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Open Letter to “Mediocre” Latinx Students: Go Where You’re Not Wanted
Yesterday, I saw the article on WaPo about the University of Maryland professor who accidentally sent an email to his mock trial class that included a coach’s (the prof’s daughter) remarks on the students who had tried out and her concern about whether or not to include the Latino students for the sake of diversity even though she thought they all performed poorly and that the best one was “mediocre.” I read that article and it was gut-wrenching. So often students of color have a sense that some professors, admins, or people in power within academia don’t support us because they have a preconception of our “inferior” capabilities, but rarely…
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There’s No Such Thing As Reverse Racism
Today, I woke up to the news that this administration is planning to investigate colleges that discriminate against White people. Specifically, they are planning to attack affirmative action programs. As an advocate for increased access to education in the Latinx community, campaigns like this make me want to scream. Anyone who is genuine about education and increased access knows that AA programs do not harm people in power. In fact, and please repeat this until you can’t say it anymore, white women have benefited the most from affirmative action. Affirmative action programs and policies gave me a spot in schools and situations where I likely would have been overlooked in…
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Summer Series: Reconnecting with your Purpose
Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals! Today we hear from Krystlen, a rising 2L from Florida, who is re-connecting with her community after feeling disconnected from her classmates during her 1L year at Hofstra: I always get asked what my plans are after law school, which is understandable, but absolutely absurd to me considering that a year ago,…
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Summer Series: Fighting Against a Carceral State
Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals! Today we hear from Cynthia, a rising 2L at Stanford, who is spending her summer in the South defending those facing capital punishment: “It implies that you are not a citizen of a democracy but the subject of a carceral state, just waiting to be cataloged.” – Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissenting in…
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Summer Series: Working Hard in Legal Aid
Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals! Today we hear from Karen, a rising 2L, whose internship in legal aid has strengthened her resolve to pursue a career in poverty law: I knew I wanted to do public interest work before I even knew what that meant. At first I thought about starting my own non-profit…
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Summer Series: Finding Your Passion
Our Summer Series continues! This series highlights different Latina students and law grads as they embark in their summer jobs and/or bar prep all across the country. We hope to provide a variety of work experiences, options for a healthy work-life balance, and general motivation through different guest contributors to help you to take charge of your summer and professional goals! Today we hear from Amanda, a rising 2L, who shares her exciting internship with in a public defender’s office: It’s amazing to be able to turn your passion into action. Going into my first year at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, I knew I definitely wanted to make a career in…
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Know Your Worth: Combating the Wage Gap
This piece was originally run on ShopLatinx, but they’re currently under construction, so I thought I’d share it here to raise awareness for Equal Pay Day. ————————————————————————————————————————— 54 cents. That is how much Latinas earn to the White man’s dollar. Often it is recited that women earn 77 cents, but that is the figure attributed to white women. In reality, Latinas fare far worse when it comes to income disparity; in states like California and Texas, which compose of the largest amount of Latinas working full-time and year-round, they earn a dismal 43 cents to the dollar. The negative impact of wage disparity reaches beyond the individual worker and spans generations.…
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Radical Women: This Bridge Called My Back
I have wanted to review This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color forever and figured this review would be a great way to end Latinx History Month with a bang! For those that may not know, TBCMB is a collection of essays, letters, and poems of various women of color and it is edited Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua. Composed in the early 80s, the writers are considered Third World Feminists. They are women of color, feminists, fighting against the oppression of poverty, racism, sexism, and xenophobia. It’s a really incredible collection of voices that resonated with me even though the pieces were written before I…
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Saving Our Sisters: The Fight to End the Detention & Deportation of Central American Refugees
This is a story about a woman fleeing the pain and terror of sexual violence in Honduras only to face the indignity and inhumanity of prison profiteering in the United States. Laura* is a citizen of Honduras. She built a happy life in her hometown and is a mother to four children. Life was humble, but happy. Then as the war on drugs escalated, the narcotraffickers increased their use of violence to intimidate and control the communities.** The drug gangs prowled the towns and intimidated the locals. One narcotrafficker eventually brutally raped Laura. After the assault, he continued to seek her out and that is when Laura realized that her life…
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Black Lives Must Matter to Latinx Attorneys
It is so sad & frustrating that barely a month can go by without having to remark on some new violent tragedy. I was on vacation when I learned about Alton Sterling and then Philando Castile; being so far removed from what was happening gave me an outsider’s perspective. I could read things here and there, but really only had enough time online to gage the reactions of people I know. There have been many incidents like this, but for whatever reason, this seemed to tip the scale–people who normally never discussed race or police brutality came out in shock against what had happened. Gratefully, many people saw this crime…