In terms of language growing up, my dad was a very quiet man and he spoke Spanish. My grandmother spoke Spanish and she spoke English too. My grandfather on my dad’s side didn’t speak English; he only spoke Spanish. And so it was very interesting as a kid because my dad was very quiet. I always say he didn’t really speak any language; he just was a working class man who went to work, came home, and just sort of like provided what he could. He was there, he was always there. He always showed up, went to sporting events, stuff like that. But he was just a very quiet man.
And I think it was sort of the message in our household. It was that, to have the most opportunities in this country, “You will be an English speaker, you will sort of assimilate.” And that’s the way I sort of grew up, that’s the way my sisters grew up, even my cousins.
But it’s an unfortunate thing, and I think it’s my dad’s greatest regret is that he didn’t sort of make sure we spoke Spanish with my grandparents, for instance. The generation of today, they’re doing a great job of owning who they are culturally, while code-switching when they need to. And so I think there’s great progress in that. We can still all be a part of America, but each different group can hang on to cultural artifacts, cultural ways of kind of moving through the world, that feel authentic to them. And I think it makes the country more interesting if you do hold on to your culture.
