Being mixed feels weird. Really weird. I don’t know how else to describe it. I don’t really fit completely with one or the other. I’m too white to be Latino but not white enough to escape the racist Mexican jokes. I feel like most times I’m only one or the other when it is convenient for other people. I’m Latino when I’m the butt of the joke or on legal papers but then I’m white the second I call out people out on their racist nonsense. I’m always the one who has to apologize to people for feeling uncomfortable about their racist jokes so I don’t get labeled as ‘too sensitive’ or ‘over dramatic’. So I pretended to not acknowledge the tense silence that followed after my friend’s parents asked me if my dad was born in America and I said I didn’t know. So I pretended to zone out whenever my teacher thought it was a good idea to ask opinions on immigration. So I pretended not to think about the fact that some of my friends supported Trump’s campaign. Another thing that really sucks about being half Latino is the fact that I’m not fluent in Spanish even though both of my parents are fluent and get a ton of heat for it. I usually let it slide when a Latino person gets onto me for it but if its a non-Latino person I can’t stand it. People are always saying stuff like “I’m 50 percent Irish, 10 percent polish, 20 percent German, and 20 percent Italian” and then when they find out I’m half Mexican and can’t speak Spanish then I’m “not a real Mexican”. Like, you don’t see me saying they’re not real German or whatever they’re descended from because they can’t speak the language. When you can speak Irish, Polish, German, and Italian then you can come back to me and complain about not knowing Spanish. Go learn your Spanish curse words from google translate.
I love this. I like how it was so personal and it showed all of us a piece of your life and how you think. That was really cool. I hate that you feel like you have to stay quiet in class or around people that support Trump. That’s insane and I wish we all could have our own opinions and beliefs without the people that don’t believe it hate on us for it. We all need to stay in our own bubbles, actually. You do bring up a great point with people saying the percentages of German, Polish, French, etc, yet they’re not expected to know 30% of the language or more. That’s really funny when you think about it.
i’m really glad i read this blog, and i definitely hate the argument people make about immigration especially when you consider that the united states is literally a country founded on immigration. it’s all just racism and double standards and “YOU’RE IN AMERICA SPEAK AMERICAN” rhetoric that makes me wanna bang my head against a wall. everyone’s so proud of their own diversity but they’re quick to judge someone else for theirs, talk about hypocrisy. and i definitely don’t think you have to be fluent in a language just to prove where you come from, especially considering i can barely even speak english half the time