Let's have some real talk. And I'm n not hashtagging this.
I've told this story once before, but it bears repeating in light of the past couple of days on here.
As I've said before, I'm a white Cuban male. We Latins come in all colors. When my beloved wife first met me, she had no idea I wasn't just another white guy. Now, of course, other Latins take one look at me and KNOW I'm one of them. But the point is I easily pass for garden-variety white boy.
1/?
And, let's be frank: I've benefited from this. I *always* wear my Latinidad proudly. But I don't get pulled over by cops for "driving while brown". I know I have privilege.
But once someone knows my background, well, sometimes the shit comes out.
At my former library I would engage in conversation with a white male patron. We'd have good discussions about art, culture, and the like.
One night I was on the reference desk, and he came into the building, and we began speaking, as always.
2/?
And then—and I swear to God this came out of nowhere—he offered this "compliment": "I'm so surprised that someone of your background has achieved what he's achieved," or words to that effect.
Now, like I said, if someone asks me for my background, I unabashedly say "Cuban". I have no reason to be ashamed of my Latinidad. And I know I had told him this before, since we had discussed Cuba on occasion.
I asked him what he meant.
3/?
And he went on to explain how impressive it was that someone from an impoverished, immigrant background, where scholarly pursuits were not highly valued, could achieve a master's to allow me to become a librarian.
I tried to explain to him that in Cuba my parents were middle-class, and here they worked their asses off to make sure that I and my brothers had everything we needed to succeed academically. In my family there was NEVER a question of the three of us not going to university.
4/?
@LiberalLibrarian It was my impression that in Cuba scholarly pursuits were highly valued, before Castro and after Castro.