“The Product of Migrants..."

Recently, I talked to my grandma about an important decision. “𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.” She says, then she questions:⁣ ⁣ “𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥?” ⁣ ⁣ “𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥?” ⁣ ⁣ “𝘈𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺? 𝘔𝘪𝘫𝘢, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬.”⁣ ⁣ I answer her and we talk about what I feel and think. I tell her “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘦𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴, 𝘮𝘺 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘖𝘙𝘒. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵!”⁣ ⁣ My sweet grandmother continues to tell me that she didn’t finish the 6th grade. She was Micah’s age when her family traveled to Washington and the northern states to pick sugar beets, cherries, and more. Her little brother was 6.

“𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘱𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?” I ask. “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺.” She responds without skipping a beat. ⁣ ⁣ At 14, my Nana met Leon Gonzalez and eventually they were among the First Hispanics to settle in LaBelle. They remained in agriculture and eventually realized their American Dream. Not before my mother gave birth to me, though. In fact, my dear mother worked in the orange groves until she was 5 months pregnant with me. ⁣ ⁣ As, she’s telling me this my decision is clear. 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗽𝗲, 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮 𝘃𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘁𝘂𝘀 𝗾𝘂𝗼. 𝗠𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆. 𝗢𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽. 𝗜𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲.⁣

I am simultaneously the granddaughter of migrants without a high school education and one of Hendry County’s greatest superintendents. Today, I choose to continue to believe in and fight for the American Dream, for that opportunity! I choose to do that at its roots. 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗜 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗮𝘆 “𝗘𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆,” 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗿𝘆 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗕𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱, 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁 𝟹. ⁣

Pictured below: my reasons, my purpose, my strength and my inspiration.

Four Generations: My reasons, my purpose, my strength and my inspiration.