Just Another Kid

Experiences as a Latino in NYC

[victor1463]

Accomplishments

I think of the most significant collective experience we have as Latinx is being told that we can’t accomplish certain things, and then we go and accomplish it. It has taken me four years to prove people wrong.

During my senior year of high school, most of my classmates were getting ready to apply for college. In my high school, we had a program that will help us apply to colleges, do financial aid, and help create a letter for some college applications that need it. Everyone who wanted to apply to college would have to go through that program. In theory, this program seems very successful, but in reality, it wasn’t. Most of my Latinx and black friends and I were told that we could apply to specific colleges, but it would just be a waste of our time because we wouldn’t get in. We were told that our only choices would most likely end up being a college with an extremely high acceptance rate or a community college.

Through the year, we noticed that the only people who were encouraged to apply to colleges they wanted and get recommendation letters for college from the guidance counselors in the program were either white or people who the guidance counselor favored. We decided to apply regardless of what the guidance counselors were saying. By the end of the year, all of us had gotten into colleges that we wanted to, and we were proud of getting into.

College sends us to different parts of the United States, so I haven’t kept in contact with the people from high school. I mostly just know about their life from what I see on social media. Many of my Latinx friends graduate a semester or so earlier than me. Some of them graduate with honors. They have proof those guidance counselors wrong, who had told them that they wouldn’t be able to go to the college that they wanted. This year will mark the four-year mark since I applied to college, and I will be graduating from the college that I was told I wouldn’t be able to get into.

During college, I didn’t have an experience with my professor similar to what I did with my guidance counselor. Instead, I realize that Latinx peers had gone through the same thing that my friends from high school and I had gone through. Our main goal was not just to graduate but also to show that just because we are Latinx, it doesn’t mean we can’t accomplish certain things. We would push each other and help each other not because we need to, but because we have opposing forces telling us we can’t. There are probably countless moments happening to people in our community. This leads to people not believing in us because they are trained to accomplish certain things. We have to work twice as hard than our white peers to prove that we are worth the same as them, and we should be valued the same as them.

[victor1463]

Helping each other and our language barrier.

The Latinx community has always needed to depend on each other to succeed in daily activities. Many immigrants will not get help from people outside the Latinx community because of a language barrier or because some people are just not willing to help someone because of how they look. This is what brings our communities together and lets us thrive.

Growing up, my mom and I lived in a predominantly Latinx neighborhood. My mom will have difficulty doing things because English was not her first language. I remember growing up, and my mom will have to go to certain people and ask for help because some will say she didn’t understand what she was saying. Later on in life, she would always tell me to help people out, especially if they were Latinx that didn’t or barely spoke English. Just because we don’t know someone doesn’t mean we can’t give them a minute of our day to translate or provide them with direction in the common language that we have.

As a teenager, I would help people, especially if they talk Spanish and struggle with English. One of the most impactful events was when I helped this lady who wanted to get a sandwich but was also lost. I had gone into a corner store to get a sandwich, and this lady was there trying to tell the guy what she wanted, but the guy didn’t understand her. I went to help her out, and she was grateful. People had come into the store, but no one stepped in to help her. While we wait for her and my sandwich, she mentions that she needs help getting directions because she had taken the train with her son, who had left off to work, but she didn’t know how to take the train back home. She told me the stop, and I told her I would guide her since I was taking the train that way anyways. As soon as the sandwich was ready, she mentioned she would pay for mine because of how much help I was. I ended up helping her with how much to pay because she didn’t understand the coin system. We took the train, and I told her when to get off, and she said thank you again. This later made me see more of what my mom must have experienced when I was a kid.

As an adult who works, I’ve had to deal with more situations where I needed to help people out who are struggling with English, and their main language is Spanish. Where I work, many immigrants and tourists come, and I end up talking to them in Spanish. Many of them are grateful that they finally found someone who can help them and not have to struggle. I think helping each other out is not just something we the Latinx do just to do. We help each other out so people can progress, and they can eventually help the next person out. Coming from a similar struggle, we understand how it feels to be put in that position. The only thing we can do now is keep helping each other so more people in the Latinx community can spend less time struggling.

