By Victoria Durgin, Digital Media Editor
Several Susquehanna students and professors discussed their experiences with and understanding their Latinx identities on Oct. 8 in the Degenstein meeting rooms.
Sophomores Stephanie Reyes Munoz and Micaela Pozo Castro and junior Israel Collazo-Luciano spoke about their experiences both as students and as young immigrants.
Castro immigrated to the United States from Peru from five years ago, and Reyes Munoz and Collazo-Luciano immigrated around the age of eight years old.
“When I was in school it was just a different world,” Collazo-Luciano said about the difference between attending school and living with his Puerto Rican family.
Reyes Munoz discussed the difficulties she faces with her mother not fully understanding what college is what her major is.
“She knows I’m doing something with my life, but she doesn’t really know exactly what,” Reyes Munoz said.
Three professors also joined the students in discussing their Latinx identities.
Assistant professor of philosophy Theresa Lopez, assistant professor of chemistry Elizabeth Valentin and visiting assistant professor of education Hilario Lomeli all spoke about how they have navigated their personal and professional lives.
Valentin and Lopez both talked about living in New York as Puerto Ricans.
“New York is very Puerto Rican friendly,” Valentin said as she recalled the experience of moving from Puerto Rico to the United States for a post-doctoral opportunity at New York University.
Lopez described herself as a “third-generation Puerto Rican” and also a proud “New Yorkican.”
Lomeli told everyone in attendance about his experience with identity in the form of a short story. He discussed his past hatred of his Mexican heritage and his desire to be white. “I became someone who desperately wanted to be, in every sense of the word, white,” Lomeli said.
The panelists also spoke about the difficulties they have had with coming to terms with understanding their own identities. “It was hard to understand what it was to be Puerto Rican, but now as a junior here I can say I understand myself,” Collazo-Luciano said.
He also said meeting other Latinx students on campus and holding conversations with them helped to shape his understanding.
Reyes Munoz said she often struggles with feeling excluded until she meets other students who can understand her background and experience with her identity.
For Pozo Castro, being around so many people who are not Latinx is still something she has to adjust to.
Lopez said she wants to contribute her own perspective about her identity and how that identity has shaped her experiences whenever she can. The discussion also included a question and answer session during which the audience could engage with the panelists.
One question sparked a discussion about how to avoid being fetishized by individuals based on a perceived notion of diversity.
“As a racialized subject you will definitely be fetishized,” Lomeli said.
Reyes Munoz said she tries to focus people on her personality and accomplishments rather than her race or skin color. The panelists also took questions about affirmative action policies, how individuals come to an understanding of their own identity and using identities to their advantage in the job market.
The last point discussed concerned how others could offer support and change the systemic issues members of the Latinx community often face. “Find something you are passionate about,” Valentin said.
Collazo-Luciano also suggested to focus on local issues and their solutions instead of starting with national issues.
“Maybe, hopefully, the small steps will lead to bigger changes,” Collazo-Luciano said.
