Mexican American culture

As an immigrant into the US, I slowly became familiar with the different national origins represented here, such as African-American and Mexican-American groups. Mexican-American culture intrigued me. However, I had a superficial understanding of their culture and history, mostly built around cultural symbols and food that I encountered in my daily life.

My introduction to Mexican American Culture

But all of that changed when I visited Texas. I tasted Tex-Mex cuisine and fell in love with San Antonio’s riverwalk. The Alamo fascinated me. The spanish influence was obvious. Shopkeepers greeted me with ‘Hola‘ and bid me ‘adiós‘. I too learnt to say ‘Gracias‘ as I walked out. At the time, I thought that Texas’s close proximity to Mexico had influenced the culture.

The Southern States of America and history with Mexico

Slowly I learnt that Texas had once been a part of Mexico. Texas first declared its independence from Mexico in 1836 after winning the battle of San Jacinto . The rallying war cry in that battle had been ‘Remember the Alamo‘ . Texas was annexed after nine years in 1845 and became the 28th state of the United States of America.

Spanish sounding names of cities in other states such as Santa Fe, Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco made me question? Did these states have a past relationship with Mexico? It turns out they did. California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and sections of Colorado and Wyoming were ceded to the United States in 1848. This occurred after a two year Mexican American war and a peace treaty where Mexico gave up 55% of its territory. Due to this, the Mexican-American border shifted south by about a 1000 miles. The 100,000 or so Mexicans living north of the new border had to declare their Mexican citizenship within a year, or else they were automatically declared US citizens. In this chapter of history, it does appear as if the border came to them.

So why did the war occur? I heard and read on The Manifest Destiny where America wanted to expand west of the Pacific. It still seemed to me that the primary trigger for the war was a border dispute, just like the disputed border state of Kashmir has been the primary reason for a couple of wars between India and Pakistan.

The history of Mexico’s border with America

The conflict today is not about defining the border between US and Mexico, which spans 2000 miles and averages a million daily crossings. The conflict is around illegal immigration. Was the US border always so restricted? I discovered that for hundreds of years, the border was fluid with laborers coming into the US for work and returning quite easily due to demand in Cotton and Agriculture industry. It was in 1924 when the US Border Patrol was established that there were controls put in place.

There have been many ups and downs in the border relationship between America and Mexico since then, including incorporation of The Bracero program and Operation Wetback. The Bracero (Spanish term for manual worker) program ran from 1942-1964 and was a bilateral agreement between Mexico and USA to allow guest Mexican workers to work in agriculture. There were minimum wages and guidelines established under the Bracero program. However, not all employers wanted to adhere to the guidelines and the Government of Mexico did not want Mexican workers to work in the state of Texas which was excluded from the Bracero agreement between 1942-1947. Those Mexican workers that entered the country illegally were called ‘Wetbacks‘, presumably to signify Mexicans that entered into the state of Texas by swimming across the Rio De Grande.

In 1954, Operation Wetback was initiated by the US Government with the goal of repatriating Mexican migrants back to Mexico, however there are conflicting versions in what was achieved.

Rationale behind border crossings?

Was the primary reason driving the border crossings from Mexico to US wage differences? I had thought that NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), signed in 1994 was supposed to fix that. As I researched and attempted to deconstruct this statement, I realized that NAFTA had actually slightly increased the wage difference between US and Mexico. There was also media hype about loss of American manufacturing jobs since the 90’s. An assumption was that those jobs had moved south of Mexico due to lower regulation.

Per my research, although foreign direct investment in Mexico increased and exports from Mexico to US increased due to NAFTA, jobs in Mexico were lost because NAFTA did not mandate local sourcing and local Mexican companies could not compete with the foreign companies that setup shop in Mexico.

With an understanding of this history behind the two countries that share a large border, I was not surprised with the statistic that I found on Wikipedia. That 11% of Americans have a Mexican-American origin. I could find symbols of Mexican American culture all around me. Pinatas used in birthday celebrations, food that I ate at Mexican fast food restaurants, Tequila shots and celebrations like Cinco de Mayo.

Food from Mexican American culture

I love Mexican food and Salsa, Tortillas ,Tacos, Nachos, Burritos, Enchiladas, Quesadillas, Guacamole, Jalapeno, Habanero titillate my palate . Fast food chains such as Qdoba and Chipotle have popularized Mexican food culture . Although purists argue that some ingredients used in America, such as beef, yellow cheese, cheddar , black beans and cumin are hardly used in pure Mexican cooking.

