After Reading Munoz'

After reading Munoz' "Leave Your Name at the Border," discuss your initial observations about the essay. My first initial thought about this essay was about racism. Especially, reading the title of “Leave Your Name at the Border.” However, reading more into the essay it becomes apparent that it is not so much about racism between whites (Americans) and Spanish (Mexicans). The essay reveals the struggles of young Hispanic children that were given Spanish names, and how those names were switched by schoolteachers, in a way to make communication easier. The Switching of names made the Spanish kids feel bad or ashamed of their birth names. Additionally, the essay displayed that there was not a lot of people in professional positions that were Spanish. Moreover, if Spanish people held professional jobs, they would accept the mispronouncing of their names. They did that so they would have better opportunities to advance in their careers. Once the boy left town for college, he was finally introduced to people that cared about the proper pronouncing of his name and other Spanish names. Many Spanish names have a great deal of history behind them. It should not be shortened or converted into an English