Joel+M’s+2015+OpEd+Article



Dear white friends,

I am very grateful for our friendship, but I would like to use this time to inform you of slight predicaments we have experienced throughout our relationship. Please do not call me white washed, tell me that I don't look hispanic and expect me to be appreciative about such "compliments". No, telling someone that they are being efficient at masking their culture, and that somehow having caucasian features are better than hispanic ones is not a compliment. Please do not tell me that I do not dress like a Mexican, and that this is a positive thing. Your stereotyped idea of the typical Chicano attire is restricted to dickies shorts and Dodger snapbacks, and the absence of these items in my closet do not make me exceptional to other hispanics. Please do not joke and say thank you to me when you're eating your strawberries during lunch. I am fully aware of the backbreaking labor that Central American migrants partake in the produce industry, some from dawn to dusk, getting paid less than minimum wage a day, and just because I am brown does not mean I work in the strawberry fields in Oxnard. Please don't be awkward around my dad and assume he doesn't speak English. Just because he has an accent does not mean he is a slow, uneducated man, and yes, he does notice when you're rude and point it out. Staying on the topic of parents, please do not assume and ask me if my parents work as gardeners/construction workers/ maids. My dad works for a plumbing company and my mom is a house wife, just because they are hispanic does not mean that they trim your bushes or vacuum your rug. Please do not seem surprised when I say I am in AP classes and not in college prep, and refer to me as "one of the smart ones". The fact that there is a low percentage of hispanics, and other ethnicities for that matter, in AP and Honors classes is a socioeconomic issue, not an issue of intelligence or drive. Please do not use accents around me and refer to me as "ese" and then get confused as to why I get annoyed. Not only is this being stereotypical and offensive but your poor impersonation of accents is killing my ears. Please do not laugh and/or say I'm flaunting my culture when I pronounce spanish words correctly. I am not saying it wrong, nor am I trying to display my culture, burrito is pronounced burr-e-to not burry-toe. Please do not say that "I'm not a real Mexican" because I live on the hill and not the avenue. Last time I checked there was no law preventing hispanics from living in certain areas of Ventura, and assuming that all Mexicans live in the avenue is not only wrong but it is a big generalization. Please do not exclude me in your rants about how immigration is a critical problem in the United States, that illegal aliens are taking jobs and not assimilating to american culture. Do not say that I am an exception due to the fact that I am your friend. My mom and dad were the same illegal aliens who "took jobs" of which you speak of, so you are still offending me.

To summarize what I am trying to say, I hope that next time I talk to you you do not say something ignorant or stereotypical. Do not list reasons on how I might look Anglo, and how this is better than looking "Hispanic". Both of my parents are Mexican, and I am very proud of my culture and my background. I am as Mexican american as it gets, regardless of whether I fit the stereotype you have in your head.

Sincerely, Joel Mayorga (and your other Hispanic friends)

p.s. no, I don't listen to mariachi, don't even ask.