New Mexico and Me
New Mexico is the 47th state in the Union and came to be in January of 1912. It is known internationally for Breaking Bad, Hot Air Balloons, White Sands, the Atomic Bomb, UFOs, and Hatch Green Chile. It is the Land of Enchantment, and it is my Home. Those who have met me outside of the Land of Enchantment have heard me praise my love for it. A large part of this love stems from the Hispanic culture present within New Mexico – a culture I feel deeply tied to. A culture that I spent the first twenty-one years of my life attached to that shaped the way I viewed Hispanic identity and ethnicity. Wherever I have gone to, New Mexico has always followed me in some form. It has followed me via the distance between San Angelo, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico which are exactly 505 miles apart (the area code for Albuquerque), a person who lived in my apartment in Ohio that went to my high school twenty-years before me. People I served with in Djibouti or people I met in Spain who also grew up in New Mexico that see my Zia symbol tattoo or the New Mexico stickers on my water bottle. Even though New Mexico is a state of a small population, I have felt its huge presence wherever I have gone and that is what makes it special to me.
As a teenager, I like many others, dreamed of escaping from the state, known as the Land of Entrapment. Little did I know then the cultural shocks I would encounter when my escape became successful after I graduated college and left for the military. These culture shocks produced an identity crisis in me that I had never experienced. This identity crisis came in the form of my ethnic identity. After I left, I experienced many disputes about my ethnic identity, heritage, and skin tone. Whether it was a joke or a serious statement it hurt just the same. The ethnic disputes I endured came in consistent phrases of “you are not brown, you are white”, “you’re not Mexican/Hispanic because you don’t even speak Spanish” or many other iterations of these statements. This was difficult for me to internalize because my entire life I had identified as someone who was Hispanic and brown even if I came from an interracial background, so to hear jokes or to be challenged by this was difficult. Many New Mexican friends were shocked or confused when I would mention this to them. One of my closest friends who is of direct Mexican descent once responded to this by saying, “Dude, you’re literally Mexican, what do they mean?” I believe a large part of this stems from the lack of knowledge of what may be perceived as Hispanic or Mexican within New Mexico versus what it truly is.
As someone who identifies as and is perceived as Hispanic in my state my ethnic traits align to the Mexican ethnic identity – a concept I will describe later on. I am of mixed heritage from a White mother and a Hispanic father – this is quite common amongst many New Mexicans. It is also extremely important because I have never felt nor witnessed a term called othering (which will also be discussed later) between children who are interracially Hispanic (i.e. Hispanic and a mix of Asian, White, Black, Native American, etc.) and those who are full blooded Mexican and indigenously New Mexican. In addition to my ethnic identity, I never grew up speaking Spanish, like many others, due to assimilation by New Mexicans during the Civil Rights era in the 1960s. My skin tone is a color brown that would be considered brown within New Mexico, though there are many variations of it. All of this combined created an ethnic identity that was representative of New Mexico in common form.
Therefore, when people would challenge my ethnic identity, it would cause me to internally spiral at times. Searching for ways to overcompensate for my Hispanic side since I was never close or familiar with my mom’s ethnic background. I would try and dig deeper into a Mexican heritage that had been broken generations ago. Eventually these attempts failed me because pure Mexican heritage and identity was a foreign concept to me. I had never stepped foot in Mexico. Finally, I utilized a family linage site to trace my Hispanic roots. Not accounting for my mom’s side of the family (sorry mom, maybe another blog), I traced my Hispanic heritage back four-hundred years. Eventually, I arrived at my answer. Two words:
New Mexico
Four hundred years of Montaño heritage (along with my other New Mexican ancestors) that lived, breathed, and died as New Mexico’s borders shrunk, expanded, became Spain, became Mexico, became a territory, and finally an official state in the Union. My Hispanic Heritage was sealed right there. My identity crisis ended, I no longer had to search for an explanation to provide to others. I was given an answer that was much deeper than any joke or bad intentioned statement could reach. I am New Mexican. Nothing more, nothing less. This leads me to my discussion of today, which is to explain how New Mexico’s Hispanic Heritage and Ethnic identity not only exists but dominates New Mexico in a majority Anglo-American country.
My sister and I stem from the same parents, but have uniquely different skin tones.
New Mexico and Ethnic Identity
New Mexico is one of seven majority-minority states in the U.S. The most recent statistics put the Hispanic population at 48.6%, while White (non-Hispanic) sits at 36%, followed by Native Americans at 11%. On top of these statistics, New Mexico had the highest percentage of Hispanics or Latinos within all U.S. states. Statistics aside, the most important aspect of New Mexico to me is the prominence of Hispanic culture woven throughout the state. The Hispanic culture weaves through the naming of our schools, our last names, our infrastructure, and our nature. It is incorporated into our food, art, traditions, and into cars. It is incorporated in our accents and the way we speak. It is thread through our politics. How did this happen and how was our Hispanic culture (along with the presence of Native American culture) able to rise above Anglo-American culture?
