For Things To Have Value

I Had Serious Reservations About Putting My Son In The Public Schools In My Area. I Have A Tremendous Amount Of Fear For The Future Of My Boy. He's Nine-and- A-half And Dark-skinned. By The Time He's 12 Or 13, Who Knows Who He's Going To Be Identifying With In These Days When You Get Shot Down For Wearing Expensive Nikes To School...i've Heard That If A Latino Makes It To 19 Years Of Age, He Has A Good Chance Of Surviving Into Adulthood. Up Until Then, You Don't Know.

I Feel That It's Very Important For Young People To Have A Sense Of History And Do Research And Don't Re-invent The Wheel And Don't Think That You're The First Martyr To Discover Social Injustice But To Take Advantage Of Previous Generations Of Activists And Find Out What They Did And How They Resolved Things.

I'm Obviously An American Citizen. My Parents Are American Citizens. But I'm Not Looked At As An American.

When I Hear That Jennifer Lopez Is Such A Role Model For Latinas, On The One Hand I Respect Her For Her Business Sense And I Respect Her For Her Ambition. But She's In The Entertainment World. She's Done It On Her Looks And Very Specifically On Her Anatomy. Madonna Is Also Considered A Great Businesswoman And So Is Yoko Ono. I Feel If I Had A Young Daughter Right Now, I Would Feel A Little Discouraged If That Was My Daughter's Primary Role Model For Success And For Young People, For Latinas And Latinos.

There Are Things Coming From Me That I Felt I Wanted To Talk About. My Search For My Own Blend Of Spirituality, My Acknowledgement Of My Sexuality, My Being The Single Mother Of A Young Man.