Willow Rodriguez
Arts & Entertainment Editor
I’m disappointed and deeply worried. A few days after the Culture Show, I was scrolling through Instagram, excited to see photos of my friends and fellow performers. I smiled seeing groups like Chasing International Dance Team and South Asia Committee featured, but something was missing.
Where was Latinas Unidas?
Call me biased since I opened for them, but I was confused as I swiped through all the photos. Chasing appeared twice, as did African Student Union. I checked previous Culture Show posts on the College’s official account and Latinas Unidas had always been featured before. So, what happened this time?
Maybe, as some might assume, the campus photographer (Matt Dilyard, bless him) just didn’t get good photos of the group. That’s possible. But even that assumption points to a larger problem: the quiet erasure of Latino identities and struggles. This isn’t just about one Instagram post; it reflects a pattern that extends far beyond campus.
ICE raids are happening in nearby cities and even in my hometown of Fremont, Ohio, where my friends and family have had to hide. A family member of mine who works for an organization that supports vulnerable individuals in the area recently told me their organization had to take extra safety precautions within their support systems. Having that fear hit home is terrifying.
What makes it worse are the online reactions. Alongside real footage of arrests and brutality, I’ve seen memes mocking immigrant suffering. One video from the Department of Homeland Security’s official account even compared arresting undocumented immigrants to catching Pokémon with the phrase “gotta catch ’em all.” Once, some guy showed it to me expecting me to laugh. Instead, I felt sick to my stomach and had to resist the urge to punch him in the face.
People who’ve never faced the threat of deportation can’t understand how something as small as a missing photo can feel enormous. If I tell those same people that my grandmother recently looked my sister and I straight in the face and begged us to change our last name for our safety, they’d never understand. That fear doesn’t fade.
To those running the College’s social media: please think carefully about what you choose to share — and what you leave out. The members of Latinas Unidas worked hard on their performance. They deserve the same recognition as every other group, especially during International Education Week. Representation matters. Don’t erase it.