Am I Mexican Enough?

If someone were to ask me where I am from, I would not hesitate to say San Bernardino, California. After all, I was born and raised in the United States and attended all my years of school thus far in the U.S. However, this does not, should not and will never erase the fact that I am Mexican. 

 

Latin Americans have consistently been under fire for not being “Latinx enough.” Whether it’s not eating Latin American foods, not knowing how to dance or not knowing how to speak proper Spanish – it seems there are consistent criteria that Latin Americans have to fit into in order to claim their ethnic identity.  

 

I have heard much discourse from Mexicans born in Mexico who claim “Mexican-Americans are not Mexican.” In a way, they are right. Mexican-Americans born in the United States come from Mexican descent but have American nationality and are, thus, not Mexican themselves. However, it is not the technicality as much as the underlying implication that makes this statement dismissive of the Latin American experience in the U.S.

 

As a Mexican-American, I grew up speaking Spanish as my first language and did not learn English until I started school at 4 ½ years old. I had the privilege of attending school in a predominantly Latine neighborhood and, hence, had no issues learning English in school and practicing bilingualism. Yet, many children of immigrants have not been as fortunate in having the opportunity to speak Spanish freely.

 

Before the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s, Spanish, like many other ethnic languages, was prohibited in schools throughout the United States. Merely speaking any language other than English was penalized by paddling, ridiculing, and other humiliating punishments. Older generations of Mexican-Americans who attended American schools in the 1960s – 1970s recall their experiences of seeing signs on the doors of bathrooms, classrooms and even lunchrooms with brilliant red lettering: “Say it in English.”

 

I am very fortunate to have experienced a childhood in Spanish and an unapologetic expression of my Mexican heritage, but many people may not have received the same advantages. As parents are forced to assimilate, they pass that assimilated language down to their children. Therefore, learning or retaining the Spanish language may be difficult.

 

Yet, it can be easy for other Spanish speakers to be too quick to judge. “You don’t know Spanish? You should. You’re Mexican” is a phrase that non-Spanish speakers may encounter quite often. But, cultural identity is complex. Mexican-Americans may not be Mexican by nationality, but the culture they were raised with and the identity that we feel proud of remains. Whether or not someone speaks Spanish is not, and should not be, the only defining characteristic of what it means to be Mexican.