Personal Narrative: I Am A Chicano Woman

I was supposed to be Mexican but then came the Manifest Destiny and I became Mexican-American, then came the Census Bureau and told me I was now Hispanic. Later there was that one Ethnic Studies class and I became a Chicano but Cherríe Moraga decided that wasn’t good enough and made me Xicano. In the end it was just me and my unsolicited opinion of fully comprehending who I really identified as. I find it hard to fit in this society because I am either too Mexican for my American friends or too American for my Mexican friends.
At home I live with my mom, stepfather, grandma, sister, half-sister, and two half-brothers. My mother’s side of the family was born in Mexico but later moved to the United States which caused her to place the house

rule of “Speaking Spanish at home and English at school”. She was able to raise me as a single mother for 14 years and I, along with many acquaintances and my family members, believe she has done a great job. Living in America has not always been the easiest task for me. Since I was little my mother was afraid that by being the odd one out I would get discriminated in school. She was not wrong and I taught myself to walk away if I was ever approached by a student who only wanted to mock me for my appearances and ethnicity.
I remember living in Mexico for a few years and my second grade classmates made fun of me for not being able to understand Spanish at all. My grandfather was a teacher who helped me learn the language by practicing inside and outside of class. This however, caused me to forget about the English language completely. When I moved back to the United States I arrived about four months before third grade ended. My English vocabulary was limited to five words, “Hi, my name is Brandy” and I was bullied because of it. Nobody wanted to play with the odd little Mexican who couldn’t speak English and when my teachers noticed this they thought it would be best to take English learning classes during my recess. Many children in my elementary thought this was a great reason to make fun of me but I decided to abide by my mother’s words when she said “Don’t let them see it hurts you because it will prompt them to want to do it even more often and much more hurtful”.
My American friends, later in middle school, always teased me for not having the American accent and not being able to do well in English class. They mocked me when it was my turn to read a passage from the book they assigned us the previous night or when I asked them for help on my essays in search for a certain word. They thought it was funny how I read with a Mexican accent and some words were not comprehensible. Later that same year I met two girls who were cousins that had transferred to my school all the way from Mexico. I tried to talk to them but they told me I had been too Americanized to hang out with them.
However, once I entered high school, it was a completely different setting. Many befriended me right away while it took others some time to get to know me. It is here that I have been able to find my genuine friends. They have been able to help me go through the ups and downs in life and haven’t judged me at all. They have always believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. They urge me to become the better person and to ignore the ones who judged me too quickly.

Even though my family’s beliefs were to walk away from anyone who discriminated me and ignore what is happening around me we now keep walking straight in the lane of life and when we meet someone who believes they have more “privilegde" here in the U.S. to continue on our journey and ignore them.