Boone Hispanic Community Finds Pockets of Support Amid Polarization – The Appalachian

Yolanda Adams first experienced racism when she moved to Boone from Florida 20 years ago.

While working at AppHealthCare in the early 2000s, Adams, who now works at Q’Pasa Appalachia and GEAR UP as an interpreter, said she had a patient who didn’t want her to help him check in because of the color of her skin. Every time she took his calls to the office, he hung up, called back and asked a white employee to make an appointment. Coming from an ethnically diverse area of ​​Florida, Adams said she was shocked, uncomfortable and didn’t know how to react.

According to US Census 2020 and 2022Latinos and Hispanics make up approximately 11% of Boone Parish’s population, making Latinos the largest minority group in Boone.

Rwany Sibaja, director of history education and executive director of teacher education programs at App State, finds his culture in the bottles of Lizano salsa he sells at Publix, the coffee he drinks and the language he speaks between meetings and classes. But as a Costa Rican, he still feels like a minority within a minority group.

“There is racial diversity within an ethnic group that is very complex,” Sibaja said. “So I think the only difficulty I have is that people can just make a monolithic assumption and just say ‘Latin America’ or ‘Latinos,’ and not recognize that diversity. And that can lead to overgeneralizations, maybe stereotypes.”

Sibaja he said that He was the only Latino student at his college, the only Latino teacher in Davidson County schools when he was hired, and the only Latino employee in the central office when he worked for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System. He said he has always been the one who stood out. But he doesn’t see that as a handicap, but as an advantage that helps him have “something unique to offer.”

As the son of immigrant parents and a first-generation college student, Sibaja said he didn’t have anyone to help him with his “firsts” of college, like moving into dorms or registering for classes, and he hopes he can use his experiences to continue to support students in similar situations.

Edgar Jaimes-Ramos is a senior construction management major and vice president of the Latin Hispanic Alliance. He said that while he builds safe spaces, like his indoor soccer group that meets weekly for him and others to connect with different cultures, he feels the need to code-switch when he’s outside of those spaces.

“When I tell people I’m an engineer, right? When I tell people I went to Nashville this summer and I got one of the highest-paying internships, they look at me,” Jaimes-Ramos said. “People are going to be like, ‘Oh, this kid’s got his act together.’”

Jaimes-Ramos said Boone is geared toward white Americans, and while there are “a whole hallway of flags” in the Plemmons Student Union building and ethnic restaurants dotted around Boone, there is limited access to cultural diversity.

As vice president, he said he witnessed uneven institutional support for App State due to a lack of communication between club leaders and university administration, particularly surrounding diversity, equality and inclusion repeals for institutions of the UNC system.

According to ForbesRepeals of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies are happening not only in the UNC system, but in states across the country.

Kamala Harris accepted the presidential nomination at the Democratic National Convention on August 22. Although she was called “DEI Employment“by Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, issues affecting her status as a child of immigrants and a woman of color are supported in her party platformwhich places great emphasis on “strengthening democracy,” “protecting freedoms,” and “repairing the immigration system.”

This Republican Party Platform focuses on “beating inflation,” “sealing the borders,” and “restoring the American dream.”

Kayla Ordaz-Magana, president of the App State Latin Hispanic Alliance, said that when Harris is brought up in political discussions, it is almost never about her views but rather “her skin tone, her hair, why she does something, or why she speaks a certain language.”

Sibaja said that instead of focusing on the biographies of the candidates, he focuses on the politicians they defend.

“I want to know what they’re going to do in these areas,” Sibaja said. “There are platitudes, and then there’s action. Who has a track record of fighting for the ideal of an America where everyone has a chance?”

App State offers resources for Latino and Spanish-speaking students and faculty, including Unidos Appincluding Sibaja Is founder. APP Unidos is a group for faculty and staff who want to connect with Spanish culture in the company of others. Another resource for students is funded by the federal government Student Support Services.

Cathia Silver, director of Student Support Services, said Student Support Services currently has about eight programs under its jurisdiction that support App State College students, as well as high school and middle school students in various school systems across the country. All students participating in the programs must meet requirements, including being first-generation college students and meeting certain federal income guidelines.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it? To be the first in your family to go to college and hopefully graduate,” Silver said. “So I think each one of them feels a sense of responsibility and pride in that because they know what it means to their family and to themselves.”

According to Silver, a role model is not someone who belongs to one minority or another, or comes from one circumstance or another, but someone “who is a role model for the younger generation, showing what is possible.”