[victor1463]

Gentrification in Bushwick

Seeing a white person moving in a predominantly Black and Latinx can sometimes be a scary experience. Seeing multiple white people move in becomes a downhill for most people in the neighborhood. An excessive number of white people moving into a predominantly black and Latinx causes the neighborhood’s price to increase. Gentrification has caused many Latinx and immigrants to move away from a neighborhood that they have lived in for years because of the increased prices in rent, food, and general cost of living,

I used to hang out a lot with my friends in Bushwick while growing up. Through my middle school years and some of my high school years, I’ve had stopped hanging out with them as much because they have moved away from Bushwick. Bushwick had become one of the most gentrified neighborhoods in New York, and it still currently is. Some of our favorite stores and places to eat have closed down as well. I had seen some houses and stores be bought by real estate companies. These companies ended up destroying those places and creating condos. The condos were bought in areas in the neighborhood that were soon to be gentrified. The condos had ended up becoming vacant buildings because the Latinx people who were still in the community couldn’t afford to live there and were never popular with the people bringing the gentrification. The real estate company refused to reduce the condos’ prices because they want to make up for the money spent on building the condos.  

Some of the restaurants were bought by white people, which were turned into either very expensive coffee shops or bars. For the places that were still open that were family owned by Latinx people, their prices were forced to surge. They needed to raise the price to keep up with the rise in price for the store rent and to be able to compete with other stores which were also raising their prices due to similar reasons. As for supermarkets, the prices were also raised. Big companies saw the increase of income coming into the neighborhood, and they figured it was okay to raise the price.

The worst part of it all is that when gentrification comes, so does different types of discrimination. White people would call the police on Latinx people in the night for being loud or for anything that will slightly discomfort them. This happens once when hanging out with my friends during high school. My friends and I were hanging out a bit after dark like we used to do pretty occasionally on Friday afternoons. In these instances, we had been hanging out at the park, and we were getting ready to go home. On our way out of the park, the police approached us and started talking to us, asking us questions about what we were doing out so late even though it was 8 pm. Luckily for us, we were let go because my friend’s brother is a cop in the nearby precinct and after a phone call, we were let go. I can only imagine how many people have had similar situations happen to them, but weren't as lucky as we were.

People tend to think gentrification benefits the community, but it doesn’t. Gentrification only benefits the incoming party but destroys the people that were there in the first place. People are forced to move out due to the increased cost of living. Latinx mom and pop shops are forced to close and sell their store/restaurant because they can’t afford the rent on their business and are failing to compete with the new stores opening. Lastly, they bring in discrimination towards the people living there from the police and the incoming white people, causing the gentrification.  

[victor1463]

Before Night Falls

The tone of the writing is bleak at times. Reinaldo Arenas describes the struggles he experienced in the country during his childhood. There are sexual interactions that he had with people around him that could be considered sexual abuse. Arenas may not see it that way because it was normal to explore sexual desires with whoever or whatever was around in the countryside. The tone was ever-changing and depended on the stage of life that Arenas was in. When he was in the county, he felt in his element, but he was confused about his sexuality. Arenas tried to suppress his love for men; it created a hopeless tone for the writing. The way he speaks about the people who did not hide their sexuality is with admiration. He was impressed by those who accepted their feelings and did not hide for fear of persecution. When Arenas witnesses the support that others around him have for communist Cuba, there is a tone of fear. The political climate in Cuba is unstable, and no one is safe from Fidel Castor's control.

