Linda,
When some Anglo says "you don't look Mexican" it means that you don't look
like his idea of Mexicans formed by most of the Mexicans he has
seen---field or orchard workers, very dark, made darker by the sun, very small
due to their mostly Indian blood, pitch black hair and eyes, poorly dressed, not
too clean due to their constant labor in dirty places. You probably speak
English without an accent, too.
When asked a question by an Anglo and I don't respond instantly, inevitably
comes the next question, "Do you speak English?" Most people in the
Southwest and California "know" that I am "Mexican"; I look "typically" Mexican,
but the Asian cast to my eyes throws people who are more familiar with
Filipinos, Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, Thai, etc. such as up here in
the Northwest.
When asked what I am, I say I am Mexican and Native American (in Mexico, I
am a Mestiza or Morena). When asked by a Latin American in Spanish "eres
Latina?", I say "Si, soy Mexicana". When I travel, I am always taken as
whatever dark skinned ethnicity they have in whatever country or state (Hawaii,
Alaska, Italy, Spain) I happen to be in. In foreign countries I tell them
I am American (I was born in Colorado). In Spain, they insist I am
Mexican, not American, no matter where I was born.
I agree with Arturo below that if our ancestors came from Mexico, then we
should say we are Mexicans. I can say I am also Native American because I
am Piro-Manso-Tewa (Pueblo tribes) on my mother's side. My father said he
was a Mestizo Mexicano born in Jerez. I also think that since there is no
country known as Chicana, we don't have to call ourselves Chicanos. (I
don't like the term either, maybe because I associate it with those that don't
want to acculturate). As for Aztlan, they might as well tell me about the
mythical Atlantis, though I believe there was one continent that everyone in the
world descends from, since all the creation stories sound so similar.
They can call me Hispana or Latina, but I will say that I am Mexican.
There is no land called Hispana or Latina. There is Espana, Mexico,
Italia, Deutschland, France, etc., and our ancestors came from Mexico, so we are
Mexicanas.
My husband identifies himself as Mexican, and he is often taken for Anglo
or "Spanish". Some Anglos think it is politically correct to call him
"Castillian Spanish", since they think that Mexicans with white skin are really
Castillian Spanish and not Mexican, but like his sister says, no, there is Spain
and there is Mexico, and their ancestors came from Mexico, no matter what they
look like. Also Castillian is a language and not an
ethnicity. The people in Spain though identify themselves as
Madrileno, Pamplonico, Sevillano, Vasco, Castellano, etc., since they are very
provincial, and the provinces have their own languages as we found out when we
went there and thought that everybody would speak Castillian.
For those of us born or living here permanently, we should consider
ourselves as American as the blacks here are, though like them and the Native
Americans we suffer from racism. I believe one reason we have so many
Mexican immigrants here is that the racism in Mexico that keeps people down,
unable to rise above their station. We are also getting more acculturated
here. Of my many first cousins, only two have married Anglos, but all of
their children have married Anglos. America is becoming more and more
changed, more racially integrated and mixed, and though the Neo-Nazi skinhead
says he hates it, he still stops by Taco Bell and has himself a taco. He does
not realize he has lost the war. Without our people the Anglos couldn't afford
an apple, a lettuce, or dinner out at a nice place. We shall
overcome.
Emilie Garcia
Port Orchard, WA ----
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 5:46
PM
Subject: RE: [ranchos] Re: double
surnames
Linda, I get something like that when asked what nationality I
am.....one time at my work's cafeteria, a man approached me and asked, "Excuse
me, what are you, from India? Oh no, I got it, you're polynesian...you
look so exotic! (not sure whether he was flirting or not)"....so I'm just
staring at him and I said, "No, I'm Mexican-American...." I said this
with a proud smile on my face. He looked shocked. He was like "No,
you couldn't be Mexican....are you mixed with something else?" At that
point, I gave this pest my famous "raised eyebrow" and a smirk, turned and
walked away. Now mind you, I don't know what people mean when they say,
"you don't look Mexican"....I just chalk it up to peoples ignorance.
Peggy
Erlinda:
The whole Chicano vs.
Mexican-American vs. Latin@ vs. Hispanic debate
is a very contentious
one in the United States. I think that all of
those terms are very
politically laden such that there is no single
one that everyone would
agree with. There is an interesting episode
where the renowned
author Sandra Cisneros balked at being featured in
Hispanic magazine
because of such a disagreement. She agreed only
after the magazine
agreed to show her on the cover in a profile shot
with a fake tatoo
reading "LATINA" across her arm.
There is an interesting article on
this:
http://www.hispanicmagazine.com/2000/dec/Features/latino.html
I
suppose that if you want to designate descendancy from peoples of
Mexico, Mexican or Mexican-American would be the most precise. I
will leave my commentary at that lest I get myself in
trouble.
Interesting thing though, I have run across documents where
the
indigenous peoples of the area around Colotlan and Totatiche would
refer to the indigenous colonizers from the south (Tlaxcaltecs,
Otomis and Huastecs) as "mexicanos" designating that they spoke the
Mexican language (i.e. nahuatl) and they did not consider themselves
as such, since they spoke a different (Tepehuan) language. One of
these references appears in an interview with one of the last
tepehuan speakers in Azqueltan, Jalisco in 1912!
I think that the
term Mexican to designate all of the ethinicities of
Mexico was probably
not adopted until after independence. I imagine
that those of pure
Spanish descent would not consider themselved
Mexican before that,
especially when the term specifically refered to
the nahuatl-speakers of
central Mexico.
--- In ranchos@yahoogroups.com, "Erlinda
Castanon-Long"
<longsjourney@y...> wrote:
>
> I want
to thank everyone for the input on double surnames and y
versus
>
de... I had forgotten that I use a double surname too! I felt I
> didn't want to give up my Hispanic maiden name so just hyphenated
it
> with my married name. That makes me Castanon-Long, I
guess in
Latin
> America that would make me Castanon y Long ... I
found at the
family
> reunion that most of my female cousins from
my generation did the
> same. Many of us did not marry Hispanic
but would have kept our
> maiden name regardless. Just like someone
said, it's a matter of
> family pride..
>
> One more
question.. which is 'politically' correct to designate our
>
nationality of origin if we or our ancestors were from Mexico...
>
Hispanic, Latino, Mexican-American or American-Mexican? I find I
> really upset some people when I call myself Hispanic. I'm told that
> excludes my Indio blood... People ask me what my nationality is
> because I'm just brown enough to not be Anglo but have light green
> eyes, my sister get's the same thing and she has blue eyes and
> freckles. I still laugh when told I don't look like a Mexican...
what
> does a Mexican look like!!!!
>
> Linda in
Everett
>
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