HW

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Week 3 Assignment Example

Hablo Lo Que Yo Quiero: Towards a More Expansive Definition of Heritage and Culture

Bea Estudiante

Department of Underwater Basketweaving, Keiser University

ENC1101: English Composition I

Dr. Professor Dogood

February 31, 2022

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Hablo Lo Que Yo Quiero: Towards a More Expansive Definition of Heritage and Culture

In her essay entitled “Se Habla Español,” Tanya Maria Barrientos explores her heritage and

that of many LatinX individuals. She reflects on her experiences of growing up in the United

States and how she often feels disconnected from her heritage as a person born of Central

American descent. She shares her experiences trying to learn Spanish and how frustrating these

experiences have been. Barrientos also focuses on how these experiences discourage her and

make her feel less Latin. After narrating these early disconnects from her heritage, Barrientos

makes her argument clear. She argues that while many Latinos and Latinas feel the need to speak

Spanish so as to identify with the culture of their parents, they should not feel this obligation.

Analysis of “Se Habla Español”

Barrientos (2022) is aware that she looks different from many of her peers and with that

different appearance comes different expectations. Her essay explores her experiences in the

classroom thanks to her appearance, and she contrasts these with what she wished she looked

like when she was a child. Barrientos also explores how she and her family were treated by

school administrators and the assumptions they cast on her, again, as a result of her appearance.

She also includes the rude comments she experienced at the hands of adults who should have

treated her family more kindly and professionally. Commenting on her appearance, Barrientos

discusses how her childhood neighborhood was full of individuals that did not look anything like

her, and how this made her feel better than her heritage at times. Yet as an adult, and as cultural

views of immigrants changed, Barrientos came to embrace her heritage. She concludes her essay

with an attempt to express her desire to be seen as a full Latina.

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However, Barrientos’ later acceptance of herself came with as a result of much struggle

in her early years. When in school, Barrientos remembers silently begging people to see her as

American. She writes, “‘Look,’ I’ll want to say (but never do). ‘Forget the dark skin. Ignore the

obsidian eyes” (Barrientos, 2022 p. 715). These words demonstrate how Barrientos wished her

teachers would look past her skin and eye colors. Here, she expressed how she wished to be seen

as an American like all the “pink-cheeked, blue-eyed blonde whose name tag says, ‘Shannon’”

(p. 715). Her family was told that her “people” and their children were “always behind” and that

they were always “late” to school (Barrientos, 2022, p. 716). Even the registrar at the school, an

adult who should have not held any prejudice, shook her head at the family registering their

children late due to an educational trip to Washington D.C. that the family enjoyed.

Comparatively, she took it as a compliment when she was told she “didn’t seem ‘Mexican’ to

[her friends]” (Barrientos, 2022, p. 716). Barrientos internalized all this prejudice from

classmates and school staff, and eventually, she simply sought to not be perceived as Latina

whatsoever. She imagined it would be better to ‘blend in’ and assimilate to American society

than to embrace her heritage.

Barrientos uses several writing strategies to make her point, but the most pronounced one

is comparison and contrast. By comparing and contrasting her experience as a person of Latin

heritage to that of what she perceives is a ‘normal’ American, she demonstrated how she yearns

to blend in. Barrientos (2022) even points out how being able to say “‘Yo no hablo español’ …

made [her] feel superior. It made [her] feel American. It made [her] feel white. [She] thought if

[she] stayed away from Spanish, stereotypes would stay away from [her]” (p. 716). Here,

Barrientos points out how she contrasts her experience with that of other children of Latin

heritage. They may naturally speak Spanish, but she states that she believed she would be able to

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be better off than them by not being able to be identified with the stereotypes that she believes

they experienced. However, as times shifted and America become relatively more tolerant, she

compares her upbringing and inability to speak Spanish to the cultural embrace of heritages and

ethnic identities. She even compares Spanish to the “glue that held the new Latino community

together,” something she certainly did not feel or want to be identified with during her earlier life

(Barrientos, 2022, p. 717).

