Matt Fuller Assignment 2A Reflection English 250HA McGough October 4, 2013 Muozs Leave Your Name at the Border

er Surnames of Spanish origin are commonplace in todays American society. It is quite likely that one will be able to identify some acquaintance, friend, or co-worker who has a Hispanic last name. Given how common these names have become, one may not put much thought into how they are pronounced; they are simply said with the accents and inflections that have been established in the United States. This, according to Manuel Muoz, is a perfect example of what the American culture does to immigrants entering the country; it pushes them to assimilate completely. The proper pronunciation of their names is not encouraged; it is seen as being a part of a lower class. Muozs argument is certainly relevant today, six years after its original publication. In a time when immigration is a controversial topic, ethnic identity is at stake, and Leave Your Name at the Border brings this issue to the forefront. Muozs essay was originally published in The New York Times in 2007, a time when the issue of immigration was beginning to grow, and anyone who read the news publication would certainly be influenced by the work. With a presidential election approaching, many people would be concerned with policy simply regarding the legal status of immigrants. Muoz did not want the public to forget about the plight that immigrants face with regards to assimilation. In his piece, he argues that American names begin to dominate the families of Spanish descent that have come to the United States. He claims that, in a school ceremony, the correct pronunciation of names actually caused embarrassment. This is a strong example from Muoz that exemplifies just how intolerant the American public can be of other cultures. He is trying to show that granting citizenship is not enough; society must become more tolerant of other cultures and encourage immigrants to continue the practices that they brought from their home countries. Reproducing this work in a textbook certainly gives it a different audience: young college students who tend to more open-minded and liberal. The original work in The New York Times may not have been as influential as Muoz had intended; many of the readers likely already had concrete views on immigrants, and some of them would unavoidably be negative. If someone holds a long-standing belief that immigrants should assimilate to whatever culture they move to, then that view will likely be unchanged by a newspaper essay. College students, however, are often still forming opinions. In addition to this, they have access to information that their elders did not, and are often more culturally aware than previous generations. Because of these factors, Leave Your Name at the Border creates a more effective argument in a college-level textbook. The students who read the work may grow to be more sensitive to the correct pronunciations of Hispanic names, and create a movement that causes society as a whole to observe the right of Spanish-speaking citizens to have their names pronounced correctly.

Immigration has been, and always will be, a controversial and polarizing issue. In all of the talk of policy, however, one cannot lose sight of the needs of those simply trying to make new lives. Cultural identity is an extremely important need, and this is the point Muoz is trying to get across. Whether or not one agrees that immigrants should be allowed in the United States, that fact is that once they are legalized citizens, they have all of the rights of any member of American society. The right to practice culture, specifically language, is unalienable and needs more attention than it is receiving. Muoz obviously cares deeply about his lineage, and knows that language is what carries that culture. If the traditional names and pronunciations die, so too does the language and, hence, the Hispanic culture. By publishing this work and making his voice heard, Muoz is educating the public on the issue and, in doing so, is likely avoiding the demise of the proper Spanish surname.

Work Cited Muoz, Manuel. Leave Your Name at the Border The New York Times. 2007. Atwan, Robert. Convergences. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2006. Print.