Being Mexican AND American

Courtesy of Renée Rodríguez Photography

I have written a few pieces on identity not limited to “Guessing Where I’m From” (Medium link) and “What’s Your Name (¿Cómo te llamas?)” (Medium link). Since I am of Mexican background, American by birth and the fact that we’re in Hispanic Heritage Month, I thought about writing this post to tie together these elements.

Living As An AND
For much of my life, I feel that I have lived my life through a series of ANDs. When I was on the call center Spanish bilingual team, I was a little bit of an “oddball.” I had (still have) tremendous pride in my Mexican background and American birth; spoke pretty good Spanish that improved from speaking with various clients, specifically South America and from the Caribbean; and, (still listen) listened primarily to hard rock, heavy metal, and, some blues. One of my good friends told me, “There are some parts of you that are super Mexican and others that are ‘white.’” To provide some context, they meant “white” as referring to things typically considered “American.” Although, one of my South American colleagues told me how heavy metal is HUGE in South America, so maybe I was more typical than what some might think.

I feel that both of my colleagues’ comments are two sides of the same coin. These comments spoke to preconceptions of what is “white” and what isn’t. In order to build on this point, I’d like to discuss hard rock and heavy metal.

Music Is Universal
I took a look at a few examples of some well known rock acts having some amazing concerts from South America.

Courtesy of AC/DC YouTube

Here is an amazing performance by AC/DC in Argentina at River Plate.

At about 1:25 into the video, you can see some dude wielding a bright red road flare.

Then, at around 2:00 when the song really kicks in, you can see the HUGE crowd in that soccer stadium PULSING in time to the music. I can’t fathom a stadium crowd moving like that!

To put this into perspective, the River Plate soccer stadium fits 76,000, whereas Ford Field in Detroit, MI (home of the Detroit Lions) has a regular capacity of 65,000.

As I looked through the video to find these specific segments, I had chills, as I’ve had the fortune to have seen AC/DC twice: once with Brian Johnson, as they toured behind Stiff Upper Lip (in the former Joe Louis Arena in Detroit that held around 20,000), and the other was a few years back, when they were temporarily fronted by Axl Rose (in the old Palace of Auburn Hills that held a concert max of 23,000). Having seen them in smaller venues than River Plate, it’s incredible to comprehend this larger crowd moving in that way.

Another example is from Iron Maiden live in Santiago, Chile playing one of my favorite songs, “Wasted Years”.

When the song starts, you can hear a little bit of the crowd singing. However, when you get to the chorus, you can hear them passionately singing along and see them pumping their fists in the air.

In these two videos, I didn’t see fist pumping, throwing up horns and singing along to songs written and performed in English was limited to “white” people in the US.

Gangster Knows Gangster
One of the revelations that I heard, awhile back on Facebook, was how Snoop Dogg is into Mexican banda music. Then, I was reminded, when I watched a special by none other than my favorite comedian, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias.

In this part of the special, Fluffy talked about Snoop playing some hardcore banda music on his computer, during his interview with Snoop, prior to later smoking with him. When Fluffy asked Snoop about his love for banda to better understand it, Snoop simply said, “Gangster knows gangster.”

If you know anything about Snoop’s origins, he’s from Long Beach (LBC), which is, also, the home of Mexican-American music legend, Jenni “La Gran Señora“ Rivera. Is it really that surprising that Snoop gets down to some Mexican regional music? With both of them hailing from the same city, I’d say probably not. I couldn’t be sure but I think that Snoop is more the norm than some might think.

Cultural Crossover
In my own way, I think of myself a bit like Snoop in one specific respect. He’s an African-American and he digs banda music. Similarly, I have Mexican parents and I love various veins of rock music, specific hard rock, (heavy) metal and, tangentially, blues (due to some of proto-metal and early hard rock’s roots Black Sabbath, Led Zepellin and Cream. Additionally, Detroit has a distinction of being “Detroit Rock City” (the Kiss song). Am I that unusual for being Mexican-American, born in Detroit and loving rock music?

Courtesy of Playing For Change YouTube Channel

So returning to how I would accurately describe myself, I use a lot of ands. I have a deep appreciation for my parents’ customs and stories (including of Mexican history) and I pledge allegiance to the United States. I love some of the more “adventurous” tacos (not limited to lengua [cow tongue], cabeza [cow cheek], buche [pork stomach] and chicharones [pork rinds]), but I can, also, smash a slab of ribs and I love all kinds of pies. I can listen to rock music and dig some traditional Mexican songs like “Volver Volver,” “Malagueña Salerosa (director, Robert Rodriguez’ group Chingon has an excellent electric version)” or “México Lindo y Querido” (an amazing version on the Playing For Change YouTube channel that makes me tear up).

