Made in California

Ever since I said I would never pal around with anything that drank from the toilet, I’ve been under siege.

My message files have been filled with the invective of those who love dogs more than they love humans. Some feel so close to their animals that one can imagine them on their hands and knees trotting down the street alongside their Lhasa apsos.

All this has to do with the effort of certain animal rightists to eliminate the terms “pet” and “owner” from official papers having to do with, well, pets and owners.

In other words, these fiercely determined people regard their dogs and cats and birds and fish and whatever as “animal companions” and pet owners as “guardians.” And they want government agencies to do the same.

I made fun of the whole thing because that’s the only way to handle animal apostles, and what I got in response were huffy references to my ethnic background.

One man, in a condescending tone, said my attitude was understandable because minorities like me are too stupid to know how to care for dogs. He didn’t come right out and say we stuff them with frijoles and tacos, but he came close.

A woman e-mailed me that my age and my “culturally background” were responsible for my negative attitude and that I’d probably be promoting cockfights next.

She added: “I’m amazed that a newspaper like the L.A. Times allows someone so ignorant to be on their staff. It’s probably a quoto [sic] thing.”

I don’t know what a quoto thing is, but one of the editors thought it had something to do with Japan. Makes sense to me.

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I was thinking about all of this the other night at a preview of the new “Made in California” exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. It has to do with art and image in the state in the 20th century and I recommend it to almost everyone. Those who trot with dogs probably wouldn’t understand it, but the rest of you would.

Among the art, furniture and memorabilia are photographs, posters and political tracts concerned with how we have treated ethnic and racial minorities through the century.

In the beginning, we glamorized Mexicans and Asians while selling this “new Eden” to the world, mysticizing a state of costumed peoples happily at home in places like Chinatown and Olvera Street. Tortillas here, chop suey there.

In actuality, politicians ran on “whites only” platforms, Anglos fought to keep Mexicans from their neighborhoods and the Chinese weren’t allowed to vote or intermarry. There were anti-Japanese leagues too, long before World War II, and demeaning attitudes toward Filipinos.

Blatant racism directed at Mexicans was especially ironic in terms of the state’s Latin heritage. The very name California is Hispanic and so are the names of many of our counties, cities and streets. We celebrated and denied in the same schizophrenic moment, and we’re still doing it.

Not everything in the LACMA exhibit is geared toward our hatreds. California is a beautiful state, full of art and energy, still a new frontier to the future. It’s just that we continue to bear the small antipathies, and we’ll never really be big time until we lose them.

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I started this column with animal activists, not because I think every one of them is a bigot, but because their responses illustrate how easy it is to slip into racism in defense of a position.

Inherent in that attitude is an inability to articulate one’s position without demeaning others, a condition especially noticeable among those whose IQs are only slightly higher than their miniature schnauzers.

The truth is, I have two dogs, a cat and several fish. I feed them, I give them fresh water daily (except for the fish) and I try not to slam the door on the cat’s head as he dashes in and out of a back room. Once in awhile my timing is off, but he understands.

Despite my “culturally background,” I am not inclined to beat, intimidate or barbecue my animals. Canine taquitos are never on my menu. Additionally, I am teaching them basic English so they’ll be able to communicate with those who seek to empower them.

I have asked friends who are also in the ethnic or racial minority category if they thought they were too stupid to own a dog. Two said yes, three said no and one didn’t understand the question. That tells you a lot right there.

By the way, that last person has a very important position with a large firm. How he ever got the job, God only knows. Must have been the quoto thing.

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Al Martinez’s column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. He can be reached online at al.martinez@latimes.com.