James Rojas,
Buena Park, CA

Hello, I am a Mexican who was born here in the United States. I moved to Mexico at a young age and that’s where I grew up with Mexican culture.
When moving back to the United States, my mom kept repeating that I received a chance that she couldn’t have, and that is being able to finish high school and be able to attend college so I can get a career. She states that it is not only her but she is aware that her own race struggle on getting an education and a proper future. She notices the stereotypical views towards Mexicans that they only come to the US for labor and get paid minimum. Examples such as working at fast food restaurants, retail stores, and the most well-known job for Mexicans which is a construction where everyone sees Mexicans working on that job as a norm.
But, does my mother make that claim because she embraces those stereotypes because of how common they were? Well, in reality, she works with her sister cleaning houses which is work that requires physical work.
So now, I am a college student trying my best to make my mother’s dream true and show that as a Mexican I can be able to achieve more. I not only want to make my family proud, but I also want to make my culture be seen more as just pity for working the hardest job for little reward. I believe that I can do it, that I have the same chance just as every American, and that I can make people from my culture be seen as more than hard workers. I am someone with a future.