Cinco De Mayo

I look forward to Cinco-de-Mayo (5th of May) celebrations. That’s when nearby Mexican restaurants offer discounted deals on their food or hold fiestas to commemorate the occasion. Mariachi music from professional-sounding bands would play at some of these restaurants. I assumed that the day was to celebrate Mexico’s independence from Spain. But I found out that it’s a low key celebration in Mexico, primarily celebrated in one state (Puebla). It commemorates the victory of an outnumbered Mexican army against the French . Does it hurt Mexican American feelings that a relatively minor celebration is celebrated as a federal holiday in the US and the actual day of independence for Mexico September 16th (Día de la Independencia) , is not?

Pinatas

Piñatas are a common party game in kid’s birthday parties. The first time I witnessed children attempt to break a giant cartoon character made of papier-mâché was amusing. It was magical to see the delight of the little ones when it broke and candies spilled all around. Like many others, I too assumed that this was a tradition that the Mexican immigrants had carried into the United States, until research told me that they may have originated in China or Europe.

Tequila

I have had my fair share of Tequila shots at parties . On a Bourbon distillery tour in Kentucky, I learnt that the brand name of Tequila could only be given if the drink was manufactured in Mexico. Otherwise it was called Agave liquor.

My experience with Mexico

To me, the Land of Mexico had been associated with Mayan pyramids, the Aztecs, lots of sunshine and beach resorts. I also knew that many of the common words in English, such as chocolate, chipotle, coyote, tomato, and avocado are derived from Nahuatl, which was the language of Aztecs. But a cruise that I took that docked at Cozumel made me realize how shallow my understanding of this beautiful land was.

The media frenzy that the Mayan calendar predicted an end to the world on December 21, 2012 amused me. During my stopover at Cozumel, I bought a pretty Mayan stone calendar to put up as a decoration in my house . At the time, I did not realize how advanced the Mayans had been in their understanding of astronomy.

Other Symbols of Mexican Culture and similarity with Hindu culture

I resolved to pay closer attention to the culture and symbols around me. As I read and understood Mexican rituals and traditions, I could see some parallels with Indian culture. This blog points out interesting similarities between the Mayan and Hindu cultures. Both believed in the immortality of the soul and afterlife. The deities worshipped are similar. The ancient Indus Valley civilization and the Mayan civilizations disappeared rather suddenly, although they existed several thousand years apart.

Quinceanera , celebrates the coming of age for a girl’s fifteenth birthday. This is similar to a tradition in the Southern part of India. The Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Muertos) celebration in Mexico honors departed souls. The Pixar movie ‘Coco’ attempted to capture the spirit of this celebration. A similar tradition in India is ‘Pitru Paksh’. Based on the lunar calendar, departed souls are honored for a fortnight once a year . There are also many similarities between Indian and Mexican cuisine.

Lingo related to Mexican American Culture

Slowly, I became aware of slurs or words used in America that may be hurtful to the community such as anchor-baby, beaner, greaser, wetback, or bandito. Interestingly, Mexicans and Latin Americans also have a term to refer to citizens of United States. The term is ‘Gringo’ and is often considered non-derogatory.

I have bumped into many Mexican-Americans during the course of my work . Should I refer to them as Hispanic or Latino ? Spain colonized Mexico prior to its gaining independence in 1821. So was Latino the more politically correct term to use?

Stereotypes with Mexican American Culture

A recent immigrant from Mexico is usually lumped into the same category as a Mexican American who had been living in the States for over a hundred years. I reflected on stereotypes associated with Mexican American culture. Similar to how Indian kids are expected to be good at Maths and Science, Mexican Americans are expected to speak Spanish fluently. For those that have been born and raised in America, it must be uncomfortable to fight perceptions.

The popular Hollywood movie Selena (1997) depicts these challenges perfectly. It is based on a popular Mexican American pop singer Selena. She is expected to speak perfect Spanish when in Mexico and to speak perfect English when in America. A quote from her father Abraham says it all

And we got to prove to the Mexicans how Mexican we are, and we got to prove to the Americans how American we are, we gotta be more Mexican than the Mexicans and more American than the Americans, both at the same time. It’s exhausting. Damn. Nobody knows how tough it is to be a Mexican American.