bio.