Point of View:
By Steve Rodriguez

    Do you lay awake at night wondering if the U.S. government will ever find a solution capable of pleasing all sides of the immigration debate? Do you find the new Arizona law disturbing?  Are you the kind of person that worries about the exploitation of illegal Mexican laborers working for sub-minimum wages? Do you grow frustrated tuning into the T.V news broadcasts only to watch the same old stock T.V footage of Mexican immigrants scaling border fences or scampering along desert paths to elude the border patrol? 

    The immigration issue certainly is imposing enough to cause high anxiety for concerned U.S citizens. But if you are one of these concerned citizens, then worry no more for there is a salve available to sooth your anxiety. I suggest you turn off the news broadcasts and tune into the NBC prime time series Friday Night Lights (Fridays at 8:00 pm). Watching this show will make you forget all about any Mexican illegal immigration problem in the Southwest. In fact, watching this series will convince you there are no Mexicans whatsoever in the Southwest (or at least in Texas). You can then go through life in a more carefree manner, pleasantly oblivious to all the problems connected to the immigration controversy.

    The show Friday Night Lights tells the story of life in the small Texas town of Dillon as seen through the eyes of a high school football coach, his family, his team, and the local town folk. As many sports fans know, Texans love their high school football, and the show does a great job of displaying the emotion created by this peculiar phenomenon. The show is also effective in detailing the social tensions existing in the town—the different social classes, student cliques, parents, businesses and organizations. This year the show has focused on the dramatic difference between the two sides of town, one side consisting of a large African-American population that must be won over by the football coach recently reassigned to that side’s high school.   

    Yet, the series continues to ignore one important element of the town—the Mexican population.  In spite of the setting—smack dab in the middle of Texas—the show fails to acknowledge the existence of this ethnic group. This season none of the major characters are Mexican.  In fact, none of the characters are Mexican! Apparently, the scriptwriters want us to believe the fictional town of Dillon is the only place in Texas that hasn’t felt the influence of Mexican immigration, not to mention the centuries-old history of Texas.

    Such a detail is all the more stunning considering the show takes place in the home state of the Dallas Cowboys. Perhaps the show’s scriptwriters failed to take note of the fact that the quarterback for the Cowboys happens to be Tony Romo—a Mexican-American!

    It appears the scriptwriters were not swayed in their thinking about the influence of Mexicans in Texas even after reading the original non-fiction book Friday Night Lights; in this book (from which the T.V series and the 2004 feature-length movie were based) the team was led by a quarterback named Brian Chavez, a student who later graduated from Harvard University.

    Though I resent the absence of Mexicans on Friday Night Lights I will continue to watch the show primarily for two reasons. First, I am a big fan of high school football and the show does succeed in effectively portraying the drama found at this level of competition. Second, I am hoping the show will eventually acknowledge my ability to handle the details of our nation’s harsh reality. I understand Hollywood’s desire to protect viewers from the tension of such a contentious issue as illegal immigration, and I know the scriptwriters’ habit of erasing any evidence of Mexicans in the Southwest is in all likelihood their attempt to ease my related anxiety. But I contend I am mature enough to handle the complications associated with the existence of Mexicans (both legal and illegal) in the United States. So bring it on scriptwriters. Give me a character named Sanchez at defensive end or maybe an overzealous parent named Gomez on the school’s PTA. I’m a big boy!  I can take it. Those Mexicans don’t scare me.