About the Author

I was born in Missouri to an Irish-American mother and Colombian father. When I was 5 years old, we moved to a city north of Dallas, where I lived until going off to Bowdoin College in the fall of 2012. Throughout my childhood and adolescents I grew up negotiating my identity in a fairly diverse setting with the support of my parents who raised me in a bilingual household and ensured I always had access to culturally relevant materials. However, it wasn’t until my junior year in high school that I read something in school that reflected my biracial background. To this day that poem, Gustavo Pérez Firmat’s “Bilingual Blues” is a work I return to fondly¹⁹:

Soy un ajiaco de contradicciones.
I have mixed feelings about everything.
Name your tema, I’ll hedge;
name your cerca, I’ll straddle it
like a cubano.

I have mixed feelings about everything.
Soy un ajiaco de contradicciones.
Vexed, hexed, complexed,
hyphenated, oxygenated, illegally alienated,
psycho soy, cantando voy:
You say tomato,
I say tu madre;
You say potato,
I say Pototo.
Let’s call the hole
un hueco, the thing
a cosa, and if the cosa goes into the hueco,
consider yourself en casa,
consider yourself part of the family.

Soy un ajiaco de contradicciones,
un puré de impurezas:
a little square from Rubik’s Cuba
que nadie nunca acoplará.
(Cha-cha-chá.)

The first time I read this poem in class was simultaneously beautiful and isolating: while at last I connected with a work of literature that reflected my biracial identity, it was difficult to be the only student in the class who truly understood the code-switching,the  depth behind the spanish phrases, and puns that peppered the poem. Although, being the only one who knew those things made me feel special, like I had a secret key that could unlock realms of understanding my peers didn’t have access to. This experience, coupled reading Junot Diaz’s The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao my senior year of high school, peaked my interest about the importance of cultural relevance in curriculum. 

On Grassroots Organizing

Throughout this process I’ve learned a few key things about Grassroots organizing. What has struck me the most is that individuals who feel they have a meaningful stake in the issue are more likely to organize around the issue than people who don’t. In the case of cultural relevance in school curricula, the predominate students and stakeholders at the forefront where those whose stories were being represented in the ethnic studies or culturally relevant courses. This is problematic because the movement towards culturally relevant curriculum and mandated education in ethnic or cultural studies, is currently isolated to areas with predominantly Latino/a students and families. While studies suggest that ethnic studies and culturally relevant curriculum ultimately benefits all students, the majority of those advocating for it are students of color. This gives me pause in thinking about the inclusiveness of the movement and the longevity and sustainability of this activism in other locations with different demographics.

It is interesting to see the difference between groups that are proactive and reactive with regard to their activism. For instance, the tactics and strategies used by groups in California that do not have to fight an ethnic studies ban, are very different from groups in Arizona that are having to react to legislation that stripped programs away that were already in place. The former seems more adept at working with the system and generating knowledge and urgency around ethnic studies, whereas the later has taken to legal recourse and more readily student protests and walk-outs.

On Urban Education

One of the greatest takeaways I have from the project is the knowledge of the power that lies within culturally relevant curriculum and culturally responsive teaching. Since students in urban schools are majority non-White and come from a  wide variety of cultures and backgrounds, I feel greater use of culturally relevant curriculum would better serve these students and help them feel a greater sense of connectedness and belonging in schools. Further, mandating teachers to incorporate lessons that reflect students cultures will also allow for teacher education about culturally differences and grant space for teachers to check their racial biases or prejudices. Through frequent and appropriate use of inclusive curriculum, students from the margins of urban schools can be brought into the dominant discourse, rather than being left out. However, I believe changes will be difficult to engender, given that many legislators and school board members, such as those in Arizona and some in Texas, do not believe in the potential culturally relevant curricula carries with it. In fact, some education stakeholders may be afraid to change the dominant discourse to one that reflects a more balanced narrative of American History and the American experience in the United States for fear of disrupting the status quo, engendering feelings of discontent, or creating too much allegiance to one’s ethnic or racial group. Ironically, it is these thoughts that reaffirm how essential it is to have EVERY student in public education exposed to these narratives and experiences. Diverse curricula will help marginalized students feel connect and help students who already feel connected to school develop a critical and empathetic lens through which to see the world.