Presencia: Hispanic Convocation 2008

              By David Alberto Muñoz

Phoenix, College. - Last Friday, April 25th, 2008, the 22nd Hispanic Convocation took place at Phoenix College.  Among mariachi music, traditional Mexican food, dances, and a family atmosphere, the pride of many immigrants as well as those of Hispanic descent, was viewed by many people who came to share a moment of accomplishment.   In the midst of an anti-Hispanic sentiment we all live in the Valley of the Sun, more than 300 students registered with the organizers of the event, proving once again that the Hispanic community is well and alive in this nation.

One by one they all arrived, with smiles, laughter, words of congratulations for each other, jokes, hopes and wishes; it all reflected the joy felt by many students in the accomplishments they have managed so far.  Individuals born in a small town in Mexico who by destiny arrived at the “land of opportunity,” who had to face unlimited challenges but at the end, they have been able to go forward with their heads up.

So many stories one could hear that night.

My parents came from a small ranch in Oaxaca.  They don’t even know how to read and write but they are very hard working people, and they always told me I needed to finish my education.  Thanks Mom and Dad!”

“The support I got from my wife has been incredible.  Without my family I could never do it.  Thank you for all your patience.”

My Nana has been instrumental in reaching my goal. She was always there encouraging me, telling me I could do it, don’t quit.  Gracias Nana por todo lo que me enseñaste, y por estar siempre ahí para animarme.”

It was incredible to see those faces full of pride and satisfaction, most of them immigrants, who came to a land with a different language, a different culture, a soil that has a tendency to discriminate on the bases of color and ethnicity.  It is the land of the free with certain exceptions, those that do not fit the status quo, those that seem to embrace a different set of values, those individuals “who are stealing from us.”

This evening, the children of corn, La Raza, elevated itself once again to show we are not only part of this community.  We could be the air our country breaths, the spinal cord that sustains the real muscle of America.  An entity lost in a maze of possibilities.  We are just some kids who love to fight among ourselves to prove nothing, but whose vision goes beyond the border of truth.

It was a special night.  fathers and mothers crying because their children were the first to graduate from college in their family, husbands and wives, who somehow found the time to study, go to classes, write papers, learn a new language, and even go to a carne asada  sponsored by the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán.  Young men and women searching for the American dream, a dream hidden behind the curtain of racism and apathy.

I am el pueblo, la raza, hijo del maíz. 

I call myself chicano, latino, hispano, méxicoamericano, Americano.  

I represent Quetzacoatl, Huitzilopochtli, Coatlicue and Tláloc. 

 

I walked with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. 

I have written with “Zeta” Acosta, José Antonio Villareal, Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros and Victor Villaseñor. 

 

I crossed the border with Miguel, Martha, Ricardo y Doña Chole. 

I speak English, Spanish and Spanglish.  

I came to this land in search of a job and found an education. 

 

I was never welcome even though it was my own land.

Even today, I still struggle among my own. 

Attempting to say what I mean, what I want, what I hope for. 

All I know is that we are here to stay wishing to become what we always were.

 

Congratulations Class of 2008!  ¡Muchas felicidades! ¡Viva la raza!