Who, Exactly, Is A Gringo?

*From a Latin American perspective we’re all gringos. VL

By Aida Ramirez, Code Switch (3.5 minute read)

A college classmate asked me, “Where are you from?”

I gave him the long answer: I was born in Guatemala, but my mother is from Nicaragua, and I have lived in the U.S. my whole life.

“So, you’re Guatemalan,” he said. No, I’m not.

I may have been born in Guatemala, but I was raised in Florida. Regardless of the fact that I have lived in the U.S. since I was 2 years old, most Americans would find it strange to hear my grandma occasionally call me media gringa — a half-gringa.

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I speak Spanish at home, and my last name is Ramirez. My mother is Nicaraguan, and my father is Guatemalan. But my grandmother knows that even though I was born in Guatemala, I am a foreigner in the place of my birth. I have no concrete ties to Guatemala or its culture. I have lived my entire life in the U.S. I am, as grandma says, media gringa.

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