[ACC25021]

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, 

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