Why Do They Treat Me Differently?

Do you ever wonder how people label you? I would always think myself as a Latina; I never knew there was a difference between Latino and Hispanic. Now I know I’m Hispanic, a Spanish speaker. I consider myself Mexican-America; i believe that being Mexican doesn't come from a place of belonging to some predetermined cultural / ethnic/ racial category. It comes from a huge family and feeling at home. It comes from my mother freshly fried pinto beans and homemade tortilla. From my father stories when he was young .Instead of playing pin the tail on the donkey I destroy piñatas and play musical chairs.

I have privileges unfathomable to family back in Mexico, and my mother warned me against taking these privilege for granted. Being born in America did not make me American, she told me, being First Generation American would present seemingly unbearable challenges. She offered advice that I followed to the letter until our first name was not the only thing we shared, until the voice inside my head was replaced with my mother’s.

I have come to associate myself with the identity of an American Hispanic. When I was young, I never thought of my identity. I always thought everyone was equal and there were no distinct ways to stereotype a person. An event that helped me realize my identity was a trip to Venezuela where my family is from. Even though I was born in the United States, I met several different family members on this trip and saw so many different cultural views and sites that I had not seen in the US. In Venezuela, everyone speaks Spanish, and there were so many different types of foods like “Arepas,” which is a type of food made of ground maize dough, a staple where I’m from.

It is crazy how much acceptance and understanding comes out of hearing someone else’s narrative. Yesterday, I read an academic journal by Traci Fordham-Hernandez titled, Raising Chicanos in the Great White North: A White Mother’s Muse, and it gave me a new perspective on the challenges that parents with two different ethnicities, cultures, and customs face when raising children. Undeniably, preserving the customs of our Mexican heritage mom has been something that you constantly try to instill in us so that we do not forget who we are. Traci, the mother in this narrative, is white, her husband is Mexican-American/ Chicano, and her children areLrt brown Mexican-American/Chicana/o. Just to give you a little bit of background mom, Traci lives

Throughout my years in my white neighborhood I grew up as an equal among my classmates. My peers had never teased me; in fact, the incident with those older boys was the only act of prejudice I have ever experienced. Classmates were very tolerant, and so was I. Forced by circumstance, I accepted living among all white people and they with me. They became familiar with the only Asian girl in the school, and the racial issue disappeared. I had friends and my ethnic background was not a problem. They saw my personality and saw me. I was an American.

I always identified myself as Mexican because technically I was mostly Mexican, but I didn’t speak Spanish and was never really accepted by my Spanish speaking peers. I also remember not wanting to be identified as White, I was an American but I didn’t want to be called White. I idolized Martin Luther King Jr. as a young child, and I remember feeling deeply moved and fundamentally changed after seeing the first images of the civil rights movement during Black history month. Then I remember starting to wonder why I always saw the same videos and learned the same lessons each year during February and I began to question things. I remember getting so angry at my own ignorance of the history of racism in this country during my first multi-cultural history class at Cal State Long Beach. I realized how much I wasn’t learning in school and that I never got an authentic version of history from any group other than the dominant White culture. It was an eye opening experience and it had a profound impact on me. I learned to embrace being an American as long as I was willing to commit to continuously questioning and challenging the current power structures in place and work to expose the institutionalized racism that continues to plague our public

Although our society is slowly developing a more accepting attitude toward differences, several minority groups continue to suffer from cultural oppression. In her essay “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” Gloria Anzaldúa explores the challenges encountered by these groups. She especially focuses on her people, the Chicanos, and describes the difficulties she faced practicing her mother tongue. She argues that for many years, the dominant American culture has silenced their language. She claims that by forcing them to speak English and attempting to eliminate their accents, the Americans have robbed the Chicanos of their identity. She also addresses the issue of low self-esteem that results from this process of acculturation. Growing up in the United States, Anzaldúa says she had to accommodate to the American culture. The fact that she was discouraged from practicing her native language induced her to become ashamed of her roots. In addition, she explains that she constantly felt suppressed on account of her gender. By incorporating Spanish words, powerful personal anecdotes and historical facts about her people, Anzaldúa produces a unique composition in which she depicts an unfair and repressive world and reprimands the prejudices that hinder certain cultures from flourishing and establishing themselves.

