www.masbakersfield.com

I know what it’s like to live with one foot in two worlds.

My mother was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States when she married my dad, a white guy from Chicago who spoke fluent Spanish and had a thing for Latin ladies.   I grew up in Yuma, Arizona, not far from the Mexican border, in a home that was both bilingual and bicultural. 

I think I’m one of the few people around who grew up eating lengua (cow tongue) on both sides of the family.  My mom would fry it up Mexican-style in a spicy sauce, while my grandmother of German ancestry would tenderize it in a pressure cooker and serve it in a brown gravy with peas over noodles. (It’s a lot better than it sounds!)

Spanish was as natural to me as English.  As a kid, I didn’t really think of this as knowing two languages; it was more that I spoke to my tias in a different way than I spoke to my Anglo grandparents.  I didn’t feel that I had to choose sides.

But as I have gotten older, I have found that people want you to choose sides when it comes to race.  They want you to be either this or that, even if you are both.

Take the U.S. Census, for example.  I’m asked to choose a race, such as white or black, and then have the option of choosing “Hispanic” as my ethnicity.  I’m tired of choices that don’t match my reality, so I am now a proud member of the census category called “Other,” where I can write in my particular background.

In California and across the nation, there are a growing number of us who are “Other.”  We are a mezcla, a combination of many bloodlines.  We are people like television news anchor Soledad O’Brien,  actor Freddie Prinze Jr. and singer Mariah Carey.  We come in all shades, with eyes that are brown, green and blue.

One of the many reasons I am proud to be part of Más is that we offer a place where our diverse Latino backgrounds are celebrated, including those of us who are “Other!”  I can see myself in Más, and I hope you can, too. 

http://masbakersfield.com
http://prince.org
http://molaa.org