Being raised in the Bronx and being Puerto Rican, I was always proud of my culture. I have always been amazed at how I can always relate to anyone that’s Latinx, no matter what country they are from. And I think that’s an amazing thing that our parents might not have been able to experience. Jayline Febles (BHSEC Queens)
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I was raised with two completely different cultures, often contradicting in nature, yet both value respect, family and a sense of community more than anything else. I can’t imagine growing up with anything else besides a fusion of cultures, clashing and merging. Nicole Carrillo (BHSEC Queens)I have inherited my Ethiopian identity from my parents and my Judaism from my gracious mother who has clarified the harsh reality of discrimination, racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, ...etc of today’s world. I have prospered or blossomed into the person that I am because I have seen the struggle, pain, passion, and willingness to survive and thrive, and people breaking through barriers and exceeding to high extent of wealth and happiness. My grandfather taught me that every human being has a will to fight, to become passionate to thrive even in a society that tries to limit or discredit you. Especially living in NYC, I am exposed to different ethnicities, religions, and races all compacted in one place, I have the opportunity to learn and listen to their stories and lessons. I go to my youth group also referred to as (bbyo) where I can talk and listen to these incredible Jewish stories about people in other countries finding themselves which have also have cooperated with me finding myself. Abby Cohn (BHSEC Queens)Being Latinx in America means being unwelcomed by my own place of birth. It means having to work harder for my success and having to defend my parents from a country that constantly rejects them. It means dealing with the constant clash of assimilation and my roots. Being Latinx in America means survival, and the ability to embrace both of my cultures without allowing one to overpower the other. It means I love being Mexican, but I also love being American (even if America has not fully learned to love and accept me yet) . Nicole Mendez (BHSEC Queens)A gentle reminder for a country that turned its back on people of color and bleached itself white. As if our ancestors had not transformed this country with survival and strength. Dear America, I am writing this letter because you deserve to know where you came from. The truth. That you go way back before 1776. Know that your story did not begin with the Declaration of Independence, but with a pair of iron wrist shackles and ghastly whips in the back. That before they shaped you into who you are today You were stolen from your indigenous parents And left an orphan through coercion. That they slaughtered thousands of lives And justified genocide. Know that they made a cold blooded business out of your body Exploited your resources, your soil, forced a callous racist system down your throat And turned you into a living hell for your black inhabitants. Know that you were baptized in the murderous waters of the Atlantic And “purified” among the corpses of the slaves who chose death during the Middle Passage. That you were owned and ruled by Europeans, But it was black cotton picking hands that raised you. That the lullabies that lulled you to sleep were not white, but a chorus of slaves tucking you into bed and wishing you a goodnight. Know that you were bathed in their sweat and tears, But dressed in their strength. That you are held together by the embrace of all the black mothers Who could not hug their children “I love you” And that you were woven out of the same yarn And cut from the same cloth of their inescapable misery. Know that the scars on their backs are your landscapes And that those landscapes derived from plantations. Know that this is your original sin and origin And that before your so called founders cried “ all men are created equal” They stripped you off your blackness, dipped you in red, white and blue, Adorned you with fifty stars and renamed you America: The land of the free. Nicole Mendez (BHSEC Queens)As a Latino with immigrant parents, I have seen firsthand the struggles that my family has faced to establish a life here in New York. However, these experiences have made me unapologetically proud of my Dominican culture and heritage. I love the fact that I have such close ties to Dominican food, dances, and music, especially since I visit every summer. Without a doubt, my Dominican and American cultures are a central part of my identity and I am so proud of that. AJ Salcedo (BHSEC Queens) |
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