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RAZA GRAD 2009 Comments by Dr. Jorge Mariscal Buenas noches. Good evening. Es un gran honor estar con Uds. los graduados en esta noche tan significativa. Y quisiera agradecerles mucho por haberme brindado la oportunidad de compartir mis sentimientos con sus seres más queridos. Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts with you and your families tonight. Primeramente, a los papás que han sacrificado demasiado para permitir a que sus hijos logren su sueño, decimos gracias. Muchos de Uds. han aceptado dos o tres trabajos y vivir quizás en condiciones menos cómodas a las que tuvieron en su país: todo para sus hijos; todo para sus hijas. La gran satisfacción de presenciar esta ceremonia celebratoria es el feliz resultado del sacrificio que han realizado. Como mis padres, muchos de Uds. no gozaban del lujo de los estudios avanzados. Soy catedrático; I am a professor but I am also the first in my family to attend college. I remember my father getting up every day at 5 in the morning to go to work; I remember him studying books on “How to improve your vocabulary” so that he could move up at his job. And so I have the greatest respect for those of you who work with your hands; who have done labor that is physically demanding. Hace cuarenta años, un joven pastor moreno dijo: “Tantas veces pasamos por alto el trabajo y la importancia de los que no tienen puestos profesionales, de los que no están en los así llamados puestos importantes. Pero quisiera decirles esta noche que cada vez que están involucrados en trabajo que sirve a la humanidad y que es por la edificación de la humanidad, tiene dignidad y tiene valor.” As a young African American preacher once said: ”so often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.” Our hopes are strong that you graduates will go on to achieve great things. Fuertes están nuestras esperanzas. To the graduates, we say congratulations and thank you for your perserverance, your hard work, and your understanding that this night is about more than just you as an invidivual. You have earned your degree; el haber ganado su dipoma es un gran logro personal. Pero no es un logro individual sino un logro para toda la comunidad hispana; your achievement is shared by our entire community. Con esta ceremonia han tomado un paso más en el largo viaje hacia el futuro. Van a recibir un documento importante, un pasaporte a los estudios graduados, al éxito personal y más. You have taken a great step into the future by earning your diploma. Ya tienen sus papeles. Your diploma will be your passport to graduate school and personal success. But let us be realists. As we celebrate your achievements tonight, we note that you are the exception to the unfortunate norm. Because in 2009, the number of Latino and Latina college graduates continues to be small. Of all incoming college students last year, Latinos made up only 7%. With rising tuition costs, threats to Pell Grant funding, limits on enrollments, and an overall weak economy, it is not likely that our numbers will increase over the next few years. And so let us be aware of our many friends and relatives who will be denied the opportunity to earn that valuable document—that diploma. Muchos de sus amigos y familiares no van a tener la oportunidad de ganar ese pasaporte al éxito. Sin pasaporte y sin recursos se van a dirigir hacia los rangos más bajos del servicio militar o la patrulla fronteriza o las chambas de bajo salario o la cárcel. And so we cannot forget those who will never attend UCSD; no podemos olivdar de los que jamán pasarán por las puertas de UCSD. As Martin Luther King once said: “Those who have survived the shipwreck of unequal opportunity and have made it to the island of middle class comfort must never forget those who still find themselves in the storm-tossed sea of poverty and racial prejudice.” Según dijo Martin Luther King: “Uds. Que han sobrevivido el naufragio de las oportunidades desiguales y han llegado a la isla de la clase media no deberían olvidar a los que todavía se encuentran en el mar turbulento de la pobreza y el perjuicio racial.” Fuertes están nuestras esperanzas. Our hopes are strong that you will not forget the communities from which you came. Our graduates have acquired a great body of knowledge at this prestigious university; now or soon after your advanced degree program, you must gain the knowledge that comes from direct contact with working people, you must understand their needs and desires. Uds. los graduados están entrando a un mundo repleto de dificultades. La crisis económica es grave, sobre todo en California. In bad economic times, not only must our community struggle to survive financially, it must also confront a resurgence of racism and discrimination. According to FBI statistics, hate crimes against Latinos have increased by 50% since 2003 (only 6% for other groups). The so-called swine flu epidemic demonstrated the extent to which national and local media personalities are willing to criminalize our community by using the