| Written by Maria Elena Salinas |
| Thursday, August 08 2002 |
| |
| Feedback is great. I appreciate it when I receive e-mails, letters or calls from people who read my columns. Some are very positive, others critical. But more than a few times I have had readers tell me, "go back to your country", "stop blindly defending immigrants" or "stop pushing your Hispanic agenda."
Then one day it dawned on me that we have not been formally introduced. I figure if you know a little bit about me and some of the events in my life that influenced my way of thinking, you might understand where I am coming from.
This is my tenth month writing this syndicated column, which is published in English and Spanish-language newspapers. Besides writing this column, I also work on television. Five nights a week I anchor a network news program watched by several million people in the United States and Latin America. The newscast airs on Univision, the nation's number one Spanish-language television network and the fifth largest network after ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. For several years I have been an on again off again radio commentator. But since most of my work is done in Spanish, you may not know very much about me.
By now you know my name is Maria Elena, the Spanish version of Mary Helen. As far as I know, there is no English equivalent to Salinas, my father's last name, although there is a city in California by that name. In the early 1940's my parents crossed the U.S. Mexican border-with all the proper immigration documents in hand-to start a new life in the United States. My mother worked as a seamstress in the Los Angeles garment industry. My father, a brilliant man whose goal in life was to give his daughters a good moral education, worked as a professor, a real estate salesman and an accountant. They have both passed away.
I live in Miami, but I was born and raised in Los Angeles, where I attended Catholic schools. I'm Mexican-American, very Mexican (I put Tabasco sauce on everything, even pizza) and very American (McDonald's French fries are my favorite delicacy). My musical tastes range from Motown to the disco sound of the 1970's and the romantic boleros of Juan Gabriel and Trio los Panchos.
My story is typical of many Hispanics. I was brought up in a bilingual and bicultural household. Although my father spoke six languages, my mother spoke only Spanish. Dad insisted on only hearing Spanish at home, but I grew up speaking English in school and with friends. Children can handle more than one language quite nicely, my sisters and I did, so I am raising my two daughters the same way.
My bilingual upbringing has served me well in my career as a Spanish-language journalist. It's also come in handy in my adopted hometown of Miami, where English speakers are becoming increasingly hard to find. Even though I enjoy living in the self-proclaimed "Capital of Latin America", I still miss the mountains, rugged beaches and low humidity of Southern California, not to mention the Mexican food.
If you have read my columns you may have noticed that I focus on issues affecting Hispanics. There are two reasons for that. The first one is that my column is about the Americas. But most importantly, it's because I feel a responsibility and strong commitment to my community. I have been around long enough to understand the issues that affect us. I believe there are many misconceptions about immigrants both legal and illegal.
Through this column I try not only to give my point of view on issues I feel strongly about, I also try to provide insight into who we are, where we come from and what we have to offer as a community.
So for those who tell me go back to my country, now you know I already am in my country. And hopefully I will help you understand why I defend immigrants and speak out on Hispanic issues, one column at a time. |
