Growing up in Stockton during the 1970’s, Bill Esparza’s father forbade him from speaking Spanish at home.
His father, he said, grew up in an era where signs like “No dogs or Mexicans allowed” hung in storefronts along the U.S. border. When his Mexico-born father began attending school in the U.S., he was placed in special education classes for speaking Spanish.
“I found out later about the racism that he endured,” Esparza, 52, said. “He was so ashamed of speaking Spanish, I hardly ever heard him speak Spanish my entire life.”
Many American-born Latinos like Esparza have been called a “pocho” or “pocha,” a pejorative used to describe Mexican Americans who don’t speak Spanish fluently, at some point in their lives.