“Son of an Immigrant!”

I am the son of two legal immigrants living in the United States of America.

This is why I have always felt out of place in school as a Latin-American. It’s very intimidating for me to be in a room with mostly whites. Not because they are mean or bad people but rather because they’re different from me. The way they talk, the way they joke among one another (still don’t get chuck norris jokes). And by now many of us know that as human beings we are afraid of the unknown. I was raised in a home where I was raised around a mexican culture. School has always been very intimidating for me because of this. I live in the US where the majority is white. Majority in the world may not be white but in a contained area like North America they are. My parents came here legally in search for a better life but that also means that their culture was gonna take a blow and a blow it did in fact take. Trying to live in two cultures at once is hard. As a son of an immigrant it’s hard to even feel a sense of belonging at times. At home my parents don’t understand the white ways i have developed, at school my classmates don’t understand my mexican ways I was born into. I’m more afraid to be myself around white people because of the culture difference but when I’m around other mexicans it’s easy for me to be myself and things like public speaking, flirting, etc become easier among people who look similar to me because there isn’t a culture barrier. I know some white people feel the same way because my best friend is white and he actually feels shy when we drive in heavily mexican populated areas. This isn’t to say diversity is bad, in fact it has made me a stronger person. I know things about the white culture that other mexicans don’t and some of those things are cool and attractive. The hamburger, chef boyardee, macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, etc…My friend thinks these things are plain and simple and they are for him but for someone like me who grew up eating mainly burritos, rice, beans, tacos, caldo, menudo, etc,…. Hamburgers, hot dogs, meatloaf aren’t so simple and boring for me. I love these because i get tired of mexican food. I am curious about white culture yet terrified. It’s the fear of the unknown that makes me fear white culture. I also feel this fear when I’m shopping at an Asian market….why?….because I’m in unknown cultural territory. I feel this way when I’m around any other culture. I don’t think the color has much to do with the fear i have because my cousin is white and he’s Mexican yet I feel comfortable around him. I’m pretty sure I’m just afraid of diving into other cultures. I’ve been around white people all my life in school but that’s not really the whole picture of what their culture is like.

I know these fears are kind of silly but this is just how i feel about them. I’m slowly opening up to the white culture, and i’m learning that there’s nothing to be afraid of, in fact there are some similarities. But i’m not where i want to be just quite yet. I suppose I’m afraid of whites due to the fact that my dad has always been so defensively-repulsive of them even though there’s nothing to fear from them. My dad tried so hard to raise me like his dad raised him, but I grew up in the US of A. There was no way he could hide me forever, or keep me away from their way of life forever and I’m glad he couldn’t. I’m not saying that it’s necessary to expand the way i was forced to but it does teach you some things one cannot learn without actually being an immigrant or a son of an immigrant. I’m grateful for living in such a great country yet envious of humans who can grow around their own kind. It makes me wonder what it would’ve been like in school had i grown up around other Mexicans. Funny thing is that I kinda wanna move to Mexico some day despite every mexican trying to move here. Although I do understand their desire to come to the US. There are some terrible things happening in Mexico right now so I thank my dad for coming here because of that.

I will always feel like Piccolo from the anime “Dragon Ball Z”. A Namekian born and raised on an alien planet called Earth. Earth is his home despite the fact that his race is from the planet Namek which he’s never visited until later when he grew older…. But this guy probably has it harder because he’s a planetary alien.