Jimmy Santiago Baca Satire

“Let them eat cake,” she said, just like Marie Antoinette. In Jimmy Santiago Baca’s emotionally-charged poem, “So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans,” he shows us in vivid detail how his people are living in poverty and scraping for pennies while the rich and powerful live on as if nothing is wrong in the rest of the world. It’s a portion of life that desperately needed attention called to it. Given what we know so far, how does this poem go about presenting this reality to the rest of the world? Baca’s satirical poem is, in my belief, simple in its message and yet complex in its message; from the author’s intentions to the story’s biting wit to its political commentary, “Mexicans” is a bold statement from somebody who has had enough. Baca,

Satire has been a prevalent feature of his works, and this particular one wouldn’t be as effective without it. A great example is how Baca described an “asthmatic” political leader with a “nest of wrinkles on his face” declaring to “flashing waves of lightbulbs [and] cameramen” that Mexicans stealing jobs is a major issue in today’s society. In reality, there are more pressing issues than a group of people supposedly wanting to take over your country that originally belonged to some other group of natives, but we don’t want to get too non-PC right now. Another interesting visual that Baca conjures up is the “millions and millions” of minorities struggling to survive “below that cool green sea of money.” These people spend most of their lives searching for pearls and a bit of cake. There is also a helping of hyperbole present here as well. The Mexican peoples’ expectancy of white men “coming on horses with rifles” declaring “ese gringo, gimme your job,” as well as Baca’s declaration of “the children are already dead” both add a dimension to this story that only this writer in particular could have delivered to