Mexican American

It’s 1920 and you, Alonzo Vasquez, are a Mexican immigrant to the United States. While you love your new country, it is very important to you that your family remember and honor your culture and traditions, many of which are tied to your homeland. You are increasingly worried that your children, in the process of becoming “American,” are ignoring the importance of their heritage. Why is it so important to you that your family retain some cultural connection to Mexico and your Mexican heritage? What evidence is there that your children are being wholly “Americanized?” What conflicts has this created between you and your children?

*This assignment, while allowing for creativity, MUST draw from your VoF readings for the week and Becoming Mexican American.

America is the land of the free. As a native-born Mexican, and chosen American, becoming Mexican American, is not the easiest process. Although I do love the land of prosperity and as well as the Sunshine State, California, my native culture will never leave me. It is very hard to balance two completely different lifestyles. Entering into a land full of Native Angelino’s, there are many unspoken expectational characteristics. Such as the children going to school, I, Alonzo Vasquez, the father, as the working breadwinner, my wife balancing a job and the caretaker of the house, while still receiving less pay. It was unheard of in Mexico for my wife to work, now she actually wants to. Rarely was English even spoken in Mexico, now my family hardly speaks any Spanish. It’s understandable that we would lose some of our Mexican culture, but it darkens my soul to it slip away more and more each day.
It is important to me and my family to maintain our Mexican culture and heritage because it makes us who we are. It’s what I’ve always known is right. I want to instill in my family that I can provide for them and give them the lifestyle that they deserve, while still showing them the importance of family and Mexican pride, from which our heritage originated. Family has always been extremely important to us, it was hard on my mom and dad to see us go; to completely forget my heritage and culture would be unacceptable to them. I want to prove to them that I can come here and still be who I am, that I am not ashamed of who I am, where I came from. That I am proud of them, I want to make them proud of me as well.
The transition hasn’t been so easy on my children, they forget who they are because of how little time they spent in Mexico. Their mother was strategically targeted to the Americanization process. They wanted to get her from being the domestic leader, my life wouldn’t even make us rice and beans anymore. Tortillas replaced with bread and beans with lettuce. She’s fallen into that trap and it’s made me resent her. I don’t understand why they would want to change our culture and the strong family ties that we have. They don’t understand why I don’t want to fit in better into this new land of the free.
I’ve learned how selfish America is. She doesn’t care about the people. She cares about industrialization. She cares about prosperity of herself, not about the wellness of the people. She is open to immigration, but nothing outside the perfect American lifestyle, needless to say was not in any way perfect.