"Go North, Young Man" Reading Journal

The trouble I have with Richard Rodriguez's "Go North, Young Man" is that I understand the essay itself, but not the ultimate message he's trying to get across. I get it when he writes that Mexicans will always be here and that Mexicans in Mexico view this abandonment as unforgivable. I get that "Americans" are afraid of the nation becoming "Mexican". I just don't get to whom he is referring to in the title. The American young man who wants to avoid Mexicans? Or the Mexican young man who wants a better life in the U.S.? I assume it could be both; both young men could be happy if they just migrate elsewhere, whether that's Vancouver, Alaska, or Southern California. With immigration being the main theme of his essay, there is a general feeling of loss, betrayal, ownership. Loss of land that we believe is ours, or loss of people and culture. Feelings of betrayal arise when one leaves a country, or when one betrays our own upbringing. Finally there is a sense of ownership that derives from a sense of power. The power that Spaniards and Mexicans once had over the U.S.. The power that the U.S. had when she obtained the Southwest. The power that the U.S. citizen feels he's now losing over the new-found power which Mexicans are re-experiencing.