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I just wanted to say to everyone that all the words echoed during the past
week could have been my own....from feeling more American than Mexican, to
feeling persecuted because of my skin color, to others insisting that my humble
family's origins must have been "cultured" because of the way I look/act,
language issues, identity issues, Chicanoism, etc....
I also wanted to add something to the article about DNA.....long time ago,
when a cousin of ours was marrying into an African-American family, the
discussion came up about our real possibility about having African blood in our
maternal side of the family (Luna/Herrera from Zacatecas). Many of us have
hair so curly that we wore "afros", others straightened their hair or wore those
great big curlers at night (lol). Thankfully, today our curly hair is seen
as fashionable, and I wear mine free-flowing often.
This family "whispering" eventually led me to do some research on African
Diaspora in Latin America as an undergraduate student with a concentration in
history. I learned many things by researching books from Northwestern
University (one of the largest collections of African literature books in the
US) - but what continues to resonate with me about my research is the underlying
psychology in Latin America: as long as the skin color is dark - it
means that at one time our families were in servitude/slavery to whiter skinned
Latin Americans....and however possible, that mentality of keeping one just
below levels of absolute acceptance will continue.....Many Latin Americans
(particularly Brazilians) will say that there is no racism...there is
only class distinctions...
It is of no surprise that there has been no Mexican President with obvious
Indian/African heritage (except one)....even President Fox can place all his
ancestry coming from Europe...
Esperanza
Chicagoland area
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