Today in America, even more so we see this trend of how one defines themselves in society whether they be first generation immigrants or a couple of generations removed. It is about whether or not an immigrant or children born of immigrant parents learn to assimilate or abide by their culture. So I have always wondered how one defines themselves if they are Latino or Hispanic. I have come to question how one’s race or ethnicity affects how people perceive a person. As for me, I was born in the United States of immigrant parents, but I do not say that I am just “American”, I say that I am Latina. However, my skin color (I am white) does not reflect what the stereotypical view of a Latino is, that being moreno, dark hair, brown eyes, etc. So how does one separate their race from their ethnicity if in some cases they do not reflect the stereotype of a certain group of people? It is hard to put Hispanics in one racial category because we are not just white, or just black, or just brown or indigenous. We are a combination of things that cannot be defined by marking just one box on a form. And as for those people who have just immigrated to the United States, how are they supposed to say what they are in a new society who pretty much frowns upon them. Latinos are discriminated just as much if not more than blacks in this country and for someone who is a Latino immigrant, they will be more inclined to chose what society deems them to be racially because they are forced to assimilate faster. It is sad to see that people of different backgrounds have to be forced to see themselves in a way that tells them they are good for nothing when the people who have those assumptions should really educate themselves to realize you cannot define a person simply by checking off a box on a piece of paper. By forcing immigrants and their children to conform to the racist views this country has of them, you take away the very definition of what makes them who they are. Not only do they lose a sense of comfort being in a place so strange and new, but society (the United States to be more specific) cannot learn about a group of people if their culture has been completely erased.
It is hard to believe that the United States can say we have eliminated the race problem when you still see it everyday just by the language being used against immigrants and their children. Immigrating is already scary enough, as I have been told by my parents, whether it be legally or illegally. Yet native born U.S citizens still make it difficult for those people trying to seek a better life by automatically placing them in one racial/ ethnic category or the other. In this country, it is as if we fail to remember that we are a melting pot of cultures. That this country’s history is made up of different races and ethnicities that contributed greatly to its advancement , but racism still exists even on government forms today.
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