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Ana Garcia
Therese Boone
Dance and Culture 1010

Interview an outsider
I interview a male that is 48 years old. He was born in San Miguel, El Salvador which is
one of the larger cities in El Salvador. His culture is not widely known throughout the United
States, and often confused with Mexican culture. He was been discriminated against for the color
of his skin and for his place of birth. During this interview he told me about many experiences
where language, the color of his skin, and his birth place were a major factor in being
discriminated against. I picked him for the interview because of the confusion there is about
Mexican culture and other countries in Latin America and more specifically El Salvador. He is
culturally different from me because I am from Mexican heritage and I wanted to learn the
difference between his culture and mine. The interview went really well, he was very open to
answer all of my questions. The main reason I picked him was to see how other culturally
diverse groups are seen and treated in the United States of America.
His religion is Roman Catholic therefore we did not talk much about that subject, but he
did mention that religion is very important to the way he looks at life and plays a role in most
decisions he makes. His experiences in Utah have rang anywhere from great and very happy to
very heat breaking for him and his children. One of the bad experiences he mentions was not too
long ago he was walking down the street with his daughter. They were in a hurry to get home so
they started walking fast; as they were passing a white Caucasian woman with her purse she
screamed dont hurt me and held her purse close to her chest. He told her to calm down
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because he was not going to hurt her. She didnt say anything else so he and his daughter
continued walking. It was shocking to me to find that racism still exists. His experiences helped
me realize that there are stereotypes that are firmly set in the minds of some people and we may
never get past them. Its also very sad that his daughter at the age of ten had to witness that. She
later asked him why that lady had acted in that way. It was hard to explain to her that for my
appearance the lady thought I was going to rob her of her belongings he said. I cant imagine
having to explain to my younger sibling something like that. Its just hard to imagine that at such
a young age they have to start to understand that for some there are differences between colors of
skin, and that they may experience racism because others dont know or understand that there is
no difference between colors of skin.
Another subject we talked about was barriers. I asked him What were some of the
biggest barrier you were faced with when migrating to the United States? His response
surprised me a bit. I learned how hard it was for him to learn English and how important it is to
be able read and understand English fluently. English and the correct pronunciation of English
is very important because if you have any type of accent you may be looked down at or see as
less of an American and more of a foreigner. Knowing how to speak, read, and write in English
correctly is a privilege that not many people are grateful for, myself included. He told me
about an experience he had working in the fields of California were language was a barrier. If
someone didnt know English they were taking advantage of and paid less. They would perform
the same hard labor but were paid much less because they didnt understand what their boss
would say. They lived in very bad conditions because with their salary it was all they could
afford. Learning English is a barrier for most people whose first language is something other
than English. Another very big barrier was becoming documented. He had tried to visit the US
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with a working visa but every effort he tried was denied, life was very hard back in his home
country with two very young daughters to look after and his wife he felt like pursuing the
American dream would allow them to have a better future and more opportunities. Crossing the
Mexican-American border was very dangerous but it was a risk he was willing to take for his
girls. While we talked about this he got a bit emotional because he said many others dont make
it through. Crossing the border was one of the worst experiences Ive had to live through he
said after some silence, he continued to say But the desperation, hunger, and poverty pushed me
to where I am today and I do not regret my decision. It was hard for me not to cry because my
dad many years ago made the same decision for similar reasons. In both Salvadorian and
Mexican culture the head of the family does everything he can to support his family, this
includes risking death. By this point I understood why Salvadorian and Mexican cultures are so
commonly confused. They have many similarities, and very few differences.
Something I found very interesting in both Salvadorian and Mexican culture is the
amount of music they share. Most people in both Mexico and El Salvador consider any form of
Christianity to be the privileged religion like in the USA. Much of the music that the person I
interviewed listens to is religious songs, Cumbia, and merengue. Which are very popular types of
music in some parts of Mexico as well. Religion is practiced differently in El Salvador because
he told me that they celebrate many Saints that I dont. We are both Catholic but in El Salvador
he said that they celebrate a certain Saint, it all depends on what part you are. For example here
he is from a city called San Miguel which translates to Saint Miguel. Therefore in that city they
celebrate and praise to Saint Miguel. Music is very important to his culture because he
mentioned that in every celebration they had, both religious and nonreligious, there was always
some type of music playing and more often than not people dancing also.
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When he first moved to Utah it was around 1996. He mentioned it feeling like a
completely different country compared to California. In California there was more diversity with
concern to race. In Utah it was rare to see an African American, but it was even rarer to see a
Latino. The most common race was Caucasian, and he did not experience much racism in his
neighborhood. They were the only Hispanics in that neighborhood and it was hard to be different
but they also learned to adapt to the type of culture that they were surrounded by. Once his
daughters began going to school it was very hard for them to learn English and they did
experience discrimination due to the color of their skin and for not speaking English. It really
hurt him that they had to experience that at such a young age. He said discriminate against me
and I can take it, but dont discriminate my daughters. I noticed that in his culture the men are
very protective of their children particularly their daughters and wives. Overall the experiences
in Utah were not too bad because there were both good and bad experiences. It was hard for him
to obtain a job when we was undocumented but once he learned English is started becoming
easier and once he became a resident more job opportunities opened up for him.
My family was once an outsider in this country so I can relate too many of the
experiences he had but his background is a bit more different. His living conditions in his home
country were very bad, worse them in Mexico in some ways. I didnt imagine that a country so
close to Mexico could have so many similarities but very distinct differences. Some of the beliefs
he had in the way to live life were different from mine. In many ways we dont see eye to eye.
Although in many others we do. I felt both sympathy and empathy throughout his life story. The
questions I asked seemed to underline important part of his life. I learned about the history of El
Salvador and how their decent comes from Spain, Pipil natives, Mayan natives, and a very small
part of Africans. I think that each person has a story to tell and to share culture you have to share
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your story. El Salvador is a place full of diverse culture that over time mixed together and I
believe that in the United States that is going to happen because all the diverse cultures that live
among one another being to mix ad share their culture and soon enough they become part of each
diverse culture living here. With this interview I realized how privileged I am to have been born
in this country, and the importance of education. By interviewing him I learned the importance
of culture in each persons lifestyle. I was also reminded of the importance of religion in dance
and music. Utah in my point of view based on this interview and my own experience is not a
very racist place to live. It is overtime becoming more open to change and accepting of other
cultures and beliefs. The decision to cross the Mexican-American border is very hard but once
they take it its life changing but not always in a good way even though in this case it was. My
favorite part about this interview was that after I was finished, we traded places and he
interviewed me and we shared our cultures customs and beliefs. We shared experiences and felt
empathy towards one another because weve had similar experiences that helped us learn and
become better people. This interview was such a fun learning experience, if I ever get the chance
I would like to see the United States through a different set of eyes again.