To answer this question, we have to look back historically to our Spanish ancestry in the 16th century. For nearly three hundred years, New Mexico was under the reign of the New Kingdom of Spain, labeling the state Nuevo México. The Spanish would remain in power until 1821, which marked the end of a ten-year long war and gave Mexico its official independence. In addition to the geographical separation the numerous on-going conflicts by the post-independence Mexican government down in Mexico City provided a vast amount of breathing room for the area that would become New Mexico. This breathing room provided enough space for the New Mexican territory to slowly form and build its own identity independent of direct Mexican influence for nearly a twenty-seven-year period. This period lasted from 1821 to 1847 when the United States, through their quest of manifest destiny, obtained the New Mexican territory through numerous invasions and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The significance of this treaty gave the U.S. over fifty-one percent of the Mexican territory to the United States at that time. This included 100,000 people of Mexican origin, with roughly sixty percent living within New Mexico.[i] While this treaty simple marked New Mexicans as part of the United States it didn’t mean they were welcomed with open arms.
Our earliest New Mexican ancestors faced many hurdles on their path to statehood. Throughout the next sixty years as a territory, New Mexicans endured racial discrimination, religious concerns, and illiteracy concerns with the English language. Yet through all of this they persevered and paved the way for us and Hispanic culture to flourish in an Anglo-American country. This flourishment of Hispanic culture can be explained by the political atmosphere at the time and the ethnic identity, which brings us back to the theory of constructivism intertwined with the concept of ethnic identity. This concept is defined as a subset of identity categories in which eligibility for membership in the identity is determined by attributes associated with, or believed to be associated with descent. The attributes encompass genetic traits to include eye color, height, and physical features, as well as cultural and historical identifiers including language and ancestry, or one’s lifetime markers such as last name or tribal marking.[ii]
Why Politics Matter in New Mexico
On the political side, the term othering can be used to explain the firmness of Hispanic identity in New Mexico. “Othering” can be defined as: the act of treating someone as though they are not part of a group and are different in some way.[iii] When Euro-American settlers began to arrive in New Mexico, they perpetuated typical patterns of colonialism, which othered the native New Mexicans as second-class citizens. The racial and segregational practices undertaken by the Anglo-American settlers impeded any chance of harmony between themselves and the local Hispanic populace which perhaps, is a key reason why Anglo-American culture did not dominate the state of New Mexico. In response to the consistent challenges faced by the local Hispanic populace they continually resisted cultural assimilation and leveraged the political arena to preserve their rights and freedoms. Success in the political arena is credited to the ability to use the Spanish language during election cycles in New Mexico’s formative years. This enabled Hispanic politicians to secure widespread support from the native New Mexicans for decades during the territorial period. The native populace consistently outvoted their Anglo-competitors for key elective positions in the New Mexican government.[iv]
During this period in New Mexico there was a vast array of Hispanic identifying individuals. This meant the Hispanic politicians who were being elected didn’t immediately receive support from the large Hispanic populace. Terms like Mexicano failed to properly encapsulate the unique identity of New Mexicans who viewed themselves distinct from Mexicans given their mixed Spanish and Native Indian heritage.[v] The Anglo-Americans, meanwhile, exacerbated divisions amongst the Hispanic populace by their categorization of Hispanics into two distinct groups: los ricos (the wealthy or educated) and paisanos (the impoverished or uneducated). [vi] Factor this in with the diverse array of ethnic identities present in the state to include Native Indians, Anglo immigrants, Mexicans, Spanish descendants, and individuals of mixed heritage, a large ethnic battle laid ahead of the early Hispanic politicians and they had to find a way to overcome it if they wanted to preserve Hispanic culture in New Mexico. As the influx of Anglo immigrants grew from 1850 to the early 20th century the Hispanic population’s numerical advantage decreased from 25-1 to 2-1. Despite losing this advantage within the populace the Hispanic community continued to elect Hispanic representatives for the town, county, and territorial government.[vii] In 1909, 11 out of 21 Spanish-speaking lawmakers held seats in the New Mexico house. This number increased to 24 out of 49 by 1915 – three years after statehood.
