[Shootohoist]

Why would Mexican Americans want to secede? Makes no sense. In all honesty, I feel just as American as the next guy. There was a time, when I was younger, when I did feel like an outsider. Like I wasn't "All American" because of my immigrant parents. Because I wasn't a WASP. That was before. As I educated myself, I learned that there is no reason why I should place a double standard on my self and fellow Mexican Americans. Sure, it is true that a muti-generation Mexican American is seen as "Less-American" than a first generation "European-American" in the eyes of mainstream America, but that is societies view, not my own. I say fuck anyone who sees me as otherwise, I can care less how I am classified. The important thing is how I see myself. I am still proud of my ethnicity and bi-culturalism, and I would not change any of it. To be American does not mean dropping all your ethnic baggage at the door for some new baggage. It just means accepting the American identity without hyphens. Foreign culture is lost with each passing generation (or absorbed by the host culture as is occurring in the Southwest).

That is why I don't believe in "hyphenated-Americans". It creates an unnecessarily divide in this country. Assimilation is what we need. Not a fractionated America. I find it ridiculous that Mexicans who try to assimilate into mainstream American culture are criticized by fellow Mexican Americans. This does not seem to happen with other groups (Asians and European immigrants). But even then, Mexican Americans here who accept a division between themselves and mainstream America are still loyal to the country. If asked where their loyalty lies, they will always say USA (unless they are a Mexica/Aztlan idiot).