Until Columbus Day is canceled, I’ll forever support ‘illegal’ immigrants
That one day when I was more Mexican than a Mexican
“I don’t want Mexicans coming over here to the United States,” he said to me. “All Mexicans are criminals anyway.”
When he made the comment, my head shot back like someone punched me. This was unlike the time a white woman instructor told an Asian student to “go back to your country” in one of my grad school classes. (By the time I got ahold of that instructor’s end-of-year review, I wrote a livid explanation of how horrendous I thought that comment was — and a gross overreaction to something as trivial as Chicago Manual Style editing.)
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As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I want to continue promoting cool products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. As of the first date of Black History Month 2025, each new post will ALWAYS include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site to verify that Amazon Black-owned logo.) I am (slowly) doing this with older, popular posts too. If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
This wasn’t even like the time where a Puerto Rican/Mexican neighbor thought we were chummier than we really were and used the n-word. (Her father oddly also didn’t want her to date Mexican men.) Again, I responded and let her know in no uncertain terms that neither the slur or the anti-Mexican stance was OK with me.
But in this case, I was talking to a Mexican man — straight out of Mexico who did come to the United States illegally but gained U.S. citizenship later. I asked him to repeat his comment. He did again — and in front of his white wife. I was speechless. Not only was it extremely dangerous to tell white people that “Mexicans are criminals” — spouse or not — but he was describing someone who fit three categories in which he checked off the boxes: Mexican, immigrant, (formerly) illegal citizen.