During this time period the Hispanic politicians had solved the problem for this large identity issue. These elections marked a shift in perception among the Hispanic elite, or los ricos, who recognized the need to unite with their paisano counterparts to protect their shared Hispanic way of life and identity from Anglo encroachment. This alliance between los ricos and paisanos forged a new ethnic and cultural identity in New Mexico. Distinguishing themselves from Mexicans, native Indians, and Anglo-Americans. They rooted their culture and identity with the shared trauma of Spanish and American conquests and fear of cultural erasure by Anglo settlers. This Hispanic identity solidified the bond between los ricos and paisanos and facilitated their political representation and cultural dominance. This move by the Hispanic politicians has profoundly influenced Hispanic representation in government, shaping the trajectory of political engagement and identity formation in New Mexico still present to this day.
At the turn of the century the native Hispanic population, with a newfound identity, began utilizing the term Hispanic American. This newfound identity emerged in response to racial intolerance in the late 1880s and became a prominent feature of newspaper discourse and local politics throughout New Mexico. For the Hispanic Americans, this identity marker encapsulated a sentiment of proud Spanish colonial past, while simultaneously affirming their allegiance as patriotic Americans – a strategic move aimed at securing protections against discrimination by Anglo-Americans.[viii] By positioning themselves as 'true Americans' with Mexican heritage, they distanced themselves from recent Mexican migrants and asserted their equal participation in New Mexican politics without fear of discrimination. This, of course, is an unfortunate side effect utilized to continue the safety of a newly formed identity.
As time progressed the term “Hispanic American” became a powerful tool and was wielded by local Hispanic politicians and Anglo-Americans. Both groups using it for different purposes. The Anglo-Americans used it to continue othering the Hispanic population, while Hispanic political parties used this term in conjunction with other efforts to gain political favor with the Hispanic American populace. An early example of this is seen through a legislative provision enacted in 1910 by Hispanic politicians. This provision ensured that children of Spanish descent could not be excluded from public schools or segregated from Anglo Americans. With legislative protection, this enabled the new ethnic identity to flourish, bolstering cultural pride and political influence throughout New Mexico.
Influence of Interracial Marriages
Politicians played a crucial role in the preservation of Hispanic Identity with their work in the political field, but in day-to-day life local New Mexicans played just as big of a role through interracial marriages. The integration of mixed marriages in New Mexico at the time was defined as individuals with one Spanish-surnamed parent and one non-Spanish-surnamed parent. This reflects a significant aspect of late 19th and early 20th-century New Mexican society that is still apparent today.[ix] Surprisingly, the interracial marriage phenomenon can be partly attributed to the collaboration between Anglo and Hispanic businesses. As Anglos gradually embraced the local Hispanic culture, they came to realize that cooperation, rather than hostility, was the key to success in New Mexico. This shift in ethnic attitudes permeated into civic society, which fostered social acceptance of interracial marriages. Despite concerns of cultural assimilation, census records demonstrate the resilience of Hispanic identity, as evidenced by the naming of children with culturally Hispanic names. The naming identities not only preserved but also strengthened the state's Hispanic cultural identity, countering narratives that sought to marginalize New Mexicans.[x]
Today
The combination of interracial marriage, manifest destiny, border changes, and Hispanic politics play a large role in my ability as a Hispanic New Mexican to watch my culture thrive across the state. I believe that New Mexico stands as an ethnic safe haven for Hispanic Americans, a testament to the enduring resilience of our early ancestors who forged a distinct and proud identity separate from their Mexican ties. As New Mexico continues to evolve, its rich cultural heritage remains a source of strength and pride for both locals and immigrants alike.
References:
[i] Maciel, David, and Erlinda Gonzales-Berry, editors. The Contested Homeland: A Chicano History of New Mexico. 1st ed, University of New Mexico Press, 2000. pp 19.
[ii] Chandra, Kanchan. “WHAT IS ETHNIC IDENTITY AND DOES IT MATTER?” Annual Review of Political Science, vol. 9, no. 1, June 2006, pp. 397–424. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.9.062404.170715.
[iii] “Othering,” February 19, 2025. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/othering.
[iv] Maciel, D. A Chicano History. pp 19.
[v] Montgomery, Charles. “Becoming ‘Spanish-American’: Race and Rhetoric in New Mexico Politics, 1880-1928.” Journal of American Ethnic History, vol. 20, no. 4, July 2001, pp. 66. DOI.org (Crossref), https://doi.org/10.2307/27502746.
[vi] Montgomery, C. Race and Rhetoric. Pp 66.
[vii] Montgomery, C. Race and Rhetoric. Pp 67.
[viii] Montgomery, C. Race and Rhetoric. Pp 70.
[ix] Mitchell, Pablo. "You Just Don't Know Mrs. Baca: Intermarriage, Mixed Heritage, and Identity in New Mexico." New Mexico Historical Review 79, 4 (2004). pp 452. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr/vol79/iss4/2
[x] Mitchell, P. Identity in New Mexico. 453.