On a bit of a serious note here...

[Ms_Briefs]

As we all know ( or SHOULD know) it's Hispanic Heritage month. And me being Mexican American, I feel that I should say something on the issue.

Now, I've always made it clear that I've been ashamed of where I come from. I don't mean ashamed of my culture or where my great grandparents camre from. I was always ashamed of the people who shared this heritage and then in turn made a bad name for the rest of us. To this day, I can't look at a male from my race and not think that they're chauvenistic ( "Machismo" is the word) or shameless rats cheating on their mates. But that's something I have to eventually learn and figure out on my own. While every single Mexican male I've met has fallen into that category, I have to make myself realize that not ALL of them are like that. And that goes for any other race.
Everybody has their serial killers, rapists, welfare moochers, rich, poor, good, and bad. This is something that we as a country all deal with on a daily basis. Now, some of us may deal with a certain type of people every day, all day, and never see any other change from those people. But we all need to remember that that small minority is just that.
A minority.
They do not reflect the culture and people they represent as a whole. They are just a tiny aspect of it, just as we are to ours. This little detail is something everybody tends to forget when there's another bombing near our soldiers in Iraq, or another armed robbery in South L.A., or the whole immigration debate. Everybody suddenly hates one particular group of people simply for the actions of others who have a few similarities with that group. We all then get the mob mentality and wish to hurt or lynch innocent people.
And we shouldn't.
Silly pacifist me wants the world to understand, the people in this country to understand. I want us all to get that we are all the same inside, organs and all, and the outside of these organs does NOT determine how our insides work, nor really make our insides different from one another.
This month is not meant to be a "I'm Spanish/Mexican/El Salvadorean/ Columbian/ etc., and you better like it" thing. We, just as the African Americans ahead of us, just want you all to get us, our cultures, and maybe learn something from us, just as we have been learning about the rest of the world throughout our lives.
I'm not here, forcing you to believe one way. I just want to help in making the world a little better, make it so that we don't have any more pointless gang violence and race wars and people dying for senseless reasons.
I grew up surrounded by people of many colors and different backgrounds, some from places I didn't even knew existed. And we never viewed each other as someone from a certain race. We all gauged each other on intelligence and flat out likability. And I want everybody else to try and do the same.
So, the next time you make a racial slur, ormake an unfair stereotype about someone, remember that that person is just like you. We may come from different backgrounds, and are, by nature, unique individuals, but the one thing we all have in common is the blood that runs through us. God made us all the same inside, but different on the outside. This was so that we were still able to retain ourselves, but still be connected to each other.

heart  

[Ms_Briefs]

On a side note, I'd also would like to leave this space open for links to websites pertaining to this month and it's meaning ( Stuff YOU guys post in here *hint Hint*). I just want to gather a whole range of things we all can look at and learn about each other. Hereis where I'd like to add my bit of input. (Looking forward to seeing stuff from the rest of you, even if you're not Latino!)


Mexican Americans:

One thig about my culture that I wish I could adapt is the lack of fear for death. People around me don't really view it as the dark evil thing that Americans as a whole see it. We celebrate life, even after the person passes on to the next world. One way we do this is on "Dia de los Muertos" (Day of the Dead). During this day of celebration, we make altars to those who have passed that are dear to us, altars that represent that person. I'd like to share this website:

Dia de los Muertos


Every year the people at the Hollywood Forever Cemetary hold a festival in the cemetary from late afternoon to the evening, celebrating this holiday. It's a great way to really get this special day, but I admit, it's for the brave, as it is in the middle of the cemetary when the moon is out.

In regards to the main topics of his subforum, it's also a place for those of you who are into the supernatural. The one year my family went, my sisters took many pictures, to which there were many MANY orbs in them. So, if you wanna ghost hunt too, this is the perfect time and place to do it. Hope you enjoy! 3nodding

 

[GypsyFoxglove]

i went to cabo san lucas last year and i love it all the food the people the music, the ocean the country it was wonderful i parasailed, only cabo. it was great if we could only do away with all hatred and racism and the other part of this post would not have been asked the disilke part is the negative part of society. l love it all and i am german american  

[ttina]

i wish I could do that.  

