How Mexican is El Paso? (Anna, Anton: universities, live, fence)

[Violet West]

wish people wouldn't look at the dates before replying to years old threads

[wellshii]

Very

[WildWestDude]

Originally Posted by ElMexicano

El Paso is 63% Mexican almost 2/3rds I mean it sits right on the border so of course it is going to be mostly Mexcian and Mexican Americans and Mexicans make up 87% of the Hispanic Latinos in El Paso. Anglo Whites make up about 18% of the El Paso population. Most border cities will be heavily populated with people of Mexican ancestry in Southwest border states of Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico. Remember much of these areas use to be part of Mexico and some Mexican Americans have ancestors that lived in these parts before it became part of the U.S. I think Texas joined the Union in 1845 and California in 1850 but their were Mexicans living in these lands in the 1700's and if they have Amerindian ancestry then of course way before then.

You make it sound like it is very important that parts of the SW were held by Mexico. In reality that time was short, and the area very very sparsely populated and administrated. Again, as stated earlier part of the SW were sold out by Mexico by purchasing with good old american $$$.

[LEVOW]

more mexican that a tortilla tan tan! Lol

[Violet West]

Well, I think WWDude left out the Spaniards.

this is a very old thread to respond to the OP; but I think El Paso is More Mexican-American than Mexican, per se. And I'm Anglo, and I've never felt discriminated here. It helps if you have an appreciation of Hispanic culture.

[Chicano915]

Originally Posted by mdonaldson

After learning that El Paso is a Hispanic-dominated city I was wondering if there is any discrimination faced by the Caucasian minority?

I ask this question because my sister visited the city on a business trip and told me that El Paso is more Mexican than American and that the Mexican residents tend to treat the Caucasians like outsiders. In addition, she also mentioned that many of the Hispanic residents seem to proclaim themselves as Mexican first and don't want anything to do with America.

Is this true?

"told me that El Paso is more Mexican than American"

How is something "American". There is no such thing as American culture or race, so can something be more Mexian than American? Or by American does she mean white or Anglo? Is she saying people of Mexican descent are not American? Only anglos? No El Paso is not less American than other cities. yes we are mostly Hispanic/Latino but that does not make us less American than anybody else. Yes, of course Mexican culture is part of El Paso but so is Italian culture in New York or Irish culture in Boston, yet no one says those cities are more Italian than American (whatever that means). Now if you think only Anglos and their culture is American, then no you would not consider this an American city at all since anglos dont have much influence here.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by WildWestDude

You make it sound like it is very important that parts of the SW were held by Mexico. In reality that time was short, and the area very very sparsely populated and administrated. Again, as stated earlier part of the SW were sold out by Mexico by purchasing with good old american $$$.

Yeah...

If a horde of Canadians moved to Maine, decided they'd run things there as they saw fit and thumbed their nose at our laws, declared the state independent when we tried to shut them down, annexed the land to Canada, picked a boundary dispute with us, started another war over that, beat the hell out of us in it, then grabbed the rest of New England and upstate New York in a treaty they got to write because they had us over the barrel, in the 19th century, we'd still be kind of PO'd at Canada, too. That's basically what we did to Mexico in the 1830s and 1840s.

But I don't think anybody takes the idea of Mexico reclaiming Texas, Nuevo Mexico and Alta California seriously except American nativists and maybe a few Chicano militants and a fringe element in Mexico. Mexico actually studied the idea long ago in the Zimmermann Telegram incident during World War I, in which Germany sneakily tried to get Mexico into the war on their side with promises of helping them reconquer the lost territories; President Venustiano Carranza appointed a commission to look at the proposal and, despite the uproar over here when the news broke, their conclusion was--forget it. Some of the conclusions of the commission probably still hold true today, basically: trying to do a Vladimir Putin in the US Southwest would cost Mexico more in military resources and international goodwill that the lost territories were worth, it would start another war with us in which we'd beat the crap out of them again, and even if they could take this land back, the millions and millions of largely English-speaking, culturally American people living in it now would probably object--strongly, maybe even violently--to being made Mexican citizens willy-nilly.

I'm pretty sure Canadian culture is something to be reckoned with along the Canadian border, too, actually.

[rynetwo]

Originally Posted by Chicano915

"told me that El Paso is more Mexican than American"

How is something "American". There is no such thing as American culture or race, so can something be more Mexian than American? Or by American does she mean white or Anglo? Is she saying people of Mexican descent are not American? Only anglos? No El Paso is not less American than other cities. yes we are mostly Hispanic/Latino but that does not make us less American than anybody else. Yes, of course Mexican culture is part of El Paso but so is Italian culture in New York or Irish culture in Boston, yet no one says those cities are more Italian than American (whatever that means). Now if you think only Anglos and their culture is American, then no you would not consider this an American city at all since anglos dont have much influence here.

With this though process you cannot be "Mexican" either.

The word American means people from the United States of America.

The word Mexican means people form the United Mexican States.

[atrabilius]

Originally Posted by Chicano915

How is something "American". There is no such thing as American culture or race, so can something be more Mexian than American? Or by American does she mean white or Anglo? Is she saying people of Mexican descent are not American? Only anglos? No El Paso is not less American than other cities. yes we are mostly Hispanic/Latino but that does not make us less American than anybody else. Yes, of course Mexican culture is part of El Paso but so is Italian culture in New York or Irish culture in Boston, yet no one says those cities are more Italian than American (whatever that means). Now if you think only Anglos and their culture is American, then no you would not consider this an American city at all since anglos dont have much influence here.

I don't get those first two sentences, either, but I think you have a point with the rest of it. Lots of Italians in New York, lots of Irish in Boston, lots of Germans in Wisconsin, lots of Danes, Norwegians and Swedes in Minnesota, lots of French-Canadians in Maine. Italian or Irish culture or whatever is important in those places, but they're also in the US and their culture is basically American, and it's the same way in El Paso. It's an American city, with a Mexican influence.

[Chicano915]

Originally Posted by rynetwo

With this though process you cannot be "Mexican" either.

The word American means people from the United States of America.

The word Mexican means people form the United Mexican States.

Mexican is not just a nationality, but also a culture and an ethnicity.
American is not an ethnicity, but a nationality