Mexicans

I was brought up in a Midwestern, prejudiced household. I'm not passing any judgment about the way I was raised, I'm just saying like it was. Niggers, spics, chinks, towel-heads, jews, and the like were all pretty much lumped into one category -- they did not belong in lily-white-northern-European-Minnesota. Strangely enough, the Native Americans did not suffer the same degree of prejudice as the others. I wonder if it was because the whities stole their land.

I'm really ,really trying not to carry on any predisposed prejudices to my kids. Also, I'm really, really trying to understand the Mexican's side of the story rather than hold undeserved hostility towards them.

Maybe it's karma that my son is the only white boy in a class full of Mexicans. He has spent the better part of the semester asking sincere, heart-felt questions about their culture, and the Mexicans returning the curiosity with their own questions about the Gringo way of life. If you knew my son, you would know that his curiosity and questions are sincere, authentic, and based in dignity for all humans.

I think it would be great if both the Gringos and the Mexicans could get together in an honest, open exchange without blame or hostility. Rather, just ask sincere questions in a true attempt to understand. Here are my own questions for the Mexicans:

1. Why do illegal Mexicans here in the USA wave the Mexican flag when protesting? If they really want to be accepted into the USA as a citizen, why not wave the American flag?

2. The Mexicans are the first wave of immigrants that expects the US government to cater to their culture and language. Why?

Gringos are equally deserving of deeply examining their own culture. I know the Mexicans think that Gringos are too isolated from others in the family and in the community. They're right. We put up barriers around ourselves that are unhealthy and detrimental the the community and family.

Mexicans also feel the hostility at them by the Gringos. However, the Gringos depend on them for manual labor. Mexicans don't like being treated like shit. Again, the Mexicans are right.

Americans bitch about the illegal Mexicans, but yet in the same breath keep slipping them cash under the table to perform their shit work. Americans can't suck and blow at the same time. Americans either make the Mexicans part of legitimate society, or shut the fuck up and pay what labor is truly worth to fellow legal citizens.