FOR THE LATINX RESEARCH CENTER, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Visions of Empowerment
In these poems the writers speak to how empowerment becomes part of the healing process. How will we empower ourselves and our communities?
El Cuerpo
By Emily Garcia
Mujer Latina, Latina, mamacita
La que nunca falla, la que nunca tira
Sin primero ver hacia atrás
A ver a todo los hombres que la miran,
La miran como un objeto
Como una mamacita no como una Mujer Latina,
La que nunca falla y la que siempre tira
Porque su espalda nunca está cubierta
Ayuda y cura a nuestras Mujeres Latinas
Image by Emily Garcia
Con Amor Todo es Posible
By Bianca Martinez
HYPHY is beating the white supremacist institution out
In order to tell your mother’s boss she’s out
Learning how to unlearn
To know what the whites must return
Learning a culture that is not taught
Searching for places to learn when everyone wants you gone
And want to keep the image of your family mowing the lawn
Being able to take care of yourself
On your journey to becoming able to take care of others
Having a responsibility
Responsibility that weighs heavy on your back
Responsibility to salir adelante
To be someone gigante
So that your undocumented family is not always under attack
HYPHY is being who you are meant to be
Being the golden ticket
Being the light at the end of the tunnel
Being the angel God sent to your family
It is also knowing when the pressure gets to be too much
Knowing when to bring out the Vaporu
So the stress doesn’t eat you
Being grateful for all that your family has done
Caldo on days with the hottest sun
But only getting up from the sweaty table until there’s none
Thanking God everyday for your abuela
She raised you while your mom was searching for jobs then finally working
The unconditional love your family provides
Which is the risk in failing them
They would say they are still proud
But you wouldn’t be proud
HYPHY
Heal your people
Heal Yourself
Wanting to heal your people before you heal yourself
Recognizing you can’t heal your people, until you heal yourself
Having a heart so big
It feels every emotion to the max
Wanting to learn the facts
Fulfilling your parents’ American Dream
Joining the fight against the regime
HYPHY is love
Love for your family
Love for your people
Love for your culture
Love for your roots
Love for yourself
Realities
By Jessica Reyes
HYPHY is taking care of those less fortunate
Uplifting marginalized people and communities
Overcoming the boundaries life may bring
HYPHY is being able to walk the streets at night without fear or pepper spray
Without fear of getting your drink spiked when you go out to have fun
Without fear of becoming a victim to a crime simply because of the color of your skin, the shape
of your eyes, or the way you dress
HYPHY is consent that is given not implied
HYPHY is hoping that the people protecting us won’t turn around and put a knife in our backs;
It’s serving and protecting
It’s hoping that when someone sees something they say something
Accountability for all
HYPHY is getting guns off the streets so that children grow up with two parents
So that parents see their children grow old and meet their nephews and nieces
HYPHY is protecting children from the violence of the world
It’s fixing the way we teach our children in & outside of the classroom, so that they can create a
bigger and better society to live in when we are gone
HYPHY is prioritizing your mental health and overall well-being; not falling into the endless
cycle of drugs and alcoholism
Seeking help when help is needed; having a shoulder to lean on when the times get rough
HYPHY is healing:
Being confident in your own skin, your sexuality, your identity
Dropping the socially constructed façade of who you should be, and being who you want to be
It’s being optimistic instead of pessimistic; it’s giving instead of receiving
Last but not least,
HYPHY is respecting your family
Ending the machismo culture
It’s acknowledging the lifestyle our parents endured to give us a better life
HYPHY is taking our abuelita’s bendiciones, our parents’ tristeza, our own frustraciones, and
creating a pathway to success, physically and emotionally
Being Latinx comes with family bonds like no other
It’s succeeding where you are looked down upon
Being the first but not the last
When you think of HYPHY, think you, me, and we
Because we are all in this together
Image by @citlali_3_
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