Growing up, some dating advice uncles
would tell me in Spanish is,"you gotta go back to the motherland (for me they where talking about Mexico but for others their cultures refer to it as " the old country") to find you a good one these women out here are too Americanized they have no morals."
To which I would think to myself," man I don't even speak Spanish that good how could I marry someone from a whole different country?". Small changes like living farther than 45 minutes from my hometown seemed huge at the time.
Even the musician Jadakiss joked in a lyric,
"Gangstas don't die
they get chubby
and move to Miami
shit is deep now
but it get's deeper
fuck it
the weathers nice
and the price
is much cheaper"
This lyric is smooth but it touches on a serious topic, not being able to afford living where you grew up. As a young man living in a gentrified area I see this around me all the time. For some the attitude when it comes to moving out the hood is "I'm not going nowhere live or die its going to happen right here on the streets I grew up on. Im not getting ran out my hood and im not running or hiding.Im walking with my head held high".
This is honorable and I respect it. I also understanding asking ones self," man why am I sacrificing all my money and time for this overpriced rent? F*ck haters f*ck beef y'all can keep all this bullsh*t I'm trying to catch a flight to a beach somewhere." Some call it the small town mentality or having tunnel vision being so focused on your small neighborhood you forget about the rest of the world. "
It does make one wonder " hmm would I be happier out of state?". Some Americans are moving back down south to where their families originated before WW2; for Hispanics/Chicanos however our families originate not in the deep south but in Latin America. For us to "go home" is actually to leave the country entirely undoing their parents or grandparents voyage across the US Mexico border.
I had heard about people getting deported all the time but growing up I never would have imagined contemplating moving back to Mexico volunterily.
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