The Zen Of Being Latino

By Victor Escalante, NewsTaco

According to the Census Bureau 55.2 percent of Latino immigrants in the U.S. are Mexican. While there are exceptions to the rule, Mexicans for the most part are mestizos. These are people of mixed heritage or descent as a result of European, Asian, and African people mixing with natives of the Americas.  In the colonial Spanish caste system mestizos were considered a lower class human being. In some parts of Mexico legend has it that they were not even considered human beings. Some parts of Mexico did not grant them a birth certificate they were called  coyotes.

In my own ancestry, one of my grandfathers was mostly Spaniard who married a full blooded native. I got most of my genetic makeup from my abuelita. If I had lived in colonial Mexico, I would have been on the low end of the caste system. This sociological structure classified people into some one hundred different categories. Fast forward to today.

I am a byproduct, of my genetic background and environments I grew up in, but not defined by them. During my socialization period in grade school, I never identified with any one particular ethnic or social clique. I could interrelate with all of them but always felt detached and independent. Which leads me to the point of my post, I am a multifaceted multicultural being that can look at situations through different lenses and belief systems and can appreciate the deeper structure of any issue or conflict.

One specific case I have thought about for days is the “God Made A Farmer” Super Bowl ad. My father was a bracero that worked the agricultural fields throughout the southwest. Some of those images of farmers took me back in time to a bygone era, growing up and working for that kind of hard working god fearing farmers. I admired Paul Harvey and dreamed of someday being a broadcaster which I did. The writer of that ad in my opinion is an exceptionally talented copy writer. The images and the production of all the elements were superb. I’m a photographer, and I bow to immense talent. I have worked as an advertising executive selling and creating ad campaigns. I know the hypocrisy of Paul Harvey in selling out to corporate farming and the fact  “a god” made dodge trucks in Mexico. Now you know the rest of my story.

The bigger story here is Latinos cannot be put into a box.  We are multifaceted, multi-cultural, multi-lingual, multi-talented, multi-political.  We are much more than the sum of the term “Latino.”