Writing POC 101

Mexican American Characters - @kanyesdiary

I notice that in some stories I see, people don't really think there's a difference between Mexican and Mexican American. It's safe to say that every state in the US has a wide range of people (specifically young people) that are Mexican American. You may see Mexican Americans call themselves Mexican because of how prideful we are or simply call themselves American because technically that is our race.

Listed below is some info on writing Mexican American characters (note this does not go towards every single Mexican American since a lot of us tend to not stick to our Mexican roots and traditions)

Looks:

NOT ALL MEXICAN AMERICANS ARE BROWN. I know right? What a surprise! I myself am a light skin Mexican American who is often mistaken as "white." But no, Mexican people come in all different colors with all sorts of eye and hair colors as well. I have relatives with blue eyes and blonde hair. It's more common than you think so if you plan on writing about Mexican American characters it'd be awesome to see some more variety in color. (Note this goes for only Mexican characters as well since we have French and Spanish roots.) Mexican Americans also tend to wear the same things as any other American would. Pretty much whatever's trending and or in style. However in California style varies because certain Mexican Americans are seen as "cholos" which is a different kind of style you can look up but please don't mistake every single Mexican American in that category because A LOT of people do.

Personality, language, etc.

Mexican Americans I feel, like many other mixed races and ethnicities in America, is quite complex. To start off, a lot of us do not know or are not fluent in Spanish. So feel free to write about a Mexican American that does not know Spanish, because guess what? It's common! Personality wise, Mexican Americans are like anyone else in the U.S. except a lot of us tend to stick in neighborhoods that are predominantly Mexican because most of us have parents that are from Mexico.

Culture/ holidays:

The thing with Mexican Americans is that we have like two different cultures we have to keep up with. That's typical American pop culture which means we keep up with what's trending here including sports. We do not all play soccer. A whole lot of us play baseball, softball, basketball and even football. To keep up with our Mexican culture, we celebrate holidays like Dio de los muertos, Christmas, La Rosca, etc. Keep in mind we celebrate American holidays too like Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, etc. Speaking of celebrations, we have quinceaneras too which is like a sweet sixteen but usually bigger. However sometimes that is a stereotype because you'd be surprised how many Mexican Americans do not have those.

Stereotypes/ consensus:

We do not all ride in low riders

We're not all brown

We do not all know Spanish

We are not all "majestic beauties" you may see on TV

Not all of our parents work in the fields or clean houses

We are not all religious

We are not all illegal

Not all of our parents are illegal

We do not all have long ass names with like ten middle names and a typical last names like: Gomez, Diaz, Gonzalez, Martinez, Rodriguez

Like I said there is plenty more to this since being Mexican American is such a complex thing to truly explain. I hope you all (non Mexican Americans) got a somewhat okay understanding!