“Anti-Mexicanism is a form of nativism practiced by colonialists and their inheritors.”
—Dr. Juan Gómez-Quiñones (2017)
To borrow—more like steal—from the great James Baldwin’s writings and speeches, I declare to America’s racists that I am not your “wetback.” I am a man. I am a proud son of Mexican immigrants—the salt of the earth. I say these words from a place of privilege, having earned advanced degrees from world-class universities. This includes a Ph.D. (city & regional planning) from UC Berkeley. This also includes an M.A. (urban planning) and a B.A. (history)—both from UCLA. I also say these words based on my personal/familial background plagued by abject poverty, violence and sense of hopelessness. This includes spending the first years of my life in Mexican slum (Colonia Libertad, Tijuana, Baja California) and formative years in violent American barrio (Ramona Gardens public housing project or Big Hazard projects, East Los Angeles).
When I say that I am not your “wetback,” it doesn’t just apply to myself. It also applies to the millions of resilient people of Mexican origin in this nation, where this racialized group’s deep ties to this land precede the Yankee invaders with their bloody annexation of Mexico’s territory—half of it taken by 1848. That’s 170 years of state violence, psychological pain, humiliation and exploitation experienced by Mexican Americans (or Chicanas/os) and…