There’s always something amusing about someone telling you your country is filled with people who are rapists and criminals. Even though no one in your family, or anyone that you know for that matter, fits that stereotype.
Ever since Donald Trump announced himself as a presidential candidate back in June 2016, there has been a growing fear amongst immigrants, specifically Mexican immigrants. The sudden alarming panic that they could be separated from their family or even sent back to a country they haven’t seen since they were born is a fear that immigrants have to live with everyday. However, I’m here to talk about what it’s like being a natural born American citizen with a Mexican heritage during the 2016 Presidential Election. What makes this certain presidential election worse is not the fact that an inconsiderate and self-absorbed man is running for president, but that there are so many people in this country that fully support him. I worked as an intern for a local political campaign, and I would actually be terrified of someone yelling something insulting to me regarding “illegals” while canvassing. It was impossible not to feel this way considering there have been multiple times when such a time has happened. I understand that different people have different opinions, but it’s truly remarkable to learn that there are people who want to create a better country for the future but choose to follow bigotry.
Over the course of the campaign, many Latinos and Hispanics have realized that maybe there is a dangerous component in this election there has never been. Just this year, so many undocumented immigrants have been rushing to become citizens just to be able to vote. More specifically, “from August to January, applications for citizenship throughout the country have increased more than 14 percent compared with the same period a year before” which is partly due to the campaign. Included in this are members of my own family, three of them have already started on their own path towards citizenship. All three of those family members have lived in this country for so long already that it’s hard not to imagine them as actually integrated into the United States. They lived the American dream of coming to a land of opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their family. My grandfather came to this country as an immigrant like any other with nothing to his name and desperate for any job just to get by. Years of hard work and dedication allowed him to buy a house, cars, and establish a life with my grandmother. Is that not what being an American is? Unfortunately, apparently not.
Being a Mexican-American during this election actually means having to help my undocumented family study for their test and going through anxious stomachs in hopes they do well. It means watching them grow in fear but try to hide it in secret to show that they will not be bullied. It also means having a growing fear in you that you might come home from school one day and not have your family there as usual. There is an angst in you of a scary possibility that you might not see them everyday anymore. It’s an unnerving feeling to have because you don’t know what’s going to happen each day that you wake up, but you have to do it for your family because they would do anything for you.
I’m a first generation student studying political science in hopes of being a lawyer and politician after completing my education. But ever since the rise of hatred towards immigrants and Mexicans has risen, I start to question why I would ever want to serve a position in politics. How am I supposed to help and support people in this country, when some of those same people don’t want anything to do with me just because of my ethnicity and race? It’s incredible to know that there are still so many people who think this way in the twenty-first century because I am proud to both be Mexican and American. I come from a beautiful culture with an ingrained idea that family comes first and hard work is the way to live. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t love being Mexican. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t love the fact that I am bilingual. And there is no reason why I shouldn’t feel like I’m actually accepted by the people of the United States as part of a first generation. Correspondingly, I am glad to be called American as much as I am Mexican. I am thankful to be in a country that is the symbol for freedom. And I am more than grateful to be living in a country with so much diversity that everyone is unique from each other. I don’t have to choose between being just Mexican or just American because I am both. The embodiment of a Mexican-American is being proud of a country that has given you so many opportunities while being just as proud of your homeland.
Unfortunately, it’s easy to shy away from saying that you are Mexican-American during this time. The fear, that even if you are a citizen, someone will slander you for your ethnicity. That even if you have all the right in the world to be in this country, someone will tell you that you do not. I admit that even I have been afraid at some points, but in actuality, there is no better time to be openly proud of our culture and background than now. Those that are eligible to vote have the power to do something and change the negative perspective people have of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. For all the eleven million undocumented immigrants living in the shadows, you are what represents them in the voting booths and the voice that can be heard in the government. There is so much to be risked in this election that we should be doing everything in our power to prevent the worse of a leader filled with bigotry from entering the office. We owe it to our fuertes mamas y papas and our strong mothers and fathers for the better life they have given us. Now, it’s our turn to do the fighting.
