Latino Americans Discussion: Reflection

Since the very beginning, I have always felt welcomed at Santa Fe. It is incredible to me how Santa Fe is constantly promoting the importance of respecting, acknowledging, and understanding cultural diversity when in school and out. Throughout the entire semester, they have held multiple events regarding an important aspect of Latino American history, and I have attended several of them. I can honestly say I appreciate every single one of them. Many of the videos we have watched or articles we have read in my humanities class revolved around Latin American immigrants and their experiences in the United States as well as the experiences of students, like myself, coming from families that sacrificed and left their homelands in search of a better life. Even though my assignment was "mandatory," I felt more drawn to the screening and discussion than forced. Generally, I learned from my experiences that sometimes we just need to take a moment to listen to other people’s stories and hear their message. We can learn so much from people if we listened, regardless of who they are and where they come from. I was the first person at the discussion. Professor Ortiz showed up a few minutes after I entered the discussion room (which was truly gorgeous because of the iridescent lighting coming from multicolored glass windows on the ceiling by the way!). He asked where I was from, my parents, etc. and I also talked to him about Miami since he was curious about the community and city itself. I told him how I felt--that despite having lived in the “Capital of Latin America” (an official nickname given to Miami), I felt like many Hispanics/Latino Americans were not appreciative of their roots. It felt too forced, too phony, and too… artificial. I know Miami was given that nickname because of the large, flooding Hispanic population, but is it truly the “capital?” I have met (too) many Latino Americans who are not familiar or in touch with their origins/background. The worst part is that they also lack the motivation to even try. Even though I went to a school that is predominantly Latino, I felt the indifference amongst the student body when it came to learning or even talking about Hispanic heritage in general. Yes, the topic itself was surprisingly something that was not so popular. In my school, we only ever had one random show at the end Hispanic heritage month, and that was the end of it. I came to realize that Gainesville is much more appreciative and encouraging when it comes to understanding and respecting Hispanic heritage. After our thought-provoking conversation, a few of my fellow Honors friends entered the room so we began our discussion. The very first slide talked about how Latinos are referred to as the “renewed hope of America” which I had never heard of before, followed by the words “Heritage, Diversity, Integrity, and Honor”—possibly the primary four elements of culture. These four words resonated in me since. For about an hour before the documentary, professor Ortiz shared facts about Latinos having fought in World War II which some of us were not aware of, and me being one of them. It was just something that was never "told in the books."

The documentary showed us the tens of thousands of Latinas that served in the Women's Army Corps along with thousands of Latinos including the famous Cesar Chavez himself. He was the most famous of all Latino World War II veterans. Then, professor Ortiz opened up to us about his great grandfather and dedicated a slide to him. He shared with us about the impact he had in World War II during his service (I was unable to get a picture of it). Unfortunately, shortly after his great grandfather came back from the war, he passed, but the important part is that his footprint still remains intact in Latino history. I was touched that he took a moment to talk about his family history. Storytelling is more than just sharing "stories" about one's family. Storytelling is a form of art. They derive from experience and an understanding that we are all part of a whole. By "we" I am emphasizing the community in which we all live in; that is the part of the whole we belong to. Stories reflect history, and by being aware of history, we can understand how our existence creates some sort of impact. We are here because we matter, and those who came before us still matter, too. Because of this, I thanked him for teaching us and sharing with us about the importance of being proud of where you come from within your family, and as a culture.