When I visited family in
California, it was safe to say that the area was very different than what I was
used to in North Central Texas. My cousins were complaining about how hot the
weather was while at the same time I was wishing I had a sweater because of how
cold it felt. 75 degrees is hot to them. That blew my mind. I met lots of
people when I was there and they were always so surprised to hear that I was
from Texas. The things I heard were along the lines of, “How many horses do you
have?” and “You’re from Texas? Well where are your cowboy boots?” I had my own
stereotypes of how San Diego was going to be but I had no clue that people
still thought we ride horses everywhere. The short story “Why Texas Is the Way
It Is” by Betty Sue Flowers caught my attention because it included many old
school ideas of what it means to be a Texan.
As a
native Texan, I know firsthand what goes on in the Lone Star State. What the
masses probably don’t realize is how much Mexican culture is involved with
Texas. When other states think of Texas, they think of white cowboys; they
don’t think about the millions of Mexican Americans that inhabit this great
land, and the Mexican culture that has blended over time. In a time where
illegal aliens are looked down upon, most Americans don’t want to think of one
of their largest states influenced by another country. Flowers mentions the
battle at the Alamo and how as a little girl she originally “thought it was six
people against the whole Mexican Army” (Flowers 694). I think many people
forget that even though we took Texas back from Mexico, the Mexican culture and
people stayed in Texas.
If a
person travels to Mexico, largely what they will encounter are the stereotypes
of Texas. There are many cowboys, ranchers, and horseback riders. A popular
style in Northern Mexico and the southern part of Texas is the Tejano and
Ranchero style. It includes men wearing fitted blue jeans, a long sleeve
Western style shirt, and cowboy boots. Sounds very similar to what a cowboy
from Texas would wear. Along with clothing style, Mexican music has had a large
impact on citizens of Texas. One of my favorite bands is a group called
Intocable and they are a very popular Tejano band in both Texas as well as
Mexico. And I was very shocked to find out that they are originally from
Zapata, Texas because all of their music is in the language of Spanish. They
were even the first of their genre to play during half time of a Dallas Cowboys
game in the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Mexican culture is deeply rooted into Texas
history and I wish that more areas of the United States could see that side of
us.
Mexican Americans have been one
group who “continue having loyalties to the state while simultaneously
retaining a binary culture past” (De Leon). In fact, Mexican Americans are
rapidly catching up to the white population in Texas. According to the most
current census, in 2010 43.5% of the population of Texas is white while 37.6%
of the population is of Hispanic or Latino origin; and the numbers of Hispanic
are only set to increase. Pretty soon Hispanics will be the majority.
But there is one thing that is
inherently born into a person that is from Texas no matter how the cultures are
meshed; and that is a pride for our state. No other state can fly their flag
the same height as the American flag. No other state can say they fought for
their own independence and won. And that is why no one messes with Texas.
Works Cited
De Leon, Arnoldo. "Mexican Americans." Rpt. in Texas State Historical Association. The Handbook of Texas Online. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. http://ezp.tccd.edu:2192/handbook/online/articles/pqmue.
Flowers, Betty Sue. "Why Texas Is the Way It Is." Lone Star Literature: From the Red River to the Rio Grande: A Texas Anthology. By Don Graham. 1st ed. W. W. Norton &, 2003. 692-97. Print.
"Intocable." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 04 July 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intocable.
"Texas QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." 302 Found. U.S. Census Bureau, 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/48000.html>.
No comments:
Post a Comment