Gustavo Rojo Dot Com

A few days ago Elena discussed her dislike of a certain type of Mexican. Initially I was like “what the hell,” (I disagreed with her use of the word Chicano) but after reading her post I understood exactly what she was talking about. Somehow the post and the comments that followed seem to lead to a subject that most of us that are Mexican-American have faced. How do we balance being of Mexican descent while living in the U.S.? Some forget their culture while most celebrate their heritage. In college I went out of my way to take courses in Mexican history, not to mention classes to improve my verbal and written Spanish (castellano). Somehow we are still seen as second class Mexicans in the eyes of some.

My dearest Elena wrote the following:

Second example; every Christmas Chicanos come to Mexico. They’ll spray paint walls in small towns that had never had graffiti…I love graffiti but these guys aren’t artists they are just taggers.

However, it doesn’t matter because the rest of us don’t see them as Mexican. They can take their fancy Nike shoes, and their jerseys and their bad rap and their shaved heads and go back to Chicago.

Graffiti makes no sense whatsoever in Mexico, especially in the ranchitos! Who gives a shit if you claim 14 or Sur or Norte or whatever the hell. I mean come on now. It’s very unfortunate. A trend that has been occurring for several years in our ranch is that gang members will get in trouble in the states and their family ships them to our ranch where they are free to cause more trouble. It’s crazy. Who in their right mind tags the church? The bottom line is that that is not who we are. Not all Mexican-Americans are gang-members or whatever you want to call them and that lifestyle shouldn’t be representative of who we are as a whole.

My favorite PhD candidate, Cindylu stated the following:

My friend studied in DF for 6 months. For her research project, she went to a secundaria in DF and asked students about their perceptions of Chicanas/os or Mexicanas/os living in the US. She thought it was funny yet sad that most of the youth thought of cholos and Selena when they thought of people like her and I.

There are tons of Chicanos who go back to México who do not act like the ones you described in your post. Hopefully, those are a minority. I know if I tried to do anything stupid, I’d get put in my place quickly by my family.

This has me thinking of something else about me feeling uncomfortable calling myself a Mexicana.

The journalist John Ross touches on this subject in some of his books and it is so frustrating. Before Fox starting commending the efforts of Mexicans abroad ($$$), it was the norm for these Mexicans to be labeled sell-outs. I recall Carlos “Chupacabras” Salinas implying that Mexicans abroad were undesirables.

How are we viewed by Mexicans in Mexico? Personally I don’t give a shit what they think of me. They poke fun at us because of how we speak. Somehow we are less Mexican because of that? To be a Mexican in the United States you have to work twice as hard as other people. You have to speak perfect Spanish in order to make the Mexicans in Mexico happy while you have to speak proper English to make the gavachos here happy. It’s ridiculous. I think this is why many times we love to use Spanglish and other inventions. It’s almost like saying you know what this is our own language (like Ebonics). If you understand it good, if not who cares. I am not going to change to make Mexicans in Mexico love me (I know not all feel the same way). To be honest if my parents never moved to the states I would still be working the family land and tending to the cows and goats. Is that what the so called real Mexicans want? It’s similar to what Oso said about world travelers that don’t want other cultures to change. I guess some Mexicans wanted us provincianos to stay poor and live a miserable existence in agriculture where the mal gobierno doesn’t protect nor promote but simply rob.

El gran Oso stated the following:

Interesting. I was gonna write a post once on what some Mexican friends told me about their thoughts on Chicanos, but I didn’t wanna start any trouble. I’m glad you like to start trouble so much.

That comment doesn’t say much, but it seems that Oso has a lot to say on the topic. So I guess this is a “call out” to get him to talk.

The strangest irony is that while many Mexican-Americans celebrate their heritage, Mexicans in Mexico take part in Malinchismo, the admiration of the foreign over the native. That’s why so many Mexicans in the border region who can afford it head north to the U.S. to go shopping. That is why rich Mexicans have the latest foreign fashion (I wonder if that’s why there is many knockoffs in shopping districts. At one point I was able to buy plain leather belts but now it is impossible to find one without a Guess, Armani, or Nike logo engraved on it! Since when has Nike been making belts?). That is why Mexicans love the English language. Everything in English, from consumer products to shows on TV. Yeah that’s really being Mexican.

In the end Mexicans abroad continue to send their hard earned dollars back home and in the process sustaining the Mexican economy but yet we are still slapped in the face.