[Music]
I grew up in a small town called Kimmy
cheese in western Mexico I remember back
when I was six years old I was playing
on our patio when all of a sudden I
would listen to a Creedence Clearwater
Revival song from a car approaching our
house and I knew that was my father he
was in fact one of the few people you
would hear play in English music in his
car back then as a teenager he used to
be a singer in a band and play the drums
and my dad used to visit his relatives
back in the 60s in California he will
tell us great stories about buying
musical instruments and visiting
Disneyland so the American influence was
present from an early age in his life he
stopped visiting the States when he met
my mother and they later got married he
said the back then it was easy to move
to the US and obtain a green card but
that was never his plan since things
were great in Mexico and especially for
farmers in fact the northern part of our
state used to be called the golden coast
for all the fruitful land we have in
this region farmers used to grow corn
different varieties of beans tobacco and
all sorts of fruits and vegetables but
my father never thought that the US will
become his only work option to give his
three children a college education that
became true after the NAFTA agreement
was signed into law in early in early
nineties this treaty benefited the
manufacturing industry in Mexico but one
of its side effects
was a complete destruction of the farm
industry the biggest industry back then
this was the breaking point for Mexican
farmers and also for my father this was
a time when he like millions of other
Mexican farmers have no choice but to
immigrate to the US where he worked for
15 years this was a time when
immigration from Mexico skyrocketed to
the US as a child I always wonder what
my dad had to leave us so he could work
in the US I remember begging him dad
please take me with you but he never did
he would tell me that we were better off
in our small town even in his absence
and I never really understood that since
the Hollywood movies portrayed the US as
an awesome place to live and everybody
talked about how the US had a real
democracy with justice for all but my
dad would tell me the life in the US was
not as easy as I thought he would state
that many immigrant families had a lot
of issues with their children because
they have to work two or three jobs in
order to make ends meet and that they
could not afford to live in good zip
codes and that was something that he did
not want us to face life went on and my
dad continued to work in the US until I
graduated from college in 2008 he was
never able to attend any of my
graduations from elementary school or
college soccer games baskets in a miss
him I miss him a lot
but he’s my hero
not only because he taught me the value
of hard work honesty and resilience but
most of all because he liked other
millions of Mexican farmers sacrified
and risk his life so my brothers and I
could have a college education better
work opportunities and most of all not
repeat the same story he endured all of
these back and forth of my dad
contributed to my desire to learn
English and one day become in English as
a second language instructor so since I
was a child I remember dreaming of one
day studying in the US and after a lot
of work that dream became true when I
was awarded in a scholarship to study
abroad and grown up I had a really
positive image of Americans but I never
thought that a significant minority did
not share my same perspective it didn’t
dawn on me until he came to study in the
US when I started to experience all the
anti-immigration laws and negative media
against Mexicans and Latinos but after I
had spent a few years in the US I
started to understand some of those
comments if I had not lived and grown up
in Mexico I too would think the Mexico
it’s a dangerous underdeveloped place
with bad people especially if all I knew
about Mexico were from the news and
movies and I started to wonder where
does this narrow perspective come comes
from and I started to realize that
there’s certain propaganda oriented news
organization the talked a lot about this
and I also started to realize that my
American neighbors throughout their life
have seen and heard different versions
of that narrow perspective in us the
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ghazi once
said you cannot talk about a single
story without talking about power since
power has the ability to make the story
of a person the definite story how when
who and how stories are told are
completely dependent on power yeah
Mexico has problems just like any
country in the world Mexico has problems
and there are immense problems that we
both share like immigration drug and gun
trafficking since Mexico is the biggest
door for all of us but there are other
stories that are not about catastrophe
and it’s important to talk about them so
what’s the consequence what’s the danger
of this narrow perspective and the
danger of this in our perspective is
that it shapes attitudes erupts people
dignity and it emphasizes on our
differences so what if before we let
others demonize our southern neighbors
we start to learn and understand the
causes for the immigration and we also
clear up some misconceptions that we may
have for example did you know that more
than 3 million Americans live in Mexico
and we don’t see them as a threat our
country embraces them as friends in the
more than 25 million Americans visit
Mexico
year after year
we enjoy hosting them did you know that
out of the 11 undocumented immigrants in
this country only 5.6 are from Mexico
which represents a sliver of the total
Mexican population which is a hundred
and twenty nine million people did you
know the Mexico has four times less
territory than the US and three times
less people but Mexico it’s part of the
top 20 most powerful economies in the
world and that we can work together to
make a better world for all but not with
borders not with borders we already have
one it’s a huge mental wall inside our
minds full of stereotypes and Prejudice
and we must tear it down for the sake of
all of us for the sake of our children
and one of the best ways we can do this
is by building bridges a bridge of trust
a bridge of common values for her work a
bridge for the love of our families in a
bridge where we can recognize our
similarities celebrating our differences
and enjoying our fellowship muchas
gracias
[Applause] [Music]
I grew up in a small town called Kimmy
