Dear Mexican: I am a half-breed, and recently I’ve been reading a lot about the drug violence in Mexico. I’ve become increasingly disturbed by the way in which we Americans are directly contributing to this war by supplying the demand for drugs while still making it illegal to possess them. My boyfriend is confident the stuff he smokes comes from California, or someplace “local.” What are the odds that the “quality” stuff he is smoking is not in some way contributing to the Mexican drug cartels? | Worried I’m a Hypocrite


Dear Gabacha: Hard to say. A 2009 finding by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy estimated more than 60 percent of Mexican drug cartels’ $13.8 billion revenue in 2006 came from marijuana – but the White House is as trustworthy on drug stats as a Mexican is with safekeeping a bottle of Herradura. What both sides acknowledge is that the relaxing of U.S. marijuana laws has led to a boom in domestic production that is eating directly into the cartels’ profits, leading to more narcos shifting production from Mexico. If you’re concerned about where your weed comes from, just do what acolytes of farmers markets do: Buy local. 


What I would like to know is, why, as Latinos, we never have agencies like MALDEF, which claim to serve the need of Hispanics whose rights have been violated in some way, come up to the plate and actually do heavy talking like Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson?Right now, with so much shit being thrown at us Latinos, we need someonewe can count on to be our voice in the media. | Aztlán Broadcasting Company


Dear ABC: Networks still think we’re a bunch of banditos. The solution: Make your own media, cabrones. The alphabet organizations, MALDEF (Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund) and NCLR (National Council of La Raza) do good work on the local level, ensuring equity in school and work, but fail on a national level because they’re good liberals instead of the chingón radicals. A survey earlier this year showing the brown-out on our nation’s Sunday-morning political talk shows from March to May of this year, only five out of 234 guests on FOX News Sunday, Face the Nation, This Week and Meet the Press were “Hispanic” – and I’m pretty certain all of them were the Mexican’s amigo, Ruben Navarrette, Jr.!