A little piece of Mexico in Little Rock

Today the New York Times reports on new Mexican consulates opening in places like Little Rock, Arkansas, where the latino population has risen 48% statewide in the past 5 years, and where my own family roots are still strong. The article raises questions over the practice of Mexican consulates providing identification cards to potentially undocumented immigrants so they can open bank accounts and present some type of formal identification to police. (Funny, I wish this worked in reverse here. I went to the bank yesterday to withdraw money from my account and they wouldn't accept my Mexican driver's license as an ID, only my U.S. passport. hmmm...)

The article ends with a quote from a Mexican immigrant who had just received his identification card from the consulate in Little Rock: “This is so much easier for us,” Mr. Givara said. “It is like having part of Mexico here.”

I imagine the writer closed with that line to provoke some kind of emotion from the reader. Fear, anger, empathy. My immediate reaction was "that's great!" Alberto and I have been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be a binational couple and what it will mean to be a binational family some day. And part of the problem is that it feels to a large extent like you have to choose between one place or the other, one culture or the other. Do we stay in Mexico or go back to the U.S.? Do we speak English or Spanish at home? Do we cheer for Mexico or the U.S. soccer team? (well, that's easy, Mexico.) There's a strong sense of patriotism in Mexico, and a lot of negative feelings toward the U.S. And, as much as we treasure the U.S. for being a multicultural society (and it really is far more diverse than most other countries), the more important national identity tends to be that of the melting pot, where all those cultures converge and mix into one big homogenous soup, often losing or at least hiding what made them distinct to begin with.

So when Señor Givara says that he has found a little piece of Mexico in Little Rock, my heart jumps for joy. I think about my husband and family having a place to connect with Mexico even in the deep south of the U.S. I think about the possibilities of raising our children to be truly bilingual and bicultural even if we settle in the U.S. I think about enjoying real taquitos, speaking Mexican slang, ignoring the watch and focusing on the people. I think about not feeling that we have to leave one place behind to go to the other. That mabe binational is possible.

I know those aren't the emotions that many readers will feel when they read the article. But for 11 million Mexican immigrants in the U.S. and perhaps millions more second, third, or fourth generation families as well, finding a little piece of Mexico in the U.S. is a beautiful thing.

For the whole article:
Debate Raging, Mexico Adds to Consulates in U.S.