When there’s an individual like me raised in or exposed to two separate cultures, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we can comfortably stand with a foot solidly supported by each culture. Who says that individuals like us can’t pick and choose the elements that we prefer to define us? OTHER PEOPLE TRY TO SAY THIS.

It’s Tough To Be Mexican-American
I absolutely love one specific scene in the movie, Selena. In it, she was talking to her father, Abraham, about wanting to finally perform in Mexico, although her music, up until that time, was solely in Spanish.

Here is that conversation from the scene that I’ll call “It’s Hard.”

“Abraham: They don't accept us there.
They never have.
Selena: We're Mexican!
Abraham: No, we're Mexican-American and
they don't like Mexican-Americans.
And they can be mean and
they can tear us apart there.
And Selena's Spanish is...
Selena: What about it?
I've been singing in Spanish
for ten years. It's perfect.
Abraham: Singing, yes.
But you speak it a little funny.
There you must speak perfectly
or the press will eat you up alive.
I've seen them do it.

[Overreacting.]

Selena: The music will speak for itself.
Abraham: Being Mexican-American is tough.
Anglos jump all over you
if you don't speak English perfectly.
Mexicans jump all over you
if you don't speak Spanish perfectly.
We must be twice as perfect
as anybody else.
Why're you laughing?
- What's so funny?
Selena: Nothing.
Abraham: I'm serious.
Our family has been here for centuries.
Yet they treat us as if we just
swam across the Rio Grande. [Their family, the Quintanillas, were Texans.]
We must know about
John Wayne and Pedro Infante.
We must know about
Frank Sinatra and Agustin Lara.
We must know about Oprah and Cristina (Latino talk show host).

Anglo food is too bland.
And yet, in Mexico we get the runs.
Now that, to me, is embarrassing.
Japanese-Americans, Italian-Americans,
German-Americans...
...their homeland is across the ocean.
Ours...
...is right next door.
Right over there.
We must prove to the Mexicans
how Mexican we are.
Prove to the Americans we're American.
We must be more Mexican than Mexicans,
more American than Americans...
...both at the same time!
It's exhausting.
Damn!
Nobody knows how tough it is
to be Mexican-American.”

I would tell Abraham Quintanilla (played in the movie by Edward James Olmos) that another Mexican-American or anyone that straddles more than one culture knows exactly how hard “it” is…The crux of the struggle for people like Abraham and Selena (in this scene), as well as for me and people like me, is, sometimes, feeling that we need to prove ourselves to other people (inside and outside of our cultures). This scene so painfully, poignantly and very beautifully expresses the struggle of someone that lives within multiple cultures and feels constantly obligated to prove themselves.

Declaring Our Independence
Often, I don’t feel that there are good reasons for these “definitions” of what is Mexican…or what is American. So, if we know how to define ourselves, then we now need to seize this right for ourselves.

I think about some quotes from The Declaration of Independence,

• “We hold these truths to be self-evident…that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

• “…mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

While The Declaration of Independence was written in response to the colonial era British government against the American colonies from which we started, I feel that these ideas can apply to how I and people like me can define ourselves.

Starting with the first point, we were born with the rights to our lives, our liberty/freedom and our pursuit of happiness. Other people didn’t give them to us. Granted that there are laws that define some parameters to these rights (ex. basic traffic laws; freedom of speech under the 1st Amendment though we can’t “yell fire in a crowded theater”). Also, I feel that we should exercise our rights in balanced ways that don’t infringe on others’ ability to freely and responsibly exercise theirs. In the context of this post, others aren’t the ones that gave us the ability to define ourselves. We had it all along. However, various circumstances may have deluded us into thinking others have the authority to define our identity(ies) for us.

Now moving onto the second point, we tolerate way too much before deciding to break away from what we are accustomed to or programmed to accept. Have you been told what Mexicans, Mexican-Americans or Americans are supposed to do or be? I suspect that, if you actually asked “the authorities” why there are objections that you would hear something along the lines of “because” or “it’s how it’s always been.” At least to me, neither of these nor many others are satisfactory “explanations.”

You, Also, Can Be An And
So on this Hispanic Heritage Month, I want you remember how you can call your own shots. You define who you are. If you want to hyphenate, go ahead. I am Mexican (by ethnicity)-American (by birth). This is a fact. If I were to call myself American, then I would deny my family’s background. If I were to let others define me as “Mexican,” then this would incorrectly define my birth. I was “born here,” so I have every right to claim my American birth. I know who I am, just as you know who you are. If someone asks who you are, go ahead and tell them.

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