This is part two of a series of intergenerational conversations highlighting the stories of Latinos in Rhode Island – a collaboration with local oral history project, Nuestras Raíces, which means “our roots.” Go to nuestrasraicesri.net to learn more about the project.
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TRANSCRIPT
Brian Villa: Now, what we wanted to talk about was the Latin American Student Organization … what prompted you to start that?
José Gonzalez: Personally, I felt that I wasn’t being seen as a person. I was being seen as a financial aid student, a minority. I was being seen as someone who was disadvantaged and probably didn’t belong on campus. And I also realized that every classroom I went to, there was never a Hispanic presence in terms of faculty, and staff members that really represented our community. And I felt that through some sort of organization, it wasn’t just José or Roberto, it was the organization that needed people to respond to us. And so when we organized … we felt like, okay, now we belong on campus. And we have our own organization. And it was part of a growing movement that people were saying, you know, we belong here too. And this is back in 1972. So imagine how much work had to be done, because we really weren’t all that visible. Any day on campus, you didn’t see a lot of Latinos walking across campus, whereas today, that’s not the story. Today you see Latinos. I mentioned I’m a faculty member, and I’m so happy to say in most of my classes, I sometimes have a majority of students of color, but a lot of Hispanics who are taking courses in education. And that makes me so happy.
Villa: Now, what were the events that you had?
Gonzalez: We wanted some dances. We wanted to be able to throw some salsa, some merengue, some bachata, some cumbia, whatever, we could throw it out there. So we had DJs. … I made my special sangria. They actually allowed us to sell alcoholic beverages back in the day. … And it wasn’t just for Latino students, that place filled up with everybody else. Because the word got around that there was going to be a nice dance. More importantly, we asked our professors and we talked about who we can invite to talk about the most current or salient issues affecting our community. So we were looking for speakers that would talk about educational issues, about housing, social work. I was a social work major. So I wanted to know what’s going to happen, you know, when I go out there in the professional world, so we had people coming to talk to us about mostly issues, social issues.
Villa: What do you want your legacy to be remembered as, in Rhode Island College, Latin American Student Organization, and just as a whole in education in Rhode Island?
Gonzalez: I want people to know that we fought to maintain our individual, our culture, our language, the uniqueness of our backgrounds, and that that’s a plus – that we’re just adding to the diversity that’s already in this country with all of the different immigrant experiences. So the immigrants now look a little different, they’re from, instead of coming from Europe, they’re coming from Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean. And we may be a little bit different shades and colors, but we have basically the same intentions. And education is very important to us. But we want it so that it fits into our plan.
Villa: What is our plan?
Gonzalez: To succeed, to have a good life. And when you’re raising children, after you become a young professional – and most of us, you know, end up marrying and having children – what I want is my next generation to have even better opportunities. I have four kids, two of them graduated and have gotten masters, one from Rhode Island College. But you know, to know that my mom wanted us to be well educated. My two brothers and I are professionals. So we kind of like, we are the success story in spite of many times not having the help of Rhode Island College or other organizations. But look at Rhode Island College now. It’s thriving because of the Latino population. So my legacy is that I was part of that. I pushed open some doors and said I’m not going away.
