Cheer Up Charlies
Not the "Best" Representation
RECEIVED Wed., Nov. 16, 2016
Dear Editor,
According to Austin's website, about 35% of the population is Hispanic. Of the hundreds of entries in the Chron's “Best of,” [Nov. 11] less than 3% represented Latinx community members, and part of that comes from the (deserved) bashing of Art Acevedo.
I think y'all did the city's Latinx residents a disservice with the 2016 guide! In food, between readers and critics, you only mention two of the dozens of wonderful Mexican-American and Latinx immigrant-owned restaurants in Austin. I don't think it's readers' faults; you had a “Best Patio,” but didn't distinguish between best Tex-Mex and best taqueria (which, let's face it, are different things.)
“Nightlife” didn't have a category like “Best Ranchera Bar” or “Best Mexican Dance Club” despite there being three to choose from on Riverside alone. I didn't notice a single Latinx-owned business in the Nightlife section, though perhaps I missed it. The Media section includes Spanish-language radio, missing a chance to recognize Spanish print publications.
Besides GAVA, there is little focusing on Latinx individuals represented in your Services, Politics, or Media sections, despite the fact that y'all invented titles to make sure to recognize certain groups. There are inspiring people of color in the Politics section, and it's great you recognized them, but I think you left off important voices. There are great entertainers in Arts & Entertainment, yet only one out of more than 20 has anybody with a Latinx last name.
I know y'all care about discrimination, because y'all publish challenging pieces on gentrification. That's important, but so is recognizing the individuals it affects. Thanks to my awesome wife and job, the Austin I know is almost entirely Latinx. Yet I saw almost none of that in 2016's “Best.” I hope next year has more categories representing the Austin I know.
According to Austin's website, about 35% of the population is Hispanic. Of the hundreds of entries in the Chron's “Best of,” [Nov. 11] less than 3% represented Latinx community members, and part of that comes from the (deserved) bashing of Art Acevedo.
I think y'all did the city's Latinx residents a disservice with the 2016 guide! In food, between readers and critics, you only mention two of the dozens of wonderful Mexican-American and Latinx immigrant-owned restaurants in Austin. I don't think it's readers' faults; you had a “Best Patio,” but didn't distinguish between best Tex-Mex and best taqueria (which, let's face it, are different things.)
“Nightlife” didn't have a category like “Best Ranchera Bar” or “Best Mexican Dance Club” despite there being three to choose from on Riverside alone. I didn't notice a single Latinx-owned business in the Nightlife section, though perhaps I missed it. The Media section includes Spanish-language radio, missing a chance to recognize Spanish print publications.
Besides GAVA, there is little focusing on Latinx individuals represented in your Services, Politics, or Media sections, despite the fact that y'all invented titles to make sure to recognize certain groups. There are inspiring people of color in the Politics section, and it's great you recognized them, but I think you left off important voices. There are great entertainers in Arts & Entertainment, yet only one out of more than 20 has anybody with a Latinx last name.
I know y'all care about discrimination, because y'all publish challenging pieces on gentrification. That's important, but so is recognizing the individuals it affects. Thanks to my awesome wife and job, the Austin I know is almost entirely Latinx. Yet I saw almost none of that in 2016's “Best.” I hope next year has more categories representing the Austin I know.
Zach Lindsey
["Best of Austin" Editor Brandon Watson responds: While I certainly believe that everyone in the media (including us) can do a better job of recognizing the diversity of the communities we cover, I don't believe that doing so is simply a matter of tallying up the surnames in our "Best of" issue. I'm not interested in competitive wokeness, but I would challenge you to not assume heritage by name or type of business and to not erase the many contributions that the Latinx community made to the organizations and businesses we awarded – and indeed to the issue itself. I'm sure we both can agree that media diversity isn't just a matter of what is told, but in who gets to do the telling. There's always more work to be done, especially in the current political climate, but I don't think anything is accomplished by being reductive.]
