You Can’t Label Me.

Lorena resists identifying herself as a Latina or a Chicana “Because Latina is like, Latina with an attitude. The fighter Latina, but not the good fighter. The troublemaker. Chicana, the same way. Chicana is “Oh, you’re always protesting for something, you’re always angry at something or somebody” (Orner, 159). She feels that being labeled somehow puts her into a box. It stigmatizes her identity by feeling like she’ll never be good enough. To Nelda, the difference between being Chicana and being Mexican American is the region she lives in. “Most important, however, was her discovery of Rodolfo Acuna’s book, Occupied America, which provides a historical perspective on the taking of the southwestern lands formerly owned by the Mexican government” (Valenzuela, 181). With that knowledge, she said “Desde entices, soy Chicana” (Valenzuela, 181). For her to identify herself as Chicana was very strange because, like Lorena, Chicanos are seen as troublemakers and not a benefit to society. With this acknowledged, I believe Nelda doesn’t look at these labels as a personal setback and sees her progress and progress for where she came from. “Although she was exposed to a lot of criticism about Chicanas/os, even in her own family, Nelda felt that through reading history she had come to see their struggles as her own” (Valenzuela, 181). Thus, “she sees herself as different from other Mexicans who “look down” on Chicanos” (Valenzuela, 181). This should be the job of every human being. Similar to when Lorena feels that her “job as a human being” is to provide the underprivileged and under-resourced families “knowledge to defend themselves with” (Orner, 194). This perspective shapes the way she understand her identity by doing her best to graduate a university with a degree to provide those who are like her parents with more knowledge to stay healthier and safer. “When I saw all this, I told my supervisor that my mission is to change one person’s life. Educate one person, so if their boss tries to be bad to them, they’ll say “No, I know you can’t do that, that’s against the law.” If I can do that, then I’ve done my job as human being” (Orner, 194).

The distinctions between these ethnic identities are so important to the young women because that is how they will be represented in society. For Lorena, it is seen as a negative connotation, whereas Nelda works hard to defy the stereotype of the ethnic identities of being Latina or Chicana. Nelda “demonstrated the capacity both to achieve and to blend in within her social milieu” (Valenzuela, 182). Similarly, Lorena is set out to go to school and get a degree, help those who are in the same place she and her family were not too long ago, and get a job in an office which she states as, “And it made me feel like people who are like me, in my situation, Hispanic people, we don’t get office jobs” (Orner, 195). So, both girls are set out to change the stereotype and to change the specific identities attached to each label. Valenzuela sees how Nelda is different from others and how she can have multiple identities, including Latina and Chicana. “The fact that she bore at least some of the emblems of Americanized speech, dress, and interpersonal skills is a side note to a more central awakening within her that helps explain her rapid transformation into a Chicana against the historical and institutional odds of her doing so” (Valenzuela, 182). Lorena and Nelda redefine what it means to be Mexican American by valuing their hardships and the morals they came with, and working hard to be good “citizens” of the U.S.

People at my community partners reinforce and alter the cultural and ethnic identities of the people they serve by trying to change the stereotype. At Young Moms Marin, we work with, at this moment, all Latina and Hispanic teenage moms. These young women were homeless, once upon a time, live below the poverty line, and some were unemployed. From what I know, we do not have any undocumented moms or kids, but there are undocumented family members and partners. YMM has been trying to alter the stigma these women feel by providing the proper resources for them to end this cycle and these identities that were given to them based on their environment.

I have been stigmatized by dominant discourses about my gender. As a female, I am seen as a lesser person compared to a man. Regardless of my age, sexuality, or any other demographics people like to categorize me into, I will always be the lesser person based on the body parts I was born with. People will always provide me with less options as they would give to a male. I will always be fighting for my right for equal pay, I will always be fighting for a promotion at my job, even though I am more qualified. Being at Dominican University, a majority female school, I have been given the tools to show the world that I am capable of doing what I want to do. I am also capable of getting things I deserve. As a female, I will always be pushing back, not only for me, but for future generations as well.