Reconciliación

The Mexican-American story is as mixed as their heritage is. As much as they wanted to be Americans, as much as they drove cars and danced swing and helped with crops, Mexican-Americans still faced local and governmental opposition; they and their American identity were stuck on an odyssey, floating on driftwood with the tides of the harvest, their teenagers distancing themselves from their homeland. But as the 1930s wore on, migrants "began to assert themselves in several American cities. Becoming more stationary, the new Mexican Americans sought the American dream while retaining their ethnic identity." (Bindas, pg. 96-97) It was the high spirit and plaintive pathos of the Tipicas and the corridos that kept home in their hearts; it was the kindness of a few employers, farmers, and communities that reconciled them to America. I don't believe the migrants of the day were ever really at peace with their hybrid identities-- but those reconciling factors weren't nothing.