The atmosphere of the reading was unstable, and things were never what was expected. The sexual desire that Arenas felt was all over the place, and hiding his genuine desire for men was only making it harder for him. The political state went from one dictatorship to another. Fidel Castro took control under false pretenses, and this only creates a more fragile political state. When the people took to the streets, once they heard the truth about their leader's intention, they went along with it. They were indoctrinated into communism, and to object meant death. Arenas knew this, and it is why he pretended to show support for what happened. He was already in constant danger because he was gay, and showing his actual distrust for Fidel Castro would have put an even bigger target on his back. People were being prosecuted for their sexuality. “sweetness. Little by little, those enemies started to make headway, saying that María Teresa was a lesbian, an aristocrat, and a counterrevolutionary, and they finally managed to get her replaced” (Arenas, 72). She was accused and persecuted even though she was just rumored to be gay. Throughout the reading, I could only feel an anxiousness about what was going to happen next. The history of the book is well known, but the events that Arenas experienced were never predictable. There was danger around him, and he was close to getting outed because of the people around him. Arenas wanted to learn and improve his writing skills, and the people who were willing to help him were against Castro. His association with these people made him suspicious. Arenas is constantly on the brink of losing everything. His writing is starting to be recognized but has yet to make the impact that he wants.

While reading this, I was shocked, and at one point, I had to put the book down. I could not handle the description of animal cruelty that Arenas had written about. Arenas mentions witnessing that  “Sheep would be hung by their legs to have their throats slit, and after the blood had been drawn, while they were still half alive, they would be cut into pieces” (Arenas 20). There were so much cruelty and pain around people and animals. It made me think about what the people in the town had experienced and what cruelty they do to each other. Arenas mentions, “We had returned to the times of Nero, the times when the masses rejoiced in watching how a human being was being condemned to death or murder before their eyes” (Arena, 59). People enjoyed the fact that they could get someone killed if they disagreed with Fidel Castro’s belief. Surprisingly, Arenas did not end up as a cruel person who would give up those around him in Castro's support. The university he attended had brainwashed everyone who attended, but he saw what was going on before public knowledge. Arenas even admitted that there were people in power who were openly gay but were not arrested because they supported communist Cuba. Arenas was educated and knew how to use his words to create a reaction. If he wanted to, he could have climbed the political ladder and loved whom he wanted, but he kept his viewpoint and saw the system's right and wrong.

The issues seen throughout the reading are endless. Arenas describes the executions of those who opposed Castro and the persecution that the gay community experienced. Cuba was struck by poverty, violence and people were using the system to get rid of people they did not like. Arenas depicted the unstable nature that existed within the citizens of Cuba. Whether it be people living in fear of being gay or having someone lie to get rid of them, Cuba's people were never truly safe. The trial system did not rely on evidence; if there was an accusation, it was enough for someone to be sent to jail or be executed. Arenas wrote the book not to highlight his experiences but everyone's experience. He does not only focus on himself, and he brings in everyone's beliefs and actions. In the “... decade of the 1960s, when the state assumed an ever more prominent role in policing sexual behavior and identities,”. (Lambe). The Cuban government tries to control all aspects of life. He writes to show how those around him helped him grow, but he also depicted their downfall because of communist Cuba. Arenas wanted to show how everyone under Castro's control was a victim who could not escape their captor. In the end, “the executions were thus for Fidel a measured attempt to ensure the survival of Cuba's revolution, as well as to propagate long-term political transformation. (Karl). Many people died during the revolution and suffered right after the revolution under Fidel Castro’s control.

In the end, the dissidence, homosexuality, and literature all correlate with the Cuban Revolution. The disagreement of homosexuality and censorship of literature played significant roles in the revolution. Many people died and were punished for their sexuality or even being accused of being homosexual. Arenas mention in the library chapter, “I decided the Library was no longer a place for me either. Any book that could be deemed to be “ideological diversionism” disappeared immediately. Of course, any book dealing in any way with sexual deviation also vanished”(Arenas, 73). Many things were being used to punish people if the government didn’t agree with them. This type of censorship limited the revolution and cost. Arenas was writing to spread his word and the truth about Cuba. He mentions that he had lost some of his work, and some disapproved of his writing because of its topics. “Arenas was also writing as an ‘outlaw’ since some of the episodes in which he had become involved fell within violation of sexual laws in Cuba.” (Ocasio). Arenas was becoming free through his writing. Still, in reality, he could not be seen in public without the fear of someone turning him into the government.

                                                       Works Cited

ARENAS, REINALDO. BEFORE NIGHT FALLS: a Memoir. PENGUIN Books, 2020.

Karl, Robert A. “Reading the Cuban Revolution from Bogotá, 1957–62.” Cold War History, vol. 16, no. 4, 2016, pp. 337–358., doi:10.1080/14682745.2016.1218848.

