We're All In This Together
We're all in this together.
It's been two weeks since the shooting in my hometown of El Paso, Texas. It's been difficult to face how a massacre like that was carried out to target Hispanics. I am still filled with grief.
With the start of the new school year I've been thinking about questions that are often asked of me, particularly by those who have known me for only a short period of time and are leery of my interests in serving the underserved in education: Why do you care about Black and Brown students? Why do you care about poor Hispanic and Asian communities? Why do you care, period?
I often reply with, "I'm just built that way."
I grew up (poor in my pockets and rich in my head) in a small rural desert town west of El Paso called Canutillo. There, I met some of the kindest, most caring people I've ever met in all my travels anywhere. They didn't have much either, but they gave me so much with their time and generosity. My parents worked a lot and neighbors would check in on me and my brother, or give us rides to school events. I learned a deep sense of what it meant to be connected to a community that didn't care that we looked different than everyone else or whether we spoke English or not. Rather they embraced our differences and showed simple acts of kindness that strengthened our community. After all, we were all in it together.
Today, I see a different kind of connectivity occurring in some small and large cities in America. Cities where fear continues to be fueled by differences in people because of skin color and immigrants are being cast as a threat to the American way of life. Yet, I refuse to accept that America as a whole will ultimately be defined in these ways. There are more of us that have a sense of generosity than hate-filled manners. There are more of us that will save a stranger, regardless of gender or race, in emergency situations. There are more of us that will stand up against injustice to ensure everyone in every community across the country is safe and not left out.
That's what my career has been about. And never has it been more important to ramp up the fight for quality education for students in zip codes with the highest poverty levels or number of immigrants and students of color. These are the places that can show the rest of the nation how education can lift communities and pave the way out of poverty. Together, we hold some of the solutions to these problems.
In education, it takes everyone in the system to acknowledge that we are all in this together -- no matter what color of skin or spoken language or the credentials you hold. That is the spirit I carry with me, stemming from my upbringing in a small town outside of El Paso, where everyone made everyone feel like they belonged. As time will allow my grief to dissipate, the hope I have for the work I do at the Constellations Center is that we become a community where everyone belongs and no one gets left out. Are you with me?
