Different people

Walk into a retail store, sales associate walks towards me and says, very loudly and slowly;
•DO YOU NEED HELP??? (She made a lot of hand movements)
•I looked at her puzzled and I thought, “Awwww, they hire the challenged.” I told her loudly and slowly “I NEED TO TALK TO SOMEONE REGARDING AN ORDER I PLACED” (all communication lessons teach you to emulate the speaker, so I was, I also wanted to make sure she got me to the right person)
•OH! , she said startled; “You speak English”
•Oh I said inside me, you really are challenged.
PLOP!!!


Talking to a mom from my children’s school,
•“I am so happy that you made it over here and not have to be underprivileged anymore, I mean, that’s horrible and you don’t even talk Mexican anymore, you learned American”
(visibly counting from ten to 1, about a thousand times, in Mexican and American)
PLOP! PLOP!!


Talking to someone on the phone regarding education.
•“Yes I was granted a full scholarship, it was great, I am so very grateful” I said
•He said “Ah! Yes, you people always get the good ones!!!”
PLOP!

Talking to someone about my children
•“Wow! Your son has green eyes and he can definitely pass for American, you are so lucky!!!”
(Can someone please explain to this person that there are whiter people than her in Peru and that my father had green eyes too…. geeeez?)
PLOP! PLOP! PLOP!!

“So how did you get here? “asked someone
“I drove here; I live about three blocks from here.”
“No!!!! I mean when you came to America…”
“I was born in America, South America…”
“Hehehe!! You are so cute; no I meant like here in America, the country, USA, you know…”
(No I don’t, please tell me, this is just more writing material for me…)
PLOP!!!


I called a store to verify that my order had arrived (another, different store) I spoke to the lady and she said that everything was there, and thank you so much for placing this order and we are so glad that we could do this for you, you are our best customer EVER, etc, etc, etc (you know the deal) I am leaving the box in the store but to the side in case I am with a customer when you come in, you don’t have to wait for me . Sounds great, thank you
I walk into the store and proceed to reach towards my large box that was waiting there with my name on it, She RAN towards me and asked if she could help me, I told her my name and I told her that I was getting my box. She said she was sorry, she could not tell that I was a foreigner on the phone and she wanted to make sure I wasn’t stealing.
PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP! PLOP!

Ok, I don’t get it.

I came, I learned the language, I assimilated, and I did everything that was asked of me, I moved away from large metropolis and learned more and became more immersed in the culture. Aside from my looks there is absolutely NOTHING that should create this wedge, this reaction, AT ALL.

But more often than not, the one that plays the race card is you!

You bring up the fact that I am different, that I came from somewhere else, that I eat different, that I dance different, Holly Moly, you have even mentioned that we walk different.

If you are constantly bringing it up, how do you expect me to put it aside???

You know if you are constantly going to remind me of what I already know then please don’t blame me when I take advantage of the constant mention of my differences.

So here are some facts, just FYI….

Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority; there are 45.4 million of us, comprising 15% of the current population in the United States. How does this number grow so considerably you may ask? Aside from the fact that Hispanics reproduce like rabbits, like you have mentioned so many times?

Well, let me explain it… SLOWLY….

In a mixed family, one of the parents usually fills out the demographic information about the children. Someone who is a minority is more aware of what a census does and how it affects you, therefore, Hispanic parents in a multiracial family will usually opt for choosing Hispanic. I heard the Italians didn’t do it that way, we are still growing strong.

Although we are expected to assimilate, this generation of immigrants has not had to compromise and be as isolated from its original home. Thanks to the technological advances that have been developed we can read the newspaper from home on the internet, we can chat using the webcam with family and we can download our music from every venue available. Our foods infuse the market and find their way into your favorites and thrive in places that don’t even have a large Hispanic population. Importing of our favorite foods is now commonly available at mainstream grocery stores and we have our own package in the cable company. This current generation of Hispanics has also created a bridge to older Hispanics who had isolated themselves from their original culture in order to assimilate, no longer necessary.

Everyone complaints that we should speak English but I swear that WE did not translate the forms in the government; we didn’t hire the bilingual people. We didn’t twist anyone’s arm to make the little announcement in Spanish in all public places. We didn’t create the laws that you say lead us to be lazy and a leech in society. As a matter of fact, you did. You wanted us to be able to pay taxes so you translated the forms, you wanted to be able to cater to Hispanic customers and attract the Hispanic dollar, so you hired the bilinguals, you wanted us to go to your amusement parks and other tourist attractions to spend our money so you made the announcements in Spanish too. There are only 26 Hispanics in the House of Representatives and 3 in the Senate, you passed the laws for things in Spanish, you agreed to this. It is good business, it was a strategic decision, your lawmakers saw that, we can see that, why can’t you see that??? Therefore, it was your own actions that perpetuated this situation or those of your elected officials; I think there is no room for complaints.

Most of us came here with the hope and dream of a better tomorrow, to work and to build with our own hands the type of life that you said was achievable here. We came here despite the borders and sacrifice of leaving everything we knew behind and we built our own version of “the dream” with the same passion and drive that allowed us to walk away from our home.

But a little bit of home will always live in us. There will always be song in our existence, whether it is a ranchera or salsa or reggaeton or a CD of boleros, the music will always be loud and where there are two or more of us listening to that music, there will always be dancing. Our food will always permeate the neighborhoods, reminding us and pulling us from every corner and set us running towards home. Soccer will always inspire hysterical behavior in most of us and will have even the most level headed person screaming to cheer on his team.

And of course, not all of you see us as the reason for the fall of modern society, not all of you act as though we are responsible for the growing cancer in communities, not all of you think that we have taken your jobs, your homes, your opportunities and your dreams. Not all of you feel as though we have usurped your right to prosper, not all of you blame us for global warming, well, you get my drift. Not all of you; thank the Goddess. We know who you are too, yes, we can tell. We can tell when you are really open-minded and tolerant and when you are ACTING like you are open-minded and tolerant.

Also, just because we don’t speak the language and we had to come here, doesn’t mean we are ignorant, doesn’t mean we are uneducated and doesn’t mean we don’t understand everything else that you are not saying.

Yes, there are trouble makers, there are people who break the law and who get in trouble and who will make the wrong choice. But then again, there are those in all societies despite their background. We know you catch them, we know you look for them, and we know you get to them sometimes even before they have done something. Its ok, we know. We have come to expect it.

Because if you think that the profiling defines us, you are mistaken. We want to assimilate, in the sense that we want to be able to function in this environ, to prosper and to create a better life for ourselves and our children but there are things that we refuse to relinquish. There are things that are ingrained, coded into our DNA and we cannot deny.

We are a different people. We work hard but we also play hard and our traditions and our culture are as much part of us as the color of our skin and our blood type. So if you have to profile us, if you have to generalize us and categorize us and discriminate us and stereotype us, that’s ok. Most of us have figured out by now that your segregationist and separatist ideas define you, not us.

So from deep in the heart of the Midwest, from Ohio, the heart of it all, I raise my bottle of Cristal, eating my mango, blasting Wisin y Yandel, in a kitchen full of reggaeton dancers, where we celebrate the fourth of July and Veintiocho de Julio, where we do Christmas and Nochebuena, where our lullabies have tropical sounds, and our culture becomes part of my children who then will pass it on to their children, I celebrate the human element that unite us but also the differences that make us unique, and wish you lots and lots of peace pero sobretodo.. ..mucho, mucho AMOR!!!!!!! (1)(1) Walter Mercado