Lambe, Jennifer L. “Historicizing Sexuality in the Cuban Revolution.” Radical History Review, vol. 2020, no. 136, 2020, pp. 217–232., doi:10.1215/01636545-7857392.

Ocasio, Rafael. “Arenas, Reinaldo (1943-1990), Novelist and Political Activist.” American National Biography Online, 2000, doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.1602886.

[victor1463]

Police discrimination towards Latinx

I went to different high schools during my freshman and sophomore years.  My first high school was filled with mostly black and Latinx people. The neighborhood was predominantly black, and it was a Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn. The police were always around our school, even though nothing ever really happened. As soon as school would finish, the police would watch our every single move. This didn’t make me feel very comfortable with being in the school. It made me feel like they expected us to do something wrong just because of how we looked. These feelings eventually led me to transfer to my second high school.

In my second high school, we didn’t have the police around like my first high school. It was a high school in the city a couple of blocks away from Union Square. Sometimes they would come around if something happened in the school or randomly patrolling the area. This made me feel better because it didn’t feel like I was being watched or targeted. This feeling eventually changed. I had multiple encounters around the school. It made me change my perspective on cops and the racist system in the US.

Around the summer of my junior year of high school. I had gone to the doctor early in the morning, which caused me to be late for school. On my way to school, I had encountered a friend who was a tall Polish kid. We rode the train together until we both reached the stop where the school was. As soon as we got out of the station, we encountered a patrol unit. They quickly rang their sirens and stopped us. As they got out, to my surprise, they had started asking me all the questions and not my friend. After answering all their questions and telling them I had come from the doctor and was making my way to the school down the block, they asked for my ID. I gave it to them which then they proceeded to run my ID. After it came back clear, my friend and I made our way to school. We were being watched the whole time. My friend was never asked any question throughout the whole interaction, and they didn’t even ask for his ID.

Later into that week, I heard from other friends that there had been police doing stop-and-frisk in the main entrance of the train station that was in Union Square. That entrencance was the one that my group and friends and I would always take to go home. I had avoided that entrance to avoid the police because of the situation that had happened earlier in the week. The following week I had fully forgotten about it, and I decided to hang out with my friends in Union Square.

Most of my friend groups were Latinx, except for this guy and girl who were white. After a couple of hours of hanging out, we decide to go home, and like usual, we would take the main entrance of Union Square. As we made our way fully down the stairs, we saw the cops and noticed their table, which meant they were frisking people. I remember someone joking that we were going to get frisked. As soon as we walked to the turnstile to go swipe in, the whole group, except for two, got stopped. We got frisked, and after a couple of minutes, the cops let us go. The only two people who didn’t get stopped were my two white friends in the group. I was mad that this was the second time cops had targeted me over my friends because of our skin color.  

It is hard for people in the Latinx community to continue their education, work, and life if they are constantly being seen as always doing something wrong by the police from a young age.

[victor1463]

Latinx in Film

I’ve always been interested in film, but I started taking it a bit more seriously at the beginning of my college years. I was only really aware of less than a handful of filmmakers that were Latinx. It didn’t feel like there was a place that was easy for someone like me to break into.

In the Spring semester of 2019, I was assigned to film one short film a week for five weeks. My group consists of three Latinos and two Latina filmmakers. As we film our short films and present them, they get complimented by our peers. These moments became very memorable because it was the very few moments where a bunch of us from Latin American countries had a chance to break into the film industry. After the last presentation, most of our white peers had mentioned that they had only worked four to five hours to make their films. On the other hand, we had worked 10+ hours per film, and It made me realize that even though we could break into the film industry, we had to work two times harder than our peers to be just as good as them.

The following semester until now, my last semester of college, I worked on numerous films for school and outside of school. In all the film sets, they had all had Latinx. We have all talked about how we have had to work two times hard to get to the same level as our white peers. We have also built a network where we give each other opportunities to work on each other's sets to build things from our reels and make more connections to break into the industry. Most importantly, it now feels like I can work in the film industry with enough hard work.