Food for thought

In an effort to get my mind off the things I don't write about here, I've been trolling around the blogosphere going where my mouse takes me. Blogs and their writers are such fascinating things - there are those that pour their hearts out, those supporting a business, and those like me that just have something on their hearts that we're compelled to share with these stranger-friends.

My wanderings today took me to all the bi-racial blogs, like mulattodiaries and mixedchickschat among others. It's so comforting to know that there are others out there who feel or have felt the same way I do and are asking the same questions I've asked. I even called my mom due to my ponderings.

The main issue I have is with the hyphenating: African-American, Mexican-American, whatever-American. For me, the hyphenating implies dual citizenship, that you have a birth certificate from another country; that if you went to that country you'd be able to get a job without too much trouble/paperwork. Most people I know couldn't do that - they have one birth certificate, from America. Over at myamericanmeltingpot, she's a Black-American and that really resonated with me. The only ones in my immediate family who could legitimately hyphenate are my mom's parents since they came from Mexico and became naturalized Americans. My mom is American of Mexican descent. My dad is Black. If you want to get technical, he's of African descent, but when is it no longer ok to claim it? I mean, his ancestors came over on the slave boat but everyone since then has lived in Georgia. It makes me think of the people that claim 1/18th Native American. Yeah, you're entitled to do that - I guess. For me, it seems more correct to say I'm American but then it gets sticky because by definition Mexican is an ethnicity and Black is a color, so I'm not of Black descent. I usually just say 'My mom's Mexican, my dad's Black', when people ask where I'm from which is always code for 'What race are you?'

And then I think about my future children. Drew is of Polish descent on his father's side but neither he nor his father speaks Polish. All of his grandparents have passed, and I don't know much about his extended family. We've talked about it, but it's not nearly as much of an issue for him. My babies will be a quarter Polish, a quarter Black and a quarter Mexican with some French and English in there to round it out(and all adorable by the way!). And he wants me to take his last name! (Pieprzyk - sheesh) It means 'beauty mark' in Polish and I asked him if we could both change our names to Lunar, which is 'beauty mark' in Spanish because it sounds prettier. No dice.

I think about reinforcements too - at least in Kansas I have all my relatives. Here in Dallas it's just me - it's really important to me to teach my children Spanish but it's just not the same without family around. I've tried to teach Drew but it's pretty hopeless. He tries, bless his heart. I want my kids to have the same positive experiences I did growing up without the negative ones (being the 'only one' in school, etc.). I want them to know the beauty and richness of the Mexican culture, the strength and triumph of being Black and maybe learn a little Polish along the way.