Accepting my Chicano Heritage

I was embarrassed of my Mexican heritage while I was growing up. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA but never felt like I belonged even though I was around mostly Hispanics. Raised mostly by my grandmother who only spoke Spanish, my first language was Spanish. I quickly stop speaking it when I started school. I never wanted to eat Hispanic food, just American fast food. With a name like Terry Neill, I was a gringo anyway.

It wasn't until I went to schools predominantly White where I noticed I didn't belong there either. I was going through an identity crisis and didn't realize it. As an only child I kept to myself anyway, but always sought for a sense of community. It wasn’t until I joined the military where I finally felt somewhere I belong.

I related to many people while in the military, just trying to make something of myself and learning how to grow up. We were a community surrounded by the same struggle, trying to survive. It was around this time I finally started accepting myself and learning about my background, I was proud.

I named my son Joaquin Cuauhtémoc Neill. My family was unagreeable on his name as it wasn’t American enough. I didn’t care about being American enough anymore, I wanted him to know his roots right away and be proud of being Chicano. Accepting our identity along with its struggles and sharing it with others is the most American experience.

My aim is to keep sharing the Chicano culture so that others may feel comfortable about themselves as Hispanic-Americans where there is a community for all of us to enjoy. And I will continue to advocate as my role models, Cesar Chavez and Robert Kennedy, and fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. The events these last few years have proved it is still very much needed today as it was then.?