old rhetoric of anti-Mexican hatred. El odio dirigido hacia México y los mexicanos que se derramaba de los medios comunicativos durante la mal llamada gripe porcina nos demostró que el racismo no se ha vencido a pesar de los logros en las recientes elecciones presidenciales. ¿Quién va a luchar contra el racismo? Who will be called upon to fight back against the bigots? People who have had the privilege of attending an elite university like UCSD, who have learned important skills of reading, writing, and critical thinking will shoulder the most responsibility to defend our community. Uds. los graduados, capacitados con los instrumentos de análisis y debate, tendrán que formar la primera fila de defensa contra los ataques contra nuestra gente. Some of you may say “pero no me gusta la política.” The temptation is always strong to ignore “la política”; to get involved in controversial issues that may take you away from your daily pursuits and responsibilities. But as we witness attacks like the ones that are taking place against Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, we are reminded that as Latinoas and Latinos we have not yet been fully accepted by some of our fellow citizens. A small group of them are trying to divide us; take for example a well known radio personality who announced last month: “Sotomayor is Puerto Rican, this is going to make the Mexicans and the Cubans angry.” We must prove him wrong and we will. The most racist among them will actually accuse us of being so-called “reverse racists” if we dare to defend our own history and experience as Latinas and Latinos in the United States. Judge Sotomayor has even been criticized for pronouncing her name in Spanish. We must stand up to this arrogant racism and we will. Si nosotros no defendemos nuestras historias y nuestra culturas como hispanos en los Estados Unidos, ¿quién las va a defender? So yes, we celebrate tonight but we will need your help to make future celebrations like this possible. Above all, we will call on you to help transform a world in which the least privileged in our community are the ones who are asked to give more and receive less. The question you ask yourselves as you move on from UCSD should not be “What will happen to my career if I speak out for underserved communities?” Rather, it should be “What will happen to those communities if I do not speak out?” Now, I know some of you do not identify with the term Chicana or Chicano. Too political, too radical, too old school. But what exaclty is a Chicana? What exactly is a Chicano? Simply put it is a Latino or Latina who will not tolerate injustice, it is an Hispanic who realizes that the success of the community means more than his or her personal success, it is a son or daughter of immigrants who understands that the "American Dream" works for no one until it works for everyone. Un filósofo francés dijo una vez “Yo pienso, por eso soy.” El hispano achicanado dice: “Yo odio la injusticia, por eso soy.” Según escribió un poeta chicano: “Mi gente. Llámate como te quieras llamar; mas no te olvides de tu idioma, herencia e historia; y no dejes de pelear por tu igualdad y tus derechos.” Once you leave UCSD, we ask that you not forget those of us who will continue to come to work here everyday—your Latino staff and professors. In our struggle to make UCSD more accessible and more tolerable for Latino and other students of color, we ask for your help as alumni. ¿Qué es lo que queremos? What do we want? Simply that UCSD make good on its promise to be a public university whose student body and faculty look like the state of California. Venimos a pedir a UCSD que se ajuste a su rétorica vacía que divulga todos los días sobre “diversity.” A la administración de UCSD, repetimos las palabras de un joven médico argentino: “Que se rompan los muros de la enseñanza. Que no sea la enseñanza simplemente el privilegio de los que tienen algún dinero, para poder hacer que sus hijos estudien. Que la enseñanza sea el pan de todos los días del pueblo entero. Cuando esto se logre, nadie habrá perdido.” A college education must be made available and affordable to all our youth. When that is accomplished, we will all be better off. As alumni, you can bring pressure to bear on your alma mater to live up to its stated ideals. And so we congratulate our graduates on a job well done. Someday you will look back at your college days through a haze of rosy nostalgia. When you are older, you will appreciate your college days even more than you do today. Until then, make the most of the coming years. Time races by quickly. History is a swiftly moving marcha that you can either watch from the curb or choose to join. We hope you will join in. So, be very proud of what you have accomplished. But more important, always be proud of who you are and where you came from. A todos los graduados, les hacemos homenaje—por lo que han hecho; por lo que están haciendo; y por lo que van a hacer por nuestra gente y para la humanidad. !Que viva la clase de dos mil nueve! !Que viva la clase de dos mil nueve! |
