Martin Espada Is A Mexican-American Author And Ambassador For Latinos By Richard Rodriguez

I am Puertican and Cuban, but I never got the chance to learn about my culture or how to speak Spanish. This is because my mom only learned some Spanish but she never learned about our culture. She didn’t because her grandmother wasn’t fond of her dad, so she was never accepted on her mom's side of the family. Even today my mom is sad she never got to bond with her mom's family and wishes she could have had the ability to learn and embrace her family's culture. Unfortunately, many people go through this but more often than not their not being accepted in the U.S. because they don’t speak English. Martin Espada is a Mexican-American author and ambassador for Latinos, he uses his and others' experience to advocate that in the U.S. people can

Rodriguez claims people have an advantage when knowing the English language. When he spoke out in class and his classmates understood him, “That day, I moved very far from the disadvantaged child I had been only days earlier. The believer, the calming assurance that I belonged in public, had at last taken hold” (Rodriguez 97-100). When Rodriguez finally was able to speak English and get over the fear of speaking, he was able to believe in himself more. He was also now able to understand the people around him, their tones and the way they spoke finally registered to him and made him feel accepted in public life that he once never thought he could be a part of. This then leads to the problem that in this public life being bilingual or not being able to speak English was still being discriminated against. In public life, people need to be more accepting of others who speak different languages and also not contribute to getting rid of their language in America. Espadas claims culture is important and people who are a part of the English-Only movement are causing so many people to abandon their culture. While speaking out about the cultural warfare in America, Espada declares, “There are too many in this country who would amputate the Spanish tongue. Given this cultural aggression, it is astonishing that more Latinos have not lost their Spanish altogether, that so many Latinos still speak as much Spanish as they do” (Espada 26-31). Espada expresses how people are losing their language and culture because people think everyone in America should only speak English. This was a shocking discovery due to the fact that people do want to learn, they want in return to be accepted for who they are. It is possible and can be put into consideration, certain people might be afraid of other languages and cultures, but this should have never been a