This Latine* Heritage Month, Salvador Ramirez, DSST Senior Manager Of Equity, Inclusion, Strategy And Implementation, had the opportunity to sit down with one of our network leaders, Margarita Colindres, to ask her questions about her Latine identity and the work she is doing that primarily services our Latine communities across the DSST network as the Senior Manager of Multilingual Education. Learning more about her identity as an immigrant to the United States from Guatemala helps us understand the current challenges and opportunities that DSST faces as we work to serve our newly arrived students from across Latin American and Caribbean countries.
Salvador: It is Latine Heritage Month, a celebration of the Latine identity and contributions that our people have made, are making and will continue to make to our country. What does the Latine identity mean to you?
Margarita: I've always had mixed feelings about Latine Heritage Month because, to me, I'm Latine all year round. I'm glad that educators take the time to honor and think about Hispanic heritage during this time, but I also wish that it was something that was in the minds of people all the time. This month gives us a great opportunity to highlight all of the beauty and the gifts in the wisdom that our students and families bring into our buildings during that month and make an effort to celebrate it. And I also think that it needs to happen all year round.
As I think about my roots, my heritage, and the love that I have for my Guatemalan identity, I realize that it is the glue that holds me together as a human. I remember when growing up, my grandmother used to say, “You really have to know where you're coming from in order for you to be able to know where you're headed.” So my roots, my personal experiences, and the history of Guatemala within Latin American history are very important to me. I always draw from it in order for me to be able to push forward. I've always had this sense of pride because I come from a country that has a very rich culture but is often only seen for its political challenges. It's often seen as a third-world country, and I don't even like using that term because my country is so important to me, and it has helped shape who I am.
Salvador: Your identity as a Guatemalan immigrant is important to you. What challenge have you faced in your journey that you wish more people understood?
Margarita: I think the biggest challenges I have faced are assimilation and acculturation processes and how that has impacted my professional and personal perspectives.
When I first moved into the United States I had a very good sense of who I was because of my upbringing with my grandmother and my mother. They took a lot of time teaching me my history and the importance of my family within my community. Then, when I came into this country, everywhere you go, you hear subliminal messages about what an immigrant is. And I was so young when I first moved into this country that I was heavily affected by all the negative stereotypes that are created around Latine people. I felt forced to assimilate and/or acculturate to be able to survive.
Assimilation and acculturation for me meant giving up something of myself. I have to exchange or give up something that I strongly believe in, that is, a part of me, in order for me to be able to adapt or adapt and acculturate to whatever community that I find myself in. And often it's at the sacrifice of my own identities that I've created over time that are very close to my culture and my language. I have always had to speak English in education and professional environments. English has never been my language of default, and yet I have to acculturate to that environment and operate within it, with a language that my brain automatically sees as a second choice. I have to constantly flex willingly because I need to survive and I need to function in a monolingual environment, but it is always at the expense of my emotional safety or something else.
In my last few years the thing that I struggle with the most is my own internalized oppression. Understanding how fighting these assimilation processes have affected me, spiritually and physically. So I am always trying to inform people and raise awareness that the natives of Guatemala have a very unique culture and complex history. I would like for people to be better informed about the diversity that lives within Latin America and the beauty that comes with it.
Salvador: Although there are a lot of challenges that one faces as an immigrant, the immigrant experience isn’t only one of challenges. There is a lot of beauty that comes with being an immigrant. What is something beautiful about your journey that you wish more people knew about?
Margarita: My family, to me, is the most beautiful thing in my life and the connections and relationships that I've been able to build were created because we had to rely on each other so much. I would talk to my mother and grandmother, who would remind me that feeling and being different is okay. They helped me understand that my identity as an immigrant doesn’t have to be threatening or scary. But rather embrace that identity because my experience as an immigrant brings a different and important perspective into spaces. It can be very beautiful. If you're given an opportunity to express your opinion, people can learn from that experience.
Salvador: I feel like I always learn something from you. So, thank you. I want us to bridge your experience and knowledge to thinking about the DSST context. DSST schools, like many other schools across the Denver Metro area, are now schools for newly arrived students from countries across Latin America and the Caribbean. What does this mean for DSST and our mission of “eliminating educational inequity and preparing all students for success in college and the 21st century”?
Margarita: DSST has an amazing opportunity to create a welcoming experience for our students. Schools are the first place of contact for many of these families. We have such a great responsibility and the opportunity for that experience to be honoring and welcoming by helping them navigate everything else. To help minimize or mitigate that culture shock that comes with moving into a new space, not knowing the language or culture but knowing that going to school can be a safe and welcoming space.
It's about creating wraparound systems and services for all students to truly feel safe and welcomed into our spaces. And this responsibility needs to be shared. ELD teachers are often labeled as the people who are going to take care of all of these things. But I think we need to take a community mindset approach where we are all responsible for the well-being of our students and their families. I know that our schools can’t provide everything our families need, but we should be able to have the necessary information so that we can connect families with resources in our communities so their needs are being met.
We need to center an asset-based approach and be able to highlight the knowledge that our students bring into the building. We have to shift our understanding of “we are here to teach them something new.” No, we're here to learn from each other. It is also important to understand how prioritizing culturally sustainable practices works for everyone in the building, but especially our new-to-country arrivals. This can look like allowing our students to drive how they can perform best within that community while utilizing their linguistic repertoire so they don't feel like they're sacrificing a part of themselves or how they think just to fit in. For example, allowing them to trans language and move between Spanish and English while reminding them that being bilingual is a superpower.
We need to become better informed and be willing to step outside of our comfort zones. We need to give up some of that power that exists within our traditional educational structures, which are designed to promote a monocultural and English monolingual perspective of teaching and learning. When we go into a school, there is a power structure that's established. So, if we are able to start questioning whether the power structure serves our purpose of dismantling oppressive linguistic, historical, and cultural educational systems for us to collectively build a community of multilingual and immigrant learners within that space, then yes, it is possible. If we are willing to give up some of that vertical power in exchange for truly building that sense of diverse community within our learning spaces.
Salvador: As our schools are learning and working to get things right for these students, what is one thing we can start doing right away that will help our newly arrived students feel a sense of belonging?
Margarita: We need to stop seeing the fact that they are at the beginning stages of learning English as a deficit. Rather than seeing them as a challenge, see them as an opportunity for us to improve our educational system. To make space for them in our communities. How we talk about our students matters. And we need to be able to see the light that they bring.
Our schools can take ownership of the multiple identities that are coming into our spaces by bringing them to life in our schools. I would love to see our walls speak different languages. Are we creating multilingual signs in the school so it’s easier for them to understand directions like something as simple as finding the bathroom? Or how are we taking the time to welcome them into the building and helping them truly understand how our building works.
This way our students don’t feel like they are strangers in our schools. And so they know that we are all here to support them in their journey, letting them know, “It’s going to be okay.”
*Latine is used as a gender inclusive identifier. We acknowledge that language is complicated and identities are not a monolith and are intersectional and complex. The Latine communities are diverse and expansive and everyone has a right to identify with language that captures who they are. No matter how you identify, you are welcome at DSST.
