A World of Difference

Article Title: A Countryless Woman; The Early Feminista"Among Latino/as in the United States today there is a universe of difference. There is a universe of difference, for example, between the experience of the Cuban man who arrived here in the United States as a child after feeling Castro's revolution and the Puerto Rican woman who is a third generation single mother on the Lower East Side."

I am a fifth generation college student living in East Los Angeles, despite having been born only miles away in the city of Whittier I consider myself more Mexican than American, because of my upbringing in a Mexican decent family. As a Mexican woman living in the United States I know very little of my heritage or the history of my people. There is a world of difference between my values and traditions then those of my great grandfather who was born in Mexico and came over to the U.S. as a young man and who is still living here today. I feel a great loss of pride and knowledge and lack of heritage because of the traditions my great grandfather kept with him from his homeland there were not passed down to my generation. Many young Chicano/as have little knowledge of who they are in today's society, because of the lack of edification from their elders. Young Hispanics who are born and raised in the U.S. are labeled Hispanic because of their facial characteristics but do not know the meaning or privilege of being so and have become more Americanized then their ancestors.

I find it difficult to be proud of who you are, when you don't know much about where you come from. Although I consider myself a Mexican because of my upbringing in the home, I know very little about the Mexican culture. i have become Americanized through the influence of society and my peers. I lived in Hacienda Heights, between the years of 2002 and 2008 where most of the influence came from to become the person I am today. Hacienda Heights was known as an upper class neighborhood filled with financially privileged adolescents, who were caught up in the world consuming material goods. Having lived there six years, I began to conform to the standards that were socially acceptable, such as what to wear and how to act. In doing so, I also began to ignore my heritage and adopted values and traditions that were not my own.

I feel that the adolescents of today's youth have lost appreciation for the value of their culture. Many young Hispanics do not know any more about their own culture than they know about a blue nose pitbull, a person can recognize a blue nose pitbull by its facial characteristics but know nothing about this dog beyond its distinguishable face. To younger generations being Hispanic is similar to wearing an accessory; it is in style or "cool" to be so. Older generations feel differently about being Hispanic, they have felt the effects of living in a segregated America, leaving them ashamed to be anything but American. The differences between present generations and their ancestors go deeper then just what they wear, it's how they think, feel and even act.

Not only for Hispanics, but people in general do not know who they are, unless they recognize where they come from. Younger generations are growing up without this knowledge, and for some they do not care to obtain it. There are those of us who are proud of what we are and wish to know more about where we come from, there are those who are taught by their elders to be ashamed of being Hispanic and do everything they can to be perceived as White American. There is a world of difference between older generations who have fought to live her in the United States and those who have been privileged to be born and raised here without ever having to know the struggles of our ancestors.