En ingles

Because of my mom's work in the ESL system, my family has sort of been an honorary member of the hispanic community for as long as I can remember. I grew up around spanish speakers - my mom says I understood a fair amount of it when I was a small child (although I've had to relearn it since then). In fact, most of my family speaks spanish. I consider masa and mole the basic staples of comfort food. To top it all off, my littlest sister was adopted from Guatemala.

I never realized just how important this was to me until recently. This recent wave of anti-hispanic sentiment resulting from the immigration debate has really bothered me on a very personal level. I feel incredibly hurt and afraid of the direction the country's moving in.

I don't really have a strong stance on the issue of illegal immigration. But I do know that harsh measures against illegal immigration create a hostile environment that causes grief for all immigrants, legal or otherwise, their families and their communities. And that's unacceptable.

My littlest sister, in the meantime, is growing up well-entrenched in the hispanic community in San Antonio. She's retaining her spanish. She's retaining a sense of who she is and what she's a part of. And I am incredibly grateful for that.

En ingles

Because of my mom's work in the ESL system, my family has sort of been an honorary member of the hispanic community for as long as I can remember. I grew up around spanish speakers - my mom says I understood a fair amount of it when I was a small child (although I've had to relearn it since then). In fact, most of my family speaks spanish. I consider masa and mole the basic staples of comfort food. To top it all off, my littlest sister was adopted from Guatemala.

I never realized just how important this was to me until recently. This recent wave of anti-hispanic sentiment resulting from the immigration debate has really bothered me on a very personal level. I feel incredibly hurt and afraid of the direction the country's moving in.

I don't really have a strong stance on the issue of illegal immigration. But I do know that harsh measures against illegal immigration create a hostile environment that causes grief for all immigrants, legal or otherwise, their families and their communities. And that's unacceptable.

My littlest sister, in the meantime, is growing up well-entrenched in the hispanic community in San Antonio. She's retaining her spanish. She's retaining a sense of who she is and what she's a part of. And I am incredibly grateful for that.