I come from a place known as Buford Highway, and the high school I attended was Cross Keys
High School. Let me just tell you, these two places are completely different from Wooster. I saw faces everyday that looked like mine; I shared a similar culture with others that somehow resembled mine, and I never questioned my identity as a Latino in the United States because I didn’t have to. Yes, I know Wooster will never look like that, but that does not mean I cannot dream that it should.
I left my high school knowing Wooster would be different, but I felt solace thinking there was a united Latinx community who would be here as well, but I never found it. I found cliques and pockets in that group that didn’t come together to form one united front. I found people who I could relate with and others who questioned whether I was Latinx enough. This community is broken. Yes, we have Proyecto Latino to bring us together, but other than that, we’re not doing enough to represent ourselves any further on this campus. ¡Ponganse las pilas!
I acknowledge that we are putting on events, we are attending meetings, and successfully working to build Proyecto even further, but we can also work harder to build a better community for one another as we go day by day. Dejemos el chisme. dejamos esa huevonada en la casa, y así vamos a dejar una comunidad más fuerte para los que vengan después de nosotros. Apoyen a sus hermanos y hermanas aquí, dejense de pelear sobre quién hace los mejores tamales, y escuchense cuando tengamos problemas. We often shut down and don’t listen to each other when we have a problem, we often challenge the person and not the idea and we also expect others to do our work for us.
These are just some things we can improve. I understand being a Latinx at Wooster is difficult. I know it is hard being away from home, and I know that transitioning from traditional Latin home-cooked meals to Lowry is also hard, but those are some reasons we should work even harder to create a support system that is united. Let’s share our experiences and talk about our struggles. Share the diversity among us. Share a warm champurrado y unas conchitas.
People always tell me that I should be grateful to be here and stop complaining. I’m tired of hearing that, and I know several others have heard that as well. We can critique this school if it doesn’t cater to our needs, we can critique Proyecto if it isn’t doing more, we can critique ourselves if we also are not contributing enough as well and we should be holding ourselves to the highest standards. These small changes can create an immense impact at this college and in our lives.
If we don’t advocate and demand what we need, nothing is going to change. Let’s talk about what we need. Let’s start an open dialogue on how we can be better. We can start there and build. We’re broken, but we can work to build ourselves up again. Let’s set bigger goals and work with each other to achieve them. We are all different, but our culture brings us together more than anything else. Let’s celebrate it.
Alberto Peralta, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at APeralta20@wooster.edu.