As a child I was confused by my mixed identity. But mixedness will heal America | Jean Guerrero
Multiculturalism doesn’t threaten civilization; it threatens extremism. As the US grows more mixed, it will grow more empathetic
Whenever I misbehaved as a child, my Puerto Rican abuela blamed the Mexican in me. My Mexican classmates called me gringa. My gringa came from my mom, who spoke English with a Puerto Rican accent. I did not know what I was. You’re American, my mother said. You’re not Mexican. You’re not Puerto Rican. You’re American.
We lived near the border in San Diego, California. She wanted me to feel I belonged in this country – a sense she’d been repeatedly denied. My mother faced discrimination as a physician after she came to