“Se Habla Español” and Its Implications in America

Barrientos is correct in arguing that people identifying with groups should not feel an

obligation to meet certain standards in order to be accepted into that group. There is such a

concept called “gatekeeping,” a concept that creates barriers between human beings.

Gatekeeping happens at all levels, as well. Barrientos gatekept herself from identifying with the

Latin community due to her inability to speak Spanish. Similarly, a lighter skinned African

American person may be told he or she is not “black enough” by other members of the

community. Gatekeeping extends beyond race and ethnicity as well. Transgender people may

gatekeep the community and tell a person that the person is not ‘trans enough’ because they do

not look sufficiently like the gender with which they identify. People at a job who share a certain

educational background or set of experiences may gatekeep others who don’t. Politically, even,

many Americans gatekeep others by saying that to be American, one must “speak American” or

“act American,” as if “American” was either a language or an action.

However, many people would agree with Barrientos and argue that the United States

needs to embrace the kind of diversity that Barrientos embodies. What kind of diversity does she

embody? Barrientos demonstrates how diversity is inherently diverse. In other words, all those

who identify with one group do not share a set of uniform characteristics. This broadened

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realization of diversity has tangible benefits to the country. The Editorial Board (2021) of The

Washington Post affirmed this when it wrote, “Economists have found that immigrants tend to

be more innovative and entrepreneurial than native- born Americans, obtaining more and more

valuable patents, and founding businesses of all sizes at higher rates.” As the editors note,

diversity means more innovation, more entrepreneurship, more invention, and more business-

generation. In truth, many of the country’s leading minds in the past decades have come from

diverse backgrounds. Steve Jobs heritage included a Syrian father. Elon Musk was born to a

South African father. Donuts came from a Russian inventor, telephones came from a Scottish

inventor, and even the quintessential American cheese was actually invented by a Canadian

immigrant. Encouraging people like Barrientos to think of themselves in a broadened way helps

the country economically and socially. If the United States at large embraces this kind of less

gatekeeping method of who belongs and who is “othered,” then the country at large benefits.

Some could reasonably argue that heritage is important and that a person must embody

certain aspects of that heritage in order to truly ‘own’ it. Barrientos herself recognizes that

Spanish was seen as a “glue.” Some might ask, “What prevents one person of one racial

background from simply saying he or she belongs to another?” However, so what if that person

does? Does creating camps and groups really benefit American society? Firstly, one person

cannot assess whether another person belongs as part of a group. Outward signs are misleading,

and skills—such as speaking Spanish—are insufficient as a means of determining group

belonging. Second, has American society done so well with the current system of gatekeeping

who gets to belong racially, ethnically, linguistically, educationally, financially, or socially? Gun

violence is resurging. Racism and discrimination have seemed to become more problematic. And

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division in the country is endemic. Gatekeeping others and forcing some metric of heritage does

not solve the larger issues America faces.

If everyone accepted Barrientos’ broadened definition of heritage, the United States

would benefit. Not only would the country have more donuts and American cheese, but

Americans would be more willing to embrace a broadened definition of humanity. Just as not all

white people have blond hair, so too do not all people of Latin heritage speak Spanish, and so too

do African Americans possess a beautiful tapestry of skin tones. Not every Italian-American

needs to speak Italian, nor every gay male needs to fit into some label of what it means to be

"gay, and not every college English professor must speak perfect English. Human beings are

diverse, and the groups that exist are equally diverse within themselves. To embrace this

expansive definition of heritage and culture—as Barrientos does in her essay—will bring greater

acceptance from one to another and help smooth some of this country’s divisions that have lasted

far too long.

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References

Barrientos, T.M. (2022). Se habla español. In R. Bullock, M. Daly Goggin, & F. Weinberg (Eds.)

The Norton field guide to writing with readings (6th ed.) (pp. 715-718), WW Norton.

The United States can embrace immigration and diversity -- or decline. (2021, August 16). The

Washington Post. Washingtonpost.com, NA.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A672255276/OVIC?u=lirn99776&sid=bookmark-

OVIC&xid=89d010b7