This is an email my friend sent me regarding our college experience. She is from New Mexico. Her family has been there for generations. She is HIspanic but doesn't speak Spanish well and has more Southwestern traditions and cuisine than Mexican, Spanish, etc. She identifies as Hispanic but, at times, finds it hard to explain what she is since her family has been here for generations. I am posting this because its such a typical example of what most bicultural and multicultural kids go through in college. Ironically, its not so much the problems they have with themselves, but its usually dealing with the problems placed on them be society.....what label(s) are you? 

I was thinking about our conversation yesterday about X University...I have thought about this on and off over the years because it did have an impact, but in the end I still ended up making great friends and had wonderful friendships, but....

You know what was really interesting to me?! That I felt SOOOO completely out of place because of where I was from and the fact that I couldn't be placed into this little, teeny, tiny box that everyone wanted to classify in. (Not you and a few others of course.) To a lot of people, they couldn't and still can't understand that I am a hispana or hispanic because I don't seem to fit into a "category."

I found that there were certain people in the "latino" community who were NOT very accepting of me because my skin wasn't dark enough, I didn't speak fluent spanish and/or my culture and traditions were not like theirs. It was an almost "reverse discrimination." I expected it from the "white" or caucasian people...to perhaps behave differently towards me when they found out that I am NOT "white," but certainly not from my own "people." It was just the weirdest experience....because for a long time I never felt like I belonged in either group...I felt like I only partially belonged to either group. I had people who assumed I was Jewish or Italian because of the way I looked. I've had a guy not want to date me anymore when he found out that I was not actually caucasian, but hispanic...and although that hurt, it never surprised me.

I do know that when I first got to X University I knew that I was so very different (for many different reasons, but this was one of them)...and it definitely made me feel like I had to try my hardest to assimilate by toning down my New Mexican accent or whatever (that's where I'm from!) or try harder to fit into the 'latino' group, which I never could because so many of them were from Puerto Rico and you know how tight they all were...plus I couldn't understand them or talk to them as fluently as they were used to! And do you know, to some extent, some members of my family (not my immediate, but others) used to give me a hard time when I'd come and tell my I sounded like a gringa?!

Dang girl - I could never win! LOL. I'm so glad that I just was able to let it all go. I generally don't deal with it and do my own thing anyways, but our conversation last night just made me think of this....

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites