I work with two boys - one I have to Interpret for because he is completely Deaf, but the other one is Hard of Hearing, so I am just there to make sure he’s getting all the information and understands what he has to do. These two boys have grown to trust me - a lot. When they have questions they feel uncomfortable asking any other adult on the planet - they come to me. I’d be lying if I didn’t say this makes me feel really special. They have told me and asked me things that would cause a normal person to blush - but they are teenagers and going through a very confusing time with their bodies (and life) - someone needs to help them understand it’s all a normal part of growing up.

My Hard of Hearing student (15 years old) is from Mexico - he was born there. His parents immigrated over here a few years after his brother was born - they then had two more children after they had moved to Lake Tahoe. My Hard of Hearing student is very proud of where he came from - he is also very proud to be an American now. So, he is a proud Mexican/American - though this brings up a lot of problems, with racism. A few months ago he found himself in the middle of a gang-related (yes folks, we have gang problems in small town USA) issue. Both the boys found themselves in the mist of it - but my Hard of Hearing kid was a lot deeper into it than my Deaf kid. But, it’s because the Hard of Hearing boy is having a big identity crisis - a large one! He’s a Mexican - so the “white” American people don’t accept him - He’s also an American, so the Mexicans don’t accept him either. The Indians won’t accept him because he’s Mexican/American - I guess they don’t like that (I don’t pretend to understand it). To top it all off he has a disability - and everyone hates that!

On Thursday my Hard of Hearing student came into sixth period, sat down, looked at me and asked, “Why do all the white people hate all the Mexicans?” BOOM!

(Let me just give a little information here - sixth period is Study Skills and only the Deaf student, Hard of Hearing student and I are in the room…normally. Sometimes the teacher shows up. The boys won’t ask me personal questions in front of her - she is not someone they trust.)

He let the bomb down with the teacher in the room! He needed answers and he needed them right then and there! I looked into his eyes and I saw so many different things - pain, confusion, anger but mostly sadness. My heart broke into a million pieces - he was asking me the million-dollar question. How do I answer this? The only thing I ever try to be with these boys is honest and truthful. His eyes were fixed on mine - the world around him (at that moment) didn’t exist. I took a deep breath in and sighed a little with compassion - I said, “We don’t all hate you.” The mean truth is that there are too many people who hate another ethnic group - different is bad. I asked him, “Why? What happened?” Well, I guess there is a new immigration law that is in the process of being passed. (with a few others behind it just in case that one won’t work) My student was feeling the pressure from this because he is a proud Mexican and his whole family was focusing in on it with strong feelings. Plus, at school my student has heard negative things such as the old favorite, “GO HOME!” Well, he is home. His father passed the green card test - but his mother has not. His biggest worry will be that his mother will get fired (or worse sent back to Mexico - alone). He loves his family and doesn’t want to see anything unjust happen to them - I totally understand that. I tried (the best I could) to explain to him that the Mexicans weren’t the only Immigrants in the United States - they just happen to be the largest population of immigrants. He then said, “All the American people think we are stealing their jobs - but we’re not! We just want to work hard and earn enough money to live.” I tried to explain that America has only a certain amount of jobs available - more than that, there are Americans out of work - then more than that we have immigrants coming over and working for cheap and taking those job - in the end (and inadvertently) there are less job for the Americans - who are here legally.

I told him I understand why people come here - they want a better life for themselves and their families. He wanted to know why they can’t have open gates - allowing anyone who wants to come live here - where is the freedom that America promises? (oh boy) I explained to him that not everyone is good and honest - there are just too many people who have made that “open gate” deal a bad one. I made sure he understood that Americans are also at fault of that - taking advantage of other countries. There is no one country out there that is not at fault of this. I told him that slowly all countries are starting to “close their gates” to outsiders. It’s understandable though - I cannot blame them. Trust has been stepped on and ripped apart - they need to put up the forces and protect themselves.

My student wanted to join others in a “walk out” on Friday, to protest and show his support. I could not sit there and tell him, “No - that’s a bad idea.” Because, it’s not a bad idea - we are still a free nation and if he wants to show his pride and support something he feels strongly about - I would be anti-American to stop him. The teacher sitting there and listening to our conversation was quick to let him know that it was indeed a bad idea, and if he did it he would (possibly) go to jail for being truant. I assured him that probably would not happen - although I didn’t know how the school would treat it. In the end he didn’t want to get in trouble - and no one ended up walking out Friday. I needed him to understand that he’ll always feel the pull from the Mexican community and from the American community. Anyone who comes from another country and is proud of where they came from - and proud of where they are now - will always feel that pull. I also wanted him to know what an awesome thing it is to have passion and pride in his soul for something - and I told him to never let that die. This teenager could teach us all a great lesson - if only more humans thought the way he does - we’d be a more peaceful nation. He’s an awesome kid - and if I can learn anything from him, I know I’ll be a better person for simply listening…

Life isn’t fair - we all know that. Life hurts a lot - because other people make it painful. It doesn’t have to be this way - but this is a fight that will probably never end. It breaks my heart to watch this boy - who is so pure and loving - being attacked by the place he calls home.

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