So for the past month or so since Jose left and I have been planning my first trip to Mexico to visit him people have been pretty crappy to me. It's like everyone has an opinion about Mexico. And those opinions are never good.
One of my good friends told me I was being used for access back into America, that things would be very dangerous for me out there. That I could be kidnapped and raped, mugged or murdered. He insisted I call him every day so that he could hear my voice to know I was alright.
One of my managers told me that people who go down to Mexico alone don't come back.
Other people have said that I should be careful I don't end up one of those people who gets tossed into a jail cell for accidental drug smuggling like you always hear about.
I've heard that because I'm white people will be very rude to me and treat me poorly. That I will be kidnapped and held for ransom because some people in Mexico think that all white people from The U.S. are rich.
When did Mexico become a third world country?
If Mexican people are so bad why doesn't that sort of thing happen in the U.S. by Mexican people? I hear more about white and black Americans doing harm to other white and black Americans than I do about Mexican immigrants doing harm to American citizens. If it is so a part of who they are, these awful people in Mexico, why don't they bring that mentality with them to the states when they move here?
I know that yes, some of the things people have said to me are true about certain parts of Mexico. There is a high crime rate in the border states. There is a large drug cartel near the American border. People do get kidnapped. But when did fear of a possible outcome start ruling my life?
I am not a rich white person from America. I'm a twenty six year old recent college grad who works in a dive bar to make ends meat. I've been to a lot of places and seen a lot of things in my life. No Mexico is not yet one of those places but does that really mean I should be any more worried to walk out of the airport in Oaxaca than I would be walking out of an airport in L.A. or Detroit, or even Chicago?
There is crime everywhere, people get kidnapped and murdered everywhere. There is no such thing as a safe place to visit.
The city I grew up in had virtually no crime rate, but it doesn't sit too far away from what used to be the murder city capitol of the U.S. if not the world. Does that mean that I shouldn't have gone down into Detroit to go to concerts? That my parents shouldn't have taken me to the city when I was a kid?
Should I avoid the South Side of Chicago because of all the death that's happened recently?
Someone was shot out side of the bar I frequent a few months ago, the bar that's located on the ground floor of the apartment building next door to the one I live in. Does that mean I should stay inside at all times and worry about getting shot walking to the grocery store in my neighborhood?
No.
I've worked alongside many people of Hispanic descent in my life. I used to chat up the maintenance guys in the mall I worked in when I was 18 who were from Latin America. I regularly hang out with a couple guys from Mexico City who work in the Taqueria by my house. I work with 6 Mexicans and 3 Guatemalans 5 times a week.
When I was younger I used to joke that I've never met a Mexican that didn't like me, why can't that idea still hold true?
Last night I was watching an episode of Law And Order: SVU that dealt with immigrants. When did we become so blind to the fact that America is a country founded by immigrants?
My family came over from Germany, and Scotland in the early 1900's. By all technical standpoints I'm only a second generation American, 3rd generation depending on how you judge a generation. My father was born in America, his parents were born in America but their siblings, my great aunts and uncles were born in Germany. Does that make me a bad person because my family didn't migrate here until later?
I was on the phone with Jose and we were talking about video games. He was telling me that in Mexico they are very expensive (roughly 1,500 pesos which is like 100 USD), and that you can only buy them at Sears or Sam's Club.
Sears? Sam's Club? Two American corporations that made me laugh when I heard him talking about them. My silly little mind had no idea that Sears and Sam's Club existed in Mexico. Hell there isn't even a Sam's Club within the city limits in Chicago that I know of. If they have Sears and a Wal-Mart spin off how uncivilized can they really be?
My concerns about going to Mexico... Black flies, scorpions, and other creepy insects that can kill me dead.
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