The borders of the United States are beginning to be redefined to include immigrants, said Rubén MartÃnez, keynote speaker for the Latino History Month Convocation, co-sponsored by The Herald.
MartÃnez, an Emmy Award-winning journalist, poet and performer who grew up in Los Angeles, Calif., gave a talk entitled "The New Americas: How Migrants Have Changed the U.S.," which focused on divisions in the United States and the changing definitions of individual and societal identity.
It's difficult for Latinos to establish an identity "in this topsy-turvy country we live in," MartÃnez said. "It's hard to find a place to plant your feet, to feel one, to feel whole."
He spoke about his own struggle to find an identity, beginning with growing up in California, which "was a very WASPy environment when I was growing up," MartÃnez said. "I tried to do as the Romans, or in this case, the California WASPs." He learned to speak English with no accent and to mispronounce his name in order to Americanize it.
In later parts of his life, MartÃnez said he found himself part of a movement of cultural nationalism in Los Angeles, mentored by a "founding generation of Chicano artists that was coming into its own." He also traveled to El Salvador in the midst of that country's civil war.
"The lesson I learned in El Salvador was quite different than the lesson I learned in L.A.," MartÃnez said. "In L.A. ... I learned about color. In El Salvador I learned about class."
MartÃnez cited both of these experiences as crucial to his understanding of being Latino. "When you put divisions of class alongside divisions of race, or the color of your skin, you come to a much better understanding about the way the world really works and what the struggle is all about," he said.
The borders between cultures are blending, MartÃnez said. He mentioned the example of Tijuana, Mexico, where white American, Latino and African American cultures are inextricably mixed. "Tijuana is a cultural hall of mirrors, where each door you walk through leads to a different world," he said.
He called the border between the United States and Mexico more of "a sieve" than a wall, which the United States is attempting to make it. "Influences are being thrown in all directions," he said.
It is this mixture of cultures, he said, that makes many Americans uncomfortable. "It's a little too much for the yuppie couple ... to listen to the same music their nanny listens to." He discussed proposed U.S. legislation that would decrease the number of immigrants from Latin American countries to be allowed into the United States, saying, "What they're talking about is not just an economic thing, but a cultural thing."
MartÃnez chalked up Americans' discomfort with immigrants to an inability to reconcile "a virulent hatred of the other" with "the welcome embrace" proclaimed by the Statue of Liberty. He called it the "great battle in the American soul."
He cited the current debate over gay marriage as another example of fear of the other, saying, "What is it that makes us lash out at someone for the color of their skin, for the way they speak English, for the way they express their love? That is the question Americans have to be responsible to answer."
He said racial issues in this country are not only two-sided, as some seem to think they are. "You're redefining what color is in this country," he said to the audience. "Latinos are in between. They're not black or white, they're in between."
Spreading the message is the most important thing, said MartÃnez, even to those who may not agree. "Ultimately, we're going to have to change some minds." He concluded by saying, "Let us get the message out that the immigrant is not the other but is the self of this nation."
MartÃnez's speech was preceded by student speakers Frinny Polanco '07 as the freshman speaker and Luis Campillo '04 as the Senior Reflections speaker. Armando GarcÃa '06 also read a poem.
Polanco, who was born in the Dominican Republic and then moved to Boston, emphasized her achievements in the face of doubt. Although she is "overjoyed" to be part of the Brown community, she said she is also disappointed with the decrease in the number of Latino students at Brown in the past several years.
"It's important to be surrounded by Latino people," she said, saying that it was hard to be the only Latino in her dorm.
Campillo's speech stressed community and helping one's neighbors, as well as the importance of education. "As we pursue our dreams ... we must remember our obligation and our need to give back to our community," he said.
He also emphasized the disparity between the education levels of Latinos in the United States, calling it the most important thing to work on. "As young Latinos, we are not only pulling our own weight but also the weight of those who have helped us get where we are," he said.
This year's Latino History Month, themed "Challenging the Future: Nuevas Visiones, Novas Historias," is intended to "help Latinos come together as a community, not to be separated between Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and South Americans," Latino History Month Co-Programmer Maritza Santibáñez '06 told The Herald.