cheese in western Mexico I remember back
when I was six years old I was playing
on our patio when all of a sudden I
would listen to a Creedence Clearwater
Revival song from a car approaching our
house and I knew that was my father he
was in fact one of the few people you
would hear play in English music in his
car back then as a teenager he used to
be a singer in a band and play the drums
and my dad used to visit his relatives
back in the 60s in California he will
tell us great stories about buying
musical instruments and visiting
Disneyland so the American influence was
present from an early age in his life he
stopped visiting the States when he met
my mother and they later got married he
said the back then it was easy to move
to the US and obtain a green card but
that was never his plan since things
were great in Mexico and especially for
farmers in fact the northern part of our
state used to be called the golden coast
for all the fruitful land we have in
this region farmers used to grow corn
different varieties of beans tobacco and
all sorts of fruits and vegetables but
my father never thought that the US will
become his only work option to give his
three children a college education that
became true after the NAFTA agreement
was signed into law in early in early
nineties this treaty benefited the
manufacturing industry in Mexico but one
of its side effects
was a complete destruction of the farm
industry the biggest industry back then
this was the breaking point for Mexican
farmers and also for my father this was
a time when he like millions of other
Mexican farmers have no choice but to
immigrate to the US where he worked for
15 years this was a time when
immigration from Mexico skyrocketed to
the US as a child I always wonder what
my dad had to leave us so he could work
in the US I remember begging him dad
please take me with you but he never did
he would tell me that we were better off
in our small town even in his absence
and I never really understood that since
the Hollywood movies portrayed the US as
an awesome place to live and everybody
talked about how the US had a real
democracy with justice for all but my
dad would tell me the life in the US was
not as easy as I thought he would state
that many immigrant families had a lot
of issues with their children because
they have to work two or three jobs in
order to make ends meet and that they
could not afford to live in good zip
codes and that was something that he did
not want us to face life went on and my
dad continued to work in the US until I
graduated from college in 2008 he was
never able to attend any of my
graduations from elementary school or
college soccer games baskets in a miss
him I miss him a lot
but he’s my hero
not only because he taught me the value
of hard work honesty and resilience but
most of all because he liked other
millions of Mexican farmers sacrified
and risk his life so my brothers and I
could have a college education better
work opportunities and most of all not
repeat the same story he endured all of
these back and forth of my dad
contributed to my desire to learn
English and one day become in English as
a second language instructor so since I
was a child I remember dreaming of one
day studying in the US and after a lot
of work that dream became true when I
was awarded in a scholarship to study
abroad and grown up I had a really
positive image of Americans but I never
thought that a significant minority did
not share my same perspective it didn’t
dawn on me until he came to study in the
US when I started to experience all the
anti-immigration laws and negative media
against Mexicans and Latinos but after I
had spent a few years in the US I
started to understand some of those
comments if I had not lived and grown up
in Mexico I too would think the Mexico
it’s a dangerous underdeveloped place
with bad people especially if all I knew
about Mexico were from the news and
movies and I started to wonder where
does this narrow perspective come comes
from and I started to realize that
there’s certain propaganda oriented news
organization the talked a lot about this
and I also started to realize that my
American neighbors throughout their life
have seen and heard different versions
of that narrow perspective in us the
Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ghazi once
said you cannot talk about a single
story without talking about power since
power has the ability to make the story
of a person the definite story how when
who and how stories are told are
completely dependent on power yeah
Mexico has problems just like any
country in the world Mexico has problems
and there are immense problems that we
both share like immigration drug and gun
trafficking since Mexico is the biggest
door for all of us but there are other
stories that are not about catastrophe
and it’s important to talk about them so
what’s the consequence what’s the danger
of this narrow perspective and the
danger of this in our perspective is
that it shapes attitudes erupts people
dignity and it emphasizes on our
differences so what if before we let
others demonize our southern neighbors
we start to learn and understand the
causes for the immigration and we also
clear up some misconceptions that we may
have for example did you know that more
than 3 million Americans live in Mexico
and we don’t see them as a threat our
country embraces them as friends in the
more than 25 million Americans visit
Mexico
year after year
we enjoy hosting them did you know that
out of the 11 undocumented immigrants in
this country only 5.6 are from Mexico
which represents a sliver of the total
Mexican population which is a hundred
and twenty nine million people did you
know the Mexico has four times less
territory than the US and three times
less people but Mexico it’s part of the
top 20 most powerful economies in the
world and that we can work together to
make a better world for all but not with
borders not with borders we already have
one it’s a huge mental wall inside our
minds full of stereotypes and Prejudice
and we must tear it down for the sake of
all of us for the sake of our children
and one of the best ways we can do this
is by building bridges a bridge of trust
a bridge of common values for her work a
bridge for the love of our families in a
bridge where we can recognize our
similarities celebrating our differences
and enjoying our fellowship muchas
gracias
[Applause] [Music]
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