How Did You Get to Be Mexican?

by Johnson, Kevin R.

• ISBN13: 9781566396516
• ISBN10: 1566396514
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-08-10
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

During an interview for a faculty position, a senior professor asked Kevin Johnson bluntly: "How did you get to be a Mexican?" On the other hand, a young woman at a Harvard Law School dinner party inquired: "Are you one of those people whose high school friends are all dead from gangs and stuff?" The son of a Mexican-American mother and an Anglo father, Johnson has spent his life in the borderlands between racial identities. In this book, he uses his experiences as a mixed Latino/Anglo to examine issues of diversity, assimilation, Latino immigration, race relations, and affirmative action in the contemporary United States.

Author Biography

Kevin R. Johnson is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
A "Latino" Law Student? Law 4 Sale at Harvard Law School	p. 10
My Mother: One Assimilation Story	p. 52
My Father: Planting the Seeds of a Racial Consciousness	p. 64
Growing Up White?	p. 73
College: Beginning to Recognize Racial Complexities	p. 89
A Family Gallery	p. 101
A Corporate Lawyer: Happily Avoiding the Issue	p. 109
A Latino Law Professor	p. 121
My Family/Mi Familia	p. 139
Lessons for Latino Assimilation	p. 152
What Does It All Mean for Race Relations in the United States?	p. 175
Notes	p. 183
Bibliography	p. 217
Index	p. 235
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