I am a gringo

What is a gringo? It is a Spanish language term generally used to describe a white non-Hispanic, particularly from the US. I had heard the term used before, in movies and pop culture references, but had never before considered the meanings or implications. The first time I was called a gringo was in Guatemala. I was playing soccer at an orphanage with my missions team and a group of children aged ten to fifteen years old. The older kids were making teams to begin a soccer game and they called out in English that the game would be “gringos versus Guatemalans”. I laughed at the name, amused that they could label us with one general term. I also realized for the first time that, due to my different nationality, I myself fell into a labeled category. In my nearly all white town, labels and terms were not necessary as the majority of people were white and presumably American. I realized generalizations such as "gringo" do not respect the diverse heritages of myself and my friends, as I am part Native American and had friends on the trip who were part Venezuelan and Filipino. I now realize that racial and ethnic terms such as black and white and Hispanic and Latino, just like "gringo", do not respect the diverse heritages of individuals. For us, with this term “gringo”, we were associated with a different country and culture as the children made a clear distinction by team arrangements and names. To them, we were the foreigners, and they reminded us of that fact, using “gringo” at times in a way that meant more or less “white American who can’t speak Spanish or play soccer”. We accepted our name and became determined to prove our mettle in the soccer game and show that, yes, we were gringos, and we were proud of it.