If there’s two things that people quickly learn about me, it’s that my parents were immigrants from El Salvador and that I graduated from Harvard University. I know there are some people that think I’m just showing off (some of my friends even joke around about it sometimes). There is so much more that lies behind the importance of sharing these two aspects of my identity. Today, I want to share the two main reasons behind my insistence on boldly stating these pieces of my identity.
Impact On Students
This started when I was a Teach for America Corps Member teaching 8th grade science in an underserved middle school. I saw the initial shock and awe reactions from my students about my Harvard degree turn into realistic ambitions. Once they started to learn more about who I was and where I came from, they no longer thought of Harvard and like colleges as impractical goals. Here they had a teacher who was the son of immigrants (like many of them), was in ESL when he started elementary school (like many of them), and identified with the Latino culture (like many of them). Why couldn’t college be an option for them? Why couldn’t Harvard be an option for them?
Now, I’m not naïve enough to think that my presence completely altered their trajectories in life, but I’m certain it had some sort of impact. This isn’t because of who I was as a person, but due to what I represented. My story helped them see that college didn’t have to be an exception to the rule. I saw the power that came with normalizing such success for my students. Over time, I have continued to see the significance behind students being able to see themselves in others.
I am a strong proponent of the fact that students can grow and learn both from people that look like them and those who don’t. I do believe, however, that the road to college and beyond will be much harder to travel if they’re never exposed to successful individuals like them. They need something to directly combat the negative stereotypes and generalizations they’ve been exposed to throughout their lives.
Which leads me to my second point…
Impact On Society
Ever since I got into Harvard, I immediately started hearing the comments about affirmative action. “Congratulations on getting in! You’re lucky you’re Hispanic…” After graduation, the comments remained, but changed in form. They turned into expressions of incredulity, disbelief that I was telling them the truth. Now, I know that some of those comments have come from my choice of profession (see a previous post), but I can’t help but think that some of the thinking behind those comments come from having to link those two identities together – son of Salvadoran immigrants and a Harvard grad.
I have come to learn that it’s not their fault for thinking that way. I know of countless individuals who’ve received the same if not worse comments writing off their success. Society is inundated with negative (or nonexistent) stories and characterizations about Latinos and immigrants. It has even gotten to the point where certain high ranking politicians have openly spoken negatively about entire countries.
Unfortunately, not only do such negative sentiments arm sectors of society with ammunition to tear others down, but they also impact the self-identity of children around the country. If these children are bombarded by negative stereotypes linked to their own identities, they won’t be able to help but start to believe in some of them.
That’s why I believe it’s my duty to help chip away against negative stereotypes against Latinos. I know my story is not unique, but strong sentiments in our society make it seem as though stories such as mine are the exception not the rule. That is why I’m going to get even louder about my story and push others to do the same. They work to balance the scales against the negative coverage Latinos receive.
Regardless how anybody feels, I won’t stop sharing my story until the day my story doesn’t seem out of the ordinary.
