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opinion:
se what?
What defines who
we are?
By Se J. Reed
I got into an argument
with a friend Wednesday. A conversation that began with César
Chavez ended, rather angrily, with a debate on cultural labels.
It got me to thinking about this extremely touchy, and somewhat
personal, topic.
"American"
is not a cultural label. If it were, I could never be American.
I do not feel pride
in my country's domineering foreign policies and I do not
admire the political system.
I do not stand
when I hear the Star Spangled Banner and I do not pledge allegiance
to any flag.
Despite this, I
am still defined, by myself and by others, as an American.
"American" is a term denoting one's nationality.
It is because of this that I am American. I was born in America
and I hold an American passport. If I were in a foreign country
and lost that passport or got arrested I would go to the American
embassy. Case closed.
"Mexican"
is also a term of nationality. A Mexican holds a passport
issued by the government of Mexico. Upon losing that passport
in a foreign country, they would go to the Mexican embassy.
It may seem like
a pure technicality, or a matter of semantics. But, really,
it denotes the confusion of the entire issue of ethnicity,
nationality, race and culture.
Why am I different
than my friends who were born in the same place, watched the
same television shows ("Saved by the Bell," anyone?),
went to the same schools and learned the same things?
Is it because they
went home and ate burritos and taquitos and I went home and
ate macaroni and cheese and hamburgers?
Is it because their
parents spoke Spanish? My parents, not French, spoke French
to me and to each other. That does not make me, or them, French.
The quarrel comes
in when someone born and raised in the United States refers
to himself as a Mexican and refers to me as an American. In
that context, both terms are being used as a cultural label.
And, as I explained, I am not a cultural American.
Another complication
is when those who refer to themselves as Latino refer to me
as white. Latino is a cultural term -- it describes someone's
ancestry. "White" says nothing about my ancestry
-- it merely describes the color of my skin. Even that description
is flawed: I have an olive complexion and I have met many
a Latino lighter than me. So why am I white and they are not?
This also brings
in the term "black." Does it describe a skin color
or a culture? Defined as a skin color, one loses those who,
though light-skinned, have African ancestry.
Defined as a culture,
one must include those who, though not of African heritage,
are part of the black culture. Who wants to be the first person
to claim that Eminem is black?
I am not trying
to control the labels that people want to apply to themselves.
And it's not about who has been discriminated against the
most or whose ancestors suffered more. It's a matter of applying
consistent and equal labels to everyone.
Se J. Reed is
a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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