Sandra Sepúlveda's fight for equal justice stemmed from an ethnic slur
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen:
I was 13 the first time I remember someone calling me an ethnic slur. It was the one that starts with an "s" and rhymes with "sick."
We were outside my school, and my fellow eighth-grade classmate asked me if I was one of those. Frankly, I had no idea what the term meant then. I was simply dumbfounded.
When I later learned what that word meant — and what it was supposed to mean — I was embarrassed and angry.
I was sheltered as a child of a clergyman who grew up regularly going to church, spending a lot of time around family and friends who were Latino and spoke Spanish and never thinking that I was less than anyone else, simply because of my last name, my heritage or my facial features.
A lot of time has passed since I thought about that memory, but it surfaced after reading the column about Sandra Sepúlveda, the first Latina elected to the Metro Nashville-Davidson Council.
She told my colleague, Tennessean storytelling columnist Brad Schmitt, that many years ago, she and her friends were at the movies when some inconsiderate guy insulted her with a racist slur.
"It’s at that moment I realized I might be willing to give my life to serve my community and my country," she told Schmitt.
This part of his column also resonated with me: "The episode tapped into insecurities Sepúlveda had. She wasn't American enough for white people and wasn't Hispanic enough for her fellow Mexican natives in Nashville."
For those of us who are children of immigrants or who were raised in U.S. from an early age or who have been apart from their homeland way too long, this creates a kind of imposter syndrome where you feel in-between cultures. You feel a struggle with your identity.
But Sepúlveda shows that while identity struggles may always be with you, adversity can create empowerment to help you find your voice for the sake of equality and justice.
Scroll to read the column about Sandra Sepúlveda.
You will also find in this week's newsletter:
A story by USA TODAY reporter Pamela Avila about Chiquis Rivera's new memoir "Unstoppable," a book about her mother, singer Jenni Rivera; her divorce; and how her life has turned out.
Rafael Carranza of The Arizona Republic writes about how the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has extended the length of certain work permits.
Breaking news reporter Christine Fernando writes about how diversity is lagging in federal judicial appointments across the nation as President Joe Biden promises to appoint a Black woman to the Supreme Court. Factoid: Even though Latinos represent 18.5% of the U.S., they only comprise 6.6% of federal judgeships.
In case you missed it, USA TODAY's "Never Been Told" series is highlighting stories of people of color that have been left out of most history books. For example, did you know that Mexican-American Adina De Zavala helped save the Alamo monument in Texas? Learn more about her story, told by Vicky Camarillo of the Corpus Christi (Texas) Caller-Times.
By the way, I just started a new podcast, "Ídolo: The Ballad of Chalino Sánchez," hosted by Erick Galindo in English and Alejandro Mendoza in Spanish and produced by Sonoro and Futuro Studios. The story is about the famed narcocorrido Mexican singer-songwriter and the mystery behind his murder. It is compelling.
¡Muchas gracias!
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He is of Colombian and Cuban descent, has studied or worked in several Spanish-speaking countries, and was the founding editor of Gaceta Tropical in Southwest Florida. He has lived in Tennessee since 2014. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him at dplazas@tennessean.com or tweet to him at @davidplazas.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Sandra Sepulveda: Overcoming adversity and gaining power after a slur
