Rio Grande Valley: A Comparative Analysis

Gloria Anzaldua once wrote, “Though we tremble before uncertain futures may we meet illness, death and adversity with strength may we dance in the face of our fears.” I consider this statement to be very powerful and meaningful, especially to someone who is undergoing difficult periods in their life. Notably, it is unfortunate that borders such as a person’s background, physical appearance, and dialect never fail to emerge in everyday life occurrences. Moreover, it is my belief that individuals must push through borders with their heads held up high and strive for a successful future despite the limitations that life or society throws at them.
I was originally born in the Rio Grande Valley in 1981 on the 28th of September and currently reside
in Edinburg, Texas. My father was born in Edinburg and my mother was born in Veracruz, Mexico. I am the youngest of five children with three brothers and one sister. Fortunately, I can say that my upbringing was decent, give or take some bumps here and there. Additionally, when we were younger, my mother would occasionally take us all to visit our relatives in Mexico. Although these trips were a joyous juncture, at times, they also became a dreadful experience for me. Consequently, at a very young age, I grew to understand that people would look down on me due to my upbringing, color of skin, and dialect.
Significantly, during our visits to Mexico some of my relatives and natives from the area that we were visiting would belittle me constantly due to my dialect and place of origin. Yes, indeed I spoke Tex-Mex, my Spanish was choppy, and the clothes I wore were different, but that did not give them the right to bully me when I was alone without my mother to defend me. At the beginning I would be left in tears and with a tainted heart; for some reason they assumed that I believed myself to be superior to them, when in reality they were they ones assuming that they were superior to me. Being a young child, at that time, I didn’t understand why people, even my own blood, willingly chose to say such mean things to me and even shove me around when nobody was looking. Some examples of comments that stayed with me until now are, “Gringa, te crees mucho, solo porque eres de los Estados Unidos! Tienes el nopal en la frente, habla bien! Regresate a tu pais, no te queremos aqui!” All things considered, the famous saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me,” is dead wrong for words puncture deep and leave everlasting scars.
Needless to say, individuals in this world coexist with one another yet are blind to what others have experienced or are experiencing in their lives. With this in mind, perhaps the individuals who taunted me had some deep issues, negative experiences, concerning people from the United States that eventually molded their manner of thinking. This is not to say that I wish to make excuses for them, yet I could not help think of that possibility. “Indeed, what could have driven them to discriminate someone so harshly due to having a different dialect and background?” Thankfully, I eventually confided in my mother and she gave me strength to see past those individuals’ misguided thoughts. Slowly but surely, with her guidance, I was able to understand that people’s judgments and actions don’t always reflect everyone else’s opinions. In fact, these childhood trials helped me grow a thicker skin, especially when it concerned personal insults. Definitely, Friedrich Nietzsche said it best, “That which does not kill us, makes us stronger.”
Throughout the years, even here in the United States, I continued to face similar situations as the one I encountered as a child. In fact, now that I am older and before reacting I try to put myself in the other person’s shoes; hence, at times I take a deep breath and walk away for there is no sense in arguing with someone who is stuck in their own discriminatory ways. By all means, I accept that my Spanish is not perfect, that I am a Hispanic from the United States, and that there are others like me. Furthermore, when I encounter such a person I try to encourage them to be confident in themselves and not let the negative comments become a barrier in their lives. In fact, my ten-year-old daughter now faces challenges that concern her dialect and background. Being of Mexican descent, people judge my daughter and mock her for not speaking Spanish properly; yet, later wonder why she is unenthusiastic to speak Spanish in front of them anymore. Luckily she is strong willed, has benefited from the knowledge of my experiences, and subsequently developed courage to push through these varieties of obstacles in her life.
All in all, it is very disappointing to realize that individuals who taunt others for being different still exist in this world.
In any event, I am convinced that being diverse whether it is in background, physical appearance, or dialect shouldn’t be considered a negative. On tope of that, it is my belief that people should be more accepting and understanding of one another’s differences, for nobody is perfect. Moreover, I consider that my upbringing within the Rio Grande Valley ultimately limited my access to a proper Spanish dialect and thus resulted in my Tex-Mex tongue; I suppose that perhaps in the Rio Grande Valley my dialect does not stand out, yet once I travel outside of the region that is when the discrimination and judgments start forming against my person. All in all, facing my diversity border continues to be a day-to-day challenge; nevertheless, when I encounter challenges like these I attempt to keep in mind Michael Jordan’s remark, “Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” By and large, I definitely deem my experiences, with discrimination, to have grown favorable in my life instead of becoming a deteriorating barrier for I am optimistic that one day people might change for the
better.