I'm 25 years old. Three brothers, no sisters. Raised by a single mom. My parents are from El Salvador and moved to California illegally in the '80s. I was born in Compton, California and raised in Northwest Arkansas. I am, in every sense of the word, Americanized. I talk a little about this ostensibly in a recent post.
No, I am not Mexican, but I am of Latin American descent and a native-born U.S. citizen. If you follow the recent political madness you would know that regardless of my natural-born state Trump still hates me. Let's take into account that I've spent my whole life in the United States, learned English at a very early age, and have been raised by an American community in humble Northwest Arkansas. These things don't matter. Since my parents trespassed and created a life here in the prosperous United States I have unwarranted privileges. Let's also take into account that I can't undo that. I can't undo being a natural-born American. Trump still hates me.
Immigrants are being painted as these unabated criminals, flooding in and increasing the crime rate. Let's set aside the fact that illegal immigrants only account for a small percentage of federal crimes. Maybe Trump is right? Maybe that time I accidentally shocked that girl in my ESL class in Kindergarten when we reached for the same crayon is because it's in my bloodline to be so evil. The vicious Latina inside me gave little Virginia the bawdy nickname Vagina -- ya know, because 10-year-old me was so villainous. Truthfully, there are law-abiding citizens and incessant criminals in all cultures so let's simmer down on ignorant hate. K, Trump? When he speaks he specifically says "Mexicans" but let's be real, we know what he means.
Trump is funny though. He rants about this "great, great wall" and "make the Mexicans pay for it!". Threatening to cut off the ability to send funds to Mexico using services like MoneyGram or Western Union if Mexico doesn't pay for it.. Not realizing that he would be hurting these American companies. Not to mention the damage it would do to the families that rely on this assistance from their relatives here in the U.S. He had not given a clear answer as to how he was going to make Mexico pay for the wall until recently, which makes me think that he probably just saw a commercial for Western Union one day and thought "That's it. That's the key." Tsk tsk. Silly, Trump. He's trying to use the USA Patriot Act to support this idea, implying that anyone using these money wire services are terrorists. Well, someone is going to have to explain to Grandma and Grandpa that it's apparently some kind of anarchism to help with their living expenses. A handwritten apology letter from Mister Donald J. Trump himself will suffice.
It's hard to understand what goes through that man's head. He's loud, confident, outspoken, unapologetic, and very wealthy. All of these qualities give him a kind of "celebrity" factor that makes him popular among some groups. This fact is true regardless of the barefaced racism; the support behind that is fascinating. We grow up our whole lives being part of this country feeling nationalistic and grateful and one high-handedness man comes in and somehow manages to make a whole population look bad. Well, good luck making America great again, I guess?
Want to see more by Lorena? You can visit her site here: My Scintillating World