Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 12 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 22 years, 9 months ago by
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I’m an American of Mexican descent and, after becoming more affluent, my parents made a conscious decision to emphasize English instead of Spanish in our home because of certain prejudices they faced growing up learning English later. Thus, I never learned Spanish. While on the job (at a Mexican restaurant) and at school, I have encountered some prejudice from Hispanics because, to some extent, people felt it makes me ‘more white,’ or like I’m trying to ‘be white.’ I’m trying to learn, but like many Americans, languages don’t come easy to me, but in the meantime, is it fair that I’m been blamed for a reasonable choice my parents made? Has anyone else noticed or experienced this? If anyone has done this, why?
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Name : J.C., Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 21, City : San Antonio, State : TX, Country : United States, Social class : Upper middle class,Having lived in San Antonio for 12 years, I find your question interesting because I’m sure you know you are not alone among your fellow Hispanics. I knew many Hispanics in San Antonio who didn’t know Spanish. Also, it’s been reported that in spite of what we hear in the mainstream media about Hispanics wanting to be taught all subjects in Spanish, a substantial majority of first-generation American parents of Mexican descent want their children to succeed in the United States, and therefore want their children to learn English and not keep Spanish as their first language. Additionally, inter-marriage and dating is exremely common between Anglos and Hispanics in San Antonio (including my ex-wife and I). Just look in any Sunday edition of the San Antonio Express-News. I think your co-workers who accuse you of acting white are in the minority and may not have been here long enough to really know the way it is in San Antonio – and incresingly, the rest of the country.
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Name : Anonymous, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Age : 42, City : Louisville, State : KY, Country : United States,My parents grew up without learning Spanish, and I myself only know dirty words I learned in grade school. Other Latinos are usually astonished or taken aback, and particularly older people or people who recently immigrated or who tend to be more connected to Mexico or Central/South America (i.e. go back several times a year to visit family, etc.) will take issue with it. Usually their criticism is constructive, i.e. ‘Take it from me, young man, you should learn it!’
I suppose it would be beneficial to learn another language, but it would be about as easy for me to learn French! On the other hand, I’ve noticed that some white people may view me as a poster-child for assimilation. ‘Oh! You should feel fortunate!’ or ‘I see you as an American and not a Hispanic.’ I don’t exactly take such remarks as compliments. But what can I do? Even if I do go on to learn Spanish, I would sound like a white guy who learned Spanish later in life. I would say to future or current parents who are bilingual to by all means teach your kids both languages in full. Bilingualism is in and of itself a benefit. Languages are like a dollar. Two dollars is better than one dollar, and so on and so forth.
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Name : Dan27343, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Pentecostal, Age : 23, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,My parents made the same mistake as yours, and for the same reason. My mom remembered being called before the class and being told to quit acting like a wetback (for being caught speaking Spanish). It actually used to be against the law in Texas from 1917 until the 1960s to speak any foreign language. (The law was targeted against German-Americans but wound up being used against Mexicans and Asians, too.) So I understand what your parents did, even though like my own parents I think they made the wrong choice.
Bilingualism has been a big part of Mexican-American culture since the 1920s. It became the path encouraged by Latino civil rights groups and community leaders to show both a willingness to become ‘Americanized’ but also not lose touch with your heritage. Spanish plays as central a role in Latino cultures as Judaism does in Jewish cultures. What else do Latinos share in common? It sure isn’t race, it sure isn’t country of origin, it sure isn’t religion. So quite naturally, when you and I didn’t learn Spanish growing up, other Mexicans thought we were saying we wanted to be white. Let’s face it, there ARE some Latinos who try to pass or whiten themselves, especially if they are light-skinned enough. Look at Ricky Martin. He won’t even pronounce his own name right, saying ‘Martin’ the Anglo way instead of the Latino way. But what they did wasn’t prejudice. Let’s use that word where it’s actually warranted. It’s worry – worry that we will try to pass as white. And it’s a worry that is justified, because there are plenty of whites who will tell us insulting things like, ‘I don’t see you as a Mexican’ and remake us in their minds into Just Another White Guy if we don’t have an accent. (Of course they usually limit that to the light-skinned of us.) It’s also fear that they were expressing – fear that more and more Latinos will try to pass until there will be none of us left except for the very poor and the very dark-skinned. (You mentioned that money and class background were part of why your parents did what they did.) I think all you can do instead of falsely labelling this as ‘prejudice’ is what I did, and what you are doing now – learn Spanish as best you can, because after all it is a big part of our identity as Latinos and Mexicans.
