Her maiden name is "Gonzales". Unfortunately, she and my niece and nephew have some harrowing stories about strangers telling them to "go back" to wherever they "came from." Her brother and his kids, whose last names are still Gonzales, get it even worse.
I once had a very interesting talk with her about her family's heritage, and about the morons who confront them. It turns out she can trace her ancestors, who have lived just north of the Rio Grande for many generations, to before--in fact long before--Texas' entry into the U.S. in 1846. I'm guessing a lot of the idiots who tell her to go back "home" have no such strong connection to the land on which they stand when they issue such an imbecilic directive.
The story of the disputes between the U.S. and Mexico, including the years when Texas was an independent republic, are numerous and long, but they all convey the ambitions of the U.S. to grab as much of the land south of the Nueces River as possible, even, for a time, wanting to extend the southern border as far south as to include Mexico City.
My SIL knows her Texas history, but rarely flaunts it in the face of stupid racists, knowing how useless it would be. But the irony is clear. The U.S. was anxious to annex as much of what is now Mexico as possible. So when idiots tell my lovely and wicked smart SIL to "go home" she knows, even if they don't, that she is vastly more at home in South Texas than they will ever be.
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