A Mexican in Chicago

For years now, I have enjoyed this song from Sting, "Englishman in New York."

I didn't really pay attention to the lyrics as much as I should have probably. But the following lines always stood out whenever I heard it:

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien
I'm an Englishman in New York

Seems pretty clear to me, a documented English immigrant living in New York. Perhaps the reason it resonated with me is because the first time I heard it, I was living in New York too. The legal or documented part however, did not apply to me.

Recently my Ipod played it over and over again in shuffle mode. And I reminisced about my years in New York and now my life in Chicago, fourteen years later. I googled the lyrics and these verses really caught my attention:

If, "Manners maketh man" as someone said
Then he's the hero of the day
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say

Indeed, living as an undocumented immigrant in this country takes lots of courage. The issue here is that, documented or not, one's culture and ethnicity is always under the scrutiny of mainstream Americans. Unfortunately for us, mainstream America in the media seems to be the epitome of ignorance.

The latest person to embodied that was Bob Griese, who last week made an inappropriate remark about Nascar's driver Juan Pablo Montoya.



Then again, undocumented immigrants who simply come here to thrive as it should be, simply have to be the bigger man or woman, walk away and be themselves.