What impact do the labels people of Spanish lineage chose, have on the delivery of mestizo values. Labels in the form of identities convey a value set. What are the consequences of having ambiguous labels? Maybe a different way of seeing the same question is to look into the heterogeneity of the homogenous. The Spanish came and we believe they were a homogenous group, and we know they weren’t. The utility of this homogeneity is becoming more and more useless. I think this homogeneity is exploited by the hegemonic trait that comes with it. The sad through-line in this topic is the value of being white.
I find my cultural labels having ambivalence. I am feeling implicated in the corruption of a humanism under the display of actions of groups that share the Hispanic labels but loosely share the values. Chicano gives me a very clear boundary around what type of Spanish descendant I am. The polarity of American politics under today’s conditions stirs my curiosity for learning more about these ambivalently labeled identities. Who is leveraging these labels and what pernicious values are distorting the momentum of my labels. Focusing on Chicano and Hispano for now, I find an emotional wedge growing in me resulting in an itchy resentment building for Nuevomexicanos who are avaricious, propagating a conquistador toxicity.
I want to investigate how the cultures near and dear to me are at odds with the class progress made over the centuries. The progress we have seen for Nuevomexicanos in areas like education, representation, and inclusion is alienating newer undesirables, elongating and warping the gap between Chicano ideals and Hispano ambitions. The beautiful nemesis in this thought process is that there isn’t and never will be a convenient identity that can fully articulate or represent mestizo peoples. The mind blowing truth in this same dilemma is that no one has any real form of undeniable ethnic identity other than mixed. This transfers into every other cultural system including politics. I have a conviction that until we have an early and fundamental pedagogy of paradox, we will continue to have cascading failures trying to deal with constantly morphing human concepts through binary methods.
The values that I feel once represented me, have grown to be complicated and a little more misrepresentative of me. I am stumbling across this argument during the time period where Conservative American’s are growing a message of blame, indicting Mexican Immigrants, and any other immigrants for the tarnishing of America.
These predominantly Anglo European communities rallied under the message “Make America Great Again”. This ideology lured me into the divisiveness that my faith has always tried to teach me to avoid. Mathew 7: 1-5 has been engrained in me. In trying to comprehend the mantra, while trying to understand the bigotry in blaming illegal immigration (odd name for human nature), and wresting with the moral contradictions many of the Conservative Republican platform is built on I can only recommend that I see this hypocritical drama play out in my life. The indigenous origin story I tell myself I belong to is at odds with imperial colonizing ambitious self. My wounded and embarrassed Spaniard in me is fighting to “make me great again”, while my modest and humble rooted self is trying to protect me from the reckless and self indulgent momentum that becomes toxic poisonous to others around me. This is how I found myself being critical of the label Hispanic. The Spaniard in me once carried a false pride in holding status over others. Any other part of me was villainized. The Chicano mindset helped me bridge the principles of paradox by helping me hold many halves in me with dignity at the same time.
