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The Beauty of two Cultures

“Growing up as a person of color in Michigan, we had the talk from our parents from a

young age about the police. How to address them and what to do if we ever were in trouble

with the law. It was just something that was known. We never questioned why it was that

way.” States Tawana, an R.N. in California, as she connected the obedience of authority and her

small town of Illinois. She expresses that she knew from a young age the only way out was

through education and that she wanted a better life for her children. Especially when she had 2

small boys. She decided she would go to nursing school. When Her boys got older and into their

teenage years, she saw the trouble that her oldest was getting into and decided to move to

California. However, Elisa a retired childcare provider and homemaker, who grew up in Mexico

had two different authoritative groups to worry about. “The cartel is well known in Mexico, you

know that there are cops that work with them and there are cops that don’t, but you never

really know who they all are, you just hear it or something say’s this person is this, but we know

to not ask anything about it.” Elisa has broken English, as she came to the U.S. as an adult when

she married her husband. Both women expressed the danger of where they came from and

how they knew from such a young age to not question anyone of authority and to fear for their

lives if they did. They both stated that moving to California has made their lives much better in

many ways. However, they both expressed their great struggles with social norms when moving

to California and more specifically in Roseville where the culture is predominantly white. Elisa

stated that because she didn’t speak good English that she felt judged as she wasn’t smart.

Tawana states that she was judged before she would even spoke by the color of her skin.
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Tawana grew up going to an all-black Baptist church. Elisa grew up going to a catholic

church in Mexico. Tawana does not practice the beliefs she was raised with, but always

believed that God loved and knew her. However, Elisa converted to Christianity and found a

huge support system within the church when she came to the U.S. Tawana doesn’t feel that her

beliefs played a huge role in her life and the choices she made as an adult or even adolescent.

Where Elisa states that God was everything to her. She wanted to be as obedient as possible.

Growing up Elisa states that gender roles were clearly defined in her home. That the women did

all the housework, the cooking and made sure that she took care of the children and the

husband. She states that while an education was important for her, that her dream was always

to be a wife and a homemaker. She dreamed of being a housewife, but never really thought of

coming to the US. She stated that she was happy living in Mexico, but when she thought about

the life she could give her daughter, that is when she decided to move to the U.S. while she was

pregnant. Tawana got pregnant at a young age, she was raising a son on her own and living with

her mother and siblings. She was taught from a young age to not depend on a man, to make

her own way of life. She worked and went to school, but it wasn’t until she met her husband

that she found true support in a man. She then realized that being strong and independent was

important but being able to have a spouse to rely on and to help was also something that was

important to her, and it didn’t make her any weaker of a person.

Both women I truly admire in different ways. Their culture is something that they

identify greatly with. They both do not have any family here and really miss their family back

home. One thing that they did agree on is that California has given their children a safer and

better life. Hearing the different stories that they had about the Cartel and the police in Illinois
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gave me an extraordinary perspective and sense of respect for what people of color have had

to go through in life. However, they both have a rich culture and very strong connection with

their family and heritage. They know who they are as women and people and what they stand

for. They both have great respect for their elders and what they were given as children and

adolescents. While both women learned to be homemakers, one was taught to never rely on

man and the other was taught to serve one. Both are happy with their life choices. One is

educated and makes more money than her husband and one has always been a homemaker

and a childcare provider. Their roots of their culture are instilled in who they are, however one

thing that they did express is that they feel that their children do not have the same cultural

experience here in California and for Elisa in the U.S. They feel that they are lacking learning

about their culture mainly because they are not with their family.

Learning about each of their experiences and who they are and how they became who

they were was very interesting. Coming from such diverse backgrounds I am so intrigued, and I

understand why the culture that they come from feel and think the way that they do. The

depth of their culture is something I have always envied, but maybe it was more just family that

I wanted.
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References

Kim, J. J. (2014). Mexican Drug Cartel Influence in Government, Society, and Culture. UCLA.

ProQuest ID: Kim_ucla_0031N_12678. Merritt ID: ark:/13030/m5903m50. Retrieved from

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/6tg3z64q

Walker, Edwin. History of the Springfield Baptist Association.

https://digital.lib.niu.edu/islandora/object/niu-lincoln%3A36965