Do 2nd generation americans usually look down( or not interested) in the culture of their parents or ancestor?

Question

I'm hispanic but i'm first generation american so i still practice and live in my parents culture. However there is this guy at work, his mom was already born in usa and his father too so he doesn't even have an accent... and he was going through radio stations, found a mexican music one and made fun of it( "you guys want this one? he he he he he")...thenchanged it to an american rock station. I see nothing funny in that.

My sister married a white man too, and they have a baby. I fear that he may grow up to think we mexicans are low lives.

Answer 1

I disagree with anyone who feels that giving up on their ancestor's cultures is a good thing. My mother's mother came to the US from Poland, her husband came from Portugal. He saw her in the mill that they both worked at in Lowell, Massachuesetts and taught himself some Polish (along with the Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Italian that he already spoke) so that he could meet her. When they decided to marry, they had a very hard time finding a priest to marry them because they were "mixing" races! They finally found an Irish one who didn't have a problem with it. They had 4 children who spoke Polish to their mother, and Portugese to their father and English when they went to school. My grandfather died when he was 36 years old so I never knew him and the Portuguese traditions died with him. But, my grandmother lived with us all of the rest of her life. My mother married a man who is Canadian French and American Indian (Mohawk). He had no problems with my grandmother taking over the kitchen and serving up her golomki, pierogi and kluski on a regular basis.
In 1970, my grandmother went back to Poland with a cousin of mine, for the first time to see the brothers she had who were still alive. In 1980, that same cousin wanted to go again, but my grandmother refused, so I went...and met my husband. We have been married for 25 years and I love continuing the Polish traditions in my home, so much so that we have gone back to Poland and purchased land for our retirement home.
I think that in different parts of this country other cultures are not as respected as they are here in the Northeast. Here in New England we have assimilated so many different cultures: Italian, Polish, French, Irish, Hispanic, Asian, and on, and on, that we don't look down on others so much. We all are from somewhere else, and still have relatives who speak with accents. Maybe where you are from there is a preponderance of only one culture and it is easier for intolerance to rear its ugly head.

Answer 2

I think that if you hang on to the culture of your ancestors, you miss out your present life. I am of English/French/Italian/Dutch/Scottish descent. This should make me a clog wearing, bag playing, spaghetti eating, thin and glamorous (French) Lady. All of which I am not. I am me. My ancestors background doens't matter - wha does matter is that I fit in my town and my culture now.
Sorry, but that's the way I see it. If your ancestors loved their life so much, they wouldn't have moved for a better life.