By MARIA VELASQUEZ – News Writer
Hello, my name is Maria Velasquez and just meeting me, you would never guess that I am Hispanic. My story is similar to many of the kids my age; it is about how we were brought to the United States at a young age with absolutely no knowledge of what our lives were going to become. I was brought here at the age of three in August of 1999 to visit an aunt that was living here, it was supposed to be only a vacation, but my mom quickly realized that the United States would be a better place than Colombia to raise kids, a place full of opportunities. I came to the States barely speaking spanish before I was thrust into school where I was forced to learn a completely new language, now English has become my first language, the language I feel most comfortable expressing myself in.
My mom was single mother when she brought my brother and me to U.S. because she knew we would have a better life, more chances would be given to us, and for a long time that was true. We lived in Westport, CT, a town where the school system was one of the best and I never felt discriminated against for being Hispanic. Everything was fine until our visas expired and we were rejected for our green card more than once. I began to see the frustration my mom felt as she tried to maintain a family while not having a stable income because she couldn’t obtain a work permit. I saw the exasperation of my brother not being able to apply for the colleges he wanted because he couldn’t get financial aid from the government. It was hard as a child to see my mom crying and trying to hide it because there was nothing she could do for us.
College for my brother and I always seemed to be an option. We knew that after high school we were going, but we didn’t realize just how hard it would actually be. My brother knew exactly where he wanted to go but because we were undocumented my mom did not have the money to pay for college and there was no way to apply for financial aid. My brother was accepted into college, but couldn’t go, not because he wasn’t good enough, but because we couldn’t ask for help. Hearing this I couldn’t understand how my brother could be rejected in the ‘land of opportunities’. We’ve lived here 11 years, we’ve made a home out of this country, we embraced this culture as our own and now we’re basically being told that we’re not good enough to go college because we weren’t born here. It wasn’t fair. I simply don’t understand how a country built on the idea of different cultures is now rejecting my brother, someone who was talented and wanted to go to college.
HB 87 has not only angered me, but also saddened me because for a country so proud of saying that they are number one in progress, they are slowly falling back to days of racial tensions and barriers. My only wish is for people to try to put themselves in a Hispanic student’s shoes, because we are not all the same; we do not all mow lawns and work for minimum wage. We’re people who’ll do anything for our families, we’re teachers, parents and students, we’re trying to learn to be in this culture without losing our own, but with this bill and the general racism, it’s as though we should feel ashamed of who we are. As if your ancestors should have felt ashamed too when they arrived from Europe or Asia in the founding of the U.S.
I’m telling my teachers now, that they are our best chance. Teachers, you can help us to accept this culture and teach others not to be ignorant. You can be our anchor in a place where people can be cruel, when we reach out, be there for us, please, because it’s a huge thing for us to talk about how much racism hurts because it does, and until someone experiences it, they can’t say anything. I want to thank the teachers who have made an impact and have changed my life, and my brother’s teachers as well because there was nothing more surprising than seeing my brother excited about reading One Hundred Years of Solitude. So thank you for that and I hope that you can see that just because we’re from another country doesn’t mean we’re not willing to learn.
After having felt like the U.S. didn’t want us, my brother and I went back to our home country of Colombia. I lived there for three years before I was able to come back to the United States with a green card. My brother on the other hand, is still in Colombia studying and he hasn’t been able to come back because he’s now a legal adult and has to go through different processes to be accepted for a green card. Had he stayed here in the U.S. he might have had a different future, but with the feeling of rejection, staying wasn’t an option. My name is Maria Velasquez and I was an undocumented student, but I am not anymore. I do not want students to feel the pain, rejection and frustration that my family and I have felt, so I hope you can help us and others in achieving our goal of going to college and stopping racism.
This was the speech I presented at the Teacher Educators Association convention in Feb. 2013. Although it’s been over a year, I still think about that day constantly.
I think about my stomach nervously twisting as I was about to talk about the most personal aspect of my life, and then the relief after I was done when I saw people looking at me with a newfound motivation.
Immigration has always been a subject I felt passionate about, it’s something I dealt with growing up and wish no one has to deal with it now. What I feel towards this has formed me as into the person I am today, I want to change things no matter how small they may be, and this speech made me feel like I was actually doing something.
I can look back to this day and think about how nervous I was and how much I hated public speaking, but I choose to think about the people I met who was encouraging me and telling me that my story inspired them.
Among those people was University of Georgia professor JoBeth Allen who was a true inspiration. Not only did she make me feel as though I we’ve known eachother for years, but she also provided a sense of comfort when the words seemed to get stuck.
Although my feelings haven’t changed, and I know that the situation is no where near where the latino community would want it to be, I’m one step further into working for a better future for all of us. I owe a lot to that convention and it’s something that has helped me in many ways and I’ll always be proud of it.