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Name : ACC25021, Gender : M, Race : Mexican and American Indian, City : Phoenix, State : AZ, Country : United States,I sympathize with you, even though my situation is not the same. I once thought that Latinos (any race) who didn’t speak Spanish were wanna be’s. I was wrong. I just didn’t know the whole story. In every case, it was your exact story. American society of the past practically forced you to forget your culture and language and adopt American culture, though they would never consider you ‘American’ in the end (except white Hispanics), and people ended up in a social limbo, so it was no good, anyway. I intuit that you must be racially mestizo (brown), so you ‘look’ Hispanic by stereotype standards. That’s why people expect you to not only look the part, but also to PLAY it, which includes speaking Spanish. What your parents made was a well-intended mistake that today’s Hispanic parents don’t make. We now know that you could have learned both languages perfectly. It’s not their fault, it’s not yours, they thought they were making the right decision. When someone asks why you don’t speak Spanish, just say nicely that you didn’t learn as a child and that you’re studying it now. That will simply make people say, ‘Oh, very good’ and encourage you more. Continua adelante amigo, recupera tu verdadera cultura, asi serás bilingue y bicultural!!! Buena Suerte!!!
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Name : Nelson-A20201, Gender : M, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 33, City : Caracas, State : NA, Country : Venezuela, Occupation : Lawyer/Business, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I don’t think that learning English over Spanish is ‘acting white.’ It’s doing what needs to be done to succeed. If you immigrated to say, France, you would have to learn the language to succeed. I think there is a general misconception that you know either English or Spanish, but not both. So in my mind, learning English over another language in America is essential for success. Look at the guy that plays Fes on ‘That 70’s Show.’ He didn’t know any English when he came to America. He learned and is now successful. His friends who didn’t learn English are far less successful. Being fluent in English gives you an advantage, but knowing more than English gives you more of an advantage.
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Name : Matt, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 19, City : Sacramento, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I know exactly how you feel! My dad was born in mexico and had to learn english when he moved to the U.S. When i was born he decided that he wanted english to be my first language and i guess he never got around to teaching me spanish cause i still don’t know spanish. Everyone i know is kool with that and i even have some friends that translate for me sometimes and another friend trying to help me learn. The people that seem to have the biggest problem with it are the spanish speaking members of my family. However that was a choice my parents made and it doesn’t mean we are acting white we just need to try to learn and do out best. Good luck learning i’m trying.
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Name : Ana, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 16, City : kingsville, State : TX, Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma,i feel as though you r reading my mind.I’m going through exacyly what you are.Both of my parents are hispanic and i go to a high school where 90% of the students are full hispanic and speak spanish and it’s hard to prove myself to everyone.when they find out where I live they always assume that i’m to good for them.I just want to be equal and accepted into my ethnicity.I dont know spanish and i work at a Mexican restaurant too.All i say is keep your head up and stop trying to prove yourself for everyone else but do it for you.Learn about your backround so when someone puts you down you can always have a comeback.
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Name : Amanda Mata, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Religion : Catholic, Age : 17, City : El Paso, State : TX, Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,I don’t think anyone can act a certain race. I think where you grow up has more impact on how you act than what color your skin is. If you grow up in a certain city in New York you will talk and act the way they do in that city. Maybe if you grew up in Kentucky you talk and act like they do in Kentucky. I know when I moved from a lower class neighborhood in Californa to a middle class neighborhood in Ohio people asked me why I don’t ‘act like a white girl’. The answer is ‘I don’t know how’. I don’t think anyone can act a certain race. I’m only 19 so I’m not sure how I feel about certain subjects. I’m open to almost any opinion and I could agree with certain points on both sides of an arguement.
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Name : Alexis, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Hispanic, Age : 19, City : cleveland, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : airbrush artist, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,It is 2002. Can we please stop this ‘acting white’ mess? He behaves how he chooses to behave. Deal with it. Don’t push your stereotypical assumptions and insecurity issues onto him.
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Name : James-W20868, Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, City : Baltimore, State : MD, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,The Spanish language comes from Spain. Spaniards are white Europeans. So I guess anyone speaking Spanish is trying to be white. Maybe you should tell your friends to either start speaking in an indigenous Mexican Indian dialect or get a life.
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Name : Jack-S, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 34, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : lawyer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper class,Don’t forget that Moors dominated Spain for a long time and remnants of this period are still present in the appearance and skin tone of Spaniards. There are also gypsies.
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Name : Ashley M., Gender : F, Race : Black/African American, Religion : Presbyterian, Age : 20, City : Charlotte, State : NC, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Jack is right. Spanish is not ‘the’ language of the so called hispanics. Spanish is from Spain, therefore Spanish is a white’s language. So dude, don’t worry if you don’t speak Spanish. It’s not our spanish anyway. And many of Mexicans that migrate to the US doesn’t even speak Spanish, many speak Nahuatl, Zapoteco, and Mayan languages. So Spanish shouldn’t be the flag-language that ‘unites’ hispanic people in the US. Yet, learning more languages does help you, trust me. Being able to at least read French newspapers, or understand Italian, or even…why not…learn indigenous words or phrases. Because at the end, our true language is the native languages. I would like to point out that, yes, there are some ‘hispanics’ in the US that want to pass out as white dudes or dudettes. I noticed that many people in american schools or universities check ‘white’ in the ethnicity question. When I ask them…dude why do you check ‘white’, they say ‘Don’t you see me, i’m white’. Of course there are some other dudes and dudettes that aknowledge their indigenous ancestry, as myself.
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Name : Tochtli, Gender : M, Age : 21, City : -, State : NA, Country : Mexico, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,
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