Afro-descendant culture in Oaxaca and the United States

Taking the Education 895 Global Education course at San Diego State University in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico allowed me to transcend the limitations of the United States and the homogenized portrayals of Mexico. The U.S.’s Racial Script of Mexicans is a stereotype premised on the idea of the illegal alien; American media typically emulates Mexican people as one group- needing to flee Mexico; rarely do we ever discuss the different states or providences. Although I knew that Mexico had different states, languages, regions, and cultures, I was never fully engaged in what it meant to be Oaxacan. This experience as a Black/ African American man who grew up surrounded by Mexican classmates, friends, neighbors, and cultures in the metropolitan Los Angeles area never quite explored the nuances of Mexican identity- even those who were of African descent. I was constantly engulfed with friends who were 1st or 2nd generation Mexican American. My childhood and teenage years consisted of Spanish, Spanglish, raspados, quincerias, taquerias, etc. and many loved ones and close friends who identify with being Mexican. Despite my rich cultural experiences and living in Southern California, I had yet to actually visit Mexico.