While Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 is dedicated to celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, many community members, especially those with multicultural backgrounds, navigate deeper questions of identity. Battling through generational value differences, language barriers, and pervasive stereotypes — often culminates in the feeling of not being “Latino” or “American” enough, according to sophomore Stephanie Rischmoller.
“There’s a (common) phrase: ‘You’re not Hispanic enough’ or like, ‘Oh, you don’t look Hispanic,’” she said. “You shouldn’t say that to someone, because it’s a part of their identity.”
According to a 2024 study by the Pew Research Center, nearly all first-generation immigrants from Latin America identified as Hispanic. However, by the fourth generation, only about 50% of individuals with Hispanic ancestry continued to identify that way.
Freshman Lukas Ortiz-Sy, a second-generation immigrant, carries the weight. “Half of my family is Asian, and half of my family is Black and Mexican,” he said. “So I fought through those cracks a lot.”
For students like Ortiz-Sy, the question isn’t which culture to embrace. It’s how to embrace all of them at once. As generations of Hispanic Americans grow up in the United States, the tension between trying to simultaneously fit in and preserve their culture intensifies.
Rischmoller experiences this balancing act with her Peruvian mother’s traditional parenting, affecting experiences with friends. “Because my mom grew up in Peru, she has different values from the parents who grew up here,” she said. “(This) kind of causes my friends not to understand why I can’t stay out late or go out on a certain day.”
English teacher Thalia Rodriguez, a first-generation Mexican-American, articulates a similar duality. Despite being born and raised in the U.S., she finds herself identifying more with her Mexican heritage than American traditions and values.
“I very much value family, taking rest, prioritizing your mental health (and) just being a person before you put everything into work or school,” she said. “I think (work) is something that’s very much valued here, whereas I think I live by my Mexican values much more than anything else.”
Rodriguez’s words reflect a deeper truth: For many bicultural individuals, identity is not a binary choice. It’s a constant negotiation, one that many individuals have to deal with throughout their lives.
One of the strongest bridges connecting generations to their heritage is language. A 2023 study by the Pew Research Center found that Hispanic Americans who strongly associate with their ethnic identity are more likely to emphasize future generations learning Spanish. In other words, celebrating identity is linked to pride in knowing one’s cultural language.
For Ortiz-Sy, speaking Spanish is a vehicle for learning about his roots. “I’m most proud of my Mexican culture,” he said. “At school, I learned Spanish, and I learned a lot more about my cultural heritage.”
However, speaking multiple languages can become a source of anxiety, especially for those who feel pressured to switch between tongues or accents to fit in, a practice known as code-switching.
“When there’s a word (to be read out loud) in English that can be said with a Spanish accent, I don’t know if I should add the accent or just say it like English speakers would say (it),” Rischmoller said. “It just adds a little anxiety when I see words like that.”
Even fluency in a single language isn’t always enough. Despite her proficient command of Spanish, Rodriguez admits feeling like an outsider when her relatives use regional slang or informal phrases that she doesn’t know.
“Even just speaking Spanish to my great grandma, I get really nervous, and then I almost feel like I don’t know the language at all,” she said.
Rodriguez, whose first language was Spanish, recalls the educational pressures that distanced her from her linguistic roots. Using her experience as a learning model today, her own pedagogy in the classroom ensures students reclaim their cultural voices while recognizing systems that undervalue it.
“In my experience, schools did a very good job at dividing me from my family just to make me believe that I am going to be more successful because I could speak English and talk more formally or write in a standard way,” she said “Now I try to push a different narrative with my students. I even tell them (to) write the way you speak because it’s the voice that matters most to me.”
Language challenges and cultural dissonance are compounded by societal prejudice, threatening the celebration of multiculturalism. A 2022 study by the Pew Research Center reported that 53% of Latinos say they have experienced discrimination or unjust treatment based on race or ethnicity.
Rodriguez felt this firsthand in her predominantly white college. “I experienced a lot of people making me feel invisible, (like) if I was talking, they would talk over me,” she said. “Even if I was just standing in line, I’d be cut. It was like I was less of a person to a lot of the people there. That was the only time where (my culture) was something hard to navigate. I realized: Is this something I should be ashamed of?”
These encounters aren’t isolated. In 2021, the Pew Research Center reported that over half of Latinos faced at least one of eight forms of discrimination — most commonly, the assumption that they were less smart.
“A lot of stereotypes I’ve encountered (are when I’m) just speaking Spanish, and then, for some reason, that means you aren’t likely to be as successful or you aren’t likely to also get into these top universities,” Rodriguez said.“It’s almost like people assume you’re gonna be dumb or not as intelligent as everyone else.”
Stereotypes also dissolve the diversity within the Hispanic community itself. Rischmoller said many people incorrectly assume that all Hispanics are Mexican. In breaking these assumptions, she hopes to broaden the cultural conversation.
“I feel like me being Peruvian serves as a reminder that there (are) other Hispanic people out there,” she said.
Striking a similar chord for cultural pride, Ortiz-Sy learned to celebrate his heritage in the face of adversity. “I pushed through (discrimination), and I didn’t let it change my mood about being Hispanic,” he said.
By challenging identity, language and prejudice, the three voices reveal what it takes to stand proudly in a world that too often pressures different cultures to assimilate to a single dominant idea.
“I started surrounding myself with people who are a part of the same culture,” Rodriguez said. “It’s really thanks to them that they taught me how to be proud of (my culture). (Now), even if no one else in the room is Mexican, I’m happy to be that (one).”
