Attempt to Nullify

Commentary on

‘Attempt to Nullify’

   Regarding growing up as a second generation Mexican American in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, I don’t feel as though I had ever had gone through the cliché type of "identity crisis" that mainstream media loves to exploit.  Sure I had felt discrimination a few times in my life, but I expected all people did on some level. I was simply a Mexican, growing up in an America society.

   This society, lucky for me, was the cultural mixing pot of southern Arizona.  Tucson has always felt like home.  I had a sense of pride in my neighborhood and larger community.  I had no idea I was a minority.  Like I said, on occasion I would come across bigotry and mild racism, but it was always an isolated incident. I had enough self-confidence to overcome the sense of belittlement and anguish that racism would like to inflict. 
   Then came 2010, midway through a controversial senate bill 1070 was passed.  The Bill instating a law requiring Police Officers to stop and interrogate anyone they suspect is an undocumented immigrant.  Really? O.K., sure if someone asks--no problem, I haven't had to do this before, but if I must, I can prove I'm a documented citizen.  What's not so obviously stated, is the cause and effect when human nature is factored in. That of which would naturally be a cool and casual form of racial profiling.  

   Now, merely because of the way I look, I may have to prove my citizenship.  All of a sudden that "identity crisis" the media likes to play on is knocking on my door. The isolated occurrence of racism is becoming more commonplace.  Almost every day, I start to see examples on the news, the internet.  Racism is looming behind blazing "patriotism" and God-fearing, gun carrying faces.  Paranoia, fear, depression, disgust and anger, are these the things I’ll have to live with?    
   What has happened to the symbol of our flag?  I loved our red, white & blue!  But do I still?  I've never felt more UN-American.  Most disconcerting to me is that I've never felt despair for my own race.  My "kind" that are sure to be harassed and "put down" on a much grander scale. This is some slippery slope I think to myself--to single out immigrants in this region of the U.S.  The ferocity is directed at those of Mexican descent.  We aren't hearing "Let's kick those Canadians out!" or "Let's ship them Europeans back home!"  What the ferocity says is "Let's make it perfectly okay to racially profile the entire Mexican population in Arizona!" How did this bill even get on the table?  This is my home country?  
   Well then, like so many others before me, what can I do but assume the role of the politically driven 'Chicano Artist' and speak out with all my heart! I'm American, my ancestors were not, but neither were yours!  Get the point?  I am just one voice in the outcry for immigration reform.  History has proved that abstruse politics, walls, and violence which stem from our current systems of dealing with these issues have not and will not ever work.  These lands are the Americas, from top to bottom and the natives, the Mexican people that are being eradicated have a sense of belonging here because after all, let’s be factual, it was, will forever be, the Mother Lands of the Mexica.