Unikum 08 October nett

OPINION
¿De donde
eres?
Where are
you from?
A Reflection.
José Antonio Herrera
Writer
Ilustration: AdobeStock // freshidea
I have always wondered what people meant, when I am asked
this question. What filter is one supposed to sift oneself through
in order to produce a satisfactory response? What is the actual
question? My father is Mexican and my mother is Puerto Rican.
In the US, the general expectation is that you are actually from
where your parents or ancestors most recently immigrated
from. By this logic, I would have been Puerto Rican and Mexican,
but was generally considered more Mexican than Puerto Rican.
As a youth, it seemed that some people just wanted to quickly
label and dismiss me. “Oh him? He’s Mexican”. One can never
really tell what this kind of glib summation means, especially
when you are 7. And what about my Puerto Rican side?
Throughout my life, my linguistic blend of Spanglish and
Mexican/Puerto Rican dialects seemed to puzzle other Spanish
speakers. My conversational Spanish never sounded like a
mother tongue. The phrases and idioms known to native sons
of Latin America were lost on me. So I would alter my cadence
and try to match the speaker’s. Sometimes it worked. Some
Mexicans would listen to me, take a breath, and pause for a
moment before asking if I was from Mexico City. Dominicans
often asked if I was Ecuadorian or Puerto Rican. What were
they observing? Did I sound like a stuck-up city dweller or a
naive local from a small village? Would I be labelled ‘gringo’?
Would it be assumed that I wasn’t ok to socialize with?
As much as I tried to sound “Latin” enough, there was nothing
I could do about my looks. I am still not sure what people see
when I come into their field of view. I share many traits with
certain Latin Americans. Wide, stocky torso. Short legs. Long
arms. Despite a scarcity of facial and body hair, the hair on
my scalp is thick, wavy and dark. I don’t look like most Puerto
Ricans I have met. People have asked me if I am Italian or
Arabic. I met a cop of Italian descent once and we could have
passed as brothers. The genetic legacies that show flows of
human migration are unpredictable. Some Dominicans are
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