I am Mexican and I have a large family. These are facts I have known my whole life; however, it never really hit me what they meant until I was thirteen. I did not know it was such a strong stereotype that my family conformed with.
Once, there was a time when I was with my family holding my twin siblings hands and speaking with my mother in Spanish while we neared the checkout of a store. In front of my family there was an old, small white man in the check-out line overhearing my mother and I's conversation. This man eventually whipped around and proceeded to scream at my mother for speaking to us in Spanish. He told us that we were wetbacks that didn't deserve to live in the United States and that my mother should be speaking to us in English
Once, there was a time when I was with my family holding my twin siblings hands and speaking with my mother in Spanish while we neared the checkout of a store. In front of my family there was an old, small white man in the check-out line overhearing my mother and I's conversation. This man eventually whipped around and proceeded to scream at my mother for speaking to us in Spanish. He told us that we were wetbacks that didn't deserve to live in the United States and that my mother should be speaking to us in English