Last night, after my story aired I received a voice message. It began, "I think all of that bleach has affected your brain."

 AUDIO: Voicemail 

You know when a message starts out like that it is probably all down hill from there.

The woman proceeded to tell me, in her angry voice, that I had basically abandoned my "Hispanic" roots.

What you need to know to understand her phone call is this:

I had just aired a story about a woman named Patsy Perez. She's a sweetheart of a woman who cleans houses for a living. The name of her service is Nana's House Cleaning. Patsy had recently donated her kidney to one of her client's, a man whose house she cleans. She saved his life.

It goes without saying that Patsy is a remarkable woman and her story was a very positive one. Or so I thought.

The woman who left me said voice mail was upset because she felt that I had "Americanized" Patsy's name. That I didn't roll my R's when I said "Perez" and that I failed to say "Nana" with proper Spanish pronunciation.

As often happens when someone leaves a nasty message, she neglected to leave her name or call back number. Had she done so, I would have gladly called back to clear a few things up.

First, Patsy doesn't roll her R's when she pronounces her own name. Neither does she say Nana with a Spanish accent. I did not find it appropriate to arbitrarily alter her name or the name of her business.

Second, while my last name is Peña, I find it presumptuous for her to assume anything about my heritage or background.

For the record, my Father was actually half Spanish, half Greek. My grandfather, Emilio Peña came to the United States (as an orphan) from Spain. While my grandfather does speak fluent Spanish, I was not brought up speaking the language.

The irony in all of this is that I've had people tell me I'm not really Hispanic (in fact, one of my co-workers said this to me not long ago).

The definition of Hispanic, as I understand it is: "Of or relating to Spain or Spanish-speaking Latin America". I'm pretty sure since my grandfather is from Madrid -- that includes me.

So, I'm either not really Hispanic or not Hispanic enough. I'm not sure which one it is.

The one thing I can say for sure, I don't bleach my hair. It's called highlights!

WATCH PATSY'S STORY

2 Comments

David Galindo said:

Carey,

Thank you for sharing this experience. I can really relate to what you wrote. My last name is Galindo. My father was born in Colombia, moved to the United States and Michigan in the late 1950's where he met and married my mother (essentially "white" with mixed European ancestry). Growing up in the 70's and 80's, knowing and speaking only English, I experienced similar assumptions and responses from people.

Your definition of Hispanic is the one I feel comfortable with also, so I would say we're just the right amount. :)

Thanks again and keep up the great work!

January 13, 2009 1:28 PM

American Pride said:

My grandparents came here from Mexico and I am so tired of the Hispanics who go out of their way to tell me the same things that you heard from this rude woman who left the message. Many are amazed and disgusted that I don't speak Spanish, let alone roll my R's or use 'proper' Spanish pronunciations. I am pleased to inform them that I am an American first and foremost and that until I choose to live in a Spanish speaking country English is and will always be my language.

I see this as part of the problem that we are seeing between a portion of our Hispanic population here and many American citizens. It is perfectly normal for all cultures to want to maintain and nurture their languages, traditions, etc. AMONG THEIR OWN PEOPLE. For some reason many Hispanics seem to think that Americans should embrace and accept their obvious desire to force their culture, language and ways on everyone else around them. I find that strange since I haven't seen any other ethnicity do that here. I just don't understand it.

One of the most beautiful things about our country has been the BLENDING of cultures from all over the world into ONE culture. I thought that was an important part of the "American Dream". It is what has enabled us all to work together to make America such a great place.

When somebody tells me that I have abandoned my Hispanic roots I thank them and tell them that I'm happy to be "as American as apple pie"!

May 2, 2009 1:54 PM

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.