Song Analysis: Hispanic Heritage Month

The text is important because not many people know the difficulties of being Mexican-American, especially when it comes to being themselves or the inner turmoil that comes with it; being Mexican-American means following traditions and speaking perfect Spanish, while at the same time having a grasp on American traditions and

All I can imagine is my mother reminding her children, that we should never forget who we are, that we should never forget our roots as we grow. In this era, young people are influenced to follow societal norms and are capable to forget their family culture. Hispanics parents will do all in their power to never allow a culture to get lost, to never lose a race, and to never lose their children. Me personally, I know I have felt that my two cultures, American and Mexican, will always interfere. One may not satisfy the other, but their will be points where they meet each other.

Hi Azaliaiza, I totally agree with you when you say that both authors focuses on how they feel unaccepted by society in the United Sates and Mexico. Nevertheless,it is true that both authors express the struggles of being Mexican American but also in Americo Poem he expresse the advantage of being Mexican America when he says that we get to celebrate more holidays since we come from two different cultures.

As a Mexican American, being Hispanic means everything I live, breathe and stand for. To me Hispanic means family, culture, unity, sacrifice and love. Growing up in a Mexican household, allowed me to embrace the meaning of family and welcome the core values that have been embedded in my heart and spirit. I am proud and honored to be taught how to work hard physically and mentally, to commit and lead in causes that are worth the fight, to sacrifice for others and to serve one another in love. Not only was I led by example of these things, but I had numerous opportunities to see it in Hispanic community and the church as well.

I’m the first generation of my family to be Mexican -American, but I have been introduced to the Mexican culture since I was born. I appreciate the difficulties my parents have faced to make me the person that I am today even though I wasn’t born in Mexico my parents have taught me the language and the culture which I’m so proud of being part of. For others being Hispanic is actually being born in any Latin American countries which is not true at all. Being Hispanic is much more than my cultural background it actually describes how much I appreciate my culture and how I get to experience things other people don’t. I fit into the Hispanic community through the experiencing the culture first hand ,participating in traditions and planning to include my culture in my future.

Cinco de Mayo promotes capitalize on national pride among international Latino.

La Migra is a poem written by Pat Mora about the Mexican - American immigration issue. It’s purpose is to acknowledge the emotions and sentiments of the Mexican immigrants who try to come to the United States illegally. The denotation of the poem’s title means immigration and the connotation is referring to the police officers standing at the Mexico-United States border. The poem is divided into two stanzas to acknowledge immigration through the different perspectives of the illegal immigrant and also through the eyes of the border police. The first stanza is through the perspective of the male border cop, who thinks his power and nonessential items make his superior to the immigrants.

Samuel Huntington’s article The Hispanic Challenge argues that Hispanics, specifically Mexicans, are not true American citizens. According to Huntington, Americans are people who believe in the American creed. However, he believes this creed is being threatened. For some time now, large influxes of Hispanic immigrants have been coming to the US and have brought their own culture with them. The writer of Speaking in Tongues, Gloria Anzaldua, believes that Hispanics have the right to hold onto their culture in America.

In the poem, Pat Mora is expressing how she feels as if Americans and Mexicans both treated her like a different species. “Their eyes say, “you may speak Spanish but you are not like me”, (line 12 and 13). Here, Pat Mora is talking about how even though she speaks Spanish, and is a part of the Mexican culture, Mexicans don’t see her as a Mexican. To

Being mixed, I struggled with never feeling Hispanic enough. Though I knew a lot about Panamanian culture, I didn’t speak Spanish, which is something a lot of Hispanic people are intolerant of. Hearing even close friends say that Latinos who can only speak English are a “waste of air” made me embarrassed of my upbringing. Additionally, the predominantly Mexican culture of Latinos in my hometown of San Antonio is completely different than the Caribbean isthmus I often visited as a child. I stood out from even my own family, lacking the coily curls and dark skin I saw in pictures of my relatives.

To me, being hispanic and born and raised makes me want to break all negative stereotypes of how must are not educated and do not have any way of succeeding. I want to make my family proud. I have had many experiences were being hispanic has made me work harder than I would have. The main place were I had to exceed was in school. I came into kindergarten with not knowing any english.

In grade school, we─Latinos─were prohibited from speaking Spanish at school as the administrators believed that it would be offensive to non-Spanish speakers. Could they not surmise how it would affect us; we were in the land of American citizens and spent most of our lives being discriminated or looked at freakishly owing to how or what we spoke. Having spent my childhood being ashamed of my heritage and refusing to speak Spanish unless I had no other way to communicate with my parents, I felt angered. My older brother once declared that Hispanics were brainless and denied being Mexican. Longing to defend these people who spent their lives discriminated against and struggling to find an honest job on account of their citizenship, I found my passion.

In the article, Mexican American woman’s reaction to Donald Trump by Christina Arreola, an interviewed a Mexican American woman, Carmen felt “terrified” when she heard trump’s infamous speech about the Mexican immigrants. Trump’s word discouraged her and made her feel ashamed of her heritage because her parents were also illegal immigrants. Not only Trump has discouraged people who inherited illegal immigrants, but he falsely blamed Mexicans for bringing the “criminals.” There are large populations of Latino-Whites that don’t speak Spanish in America and they are not criminals. To millions of Latinos, mixed race, and blond-haired whites, their home is both Mexico and America.

The only connection people have to their heritage is through their family. All they have together is language, musical taste, cuisine, and cultural attitudes about how a family works. “Looking at children through a deficit lens means that children are seen as missing certain skills or lacking background knowledge. Through these lenses, they are seen as culturally deprived” (Souto- Manning 5, 2007). Some Latinos have replaced some of their own culture by mainly speaking English, at home and at work etc.

Spanish culture has had a profound impact on the United States. This influence is seen mainly in the Southwest United States in the lands ceded by Mexico in 1848 and in Florida which was settled by Spain in 1565. The cities of Santa Fe, El Paso, Pueblo, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas are all derived from Spanish. In my town there are about 25 authentic Hispanic restaurants. A good percentage of US culture has Hispanic origins.