JE #2

Perhaps my narrative will differ in some ways with the majority's experience, yet, coincide in many ways with everyone else's. I was schooled in the Mexican borderlands, in the city of Tijuana. Like many fronterizos, you learn about the selling (by Mexico) and/or arrebato (by the U.S. empire) of the Mexican northwest even before you can conceive the notion of nationality. As a border child, I did not know what nations were, but I knew there was a línea, separating us from them. I also learned early in my lifetime that la línea did not exist not too long ago, and that it was drawn because of a dictator's greed and corruption. I heard horrible stories of a tyrannical and selfish caudillo, called General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, who sold the bountiful northwest priceless land for a miserable amount. During grade school, we learned even further about the horrors and corrupt acts of Santa Ana, among them was the selling of the Mexican land to the U.S. government. The way teachers in the Mexican border would instruct about Mexico's the shameful past was dubious. While General Santa Ana remained as the monstrous ill fated politician securing only his well-being, the events leading to the signage of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was never consistent.  On the one hand, Mexico's corrupt and avaricious self-appointed leaders "sold" half the territory of the Mexican Republic. On the other hand, the militaristic and rich nation of the U.S. had purchased (by force) the northwest territories of Mexico. So I learned to adopt both versions, and keep my eyes and ears open for any further approaches to come. And so it happened.
Never in my life had I learned/read/heard that the event preceding and leading to the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo was a... WAR???  
I clearly remember the day when the word "war" appeared next to "Guadalupe-Hidalgo." It was Fall semester of 2003, and I was sitting excited on my American History class at a community college in southern San Diego. We were reviewing Manifest Destiny (a topic I thoroughly studied at a populist high school in Tijuana), and the professor mentioned during lecture that the United States acquired the American Southwest through a peace treaty after the U.S.-Mexico War. Shocked to hear such discrepant arguments, I raised my hand. I explained to the class that never had "we" (the Mexican people, I presume), engaged in a war with the U.S., and that such event would have been an absurd and almost default won due to the U.S.' advanced technology and armament. The history professor looks at me and replied: "Well, you obviously don't know the history of your country very well." I was more confused, rather than embarrassed, as I was not ready to let go of the narrative I had heard throughout my life (just because a gringo ticher said so).
Like many Americans of Mexican descent and/or Chicana/os living within the U.S. borders, I too suffered from historical amnesia. Although the way that Mexicans were depicted were in a more positive light, it nonetheless stressed the corrupt, greedy, conniving, and advantageous character of the Mexicans who "sold" the land. Instead of learning about a dirty and bloody war between Anglos and the Mexican army, we learned that due to a dictator's will and greed we were almost left landless. The Gringos were also at fault for they too were expansionist imperialists and invasive, but not so much as the caudillo vendido y traidor a la patria, Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana. Like my Chicana/o peers, we were not told the entire story, only partial truths that turn the violence of the past a more amicable and sugar-coated subject of study for fifth-graders. In sum, after learning about the many truths about the U.S.-Mexico war, or the U.S. war against Mexico, or the war-less war, my historical amnesia could be more-or-less a five. And I still have my eyes and ears open for any new stories about U.S.-Mexico conflicts.
This past weekend my bestfriend visited me from Tijuana. As I prepared for classes during the weekend, she asked curious, "Amiga, ¿que es eso del "Mexican-American War", que dice ahi en tu libro? " I answered, reminiscing that moment ten-years ago sitting at a community college classroom. "Ah! Eso! Es que aqui, en los Estados Unidos te enseñan que el Tratado de Guadalupe-Hidalgo fue para dar fin a una guerra entre Mexico y los EEUU por obtener lo que ahora es el suroeste gringo." Confused and somewhat amused my friend replies, "Whaaaatt!? Nunca hubo una guerra" She chuckles, "esos malditos gringos nos robaron las tierras y Santa Ana aprovecho y las vendió".