http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/08/14/richard-rodriguez/mexicans-in-america/ Big Ideas for a Better World Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:01:59 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/08/14/richard-rodriguez/mexicans-in-america/comment-page-1/#comment-367057 Sea Lion Hall wishes you a Happy Cinco de Mayo « The Jury Box Wed, 05 May 2010 15:12:13 +0000 http://www.cato-unbound.org/?p=260#comment-367057 [...] The author Richard Rodriguez, himself of Mestizo (Indian and Spanish) descent, offers a fascinating and very useful perspective on the immigration controversy in his essay “Mexicans in America”: [...] [...] The author Richard Rodriguez, himself of Mestizo (Indian and Spanish) descent, offers a fascinating and very useful perspective on the immigration controversy in his essay “Mexicans in America”: [...]

]]> http://www.cato-unbound.org/2006/08/14/richard-rodriguez/mexicans-in-america/comment-page-1/#comment-83939 Long-time absence. « Nonviolent Migration Wed, 04 Jul 2007 15:24:28 +0000 http://www.cato-unbound.org/?p=260#comment-83939 [...] First, from this excellent article: “In all the video footage I have seen of people crossing illegally from Mexico, of people arrested, the faces look more Indian than Spanish. Most of the illegal immigrants from Mexico may be mestizo, racially, but Indian features predominate. And isn’t that curious? The Indians are illegally coming into the United States. Indians will always wander in the Americas and they should. One lasting effect of illegal immigration, I believe, is that we will come to see America within the Americas…. Brown illegal immigrants with Indian faces may usher the Georgian and the Virginian to a recognition that they now live within the New World—an illegal idea—and not in some distant colony of England.”  I have now lived in the three major border metropolises, San Diego, El Paso, and the lower Rio Grande Valley.  But not until living in Monterrey did I realize that during all that time when I was on the border, only the Morenos are present.  They are living among the Anglos (or the Anglos are living among them), of course, but you will not find the Rubios  or the Gueros among immigrants.  Monterrey, only a two hour drive from the border, is half blonde; half the city defies racial classification.  If I didn’t know which country I’m in, I’d say they are Caucasian. [...] [...] First, from this excellent article: “In all the video footage I have seen of people crossing illegally from Mexico, of people arrested, the faces look more Indian than Spanish. Most of the illegal immigrants from Mexico may be mestizo, racially, but Indian features predominate. And isn’t that curious? The Indians are illegally coming into the United States. Indians will always wander in the Americas and they should. One lasting effect of illegal immigration, I believe, is that we will come to see America within the Americas…. Brown illegal immigrants with Indian faces may usher the Georgian and the Virginian to a recognition that they now live within the New World—an illegal idea—and not in some distant colony of England.”  I have now lived in the three major border metropolises, San Diego, El Paso, and the lower Rio Grande Valley.  But not until living in Monterrey did I realize that during all that time when I was on the border, only the Morenos are present.  They are living among the Anglos (or the Anglos are living among them), of course, but you will not find the Rubios  or the Gueros among immigrants.  Monterrey, only a two hour drive from the border, is half blonde; half the city defies racial classification.  If I didn’t know which country I’m in, I’d say they are Caucasian. [...]

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