Hello class of 2019
I come here today to
not only speak about my
story but to speak on our
journey together and val-
idate it.
Although each of our
journeys have been dif-
ferent, we all fought with
the same resiliency.
We
have
conquered
so much and sitting here
proves that whether it
was going through tough
classes, long nights, or
lots of cramming. We got
through it.
We even thought our
summer experience with
ALMA, CSP, or Bridge
was going to be our col-
lege experience, but we
quickly came to find out
it wasn’t.
We sat in classes with
people who did not look
or talk like us.
We engaged in difficult
conversations where we
were tokenized
We experienced exclu-
sion from this university,
and with little knowledge
on how to navigate it.
And,
let’s
not
talk
about the food
But, we rose together
to create spaces for our
community, to support
one another.
Through these spaces
we danced, laughed, and
created many memories
together.
And most importantly
it gave everyone a home
away from home
Because of your work,
your efforts, and your
time future Latinx stu-
dents will no longer feel
alone.
You have gained the
skills needed to make a
change in your own pro-
fessional careers.
In
this
moment,
I
would like for you all to
imagine in your head of
who you want to become
whether it is being an
activist, a politician, or
teacher (2 seconds) now
imagine yourself in that
position. I am standing
here today to tell you, you
can be that person and if
you continue to live your
life with the same resil-
iency you fought to create
spaces for our commu-
nity and achieve this
degree you can achieve
that image.
As you go into your
professional careers, the
statistics will always be
against you. But, those
statistics
don’t
know
what is en tu corazon
(points at heart). In here
lies your passion, deter-
mination,
and
drive.
And most importantly
you have the people here
in this room to support
you on your next jour-
ney. Both combined your
unstoppable.
I didn’t want to make
this speech about me
because I always strived
throughout
my
work
with La Casa and Latini-
dad Magazine to provide
a voice to the voiceless
pero mi familia esta aqui
y tengo que ablar de mi
un ponquito. Les quiero
dicer a mis padres que
sin ellos no estaria aqui.
Ellos han trabajado en
fabricas desde que cru-
zaron la frontera mas
de 20 anos y con mucho
amor y esfuerzo me saca-
ron adelante.
I am the girl from Her-
mosa community on the
west side of Chicago, first
generation Latina who
made it. Y sin mi familia
no estuviera aqui con
ustedes. So quiero dicer-
les muchas gracias y los
amos mucho.
I know many of you
feel the same about your
families. So, let’s give
them a huge applause
At the end of this cer-
emony, I want you all to
give them a huge hug
I want to reiterate how
resilient our community
and each one of you are
And make you under-
stand how powerful your
voice and actions are in
creating change
The world is not ready
for you but it needs you
You are the leaders of
our generation and have
paved the way for future
generations.
Always go with your
head held up high and
take on the world.
Thank you
9
Thursday May 9, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com MICHIGAN IN COLOR
How ‘Old Town Road’ showed
unity in the Black community
Every community has
its lost of taboo topics.
Some in the black commu-
nity include mental health
(sadly) and therapy. But
one that is not often real-
ized is country music. It’s
ok if someone doesn’t like
the stereotypical things
like rap music or Kool-aid.
But don’t let anyone find
out that you liked Taylor
Swift in her “You Belong
With Me” days and you
might get your revoked.
Even
in
a
community
where they accomplish-
ments of each one is widely
celebrated, Darius Rucker,
who won multiple Gram-
mys in the country catego-
ry got no such praise. This
trend change when the
remix to the country song
“Old Town Road” by black
country artist Lil Nas X
came out.
The popularity of this
song didn’t at first come
from the song itself, but
from the story behind it.
When the original version
of the song came out about
a year ago, it reached #1 on
the country charts. How-
ever, not too long after, it
was taken down due to the
fact that it was too “urban.”
This was met with the
anger of many, especially
since “urban” is usually
the polite way of saying
“black.” So when the remix
featuring Billy Ray Cyrus
came out, many people
decided to support it for
the culture.
Even though this
is how the popularity of
Old Town Road started,
this country song with
a hip-hop beat quickly
caught on in its own right.
The fact that the song has
a beat that is more similar
to more mainstream songs
is what reeled many peo-
ple in. And for those who
watched Hannah Montana
growing up, the fact that
Billy Ray Cyrus was on a
verse added a bonus ele-
ment of nostalgia. Since the
remix came on, I’ve seen
multiple people advertise
it on their Snapchat, I’ve
had people that I’m hang-
ing out with sing it while
we’re at dinner, and I even
heard it at a fraternity
probate.
Though
there
are many that are still
just listening to the song
for support, it still signals
a shift in how we support
those in our community
that don’t fit exactly into
this preconceived notion
of blackness.
Simply
listen-
ing to a song shows the
amount of solidarity that
this community can hold.
We are willing to put aside
our generalizations about
who we’re supposed to be,
as well as our community
taboos in order to uplift
one our people that was
wronged.
No
community
is perfect, and this one is
no
exception.
However,
it is still a beautiful thing
knowing that we can pull
together when needed.
PHOTO COURTESY OF ALEXANDRIA POMPEI
My commencement speech
‘Us’: Reflecting on privilege
dynamics in the US
On March 22, 2019, the
highly anticipated movie
“Us” directed by Jordan
Peele was released. This
movie was released with
the intention and expecta-
tion of solely being a horror
movie. This was a shocker
to many, after Peele’s pre-
vious movie “Get Out”
reflected on many racial
tensions in the United
States. Although “Us” had
the intention of just being
a horror movie, it turns
out this was not the case.
Many
were
confused,
including me, about what
happened in the movie.
However, after doing some
research,
and
watching
many
analytical
videos
on YouTube, I found that
these easter eggs meant
much more than what
appeared to the eye.
Immediately
after
watching the movie, I was
confused. I got the main
plot of the story, the world
of the shadows or the “teth-
ered” came back to kill
and take over the humans
above ground. However,
there were many easter
eggs that I noticed, and
knew were important, but
did not know what exactly
they meant. Everyone had
a conspiracy theory after
the movie, but it still didn’t
make much sense to me
and not all of my questions
were answered. Finally, I
came across a video put
out by Insider that objec-
tively
explained
these
easter eggs, and exposed
the underlying theme of
the movie ... privilege.
Now, to dive into the
theme of privilege, we can
do some character evalu-
ations,
beginning
with
the tethered vs the “regu-
lar” people. The people/
families represented in
the movie were those of
upper
middle/high-class
people. Both families were
traveling on vacation, had
summer homes, and gen-
erally ideal family and
home lives.
Read more at
MichiganDaily.com
JACKY DELGADO
MiC Contributor
KAYLA THOMAS
MiC Blogger
NADIA DAVIS
MiC Blogger