Primary Source Interview:
To gain better perspective on the Mexican-American War and the lasting effects of the war on Mexican-Americans living today, I interviewed family friend Ruben P. Armendariz. He is a 77-year old Mexican-American minister who lives in San Antonio, Texas. He is a first generation Mexican-American. His parents and grandparents were born in Mexico.
Reverend Armendariz was unsure if any of his ancestors fought in the Mexican-American War because his family did not keep records dating back to the mid-1800s. He explained that there are many Mexican-Americans who have a different perspective of the war than is portrayed in American text books. He knew of two well-known books in which the war was discussed from a Mexican perspective, but that they were only written in Spanish. The overall theme was that the American government unfairly took advantage of a weak country by claiming ownership of their land.
"After the war, the Mexican people were not forced to leave the land. Many people did leave, but those who stayed and kept their land were granted immediate American citizenship". In fact, many people who stayed prospered by ranching land that was rich with oil. As specific examples, Reverend Armendariz named three very wealthy Mexican-American families who currently own large oil-rich cattle ranches in Brownsville, Texas. These families, one of whom was the Armendariz family, have owned the land for several generations extending back to the Mexican-American War. These Mexican families chose to keep their land and become American citizens at the end of the war.
Reverend Armendariz said that one positive outcome that American citizenship gave him personally was the ability to go to school. He joined the military and fought in the Vietnam and Korean Wars. One of the benefits of joining the military was that the GI Bill paid for his college education. He was one of eight children and would not have been able to get his education without these benefits. He added that Mexican-Americans have proved themselves to be good citizens and said that Hispanics are the most highly decorated soldiers in the military.
While there were some benefits to Mexican people after the war (and generations that followed), there were also many negative outcomes and bitter feelings. Reverend Armedariz’s mother had bitter feelings towards America. She believed that America took land that rightfully belonged to her country. He explained that when his parents immigrated to Texas before he was born, his mother refused to become an American citizen until very late in her life.
Another negative outcome that stemmed from the Mexican-American War and continued over a hundred years later was discrimination against the Mexican-American people. Their civil rights were violated repeatedly. Reverend Armendariz remembered some examples of this discrimination during his youth. He remembered being a first grader at a predominantly Mexican school in Brownsville, Texas in 1936. The students were told not to speak Spanish during school, even on the playground, or they would be punished. He was proud of his Mexican-American heritage and felt that his heritage was being denied.
He described a second example of discrimination he witnessed when he visited Dallas, Texas in 1950 on a break from school. He walked by a downtown restaurant on Eckerd Street and saw a sign which read, “Mexican food served here. Mexican people not served.” Reverend Armendariz fought this discrimination against his people during the civil rights movement by becoming part of a Chicano militant group that was very anti-American. He explained that there were many Chicanos during the civil rights movement, but fewer exist today.