Midterm – Transcript

00:01Hello, my name is Marcus, I come from a Mexican-American background, my dad was born in Mexico, more specifically when I was 2. And my mom was born here in California, but my grandparents, her parents, they're from Jalisco, Michoacan.

00:25I've lived all my life here in the valley, more specifically here in Mecca. And, you know, hybridity is the state of being hybrid.

00:40And two things crossing and mixing together, and my two cultures, I come from my Mexican culture and my American culture, I always cross and mix, and my two cultures cross and mix.

01:01And when communicating with my grandparents, my grandparents, specifically on the speaker, Spanish. And for my first language as English, I've always had trouble speaking Spanish, because I grew up with a speech impairment.

01:26And it was always hard for me to pronounce words that really required two million hours. And I still have trouble even with English words like that. Some personal experiences that I got through growing up in the valley is that, I'm honestly not really experiencing anything that would make any difference or make me go through any hardship.

01:56But one experience I always had is that my parents grew up in very religious households. They were made to go to church every weekend, every Sunday. They had to do their first communions and all that type of stuff.

02:13And they didn't really make me or my sister do that. They didn't force us to go to church every week, every Sunday. The only time they really pushed us to do anything was to do our first communion.

02:31But apart from that, they just let us do what we wanted. And I feel like, well, my mom always says that she never liked going to church when she was younger, because it would force her and she didn't really like it.

02:52But because of that, we still hold a good connection with our beliefs, with our religion, with God. And I have a whole bunch of things around my room.

03:12I can show for that. I have a regimerie in my room to protect me from anything evil.

03:22Every where I go, I carry a really good light to protect me when I'm driving, when I'm out on the street, just to protect me in general.

03:45Even when I'm not out with my parents, when I'm out with my friends, or anything like that. You know, cultural identity is an individual, individual sense of belonging to a specific group based on shared traditions, values, language, and customs.

04:09And I can connect to that, because it's a stereotype that Mexicans in general are very, very religious. They're always at church.

04:24They're always at events that doesn't have anything with God, Jesus, regimerie. And that's true. My grandparents, they always go to church. Every Sunday, they're at church.

04:40And because we live next to a church, because I live next to a church, after they get out of church, they're here spending time with us. I can connect to cultural identity, because I believe religions are a big part of my culture.

04:57Even my dad told us the only reason why he ever made us do it in the First Marine Union is so we can carry that culture with us. Although I did say that, you know, I didn't want to face any hardships or anything of that growing up, anything of that nature growing up in the patty.

05:20One thing that I did face was colorism. We went through this in class when Professor Jen was saying how, you know, a lot of Latin American countries, people really wanted to be lighter-skinned.

05:38And if you were, you know, darker-appearing, you get discriminated towards. I have gone through something like that before, because I'm more white-appearing.

05:55And my curly hair, because I always have a hard time speaking Spanish, I would always be told that I wasn't Mexican, I was a white kid. I didn't like that, I didn't appreciate that, because I know I'm Mexican.

06:14Because, you know, that's in my veins, that's what I, every time I bleed, that's what comes up. But, you know, growing up, well, don't we say that, because when I was growing up too, I was a, you know, very lighter-skinned than I am right now.

06:32I barely had it. I'm very late. Another thing is structural racism, true racism.

07:01It's a system in which public policy,

07:06institutional practices and cultural norm in the Coachella Valley,

07:33I would say, like, I think it's the southern part, more near to the border. Coachella, you know, the houses are as good as the other houses in the valley, like in Parton, in the city.

08:01I want to talk about why I am enrolled in this class. Why I'm enrolled in this class, because my degree was just accredited to be considered a full-time student. And, you know, it's just choosing something that I don't know anything about, never learned about, never heard about, which I would go with.

08:25Making studies, because, you know, I took this class when I was a freshman, and it was like one of my few history classes that stuck with me, because it was the first time where, you know, in a class setting, where topics about, you know, racism was being brought up,

08:48where in a class setting, where topics like racism was being brought up in the class, topics like the Chicanos, Asian history, all of that stuff.

09:07It really stood with me for the rest of my years in high school, and hope to gain more knowledge, be more knowledgeable about anything to be honest about.

09:26The difference of race and ethnicity, be more knowledgeable about Black history, Asian history, Latino history, I also want to mobilize a person, and I'll be very close-minded when it comes to things like this, and be more open-minded, hope to gain from this class, just be more knowledgeable, grow more as a person, be more open-minded.

09:53I'll be very close-minded, and also I hope to gain some advocacy and activism tools, so I can fight for what I believe in. I know this.