America 's Perception Of Me And My Self Identification

Barrientos starts with sharing her embarrassment to sign up for Spanish classes—the language used by her parents to communicate. Society’s expectation on her fluency of Spanish based on her Latina appearance causes self-questioning: where do I fit in? However, Barrientos initially refused to face her ethnicity as a Latina, beginning at a young age. The poor reputation on Spanish Americans causes Barrientos to isolate herself from the stereotype, by speaking English instead of Spanish. However, society changed: different

During the 1960’s, the Civil Rights Movement wasn’t the only one occurring. Struggling to assimilate into American culture, and suppressed by social injustices convicted by their Anglo counterparts, the Chicano movement was born. In the epic poem “I am Joaquin” written by Rodolfo Gonzales in 1969, we dive into what it means to be a Chicano. Through this poem, we see the struggles of the Chicano people portrayed by the narrator, in an attempt to grasp the American’s attention during the time of these movements. Hoping to shed light on the issues and struggles the Chicano population faced, Gonzales writes this epic in an attempt to strengthen the movement taking place, and to give Chicanos a sense of belonging and solidarity in this now

Gloria Anzaldúa was a Texas-born, lesbian, Latina, feminist, that wrote about many of her personal experiences and views of the diverse background she grew up in. Growing up a certain culture at home and being in a country with a different culture, brings along a lot of self-identifying issues. Gloria Anzaldúa uses various strategies and languages to write this powerful piece by code-switching, quoting others, diction, and rhetorical questions. Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” speaks about the social issues that Latinos face involving identity, language, and sexism.

It is hard to find someone who doesn’t have a mixed heritage. In “Borders” Thomas King addresses this fact through the difficulties of having inherited mixed cultures. The mother describes herself as “Blackfoot,” but this description is too broad for the border police, and for the law. Similarly I have come across the same issue. I could describe myself as Mexican, which is my race, but I could also describe myself as an American, because that is what my passport says. In the eye of the law I am American, but with the culture I surround myself by I am Mexican. This conflict comes from within the mother, and also from her beliefs that she lives by. Blackfoot could easily refer to someone from Canada, but their land was taken, thus creating this separation. The Blackfoot people are “Indians without a country,” they are the indigenous people of an area, but

The flash collection Sudden Fiction Latino: Short-short stories from the United States and Latin America brings together Latino and Latin American authors who might otherwise remain separated by borders, recognition, nationality, age, gender, and even language. Some only write in English, others in Spanish and still others in Portuguese. The collection allows readers, whether they share a cultural consciousness with these authors or not, to travel to and intimately experience many diverse worlds. Worlds, or stories, that seem to be working to define the indefinable--what it means to be Latino or Latin American. And it seems that anytime we try to define a group of people, even when it is within the context of a literary collection, it becomes something political.

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, shares his life-long journey as an undocumented immigrant in his text, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” As the title suggests, Vargas attempts to convey to his audience, who likely never has and never will experience anything similar to what he has, what it is like to live as an immigrant in the United States of America. Skillfully, Vargas details the perfect number of personal stories to reach the emotional side of his audience, which is anyone who is not an immigrant. Through the use of his personal accounts Vargas is able to effectively communicate that immigrants are humans too while simultaneously proving his credibility, as he has experience and a vast amount of knowledge

The film Selena uses the themes of discrimination, music, and family to express the struggle Mexican-Americans go through to find and establish their sense of identity. Through the musical career of Selena’s father, we see the difficulty of finding acceptance and establishing an identiity. After having his family, we see the effects his past experiences through his kids. Through Selena’s success, we see the crossing of borders and establishing of new identities.

Gary Soto attempts to make it understandable, in his short story “Like Mexicans,” that a person’s race is not what defines them completely. Soto married Carolyn, a Japanese woman, after having claimed that he would only marry a woman of Mexican descent. Soto’s best friend Scott highly disagreed with Soto’s decision in being with Carolyn. He felt Carolyn was too good for Soto, and therefore this false assumption brought Soto down and distorted his thoughts on race and economic status. The essay by Gary Soto was well-written because it can be highly relatable to one’s life, especially to someone who is of Hispanic descent.

