What is a frijolero? and what is that word doing in a pinche gringo document like this one?
A frijolero (in English, beaner) is a Mexican, Mexican-American, or in fact any brown-skinned person of any nationality who comes from—or whose parents or grandparents came from—south of El Río Bravo del Norte (in English, Rio Grande) whether or not that person utilizes beans as a primary protein source.
For frijolero scholars, I cite lyrics from the song “Frijolero” by the Mexican group Molotov:
No me llames frijolero
pinche gringo puñetero.
Don’t call me beaner,
you fucking gringo pudthumper.
(The contents of this website are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the U.S. government or of the Peace Corps.)
If I understand correctly my role as a Peace Corps volunteer, one of my primary goals during my two years of service will be to learn to pass for a frijolero or at least to behave among frijoleros in a manner that will less and less frequently provoke in frijoleros fits of helpless laughter.
And so I freely admit it—I'm no frijolero; not even a beaner wannabee. I’m only borrowing the name for a couple of years. Don’t forget: we call the Rio Grande—the very river which frijoleros would be forbidden to cross—by a Spanish name.
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