[Ariel Love~]

*sigh* Im Russian/Jew and German/Welsh with Native American (Mohican and Shawnee) but I have no culture, no hetitage. Even though my Father's Grandpa was Orthodox Jew (and his parents were from Russia), I know NOTHING. All I am is an American white girl, it's sad crying
you are lucky, seriously.  

[Ms_Briefs]

Ariel Love~

*sigh* Im Russian/Jew and German/Welsh with Native American (Mohican and Shawnee) but I have no culture, no hetitage. Even though my Father's Grandpa was Orthodox Jew (and his parents were from Russia), I know NOTHING. All I am is an American white girl, it's sad crying
you are lucky, seriously.

Why, thank you... I forgot to add this in my first two posts, so I'll ask now.

Would any of you like to add anything on YOUR cultures/heritage? It wouldn't hurt to add some more things... I've been thinking of making this thread a Cultural Awareness/Understanding thread....


What do ya' think?  

[Ryuu Suishou]

That would be pretty kewl. I'm Native American/Mexican myself (though anyone who knows me will add I have a major curiosity about Japan). I know precious little about my Mexican heritage (as my biological father hasn't been a part of my life) nor did I have Mexicans or Mexican heritage around me. My mother's family is Native American, her father Seminole and her mother Cherokee. That is more the heritage I grew up knowing. I wasn't let in on a lot of the festivals (as I suspected my mother didn't know much about them herself). I actually started learning the stories when I grew older, after I had left my parents' care. And I also started making dreamcatchers from chenille yarn, hoops, and ribbon (sinew and leather, you must understand, can get quite expensive if you don't trap your own animals on regular basis). I've gotten good at it and I love to meditate along to the drums and flutes of my people as well. I've not gotten a chance to go to PowWow yet, but I want to go. Now if I can convince my husband.

My husband, you see, is African American. And of course, his family has their own heritage.

What I love most about being Native American is the way that they see the world, one of color and diversity, where no one overrides the other. I was raised you treat everyone how you want to be treated, whether that is returned or not. It is very much so, for me, something to be lived more than studied.

 

[-zhyperx-]

xp nuttin domokun  

[7raindrops]

I'm part Irish, and I think that the food sucks
I'm part German, well sorry about the holocaust, but my family was in America at the time fighting in the Pacific theater
I'm part gypsy, sorry about scamming your place of business and for having relatives who used to be clowns.  

[Kozar Rockamora]

Proud Texan-American with slight japanese DNA involved. I personally consider myself and my heritage to be American through and through, but I can't quite escape the part of japanese blood in me.

There are so many things about japanese culture that I do not like, and even more that I outright hate. History of barbarism for one thing. (There's gonna be a lotta people hating me for this stuff) The level of savagery and depraved indifference to others suffering as demonstrated in WWII is deplorable. I find that japan is a technologically advanced civilization with a less developed social order. I think you can tell a lot about a group of people by the placement of women in society. There's plenty of clubs or restaurants you can go to where you get to molest your waitress. Along with that family honor thing where your honor is only as pure as the deeds of the women in your family is the kind of thing you find in medieval-level civilizations. Don't forget they were at medieval-level up until the late 1800's.

Another thing is you can tell a lot about them is that the majority of their porn involves some kind of rape scenario. Whereas American porn is mostly now stupid couples who decide they want to film themselves.

But the biggest thing everyone seems to forget is that the japanese are the most racist group of people on the planet. They feel like selling their merchandise and animes and nintendos is a kind of triumph over us. And they would especially hate me and my father for being 'impure mongrels' of mixed japanese and white heritage.

I'd go further into their fixation on the japanese racial supremacy complex but I'm already too mad to keep typing... RAEG!!!  

[Kozar Rockamora]

7raindrops

I'm part German, well sorry about the holocaust, but my family was in America at the time fighting in the Pacific theater

I would personally consider you to be an American under those circumstances. Those weren't the deeds of your family but that of wicked "Der Fatherland" folks.