     Through our readings of the Mexicans in the U.S. and the African-American experience modules, we begin to understand the formation of identity through the hardships minorities faced from discrimination. In this paper, I am going to compare and contrast the ideas of identity shown through the readings. These two modules exemplify the theme of identity. We see how Blacks and Latinos tried to find their identity both personally and as a culture through the forced lifestyles they had to live.

For my civic engagement project I interviewed a family friend, Rocio Ureno, who identifies herself as Chicana. I asked her multiple questions connected to the text as well as how she identified herself as Chicana. I came to realize that a lot of her life experiences connected to my families’ presentation about Pachucas breaking norms in society and dealing with patriarchy as well. When I interviewed her one of the questions I asked her was why and how she identified herself as Chicana. She responded by saying that she was born in the U.S. but her parents and some of her siblings were born in Mexico, so Mexican culture is incorporated in her family. She says that although she was born here, her Mexican roots are still with her. Being Chicana

Growing up I believed that being Hispanic meant being a particular shade of brown that had to be just right. I had no concept of colorism during my childhood and adolescents and had a meager understanding of racism and how it looked like to be discriminated against. Furthermore, less of understanding was diluted even further by my struggle with accepting my romantic and sexual orientation. The nuance of those identities and my many others left me exploring those intersections within myself than exploring the greater picture of social discourse. This all ignoring my lack access to information only found in higher education. Once I had access to this information and meet others that were like me and different than me, I starting learning that what it means to be Hispanic is vastly different than what I thought.

In our current age, many people go out and try to search for themselves who they are. What specific group they consist of. Who do they relate with. I for one am extremely glad to be able to say who I am and know what exactly that means to me. Being Hispanic has helped shine so much light on all the different classifications of people. My whole family is from the island of Cuba in which a lot of struggle is evident in their everyday life. There, the smallest of things that people may overlook in the United States because it is so abundant like clean bottled water, becomes an everyday task to encounter in the cities in Cuba. No matter how many times I go to visit my family, it seems as though they are stuck in time reliving the same day over

The personal essay titled “The Space In-Between” by Santiago Quintana details the struggles he dealt with while trying to figure out his identity as a member of both the Mexican and American cultures. Even though Santiago was born and raised in Mexico, he was often questioned about his ethnicity because his physical appearance did not align with that of a “true Mexican.” Instead of having brown skin, black hair, and brown eyes, he has white skin, light brown hair, and blue eyes. Since Santiago looked so different, he was singled out, bullied, and treated as if he were a foreigner in his own country. The difficulties he faced clearly had numerous negative effects on him emotionally, however, there was an unexpected and overwhelmingly positive

My cousin Lizzeth was born in Mexico but raised in America. In middleschool Lizzeth was ashamed to say she was from Mexico because of people’s reaction. People would give her comments like “You dont look Mexican” “How come you dont have an accent” these questions would cause discomfort to Lizzeth’s identity. She felt as if her eloquent english was abnormal to have, as if Mexicans cannot reach that level of intellectuality. As Lizzeth grew older, she felt like you were suppose to fit society’s profile of a Mexican, as if you were suppose to act a certain way, speak a certain way, and listen to specific music.

Within Hispanic cultures it is very common to view other races as outsiders. I am often viewed this way within my Spanish family, they view me as a “half-bred” because I am half white. While most are conducted using a joking manner, it might not always be the case. It’s pretty easy to feel like any outsider in some situations, however I know they are my family and I know the still love

I’m native American someone who is indigenous to north America. I came to this identity at young age because both my parent practice our traditional ways and culture beliefs. My identity to me is very important because it plays profound impact for shaping me. It native cultural we do a lot of ceremony’s and I took part in at young age. To Native people our traditions is very sacred thing to us and I’ve always felt that way. I remember witnessing a ceremony around 7 or 8, we went south Dakota to attend sun dance. It ceremony where you don’t eat or drink for four days and you offer of your flesh by tying rope to a tree and you piece little wood stakes on each side of your chest and you lean back until the stakes are rip out of your chest. After that you do your back by dragging 7 buffalo skulls across the ground until they rip out of skin. Seeing never bother to me but it was very powerful thing to see and I think that when I started to get into my heritage. After that I learn how to dance, sing traditional songs and learn from elder on how to make native flutes. They’re was powerful experience I had in 8th grade that to me made taught me prejudice can happen from any color person and I think that when society taught me who I am. I was harassed by Latino kid in class and I did something to piss him off and his response was “go back to your home land” I was furious to hear this so I punch him in face. After 8th grade I left Sonoma county and went to boarding school for only