Are there people there who look like our family?

"Are there people there who look like our family?"  What my mother really meant to say was "are there people there who look like me, like my mother and father, like mis hermanos".  Yes mama, there are people who look like our family here.  There are people who look like you here, there are people who look like my abuelitos here, there are people who look like my tios here.  But most of the people who look like me here (in Cuernavaca) are white folks from the US.  I see them from far away, clustered together, talking louly, frustrated that no one here speaks English.  They ooze privilege as they giggle about how inexpensive everything is- not realizing that 70% of Mexicans earn 100 pesos a day- and that 100 pesos often has to support at least 3 other people. 

I struggle with my privilege here, which is good.   Especially looking white, coming on vacay for language school that costs more than what most folks earn in a month here, and being able to learn spanish at a language school in Mèxico. 

And I'm coming back in August.  With my mother.  To hold her arm as she walks down streets filled with people who look like her, surrounded by her white husband and her two white looking children. 

Some random thoughts:

Selena is playing really loudly in el zocalo.  I love it here. 

There's a white woman with dreadlocks at my school.  I feel bad cause I haven't even smiled at her and I think she's tried to start talking to me (she's probably queer and from Berkeley and down with la causa).  At the LYRIC talkline, we had this thing called UPR, which was unconditional positive regard.  I'm trying to expand that to include problematic people, but I'm really struggling.  Does it make me a jerk that I totally dislike this woman cause she has offensive racist ass hair?  Would it make me a jerk if I smiled fakely at her while I thought the whole time about how offensive I think her hair is?  I'm trying to have more UPR in my life, but how do I do it with white dreadlocks? 

Comments

[Maceo]

honey, it's really hard dealing with the white folx with dreadlocks. remember to breathe and you don't have to talk to her.
i am so excited you are going back with your family. it will be beautiful. just like you.

[Derrick]

whatevs, imitation is the greatest form of flattery.

[LoganJoaquin]

Hey Derrick,

Just a note: white folks with dreadlocks are not imitating, they are appropriating an aspect of another culture that has significant cultural and spiritual meanings. For some folks, dreads can be a symbol of resistance, for some it's deeply spiritual. For many white folks it's just a cool thing to do with their hair. For myself, a white person with dreadlocks symbolizes everything that I resist. I can give references to stuff other folks have written on this that are clearer than what I'm saying (also cause I feel like I lose some of my English when I'm in Mèxico).

[Derrick]

That's an interesting point. A lot of my folks wear locks for the reasons you mention. They also believe that white people are zombies that came from outer space (called "astral corpses," you can ask me about this if you want). And in spite of all this, none of us really give a crap about white folks with locks, unless they have some dumb shit to say.

[Derrick]

Okay Logan I completely rescind everything I said above. I had no idea there were SO MANY wwwd's... until I went to the farmer's market by Grand Lake!!!

Seriously, I hadn't seen that anywhere else. The west is very... special :)