I am both

5/12/06
I am both, Both American and Mexican.
I hate the idea of being called Hispanic.
I was raised in both cultures. I live in an American city just 20 minutes from the border. The place where my mother was born, but now this is the place we reside. She came over in the so called right way and she has lived her since she was seven. Since then she has worked hard and paid just like the ones who were born here. But any minute some one could say she doesn’t belong here, even though she has her ciztenship. I aware of both my cultures, the American ways and the Mexican ways. But I am only fully allowed to be one. In Mexico I considered an American and in America I am considered a Mexican but little do they know that I am both and I will always be both. To them it may not be politically correct to call myself Mexican American but that is the term that I see that describes me and so many others. The truth is I struggle with both my hertiages. As a Mexican I am required by my culture to know my history and my language. Yet sometimes I have trouble with both. As an American I am expected to know the same thing, the history and the language. Sometimes I still struggle with the language because my very deep seeded accent will come out. Yet it was the language that knew how to first express myself in because my parents were scared that I would be punished if I knew Spanish. Little did they know that I would be punished either way. I was always being told that I was never enough to be a Mexican but to me who has the right to tell someone they are not enough? No One. Why is it so much harder for me when my so called homeland as people say is right next door? But people must know that I am both. I am Mexican American. I am proud to say that. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t be proud of both my cultures?