half-breed mexican in the house
my parents were kind enough to watch jackson for a few hours last night. charlotte and i went to see the latest harry potter movie and j-man didn't want to go. in retrospect, i'm glad he didn't. the movie was a little dark, scary, and emotionally taxing for a five year-old. i expected as much. the movie was good, though. go check it out.
in preparation for thanksgiving, jackson's kindergarten class is studying some aspects of american indian traditions. he was showing my mom and dad some of the class work he has done and dad mentioned that he always liked indians and thinks their cultures are really cool. jackson has never been shy about expressing his opinion, so he said, "actually, they are called native americans, grandpa."
it's a good story, but it presents a question to my mind that i have never considered. americans are overly concerned about what terms are employed to designate their respective demographic groups. for example, colored people are no longer colored, nor negroes, nor afro-american, nor black. i believe they may be referred to as african americans or persons of color. i may be wrong, as a new term may have been initiated during the composition of this entry. i don't know what all of this is supposed to mean, or who decides when a new term is needed; but, as a white man i am merely required to comply with the current convention.
it seems as if this ______ american formula is all the rage these days. native american. chinese american. mexican american. iraqi american. you get the idea. it's effective, if not very imaginative. then again, neither are the people who require such specific recognition.
and why are real mexicans called "mexican nationals?" if this is done to acknowledge the individual's mexican citizenship and residence in mexico; should we refer to people of mexican descent born and living in the u.s. as "mexican internationals?" i'm just asking.
so, to my question. let's say i am a person descended from mexican ancestors. my family has lived in (enter any county in the world) for generations. am i referred to as a mexican anglican? or mexican german? or mexican russian? you get the idea. what if the same person was born and raised in america, but then moved - permanently- to london as an adult. is he a mexican american anglican? or is this man referred to as a mexican american national? my face is starting to hurt.
i long for the old days. call people what you like and don't worry too much about what they think. well, maybe not that callous, but this current crap drives me crazy. i mean schizophrenic, bi-polar, demented.
in preparation for thanksgiving, jackson's kindergarten class is studying some aspects of american indian traditions. he was showing my mom and dad some of the class work he has done and dad mentioned that he always liked indians and thinks their cultures are really cool. jackson has never been shy about expressing his opinion, so he said, "actually, they are called native americans, grandpa."
it's a good story, but it presents a question to my mind that i have never considered. americans are overly concerned about what terms are employed to designate their respective demographic groups. for example, colored people are no longer colored, nor negroes, nor afro-american, nor black. i believe they may be referred to as african americans or persons of color. i may be wrong, as a new term may have been initiated during the composition of this entry. i don't know what all of this is supposed to mean, or who decides when a new term is needed; but, as a white man i am merely required to comply with the current convention.
it seems as if this ______ american formula is all the rage these days. native american. chinese american. mexican american. iraqi american. you get the idea. it's effective, if not very imaginative. then again, neither are the people who require such specific recognition.
and why are real mexicans called "mexican nationals?" if this is done to acknowledge the individual's mexican citizenship and residence in mexico; should we refer to people of mexican descent born and living in the u.s. as "mexican internationals?" i'm just asking.
so, to my question. let's say i am a person descended from mexican ancestors. my family has lived in (enter any county in the world) for generations. am i referred to as a mexican anglican? or mexican german? or mexican russian? you get the idea. what if the same person was born and raised in america, but then moved - permanently- to london as an adult. is he a mexican american anglican? or is this man referred to as a mexican american national? my face is starting to hurt.
i long for the old days. call people what you like and don't worry too much about what they think. well, maybe not that callous, but this current crap drives me crazy. i mean schizophrenic, bi-polar, demented.
posted by cm at 11/19/2005
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