I never saw a single person of color on television, never mind a Latina or a character in an ‘urban environment.’ These were the days when, if you did see a person of color on TV, you would run through the hallway calling all of your friends so they could see because it was just so not normal. I would watch all of those shows on TV Land, like ‘Leave It to Beaver,’ ‘Romper Room,’ and ‘Father Knows Best,’ and I never saw anybody who looked like me. I was born on the mainland here, and I watched a lot of television in the ’50s. We thought, well, if we were in the South, then I would have to sit in the back and he would have to sit in the front, and then we wouldn’t know when to get off! So, that memory made me realize that kids do notice this kind of stuff, and so it was important for one of Alma’s family members to have lighter skin.Ĭourtesy of Fred Rogers Productions Why do you think authentic representation is particularly important for children to see in the media and entertainment content they consume? One memory I have of us together is when we watched the bus boycotts in the South, and we were both very nervous.
Eddie Mambo’s skin is a little lighter than most to the characters on the show and that was done on purpose, too, because my real cousin had lighter skin than me- as you know, Latinos come in all shades and shapes even if we are in the same family. I never forgot this kid, and when this opportunity came up, I thought I would make a character that had the elements and was a combination of this kid and my own cousin, Eddie. Now, the kid who had polio would lock his braces and then mambo- I mean, the girls were just lining up to dance with him.
For example, Eddie Mambo, who is the little boy with cerebral palsy and is Alma’s cousin on the show, is based on my real cousin, Eddie ‘Guagua’ Rivera, who was the bass player with salsa legend Larry Harlow, and a kid that I knew in my neighborhood they had polio. I just looked at my own family and friends from when I was a kid and created the characters out of that. How did you come up with these characters? Were any inspired by people in your own life?
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