My Walk as a Mexican-American in 1920

My name is Alonzo Vasquez and I am a Mexican immigrant. I brought my family here to escape the political turmoil and poverty that has devastated the Mexican population after the revolution. I have a wife and three children, two girls and one boy. I love my family and upon moving into this country I thought that my worries for them would drift away. Unfortunately, I have become burden by different worries. As much as I want my children to experience this new country, I want them to still hold true to our Mexican culture and traditions. I fear that my children are becoming too American and are losing touch with their Mexican heritage. And it is causing troubles in my household.

My children, I fear, are becoming more and more like Americans. They are beginning to speak English more than Spanish. They are showing independency that only adults should have that worked hard for a living. And what I think is most disgraceful is that they are making decisions and doing things without my consent. My son started seeing a young girl without asking my opinion or telling me first. One of my daughters went out and got a job working in a store down the street and didn’t consult me first. And she doesn’t help care for her family with the money. She spends on clothes and make up and for going out all the time. The other started dating a White-American man just a couple of weeks ago even though I was completely and utterly against it. My children have even engaged in American celebrations and have begun to hesitate when it comes time to celebrate ours.

All these actions have caused countless arguments in my household. My daughters are becoming more and more outspoken and disrespectful towards me. They feel like they have this right to express their feelings to me. I blame that on that whole feminist talk. My daughters have forgotten their place in the home and especially in my home. My son fights me on everything. He feels he is free to do whatever he wants without my consent. He refuses to help care for his family and is disrespectful to me. I do not like these behaviors in my household. Unfortunately, no matter how much I try to put my children in their place, the American way is overpowering me. I have begun to question if my choosing to bring my family here was wise.

I am a very proud Mexican. I believe that it is important that certain family values and traditions should be kept intact and passed on from generation to generation. This should also be the case when you are in another country. It doesn’t matter what land you stand on, your culture and yourself is still the same. As Mexicans, my family and I need to preserve our ties to Mexico even though we live somewhere else. I think that if we do not celebrate or recognize our up-bringing and where we come from, we are disrespecting our ancestors and our heritage. We are treating it like dirt. We are dishonoring our fellow Mexicans and the wars that have been fought to keep our way of life alive. My family must value and remember their homeland or else I have done them harm by taking them away from it.