“I am Latino."
“I am Mexican-American."
When I say these statements, answering someone's question of “who I am” I always expect to be met with resistance. “No you aren’t, your white!” they usually say. As if in some way they know more about my background than I do. Some ask the question, “Was it because you were born in Mexico?” others just stand in confusion looking at me, trying to find some indicator of “Mexican-ness." I have learned that when your self-proclaimed identity does not match up with what people in-vision they become uncomfortable. When I say I’m Mexican people, mostly Americans, want to see Brown skin on me to fit their already imaged identity of a Mexican, my white skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair just doesn’t fit the stereotype. Well, I have some news for these people Mexican’s and all Latino identifying people come in different skin colors, sizes, hair textures, and eye colors.
My mother is white, American, the descendant of Irish and German immigrants. My father was dark brown, Mexican, a mixture of Indigenous, African, and Spanish blood. I guess genetics did its thing and I turned out the way I did.
I make huevos y frijoles con salsa picante y tortillas in the morning for breakfast, I switch between the English and Spanish keyboard on Facebook because both sides of my family speak a different language. I have La Virgen de Guadalupe tattooed on my back and love mango con chile. I am as Mexican as it comes yet somehow only in Mexico am I validated as so.
As I try to navigate my identity and culture I am realizing that I am not the only person struggling with the idea of an intersectional identity. I want to use this article to open up a discussion within the Latinx community about identity, culture, and race.
