Central American Studies

Public Statement

The Central American Studies Program
at California State University, Northridge 

To whom it may concern: 

We want to call attention to an email sent to artist Regina Jose Galindo by a person herein called Vincent Lalo. Vincent Lalo sent the email to the Guatemalan artist after she gave a lecture on her work at California State University, Northridge, on Friday, November 14, 2014. The email is cited here in its entirety:

Regina, watching your "show" today made me sick. Guatemala is a grotesque third world country with not one year of democracy in its history, which means that you are in NO position to teach us how to see the world through your grotesquely warped mind. You do not deserve to be in this country, but a superior and very tolerant American people is allowing you to do what you do. In your own country, factoring in the reversals, "you would have been executed a long time ago".

The reason for sharing such correspondence is twofold: to repudiate the email sent to Guatemalan artist Regina José Galindo and voice our respect, defense, and admiration for her work and ideas, and secondly, to raise awareness on the various misconceptions seeded in racism and to face the challenge of working—at every moment, in everything we do, wherever we are—to help create a more informed, sensible and understanding society. 

While this email that was sent, that was received, that is here shared, may not be representative of a general mindset in the United States, the message is telling and symptomatic of an increasing racial tension felt in this country towards Central Americans. Racial tensions of different kinds are being felt elsewhere. 

Why are these feelings, aggressive to say the least, towards cultural difference emerging more and more? What is it that we can do within the art field and in our own communities to help lessen and hopefully abolish these racial tensions? How can we work strategically, whether individually and collectively, to identify sources, cases, and also solutions to this?