In a recent meeting, I was again addressed with the question, "Why aren't some Houston-born Latinos bilingual?" All I know for sure is my own story.
Yes, I am a Prexican American (half Puerto Rican American and half Mexican American). I am a third generation Texan and Houstonian. My grandparents were bilingual. My parents were bilingual, though without the accent and definitely heavier on the English side. Then came me. I am fluent in my native language, English, and only in the past five years can I even begin to claim that I am functionally literate in Spanish.
I cannot tell you how, since childhood, how many people have raised their eyebrows in dismay that I was not reared bilingually. I even went to an interview last year where I spent part of the time explaining to the hiring committee why I could not answer the questions they had in Spanish without any advanced warning to prepare. They looked at me in disbelief as I explained my personal experience. In today's culturally enriched and global economic focus, what I had to say just seemed impossible.
But it was my life, and I lived it. I know it wasn't a dream. With notes sent home from schools requesting that your parents stop "retarding" their children with languages other than English, is it really such a surprise?
Yes, in Houston, Texas, a certain portion of the Latin community got the message that to be competitive, to fit in, to succeed and advance, you didn't only need an education. You needed to be "American."
What does this mean? That is exactly the question I am exploring through my current research. I will be examining what was considered the typical American during this time in history and explore attitudes in particular for the Houston, Texas area, and the affect they had on a generation of Latinos born and reared in Houston between 1960 and 1989.
If you were born in Houston and ever referred to yourself as a COCONUT, or was ever called one, then you just might be one of the lost tribe I am searching for.
For more information and to contribute, please go to http://www.communityzero.com/jagtexia.
