What Being Hispanic Means To Me

Growing up Chicana I was told that it is very important to know my cultural background and the importance of the word Chicano/a itself, but as a kid it was hard to understand something that even adults today still struggle with. When people heared the words latino or chicano they often would think of someone who spoke spanish or was born in a spanish speaking country, but for someone like me who does not speak spanish nor was born in a spanish speaking country, I became very disconnected from my chicana background and it wasn’t until the beginning of last year where I began to finally understand what it really meant to be a chicano.

Wrong. And yet, as a Hispanic student, all of this are stereotypes that I have to deal with. At school, I am a minority within a minority. In college, so many students acted based upon how social media portray them. They very well fit into the categories of troublemakers, the loud ones, the uneducated ones, and the ones wearing clothes two sizes too small the typical Hispanic. But

The article, Decoding Prejudice towards Hispanics: Group Cues and Public Reactions to Threatening Immigrant Behavior consists of previous and modern racism. This article was published in 2013 and was written by Todd K. Hartman, Benjamin J. Newman, and C. Scott Bell. The article itself was well-organized and provided crucial information that needs more recognition. The main point of this source is to express whether prejudice towards Hispanics has gone “underground” and “coded” racially or ethnically in the United States (Hartman, Newman, Scott Bell 145). This article is a great source to use, not only does it include racial issues, but provides the rights the Hispanic populations has, as well as prejudice studies throughout the years.

This brings me to the certain unfairness, stereotypes, and myths about Hispanic/Latino culture. While growing up we experience some of these types of situations. When we think about a Hispanic/Latino person we think about tamales, tacos, rice and beans which is a stereotype. However, Susie Jans-Thomas wrote Beyond Tamales, Tacos, and Our Southern Neighbors: Exploring Latino Culture in Child and Young Adult Literature to show that there is more to them then just those expressions. I believe we have all experienced or witnessed racism, power abuse, and felt lost in one point of our lives. This just shows that we need to try to work harder and together more.

I have learned more about Hispanics’ unique perspective of race that it doesn’t necessarily fit with the definitions of United States officially. Hispanic is considered more as an ethnicity than a race and that Hispanic individuals can come from any racial category. However, the census makes it difficult for Hispanics to describe their racial identity as there not many relevant options to choose from. This is why they fill in the “other” section of the census. I think it’s completely irrelevant to categorize Spanish-speaking individuals into one single group as they come from different parts of the world, such as Central and South America and parts of the Caribbean, different European nations, indigenous regions, Asia, and Africa. I am glad

Growing up I believed that being Hispanic meant being a particular shade of brown that had to be just right. I had no concept of colorism during my childhood and adolescents and had a meager understanding of racism and how it looked like to be discriminated against. Furthermore, less of understanding was diluted even further by my struggle with accepting my romantic and sexual orientation. The nuance of those identities and my many others left me exploring those intersections within myself than exploring the greater picture of social discourse. This all ignoring my lack access to information only found in higher education. Once I had access to this information and meet others that were like me and different than me, I starting learning that what it means to be Hispanic is vastly different than what I thought.

Hispanics or Latinos are defined as a people of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish speaking culture. This term “Hispanics” was created by the U.S. federal government in the early 1970’s to refer to Americans born in a Spanish speaking nation or with ancestry to Spanish territories. Hispanics people are vibrant, socializing, and fun loving people. Among various facts associated to this culture is that they have a deep sense of involvement in their family traditions and cultures.

Growing up hispanic means so many things to me, from having the best abuelitas and abuelitos, to late night conchas because we have to wait til midnight to open christmas presents. It has taught me that family is so important and that there are no guidelines to who or where your family comes from. There has not been one person to walk through our front door who does not immediately become"mija"or "mijo". Being hispanic also means that there is never a dull moment, there is always going to be a cousin doing something crazy and an uncle trying to dance at quinceanera. I learned so early one to never take myself too seriously. Part of being hispanic means being a welcoming person and whenever anyone is in need you are right there for them, because

As we have read in Healey’s (2011) textbook, the term “Hispanic” has been used to describe all different kinds of minority races, such as, Puerto Ricans and Cubans , etc., under the same token (pg. 318). The government identifies Mexican Americans and other minority races that have similarities in both appearance and cultural characteristics under one term (Healey, 2011, pg. 318). This causes the perception that they are all the same, taking away the individualistic origins of their place, culture, beliefs, etc. Most of all, this classifies false/mistaken assumptions that they are all immigrants, poor and same language speaking individuals, damaging each race’s individuality. Socially, the term Hispanic technically only classifies groups as

Being an hispanic brings a lot of pride to me. I am more than a statistic. Bing hispanic means that I am only suppsoed to graduate from high school enroll in a college only attend for a year but then drop out. But I am here to change that. Such as many other latinos, my parents matter to me a lot. I must bring pride and honor to our family name. Not just here but to those who have stayed behind on the other side of the Rio Grande.

Being Hispanic is being able to enjoy and demolish your mom’s tamales at Christmas. Being Hispanic is also being able to explain horchata to your friends and watch soccer games with your family. It’s being able to be proud of your culture and roots. However, being Hispanic is living in fear. Being Hispanic means sometimes you don’t know if your parents will come home from work. It’s being petrified that your dad may get pulled over because he is driving without a license. Being Hispanic is seeing your mom come home, tired from a low paying job, because she could not pursue an education. Hispanic means working hard in life to make your parents proud, to make all the looks of discrimination worth it. Being Hispanic is also being told “no” repeatedly,

Being from a Hispanic heritage means everything to me, but it does not define me. I come from a culture of hard workers, which means I will do as much as I need to in order to achieve the goals I have set for myself. I was raised to respect those around me because they are the reason why I have what I have. I believe being a Hispanic comes with the responsibility of putting others before me, but I know that it means I should never believe that I am less than the person next to me. My self-worth is not determined by how or where I was raised, it is determined by me. I may have more obstacles to overcome because I am a minority, but it makes me want to work harder towards a future that will pave the way for all those who will come after me.

All though being Hispanic can have its decimation such as people imitating you because of you accent or the way you dress. There has always been a point in my life that I take jokes as racism, but i have learn to pay no mind to people. There are programs for Hispanics that

The Hispanic population is the fastest growing minority in the United States, Hispanics or Latinos are defined as a person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Central American, or other Spanish speaking cultures. Hispanics, particularly Hispanic Americans are full of pride and vibrancy that you can’t help but notice. Today Hispanic groups are often perceived as immigrants, when in fact some group’s heritage can be traced back to the 1600’s in the western, southwest corner of what is now the United States, others groups such as Puerto Ricans were given American citizenship in 1917. “While immigrants used to make up the majority of U. S. Hispanic population today, almost two thirds were born in the U. S”(jec.senator).

how other people viewed me, I felt like I had to learn more spanish because I was trying to prove that I wasn’t an African American. When I would inform people that I was hispanic, it brought to life all these stereotypical questions. Do you know how to dance? Can you speak spanish? When the answer to some of their questions for me was “no.” They would reply, “You’re not Dominican!” or “How could you not know spanish?” Having someone else try to tell me who I was upset me because I know where I come from, but I still feel the need to prove