Mexican-American

Happy Mexican Independence Day!  Though I have lived in the United States of America most of my life I do feel this great sense of connection and pride to my place of birth and my roots.  They say you can take the Mexican out of Mexico, but not the Mexico out of the Mexican… I grew up in this small apartment community (el barrio) where my neighbors were all Hispanic and right next door several of my cousins. The smells of Mexican cuisine and sounds of Mexican music were ever present as I learned English and adapted to the new culture of the country that saw me grow.  At home Spanish dominated conversations and my parents always advocated that no matter what I achieved in my new homeland that I should always remember where I came from.  I recall many times my parents sharing how they came across Mexican’s refusing to speak Spanish, “You can hear their accent and see the cactus in their forehead placed there from their homeland, but refuse to speak in Spanish.” They would shake their heads and then a “never forget where you came from” talk ensued.

Sure, early in my teen years I wanted to blend in with the rest and like the protagonist of Toni Morrison’s, The Bluest Eye, I too thought that the ideal beauty was blonde hair and blue eyes.  I hated people calling me exotic and just alluding to the fact that I though I grew up in this country my looks immediately classified me as a foreigner.  Yet, at home I continued to hear my parents and brother-in-heaven stress that I needed to be proud of my roots. I continued to celebrate the holidays with tamales, a community bonfire, large family and dancing.  Thus, slowly I made the decision to take pride in the things that I loved.  I began to see beauty in my culture, in my native tongue and in my people. 

Today, I constantly stress the importance of raising children multi-cultural- while it’s more popular now a lot of people still feel like they have to choose one or the other.  I saw this when I taught preschool – the mostly Hispanic parents wanted their children to learn English only- I still see this in the RCIA classes I teach young people that understand but don’t speak Spanish and it kills me.  There’s so much beauty in our Mexican roots in our language, and though for whatever reason we immigrated to the USA we can still be ALL of us- not just the new parts forming in this country- but also our native culture that makes us complete.  My Mexican culture values family and faith – what better foundation as we make new lives in the land of the free.