To him, all people born in Mexico are "wetbacks" and are incapable of being intelligent. .
I do not completely see myself in the stories of Santos and Cantu When I recall the way that I grew up, it was not what Santos or Cantu would call a true Mexican American experience. My birthday parties were held at Burger King and McDonald's rather than having a big family get together in our backyard. My mother never taught me how to cook traditional meals or to speak Spanish. I also could not relate to the references to Catholicism as my family is not Catholic. .
Because my parents had such negative feelings towards being Mexican, I was "Americanized". I never saw any differences between the kids in school that came directly from Mexico and myself. I never detected any accents, I never thought they were stupid or less of person than I was, and I never noticed who had more or better things than I did. I simply existed to exist. I did not feel any type of discrimination even when I went to a private school which was attended by mostly prominent, affluent, Anglos. It did not seem to matter where you lived, what your parents drove, where your clothes came from or what color your skin was. We just cared about important things like who could win at tetherball or Chinese jumprope. .
I also never wanted for anything. I could not relate to the family in Cantu's book always having to struggle to buy things and having to sew clothes because store bought clothes were a luxury that could not be afforded. I did not start working until I was twenty four years old. My parents both had college educations and we could afford to go places like Disneyland and the Grand Canyon. Perhaps my family would not have been so well off if there had been more children to raise and feed. I was basically an only child because my only sibling is fifteen years older than I am. So, I could also not relate to Cantu's struggles with her siblings.