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Karen Corona

English 115

Professor J. Rodrick

22 October 2018

Latinos Born in America: How has America Shaped their Identity?

Society plays a big role in helping shape our identity, as well as the people who surround

us on a day to day basis, the culture we practice, and the environment we live in. This will either

cause one to conform due to pressure or to be performative. Being born and raised in America by

Latino immigrants definitely has its struggles as would any minority, however a lot of times we

are able to overcome them. Due to our cultural traits, physical traits, and stereotypes, we are able

to be performative and prove wrong those who constantly doubts us.

Our cultural traits allow us to be performative by outperforming those who are not

bilingual although it may sometimes be tough. While some parents encourage their children to

speak Spanish, other parents do not. A lot of Latino immigrant parents are afraid of having their

child be discriminated or treated differently, simply because they are speaking another language

other than English. In an interview filmed by NBC News, “Defining Latino: Young People Talk

Identity, Belonging”, Berenize Garcia shares how her father who is a Mexican Immigrant has

pushed her to be more American, while her mother encourages her to speak and practice her

Spanish with her Mexican relatives. She explains how this has made her confused, however on

the other hand she dreams of becoming a doctor and help out patients who have a language

barrier, using her mom as an example. In another article written by Suzanne Gamboa, “Young
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Latinos: Born in the U.S.A., carving their own Identity” a young Latina, Alma Flores was

interviewed and shared her experience, “​We’re stripped in a lot of cases of our Spanish

tongue...told it’s really important that you only speak English and to speak English well because

otherwise, you’re going to face hardship...because of the prejudice that this country holds​”.

Flores then mentions the importance of speaking Spanish and how one should not be ashamed.

Being bilingual opens up more job and career opportunities. I for example, grew up

Mexican-American and Spanish was my first language. I am very proud to be bilingual and use

my Spanish when needed, such as assisting a customer at my job, who does not speak English

well. I work as a receptionist at a car dealership and when there are Spanish calls they are often

connected to me, since the other receptionists do not understand the language. This makes me

feel happy, that I have made it easier for the customer to communicate and have them directed to

the correct department. Speaking spanish is part of our culture, whether we speak it fluently or

inarticulate and we should not be embarrassed. We also should not be embarrassed of our

physical traits, which brings me to my next point.

Our physical traits also allow us to be performative since we are all different skin-tones

and has caused confusion to others who are not part of the Latino community as well as those

who are. This allows us to educate them and break the stereotype that we are all “brown”. In the

same article written by Gamboa, Alma Flores who is a light-skinned Latina shares that she is

questioned when she identifies herself as a Chicana because of her light complexion. She also

mentions that they have called her “white-washed”. I am able to relate to Alma, since I am also

light-skinned and was even teased by own peers who also happen to be Latino-American. I was

told that I was not “Mexican” enough simply because I was not their skin color. What a lot of
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people do not understand however, is that we all have different complexions; some darker than

others and some lighter than others. This does not in any way make us less or more “latino”.

Gamboa also wrote about Leyanis Diaz who is an Afro-Latina born in Cuba. Diaz shared how

she first had self-esteem issues, when people would tell her that they did not know that there

were black people in Cuba. She then took advantage of this opportunity to teach the people that

surrounded her about her culture. It is also hard for a lot of Latino-Americans when it comes to

filling out forms or surveys that ask for your race/ethnicity. These forms do not include Hispanic

or Latino and we are either forced to choose Caucasian/White or a different option that we do

not identify with. I for example, always wondered why my high school records identified my

race as Caucasian, until I realized that there is not an option for Hispanic and/or Latino. The

solution to this would be to provide either one on these forms to not confusion to ourselves, as to

what we might identify as.

Lastly stereotypes. Even though there are many situations, where one might sink into the

stereotypes that are labeled on to Latino-Americans, we are able to surpass many of them

causing us to outperform majorities. A lot of Latino-Americans grow up in low-income

neighborhoods and are raised by parents who did not complete their schooling, this becomes a

challenge, not falling into the stereotypes America has labeled us with. In Stephen Balkaran’s

article, “Hispanic Heritage Month: How Hispanics Are Defining and Redefining America” he

explains, “Hispanics are envisioned as migrant workers, cheap laborers with leaf blowers,

non-English-speaking individuals, (pg.1).” This in my opinion sounds harsh, however it is how a

lot of people see Latino-Americans. Many parents of Latino-Americans, came to the country not

knowing how different the culture is from their own, challenging them to raise their children in a
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country where they are expected to fail. My parents, who were Mexican immigrants (they now

have their citizenship) raised me with the idea that I had to go to college, in order to be someone

in life and that school would be the way out of my “ghetto” neighborhood, Pacoima. They raised

me by not “handing” me anything, but rather explained to me that I had to work for what I

wanted. As a result of this, I was able to get a job when I was 16, worked two jobs my senior

year, while passing all my classes, and was able to get a brand new car on my own, with my

savings. My parents knew that my sister and I had to work harder than others because as Latino/a

Americans we are either expected to become young parents, high school dropouts, and to

continue to live in poverty. According to Pew Research Center, “Between Two Worlds: How

Young Latinos Come of Age in America”, in a sample of 2,012, twenty-six percent of Hispanic

females who were 19 where mothers, seventeen percent of Hispanics were high school dropouts,

and twenty-three percent of Hispanics live in poverty. It is difficult to not fall into a statistic

when the numbers for Hispanics are so high. On the other hand, this urges us to not be another

statistic, but exceed in whatever it is that we are doing, whether it be work or school.

Even though we are put down as a minority due to our cultural traits, physical traits, and

stereotypes that are given to Latino-Americans we are either expected to conform to rules or fail.

We are never really quite seen as performative, however we are. We embrace both our Latino

culture and American culture and want to help break the labels that are put on us by

outperforming majorities.
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Works Cited

Balkaran, Stephen. “Hispanic Heritage Month: How Hispanics Are Defining and Redefining

America.” ​The Huffington Post​, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 19 Nov. 2014,

www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-balkaran/hispanic-heritage-month-b_b_5848568.html.

Gamboa, Suzanne. “Young Latinos: Born in the U.S.A., Carving Their Own Identity.”

NBCNews.com​, NBCUniversal News Group, 14 Sept. 2018, Accessed Oct. 22, 2018

www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/young-latinos-born-u-s-carving-their-own-identity-n908

086.

“Between Two Worlds: How Young Latinos Come of Age in America | Pew Research Center.”

Pew Research Center's Hispanic Trends Project,​ 23 Feburary 2016,

www.pewhispanic.org/2009/12/11/between-two-worlds-how-young-latinos-come-of-age-

in-america/​.

Movieclips, director. ​Twice as Perfect, Selena Scene (1997)​. ​YouTube​, YouTube, 27 June 2017,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIBYaeYQF0k​.

NBCNews, director. ​Defining Latino: Young People Talk Identity, Belonging.​ ​YouTube,​

YouTube, 14 Sept. 2018, ​www.youtube.com/watch?v=QePAmImu2wA​.