Summary Of Se Habla Espanol By Tanya Barrientos

Living near the United States and Mexico border has given me a unique perspective to the region’s mixture of peace and chaos. The U.S-Mexico border is a place where violence, drugs and poverty meet a prosperous military state. The region around the U.S-Mexico border is home to a unique vibrant culture that is masked by negative stereotypes painted by biased news coverage. Tanya Barrientos’ “Se Habla Espanol” and Leslie Marmon Silko’s “The Border Patrol State” highlight the everyday difficulties of combating American prejudice and bigotry as a Latin American living in the Southwestern United States.

Tanya Barrientos’ short story “Se Habla Espanol” is about Shannon, a Guatemalan-born immigrant who hopes to strengthen her sense of cultural identity

It meant waiting tables and cleaning hotel rooms. It meant being left off the cheerleading squad….. They told me I didn’t seem “Mexican” to them and I took it as a compliment”(63). Barrientos demonstrates to her audience that assimilation can lead to self hate. Shannon hates everything about herself and she isn’t even aware of it. Shannon tries to distances herself from any racial stereotypes and tries to conform to vaguely defined culture of a American. Barrientos provokes the reader to take a step back and ask the question “what even is American culture?” and this causes the reader to realize that American culture is a immigrant culture. America was pioneered, fought for, founded and built by immigrants. This realization is Barrientos’ true purpose for writing this short story. So many children are growing up detached from their true culture and too distracted by Saturday cartoons and iPhones to care. These children are also forced to adhere to a cheap fabricated white faced culture that will never accept them. “Se Habla Espanol” is a story with a deep, humbling message that encourages its audience to love their roots and fall in love with the color of

The story opens up with her and her friend, Gus, driving on the highway in New Mexico when they get pulled over. The Border Patrol agents are demanding and force her to get out of their car. The author goes on for the next couple of paragraphs discussing how the Immigration and Naturalization Service and Border Patrol agencies are expanding and increasing hostility towards minorities. “They are willing to detain anyone, for no apparent reason…….. officers need a shred of probable cause in order to detain someone” (420). This sentence conveys Silko’s helpless position to the reader. “Border Patrol to shoot us and leave our bodies beside the highway like so many bodies found in these parts” (420). Not only does this sentence further emphasize Silko’s position of helplessness but also shows how the border patrol abused their power. For the next couple paragraphs in the texts Silko cites other incidents where people of color were wrongly treated by authorities. “"Immigration," like "street crime" and "welfare fraud," is a political euphemism that refers to people of color. Politicians and media people talk about "illegal aliens" to dehumanize and demonize undocumented immigrants, who are for the most part people of color.” (421). In these lines Silko bluntly states that the border enforcing agencies are corrupt with racism and the government