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The American And American Culture

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As a child, growing up in a predominantly Hispanic middle class community in East Carson California, I never felt different from anyone. I did not understand what it meant to be a little Mexican brown girl until I moved to a different part of Carson at the age of 12. From the day I was born to the age of 12, I had always lived in East Carson where it was predominantly Hispanic. I was raised in a household that incorporated our Mexican culture and traditions. My grandparents came from a generation of “Machismo” but the “Machismo” skipped the later generations of my parents. My parents and my extended family were very supportive and encouraged me that my gender was nothing to hold me back and constantly reminded me that I had American privilege and opportunities that they did not as immigrants. I never understood what they meant until I reached adulthood and everything became apparent. As an adult I did come to understand that my gender would be an issue to the outside world both in Mexican and American culture. Furthermore, I came to understand that I did indeed have American privilege as my immigrant parents and other family members did not. To be successful in America as a Latina meant I had to replace my traditional Mexican values with the one’s preferred by the Western world. Coming from a family of immigrants I started to understand that Mexicans were the outsiders in the States because we were the unwanted. However, I did not understand what my family meant by

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