Being Mexican in Seattle

[skidamarink]

Originally Posted by malamute

Exactly. The only honest way to hand onto the culture of another country is to return home to that country. Coming here because you love the American dollar but want to cling to the culture that made you poor and flee your own country is just being fake.

You can still keep cultural traditions while being a proud American. The point where it gets fake is when people wanna live here and reap the benefits of being an American, whilst complaining about how the USA is a crappy place and how elsewhere is so much better. I usually hear people do this in regards to Europe. Whining about how backwards Americans are and how advanced and open-minded Europe is. Move to Europe, then.

[marionberry]

"Are people with Hispanic heritage who are born in the USA really called "Mexican" or "Latino"."

It is indeed case by case like others have said. For example, I call myself Hispanic and was born in the US.

* Honestly though I just realized that this whole thing may not apply to me as my ancestors are directly from Spain and not Mexico or Latin America. However, I have had people calling me mexican or latina and I've had to correct them.

[flyingsaucermom]

Originally Posted by skidamarink

You can still keep cultural traditions while being a proud American. The point where it gets fake is when people wanna live here and reap the benefits of being an American, whilst complaining about how the USA is a crappy place and how elsewhere is so much better. I usually hear people do this in regards to Europe. Whining about how backwards Americans are and how advanced and open-minded Europe is. Move to Europe, then.

It's not disingenuous. Identity formation is not a linear process. Identity is constituted by dominate and numerous co-cultures. You can be a card-carrying member of any institution and not always agree with all the policies and practices of that institution. If you have ever studied the meaning of identity and membership in an academic capacity then you already know that complete ideological harmony is impossible, because the multitude of variables involved in biological, cognitive, emotional and social development means that no two people will ever have the *exact* same system of beliefs in behaviors. Lots of public education teachers abhor state and federal mandates imposed on them, but that doesn't mean they walk off the job in droves. Many health care professionals in hospitals don't agree about particular treatments or protocols involved in patient care but that doesn't mean they get up and leave their jobs. Personally, I complain about food systems (GMO's, sustainability) but I'm no where close to having the sufficient resources required to challenge "the system" in any capacity (becoming an activist, growing my own food, etc...). You get the point.

My husband is a Mexican that lives in America and would rather live in Europe. It's a goal that will likely go unrealized. He enjoys living here, appreciates the natural splendor of this area, follows the rules and meaningfully contributes to the tax base, NPR and choice political party. He can't vote, but that doesn't mean he can't/won't participate. He could be a "model" citizen. So is he prohibited from complaining about the particular components of our social or political systems that are not optimized for efficiency or effectiveness as they are in many European countries? (framed in different terms, it sounds less like whining and more like critical thought.. with knowledge and proof, a complaint becomes a justified argument) It's a free country, of course he can!

In my view, it would be more constructive for these sort of individuals to involve themselves to create the environment/systems they wish to see *where they are* rather than expect that they can just pack up and join another system somewhere else. Anyway, I guarantee you these "system thinkers" would likely just start complaining about the annoying idiosyncrasies of those countries too. Can you fault someone for being smart??? No. Instead, we should work to harness the intellectual vigor and see if it makes us better.

[benqbeiza]

Interesting to read everyone's responses. You're all more or less on the right track.

Cheers!