The Signal was fortunate enough to have to have gone to Washington, D.C. for MediaFest, a convention for professional and student journalists. It was my first time being on a plane and my first time being outside of Texas.
Being in D.C. for the first time in my life exposed me to where my writing could take me and to the new heights I could reach. It also taught me how out of place I was.
Growing up Hispanic has taught me many things in life about how different my culture is from the American culture. Living in Mexico during the summer and going to school in America made me constantly balance two cultures, neither of which I ever felt like I completely belonged.
Growing up in South Houston, I was surrounded by people that looked like me, but as I grew older and continued my journey into higher education I saw less and less people that looked like me.
During MediaFest I noticed often I was the only Latino in the presentations and sometimes the only person of color at all.
I could feel the people around me staring and wondering what I was doing there and if I worked for the hotel. It is a crushing feeling to have your peers judge you for the passion that you share with them.
There has always been an inherent belief I have held that I do not belong in prestige locations like the Washington Post or New York Times because I have to compete not only at a disadvantage but also fight a stereotype. Meaning I must work twice as hard as my white counterparts to achieve the same success.
While speaking to other Hispanic students and professionals at the conference we all shared that feeling of being one of the few brown voices in the room. This is coupled by the feeling that we are all out of place or that we are simply hired to be the token brown voice in the newsroom.
This is a thing that all minorities in this field have to worry about. It is a common thing to see someone else of color and feel a great sense of relief when surrounded by those who are white. A small gesture that those that look like you are capable of being where you are. It gives a sense of validation that words can’t.
Journalism has drawn criticism before about the lack of diversity in newsrooms and how those diverse voices are often not allowed to cover their own community because of an “inherent bias” to portray them in a good light. This is a blatant lie showing how objectivism in journalism has been weaponized against those of color.
This was echoed by those I spoke with and will be forever grateful to those who allowed me to be there.
In any profession, there is a grave lack of authenticity. The striving towards being the perfect employee. When it comes to race we face many more struggles to achieve this status of “model minorities” or “one of the good ones.”It comes from a form of self-hatred in the community. A wave of anger and resilience towards the community that you grew up in because of the disadvantage that it put you in. The disgusting practice of wanting to undermine the people that look like you so that you may become part of that small in-group of minorities that work with the upper-class whites.
Journalism is meant to be the fourth estate, the upholder of the truth and the watchdogs of the government. But journalism is not free from imperfections. No one is.
