Being Latinos 3
This is a continuation of a series of "being Latinos" blogs. This is my personal journey and observations around being Latino and experiencing my own people. It is not meant to be a documentary with statistics and proof that may justify my journey in life as a Latino man. If this type of conversation is uncomfortable to anyone I would like to invite you to not read it. I won't couch things for the comfort of anyone so that they can feel OK with my personal and profound experiences as a Latino. Thank you.
Americans would like others to think that racism no longer exists. My favorite response is that we are more about status than race, making the argument that we are more discriminatory of people who are poor or lack education or status of some kind. I disagree and know that racism is alive and thriving. We need only look at the Trump supporters and the fact that we have a president that is a huge criminal to understand that racism is alive, very much alive and that racist are thriving in the form of "White Supremacists". As much as we would like to deny it we live in a country that is more often than not one that promotes whites and discriminates against people of color. When so many police officers have beat up Blacks for no apparent reason we must be more concerned as people of color, some of us are in as much denial. With all that said I would am going to share some of my concerns as a Latino.
One of the things that I am most observant about is how we as a people have been shamed. As a young man I can recall speaking to my wife in Spanish at a store and a complete stranger asking me to speak English and accusing me of being rude. Like this man there were many along the way. I heard this comment over and over again to exhaustion. I believe that this perception and these comments have shamed us into speaking English only. We have bought into the notion that we don't fit in if we are speaking a different language and that our tongue is simply not necessary in the USA. Sadly enough many of us have stopped speaking Spanish, specifically in a public venue. We have become ashamed of our own language. Many of us have complied.
Our children would rather listen to rock or hip hop music instead of merengue and boleros in Spanish. Some of them feel more comfortable sharing the words to a hip hop song with the word bitch in it versus a beautiful bolero by Luis Miguel or La India. Although it is wonderful to be diverse many of our children are running away from their own music and their own expression as Latinos. They have been shamed into believing that songs with Spanish word are odd and not as well liked as rock tunes or other English language songs. A young girl I know started attending a predominantly Mexican high school and more recently met a boy who is Mexican and speaks Spanish fluently. She is in fact part Mexican on her paternal side yet up to now her interest in speaking Spanish was not as strong as it is now. Her parents did not teach her Spanish and although both are fluent did not seem to feel it was as important as I would deem it. Now this same child wants to speak Spanish badly and would like nothing more than to understand the lyrics of Spanish songs, being that now bachata has become so popular with young people. I cannot help but to feel sad for her and wonder why her parents choose not to teach her a language that has now become so much a part of her life. Yet I don't judge these young parents who for whatever reason have been shamed into believing that teaching their children Spanish was just not as important as everything else. In that same way they have influenced their children to stray away from their language and their music.
I cannot think of a more direct example of shame as when I asked two sisters if they spoke Spanish and one looked at me and stated: "we don't speak that". If was as if she deemed it something rare, strange or even weird. I was floored by her expression and her defensive response. I knew not to judge it because I could have been her had it not been for my grandparents who were exclusively Spanish speakers.
To be continued:
Americans would like others to think that racism no longer exists. My favorite response is that we are more about status than race, making the argument that we are more discriminatory of people who are poor or lack education or status of some kind. I disagree and know that racism is alive and thriving. We need only look at the Trump supporters and the fact that we have a president that is a huge criminal to understand that racism is alive, very much alive and that racist are thriving in the form of "White Supremacists". As much as we would like to deny it we live in a country that is more often than not one that promotes whites and discriminates against people of color. When so many police officers have beat up Blacks for no apparent reason we must be more concerned as people of color, some of us are in as much denial. With all that said I would am going to share some of my concerns as a Latino.
One of the things that I am most observant about is how we as a people have been shamed. As a young man I can recall speaking to my wife in Spanish at a store and a complete stranger asking me to speak English and accusing me of being rude. Like this man there were many along the way. I heard this comment over and over again to exhaustion. I believe that this perception and these comments have shamed us into speaking English only. We have bought into the notion that we don't fit in if we are speaking a different language and that our tongue is simply not necessary in the USA. Sadly enough many of us have stopped speaking Spanish, specifically in a public venue. We have become ashamed of our own language. Many of us have complied.
Our children would rather listen to rock or hip hop music instead of merengue and boleros in Spanish. Some of them feel more comfortable sharing the words to a hip hop song with the word bitch in it versus a beautiful bolero by Luis Miguel or La India. Although it is wonderful to be diverse many of our children are running away from their own music and their own expression as Latinos. They have been shamed into believing that songs with Spanish word are odd and not as well liked as rock tunes or other English language songs. A young girl I know started attending a predominantly Mexican high school and more recently met a boy who is Mexican and speaks Spanish fluently. She is in fact part Mexican on her paternal side yet up to now her interest in speaking Spanish was not as strong as it is now. Her parents did not teach her Spanish and although both are fluent did not seem to feel it was as important as I would deem it. Now this same child wants to speak Spanish badly and would like nothing more than to understand the lyrics of Spanish songs, being that now bachata has become so popular with young people. I cannot help but to feel sad for her and wonder why her parents choose not to teach her a language that has now become so much a part of her life. Yet I don't judge these young parents who for whatever reason have been shamed into believing that teaching their children Spanish was just not as important as everything else. In that same way they have influenced their children to stray away from their language and their music.
I cannot think of a more direct example of shame as when I asked two sisters if they spoke Spanish and one looked at me and stated: "we don't speak that". If was as if she deemed it something rare, strange or even weird. I was floored by her expression and her defensive response. I knew not to judge it because I could have been her had it not been for my grandparents who were exclusively Spanish speakers.
To be continued:
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