During the 2016 elections, my parents and I were watching the Trump campaign when we heard him refer to Mexican immigrants as animals. I come from a family of Mexican immigrants. Was I, Montserrat, an animal? Was my immigrant father, whose dream was to come to America, an animal?
Growing up I've always seen my family as a typical Mexican-American family, proud of where they come from but grateful for the land of opportunity. I remember that money was always tight, so my dad took on weekends working extra hours. This caused me to rarely see him. However, no matter how stressed my parents… Read more were, they never showed it. Later on, as I grew up I started to realize how different I was from my fellow classmates, as my Spanish accent lingered in every sentence. I realized that there were not many kids who were Hispanic in my grade and the only ones I knew were from English Language Learners (ELL).
I knew my classmates had a different perspective on my family. I always knew I was different but I had never seen it as negative. During the election, I realized that my family was different than those of my classmates. There was a kid in my class that called my parents criminals, bad guys, rapists, and drug dealers. He claimed that they should be locked up.
I began to hate my language, my native nose, my hair, and my clothing. I didn't like the feeling of being different and I didn't want to be seen as an animal. Every night I prayed for President Trump to lose the election. Sadly, on November 8, 2016, my prayers were not answered. This changed many viewpoints in my life, such as my fear of law enforcement. I feared at any moment my father, who worked hard for this country, would one day be taken away from me.
However, my father didn't let that fear consume me. He granted me the life he had always wanted, a happy home, food on the table, and opportunities to go to school. It wasn't until I was watching the news and saw Latino immigrants protesting for the right to stay in this country that I was proud to be a part of a culture that stood up for their dreams and sacrifices. From janitors to mechanics to farm workers, immigrants make up the whole working class system.
My father is not an animal. 5th grade Montserrat was not an animal. As much as society refers to immigrants as animals, this country would be nothing without my father and all the hard-working immigrants here.
