Opinion: What the Mexican flag and speaking Spanish mean to me

When I was in sixth grade in my school in Mexico, my good grades gave me the opportunity to be on the “escolta,” which is a guard group that brings out the flag every morning before school and presents it in front of everyone in formation before classes start. 

The formation and escolta happened every day. I hated it. I have never enjoyed being the center of attention and standing in front of the whole school was uncomfortable for me. 

I didn’t have a strong sense of pride for the Mexican flag either. It was until I moved to the United States that the flag started to carry a special meaning for me. 

For me, the Mexican flag means my culture, where I came from and my ancestry. It’s not about loving the Mexican flag over the United States flag, it’s about recognizing my culture, my community, the ancestry that even this land in California once belonged to Mexico. 

Gustavo Arellano has written about the flags during protests several times and he posted this video yesterday about it. For those saying waving an American flag would be better for optics, as Gustavo Arellano explained in his video, protesters have done that in the past, and there still hasn't been an immigration reform. So it hasn't really changed anything. 

I can see why some may consider it to be controversial and even disrespectful, but it shouldn’t be. Even Leeja Miller, whom I enjoy watching her YouTube videos, suggested people should carry the American flag more during protests, as a way to take it back from conservatives. But flying the Mexican flag or the Guatemalan flag carries a different meaning for people who are continuously attacked because of the color of their skin, because of their origin or their parents' origin. It’s not about not appreciating what the U.S. has done for us; it’s about our right to exist as people of color. 

Spanish as a language has also been spoken here long before English. 

There is a reason the full name of Los Angeles is Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles del Rio de Porcioncula. There are so many Spanish names of cities in this state alone. San Diego, Santa Ana, San Francisco, San Clemente, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz … the Spanish and Mexican history in this land is undeniable. 

For the first time in the history of the United States, the country has a so-called “official language,” but that had never happened before, despite the usual claims that this is “America” where people should speak “American.” 

What exactly is the American language? 

Are we referring to North America, where Native American peoples have been forced throughout history to forget their languages? Are we referring to Central America and South America where most speak Spanish, Portuguese, French, Nahuatl, Mayan, Zapoteco and many more dialects? 

There is not one “American” language. America, as a continent and even as a country if we want to use the term that some denominate as the only country that can refer to itself as America, has always been multilingual. 

There is nothing wrong with speaking Spanish, despite what many monolingual people would want us all to believe. It is not “treasonous” as some would claim on social media in our post about a graduate student, whose parents are from Mexico and may have rejoiced to hear their daughter speak their native language as she received her honors in a graduation specifically for Latinx. 

For me, speaking Spanish hits a core inside my heart that reminds me of my people, just like a bowl of black beans de la olla would hit, right in the memories of my grandmother fixing me a plate to eat with quesito and tortillas. It’s home, it’s comfort. (Side note: Watch this video of Jonathan Zaragoza making frijoles de la olla, I dare you not to get emotional). Many of us did come to this country for better opportunities that we are grateful for, but it doesn’t mean we have to forget our culture. 

Spanish may also be a language that was imposed on our ancestors, but it is a trace of the culture that we have been able to keep. And Spanish has been transformed in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Just listen to “Chilanga banda” by Cafe Tacvba … many of those words come from Nahuatl. 

There is nothing wrong with the use of the Mexican flag. If we want to talk about a “treasonous” flag, we can refer to the Confederate flag, which many claim to be part of their history. But the Confederate flag can not be divorced from the absolute fact that it represents a faction of states that wanted to secede from the Union to protect their slavery practices. It is rooted in racism. 

The Mexican flag, for all its misuses as some people may commit illegal acts while carrying it, is not. It is the flag of a sovereign country to the south of the U.S., that for good or bad, will always be a border away from this country. 

Protesters carry the Mexican flag, as well as the Salvadorian, Guatemalan and Venezuelan flags and many other Latin American flags because the majority of people that the Trump administration has deported, many without due process, have been people of color from south of the border. 

It is for that reason that the flags are going to keep showing up at protests and why Spanish will continue to be spoken at Latino graduation ceremonies. Trump may be tamping down on universities and what they do with the resources from the federal budget, but luckily, there will still be organizations willing to support cultural ceremonies that celebrate our heritage.