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I M A Chicano Because I Say I Am Summary

1139 Words5 Pages

For many individuals, being labeled or categorized based on others' perceptions can be unwelcome. They want to be themselves and not worry about others' opinions on their own personal lives. I believe Cheech Marin expresses his stance in his essay "What is a Chicano," a stance I seem to agree with to an extent. In my essay, I will be discussing why, in certain instances, categorizing people and giving them unwanted labels is unnecessary and can even be, sometimes, offensive, and why people should be able to describe themselves however they see fit to their own personal lifestyle. Comedian, actor, and activist Cheech Marin eloquently expresses in his memoir, "I'm a Chicano because I say I am," a view that I find admirable and respect worthy. …show more content…

They want to be free to live their life the way they want to live it and not be ridiculed for it. They want to label and describe how they see fit for how they live their own life. Some individuals don’t prefer being called a term that they do not directly identify with and could take offense to. For example, if you were born in America or didn’t grow up in Mexico and/or don’t speak Spanish at all, you can find the label “Mexican” or “Latino” offensive. Most opinions on labels and being categorized come from the history of why these labels were made, or a way of just putting people who look alike in the same category. Some people do not share the same history as those who they often compare or relate to. Some people view it as stereotyping and don’t like to be racially profiled because of what they look or sound like and can have certain terms bother them. Hence, the reason why a Mexican-American person can reject the term “Hispanic” or “Latino”. For those people, they just don’t want to be classified based on what they look or sound

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