I'm Latina and I Know It...

Written By Tabatha Cruz
University of Northern Iowa

My first encounter with the word “minority” came about in college. Most of my life I lived in communities that were predominantly Latino. I was born in the inner city of the Bronx, NY. I was raised in the country side in Puerto Rico. I graduated from high school in Floresville, TX. At the end of my sophomore year, in which I attended community college, I received a scholarship to a university in the Midwest. During this time, I was being told that many students that attended this university had not experienced much diversity. Not to mention, they may or may not have met a person of color in their lifetime. Nonetheless, I was raised with the ideology that “we are all the same”, but little did I know I was very different from my peers.

Thus my love for Multicultural Affairs began, and I was on a mission to ensure that people would start to think about their personal definitions of “multicultural”. I believe that we live in one with the world in a reciprocal relationship. We affect the world, and the world affects us. We are shaped by our encounters with people, by the media, by situations that occur by chance, and by many institutions of society. As human beings we all share this form of learning in common. However, every individual’s journey to where they are today is different and therefore should be respected.

I currently work at the same institution where I completed my undergraduate studies from. I now serve as the advisor for the same Latino student-based organization I participated in as a student. This generation of students that I work with has a different expectation and definition of what “multicultural” means to them, than I did at their age. My multicultural peers (mainly other Latino students) used to tell me that I “acted White” because I assimilated into my new Midwestern community rather quickly. I thought I was doing the “normal” thing that every college student does: make new friends, participate in campus activities, “find myself”.

Today as a professional, I hear similar comments from my students about their peers, and vice versa. However, instead of “acting White” they now call it “sipping the juice”. It brings back memories of studying racial identity theory in graduate school. If I could explain my life experience on the subject of diversity and multiculturalism it would be a scene from the movie “Selena” where the dad tells his daughter it’s tough to be a Mexican-American in the U.S. I totally relate to that in so many ways. However, what I have learned is that it’s about achieving balance between your views and the views of others, and not getting lost in the mix.

One of the main concepts about diversity and multiculturalism is that people aren’t always open to talk about it. How do we start that dialogue? It seems rather elementary, but who knows you better than you know yourself? Share YOUR story! I encourage my students to share their story with others because someone will be listening and may learn new things about life from it. In addition, I also tell my students to listen to other individuals’ stories and know that their view of the world is affected by many factors. And while being accepting of your views and of others may take time (again due to what we learn from family, friends, the media, and society) being open to discover the world and to talk about is only half the journey.

-----------------------------------------------
About the Author:

Tabatha Cruz serves as the Program Coordinator for the Center for Multicultural Education at the University of Northern Iowa. She earned her Master's degree in Collehe Student Personnel Administration from Illinois State University, and her Bachelor's in Family Services with a minor in Dance from the University of Northern Iowa. Follow her on Twitter: @tabatha_cruz