Angelica Garcia’s “Jícama” Is A “Love Letter To Kids Who Grew Up Embracing Two Worlds”

We last heard from Angelica Garcia earlier this summer, when it was revealed the singer-songwriter had signed with the ascendant Spacebomb Records in Richmond, Virginia. That news arrived with a new song called “It Don’t Hinder Me,” a tune that paid tribute to Garcia’s Latinx upbringing in an immigrant household in East Los Angeles.

Garcia is now back with a video for her new single called “Jícama.” The song, whose title refers to a type of yam or potato common to Mexican cooking, considers Garcia’s Mexican and Salvadoran heritage within the greater American context and finds her donning both the U.S. and Mexican flags throughout.

“This song is about not being seen for having a dual identity,” Garcia says. “When you don’t feel seen, you don’t feel accepted for who you are. In my case, I’m American, but I am also Mexican and Salvadoran because of my family blood. Though people often don’t know where to put me, I proudly wear both sides of my identity. The U.S. is a country made up of people from other countries. This song and video are a love letter to kids who grew up embracing two worlds just like me. [It] seems like many people in power are concerned with preserving some sort of ideal American identity — but our identity as a country is complex. Accepting and enforcing just one perspective is often just a guise for racism and xenophobia. To knock my family and I down for our Latinx roots is to knock down all of America’s history. Like you I was born in this country.”

In conjunction with the video’s release, Garcia is selling T-shirts and posters on her website with proceeds going toward regional organizations that support U.S. migrant families such as ¡MIRA!, Annunciation House, and Immigrant Families Together. 

“This effort is for the children of the 600 taken by ICE in Mississippi, migrants seeking refuge in El Paso, and families that have been separated at the border,” Garcia says. “Thank you for supporting.”