Who I am? A question everyone at some point will ask themselves. I personally had asked that question many times and especially now that I'm getting my U.S residency and later my citizenship. I trying to answer if I'm Peruvian or American. The Borderlands/ La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldua had show me to identify myself. This book isn’t all a happy story as is life. She shares her experience in this world were where her heritage and her blood is the cause of an oppression in her society. There are invisible borders were to exist between cultural groups, where people who have multiple identities has to break through those invisible borders and regain culture that has been lost.

Gloria Anzaldua, an American writer, passionately displays her mixed feelings of the Spanish and American differences of culture and language through the pages of How to Tame a Wild Tongue. She consistently proves her identity through the use of Spanish language in the text, albeit the text is primarily in English. However, Anazaldua is not a Mexican citizen, she still feels so deeply connected to its’ culture. Even so she can speak English and has struggled with the barriers that arise, she continues to claim that her culture and language make up who she and the other Chicanos are and it is highly valued to them.

During the Mexican-American War the border moved, but the people didn’t. History has shown us that no matter how thick the border might be Latino Americans have a strong connection to their culture and roots; instead of assimilating, Mexicans live between two worlds. The film, Ballad of Gregorio Cortez gave us a perspective of two cultures; “Two cultures- the Anglo and the Mexican- lived side by side in state of tension and fear” . Cortez is running for his life as he heads north, while the Anglo believe that because of his Mexican ethnicity, he would travel south to Mexico. Throughout the film there were cultural tensions and misunderstandings; language plays an important part of someone’s identity, and for many Latino Americans Spanish is their first language. The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez also shows us that language plays an important role, and can cause confusion between two different groups. For example, Anglos refer to a male

“Dale, dale, dale, No pierdas el tino; Porque si lo pierdes, Pierdes el camino”. The classic piñata song that is sung at parties. It translates to “Go, go, go, don't lose your aim; because if you lose it, you will lose your path.” The phrase ties in with my identity because of my cultural background and experiences at parties. Who am I? What is my cultural identity? The questions that have me trying my best not to have an existential crisis. I am a Mexican American, my parents were born in Jalisco and I was born in California. As for my cultural identity, I am a NSHS student that has been shaped by music, technology, and sports.

How does America see me? they see me as a white, rich and privileged blonde. They see me as someone who is educated and well rounded. They see me as someone with a future. They see me as someone who does not get in trouble, ever. They see me as someone who lives a lavish life. I am seen as someone who has is figured out. People can assume I look like someone who has bent the system in favor of them. They assume that since I am blonde that I am either incredibly stupid, or i am pure genius. I am seen as a white American with no care in politics. They see me as someone who has it all. Since I am a woman I am dainty and weak. They assume that even though I am educated, I will never be the same level as a man. They see me as someone who is incompetent

I am the first immigrant generation in my family, who recently moved from the Middle East, Jordan. I moved to the U.S two years ago; however, this is not my desire or will. In reality, people fight and do whatever it needs to get to the U.S, but I am not one of them, and I will never be one of them. I was forced to come here by my parents even when they knew that coming here is not my wish.

whiteness is basing the fact of state of belonging to a human group having light-colored skin. A person expressing or identifying themselves socially, attaching experiences, or even set of characteristics to either white race and/or white skin. Whiteness comes with a wide variety of privileges which assist with the association and perception. For example, positive relationships with police, favored at schools, learning about "white” race in schools, escaping violent stereotypes associated with whiteness, and a host of many other benefits. Even when describing race such as African American, Indian American, or Mexican American their common phrases used on applications, stated verbally, or on a host of other documents. Versus “European American” or Caucasian Americans labeling is unheard of within our society.