As a Latina woman myself, I found Anzaldúa’s work very personal. She speaks of the struggles of being a Hispanic-American and not knowing or having much of an identity. I have found myself in similar thoughts throughout my life. I am too gringa for the people in my homeland, but too Latina for the gringos. This is something I have discussed with my Hispanic-American friends. It is a struggle that most of us face. Living inside your culture in a different country’s culture can be very difficult, confusing, and frightening.
Anzaldúa mentions immigration patrol, which is a fear and a huge reality within the community. Today we live in a social climate where being by simply being part of the Latinx community, people assume that you’re a rapist, drug dealer, exploiter, and illegal. It is a sad bias and what’s even sadder is seeing the President of the United States reinforce those ideas. Whenever I tell people I am from Latin America, the first question I get is: But you’re a legal resident, right? I find that question to be completely inappropriate because it is simply none of anyone’s business, but also it is rude to just ask that. It is so rare to see that question being asked of European immigrants or even Asian immigrants. There is this idea that all Latinx people are immigrants and illegal immigrants at that. Because of that idea, most Hispanics live in constant fear of ICE and the government in jail. Your grandma, your uncle, or even your parents can be taken away from you and sent away forever at any moment. Immigration is also a silent argument because the only people who have a say are the citizens, and citizenship often takes ten+ years to achieve. Hence, people live silent and in fear until they can get a piece of paper that will make them be seen as humans and worthy of fair treatment.
I am so glad I came across your blog post. I think I need to hear more testimonies like this from minorities to hear the injustices revolving around immigration. As a natural-born citizen in the United States, I will never fully comprehend the fear of knowing a family member could be taken from me at any point due to ICE. I am pushing for reform in immigration policies.
I really enjoyed that you connected her work back to your life. It is real and that is what we need to realize. We need to view works to be real where sometimes we think of it as fictional.
I think you make a very interesting connection to the text in this post. It is important for people like you to continue to speak up, so people that follow behind you will be better off. Barriers must be broken, and I think you should continue to express these concerns, because it will definitely benefit other Hispanic-Americans to come.