Alexsandra Annello: Brownface & White Privilege

City Rep Alexsandra Annello made some controversial and racially charged statements about Latinas on a recent online candidate forum with Black El Paso Voices. This is gonna be a long one, but its worth it because its enlightening to know where our elected officials, especially the white ones, stand on issues of race. So, walk with me…

The exchange came near the end of the forum when the candidates were given an opportunity to ask one another a question. Incumbent Annello faces her former staffer and long-time city employee Judy Gutierrez and another candidate who was not present. 

For the sake of really understanding what transpired, I’m gonna break down the video into bite-size portions for some analysis. Click here to watch the entire forum. If you want to watch that specific exchange, you can just jump to around 49:20 of the video. 

Annello prefaces her question by saying that Gutierrez is “using literature thats directly pointed at” Annello saying Gutierrez is “the only Latina candidate” and that “our words have consequences”. I’d like you to take a mental screenshot of that phrase, our words have consequences, because it will come into play later. 

Following that statement, Annello said she “would like to know how that statement is applied to the black community and candidates that want to run that are not Latina women.”

If you don’t understand the question, you aren’t the only one. But don’t worry, Annello has quite the condescending response for anyone unclear about the question. I’ll try to untangle what she was asking for those of you that didn’t quite get it. 

Annello, an east coast white woman of privilege, basically tried to pit a lifelong El Pasoan who proudly mentions her heritage against the black community as though being proud of being Latina is somehow a knock on someone else. 

Seriously, that is the most white-people crap I’ve ever heard. Leave it to white people to try to pit brown and black against one another for their political advantage. And there’s no other way to describe what Annello was doing in that line of questioning. 

Quite frankly, the entire premise of the question is racist. What Annello is really saying is that she doesn’t like that a Latina is running against her and that the Latina is factually stating that she’s Latina. 

Don’t believe me? Just watch Annello’s facial expressions and demeanor during the entire exchange. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. 

But Gutierrez, like many people, wasn’t sure she understood the question and asked how Gutierrez saying she was Latina affected the black community. Especially because Gutierrez isn't even running against an African-American. Annello jumped on that by giving one of the most condescending answers to a question this side of the time Dee Margo called the Border Wall a “Freedom Fence”. 

I don’t think I can recall a single incident in the many years I have covered local politics where a white candidate so clearly tried to pit to minority groups against one another. 

Hell, I’ve never even seen Republicans in El Paso do that!

Gutierrez didn’t really respond very strongly, probably because it was such a strange question. But Gutierrez has made the point, much like mayoral candidate Veronica Carbajal does frequently, that she’s Latina candidate and that a Latina hasn’t represented that seat in over 20 years. We are 85% of the population, so of course its significant that a Latina hasn't represented that seat in over 20 years. 

The fact that Annello is offended by that is because as a white woman she doesn’t understand how much identity means to people of color. She’s never been pulled over because she’s black, because she’s not. She’s never been pulled over for going to slow or “cruising” because of being brown, because she’s not. No one has ever followed her around a store thinking she was gonna steal something, because she's white. No one told her in school to speak English instead of Spanish - because she was never in that environment. So of course she doesn’t understand the importance in minority communities for the first African-American this, first Latina that, etc. 

Why? Because she’s white and doesn’t know barriers like women of color do. 

So when Gutierrez asked to clarify the question posed to her by Annello and questioned what impact Gutierrez’s pride in being Latina has on the black community - when they are no African-American candidates in her race to begin with - Annello very condescendingly says that she thinks Gutierrez answers the question by not understanding. 

Ah yes, please white woman…lecture us dumb Mexicans on race relations because we don’t understand race….

Thats sarcasm on my part for those of you that didn’t understand. 

Here’s that portion of the exchange and Annello incredibly tries to make the argument that Gutierrez who is running against a white woman and a Latino, is somehow saying she’s a better candidate than a black candidate (there are no black candidates in the race) because she’s Latina. Quite frankly, she’s insulting the black community by making them the surrogate for what she’s really upset about…that she’s white and running against a Latina candidate. 

But lets pull over real quick. Remember earlier I told you to take a mental screenshot of Annello’s comment about our words have consequences? I said it would come in to play later, and this is where it comes into play. Lets rewind for a second and focus on a comment that Annello makes not once, but twice about Latina candidates. 

Roll the tape…

Annello clearly has an issue with Latina candidates, which is weird in a town like El Paso when you have so many women leaders that happened to be, well, Latina. She repeatedly mentioned Latina candidates are "put over other candidates". 

You know who does that?

Voters. 

So while she’s asking Gutierrez what is the impact on the black community when Gutierrez says she’s the only Latina running in a particular race, I think the more important question is what is Annello saying about Latinas that have won races and been elected leaders in our community. Lets run down a list of just current elected officials that are Latina, shall we?:

Congresswoman Escobar

State Rep Lina Ortega

State Rep Mary Gonzalez

State Rep-Elect Claudia Ordaz Perez

El Paso County Democratic Party Chairwoman Dora Oaxaca

County Attorney Jo Ann Bernal

El Paso County Clerk Delia Briones

El Paso District Clerk Norma Favela

City Representative Cassandra Hernandez

City Representative Claudia Rodriguez

City Representative Sissy Lizarraga

Several County and District Court Judges

A couple of members of Canutillo ISD

Trustee Kathryn Lucero from YISD

One from SISD

Trustees Licon and Garcia of SEISD

A couple form Fabens ISD

Most of Tornillo ISD

Thats not even counting incoming Latina leaders and former office holders. 

So is she saying they only won their elections because they are Latina, or that they shouldn’t be office holders because they are Latina? Which one, because I’m not clear. 

There’s a whole sisterhood of brown women who worked hard to get where they got and Annello just gave them all a massive cachetada. 

And the worst part of it all is the fact that Annello actually traffics in political brownface. 

Political Brownface

Annello is often referred to by some of her allies as Uh-nay-yo, a Spanish pronunciation of her name. I’ve seen it multiple times on city council, usually from City Rep Hernandez and I have never once - not once - seen Annello correct anyone when they pronounce it that way. Now, in the video you can see that Gutierrez, Annello’s former staffer, used the word “we” when referring to the pronunciation of Annello’s last name like its Spanish, when referring to an effort to court Latino support. I don’t know if she’s implying that using that pronunciation was a directive or a conversation had with official or campaign staff, but I do know that I haven’t seen Annello correct anyone that uses the Spanish translation. 

She’s very happy to let it go uncorrected. And that is not only cultural appropriation, its political brownface. 

Our culture isn’t something you can put on and take off when its convenient or politically expedient. She might say she never pronounces her name that way, but I haven’t seen her stop other people from doing so, which means she happily accepts it when people will mistake her for a Latina. 

But she takes issue when an actual Latina makes a statement of fact, that she’s a Latina. Is raza not supposed to be proud of our cultural heritage when it comes to a campaign because Annello is white and thinks its not fair?

That’s some real white privilege going on right there. That kind of entitlement has no place in El Paso politics. 

Our words have consequences, indeed. 

I think Rep Annello should apologize to every Latina elected official in town for her statements - and more importantly, to voters and her constituents. 

Even the brown ones.