Patriotism is defined as love for or devotion to one’s country.
As the son of a Mexican father and an American mother, 22-year-old Jose Ramirez said he considers himself lucky in that respect.
Throughout his life both his parents expressed pride in their respective ancestries and have instilled in him a respect for both.
“I’m happy that I can be both and share both cultures,” he said.
Born in El Centro, Ramirez’s family would eventually move to Mexicali when he was young, where he stayed until they relocated to Calexico when he was 15 years old.
America, he said, holds a place in his heart for “the opportunities it has given me and is going to give me.”
A recent University of California, Davis, graduate with a degree in microbiology, Ramirez said he had considered taking a job with an Ensenada winery, but instead will be heading to Napa to do similar work.
As for allegiances, “I feel it’s about where you’re raised,” he said.
In the United States, 47 percent of Hispanics view themselves as typical Americans, while the exact same number said they are different from the typical American, according to a Pew Hispanic Center report released in April.
Also, about half of the 16- to 25-year-olds surveyed identified themselves first by their parents’ country of origin, according to the center’s 2009 National Survey of Latinos.
For 16-year-old Brawley resident Jackie Ponce, the epitome of being a patriotic American is “making it, having a good job.”
Yet when asked what it means to her to be a patriotic Mexican, the soon-to-be Brawley Union High senior takes nearly a minute to ponder the question.
Ultimately a single word would come to mind: pride.
“You have to have that strong pride,” she said.
Being Mexican or speaking Spanish is something she said she never feels embarrassed about.
Although Gerardo Gonzalez’s father was born in the United States, the family eventually moved to Mexicali, where Gonzalez lived until he was 17 years old.
A naturalized citizen, the 51-year-old said learning English was the best thing he could do to show his appreciation of and commitment to his new life in the U.S.
“I’m here because I want to be here,” he said, noting that America is where he met his wife and raised his children.
Yet the Dixon resident said he still keeps close tabs on his native Mexicali and has no reason to stop thinking of himself as being Mexican.
And despite having recently been given a Mexican flag by his sister, it will likely not be displayed around the house all that much, much like the American flag that his wife has in her possession.
For Lorena Torres, patriotism is something she takes pains to avoid displaying.
“It is another form of division among humanity,” the Calexico resident said in Spanish.
Placing an emphasis on exhibiting spiritual and humane qualities, rather than nationalistic tendencies, is her priority.
Although she said she is grateful for the educational and job opportunities afforded her in the U.S., she prefers to ensure that her three children develop into compassionate “human beings” above all else.
To that end, Torres said she is continuously exposing them to a diversity of experiences so that they come to understand that despite the visible differences found among humanity, there is solely “one human race.”
And while it may be that the family will take in a fireworks show this Fourth, it will hardly be a patriotic undertaking, she said.
Staff writer, copy editor Julio Morales can be reached at 760-335-4665 or at jmorales@ivpressonline.com
To comment on this story click here to be directed to Facebook.
