Family Immersion Experience #2

After my return from the White Privilege Conference, it was time to jump right back into the immersion experience. This week, we decided to focus on the Latino communities around Chicago. On Sunday morning we drove down to the Pilsen / Little Village Neighborhoods. For those who don't know Chicago well, it's often described as a "City of Neighborhoods". I feel that's an appropriate description, as each area definitely has a distinct "feel" to it. Chicago is an extremely diverse city in terms of race, culture, religion, socioeconomic status, etc. However, for the most part, Chicago is also an extremely segregated city.

Looking back at the settlement of the city of Chicago is a really interesting history lesson. It's remarkable to see how each of the neighborhoods has changed over the years, and how these days, by and large, the north side is primarily white or of European descent, the south side is primarily Black, and the west side is mostly Latino. Right in the middle (outside of the loop and near north sides) are various Asian communities.

Anyway, Pilsen and Little Village are two neighboring communities on the near south side that are primarily Latino (mostly Mexican). In the past decade or so, Pilsen has become a hotspot for artists and gentrification, while Little Village (La Villita) remains one of Chicago's main ports of entry for Mexican Immigrants. We began our day by stopping at our favourite Tortillaria to buy enough chips and tortillas to last us until summer. It was definitely an interesting experience to buy directly from the factory, and the prices were incredible, though I have heard rumours of the company employing undocumented workers and then taking advantage of their status to impose some pretty terrible working conditions. The experiences and specific struggles faced by undocumented workers are another thing I'm only beginning to understand as I look deeper into my privilege and the development of my identity.

After the Tortillaria, we crossed the street to pick up some treats at a panaderia. It had been a while since I'd been to one, and it took me a second to remember that I needed to get a tray and put the items I wanted onto it using tongs, rather than just grabbing stuff and shoving it into a bag. I was absolutely shocked by the prices: we paid $3 for 3 loaves of bread, 2 enormous cookies, and a huge slice of cake. At that point I really started to question why we bother shopping at European bakeries at all...

Next, we went to lunch at one of the most famous authentic Mexican restaurants in the city. Although it is a hotspot for "adventurous gringos", there were many Mexican families enjoying their Sunday meals at the restaurant.

After lunch, we headed to the National Museum of Mexican Art, a free art museum in Little Village. We might never have known that this existed if not for this immersion experience, which has us actively seeking out new experiences. The art was remarkable, and we learned a decent amount about the history of the various cultures represented in Mexico, as well as the current political and social justice struggles.

Then we went to a park to let the kids run off some steam. I think visiting parks is an important aspect to this immersion experience, both for me as an adult to talk to other parents and observe the daily life of "locals", and for the kids to connect with other children. It is good for them to hear other languages being spoken. It is good for them to realize that they can have fun with people who don't look or sound like them. It is a complete joy to watch young children play together, devoid of stereotype or racial conditioning. At the park, we bought a sno-cone from a cart.

Our final stop was a Churro shop. We bought several different flavours, and brought them home to sample after dinner.

All in all, it was a great day, and I'm beginning to notice some key cultural differences that, surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) seem to be present in both the Asian cultures and the Latino cultures we've explored. That will have to be the subject of a future post!