1. Where were you born and when did you come to the US?
I was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico, and I came to the US in 2005.
2. Under what circumstances did you and your family come to the US?
When I was a senior, I received a letter of acceptance to Penn State. I showed my mom, and she said “no” because I am the youngest in the family. I didn’t have any resources so I went to University of Puerto Rico, but I knew I always to go to the US to live and to work. After college, I started working for a publishing company, McGraw Hill, an American company. I knew if i was going to move to the US, I wanted to land with a job. And later on in a sales meeting I asked for a transfer, and I got the job! I visited Texas and moved to San Antonio, TX with my husband and my two children. We moved here with no other family in San Antonio.
3. Please share your immigration experience.
I went to a private school in Puerto Rico, so English was already one of the subjects I was learning. We had family in the army, and my best cousin, almost like a sister, would come visit in the summers. She had lived her whole life in the US, and I would always tell her to “correct my English” or I would try to have the same American accent as her. I loved English books and music, but speaking with her gave me a better understanding of the English language.
Moving here was an adjustment definitely. Even though coming from Puerto Rico, a commonwealth of the United States, we have the same money, the same organizations — but much different lifestyles. For example, you don’t walk everywhere, you drive. I saw the biggest adjustment was in the way I communicated. With Spanish, we use a lot of hand gestures and talk in much closer proximity. But coming to the US, I had to adjust to the different mannerisms and socially acceptable way to communicate with others. Sometimes you get misunderstood, that’s why I think I see things with such humility. Whenever you have someone new to the country, you must put yourself in their shoes and realize that they are trying to “fit in.”
In my house, we keep the music, the food, and the traditions no matter where we go.
“We have a saying, “Boricua en la luna” (You continue to be who you are, even on the moon). Despite where you are geographically, you keep your roots and your traditions, but you adjust and you adapt.”
I love that it really is the land of opportunity- the American dream, but your feet have to be on solid ground. It is important to know that the American Dream is real, but with everything there is good and bad.
I have seen people with one foot in the country that they come from, and the foot in the US. If you do this, you will never be happy, because you have never fully decided. But you have to know you aren’t leaving your traditions or betraying your country. Because when we left, we left. We knew that the conditions were not what we wanted for our family. We wanted to give our children a good education.
4. What would you say is, from your perspective, the most commonly held misconception about people of your culture?
They think Puerto Ricans are lazy, that we expect things to be handed to us on a silver platter. But all I have seen my whole life is people working hard to make ends meet.
I learned that you have to work to earn your stuff, you have to work really hard, never lose hope, you have to aim high, and you have to have an education. This was ingrained in my blood. Education is so important. If you don’t have an education, you can continue, but you’re going to struggle a little more.
5. Is there anything you would like others to know that has not been asked here?
I want people to know that a Puerto Rican is a humble person, lively, big hearted, and is capable of loving anybody, anyone, it doesn’t matter. Because, sometimes, there is more than what pop culture shows of a Puerto Rican. I wish people would read more about our history.
There is also no Puerto Rican citizenship, we were part of Spain and in the civil war (between Spain and the US). Spain loss, and a part of the loss was the territory of Puerto Rico. We went from Spanish citizens to American Citizens. Later, the Jones Act of 1898 would state that any person born in Puerto Rico is a citizen of the US. Despite this, we have no vote in Congress — only Congress can determine our political future.
We gained 3.5 million people, the US Constitution writes that if we were to become a state, we would be the territory/state that would have the most representatives in congress. The US must change the Constitution to change this so we have equal representation.
Puerto Ricans deserve equal representation.
