Hey, my name is Angelíca Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican/ Dominican who “immigrated” from public school in Connecticut all the way down here to a private college in Tennessee. Growing up in public school as a Hispanic definitely was not easy. Heck, growing up Hispanic wasn’t easy in general. I’ve had to overcome a lot of struggles that people put on me. Growing up in an almost all-white town, my caramel-like skin tone and thick curly hair made it obvious I was Hispanic, and it made life a bit harder.
Being in a town with a lot of ignorance and also being the only Puerto Rican/Dominican in school, I have heard it all! I’ve had people ask me if I lived in a taco, tell me to run when an officer came to school because they would deport me (and let me make this note: I WAS BORN IN MASSACHUSETTS), change my name to the English version of Angelíca to Angelica because it’s too hard to pronounce, tell me that I’m supposed to like spicy food because that’s all we eat and so on.
But aside from teachers calling Hispanics stupid in front of my face or making me the butt of deportation jokes at school, the worst of all was when teachers assumed that my troubles in learning and reading were because my last name is Rodriguez, and that obviously means I cannot speak English. Because these teachers assumed that I was just slow at learning English, I wasn’t given the proper help I needed and wasn’t able to read at my age level until I was in fifth grade. If they had put their assumptions aside, they would have realized that first, I really needed help, and second, English is my first and only language. Pleased to prove you wrong, but not all Hispanics speak Spanish! Some of us are third or fourth generation Hispanics, and our parents don’t even know the language. Others have parents who only taught their kids English so that will not have language problems later in life.
We are such a diverse people that have come from all walks of life and have had to overcome many stereotypes. Currently the main problem in our society is that people are not educating themselves enough on other peo ple’s cultures. We all find ourselves assuming, and you know what they say about assuming. When we take a moment to really consider others, we will truly be able to skyrocket as a society.
People need to realize that making stereotypical jokes about our race isn’t funny, that drinking during Cinco de Mayo while eating Taco Bell doesn’t make you cultured, and that despite what Bieber thinks he’s singing, our language is beautiful! Hispanics and Latinxs shouldn’t have their heritage taken as a new fashion trend for Forever 21 to sell. It has been a struggle to grow up as a Hispanic in this American society, and I know that it will continue to be a struggle for a while longer because of the ignorance that people still have (cough cough Trump). At the end of the day, I am a proud Hispanic woman who will continue to tap into her hard-working bloodline of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans and fight against stereotypes while simultaneously enriching the people around me of who we are.
