“Cuba Libre!” screamed the Cuban-Americans that gathered in the streets of Hialeah the night the man who altered the course of many lives, including mine, died. My grandmother, a Cuban widow, who’d live over 50 years in American and speaks close to no English, experienced the pain of Castro’s regime first-hand. That night, at a fatigue-filled 85 years old, she would take out the Guiro, a Cuban instrument used usually for celebrations like fiestas and Noche Buena, and frantically strum while yelling “¡Fidel está muerto!”
Castro became Prime Minster of Cuba in 1959, the year after my father’s birth in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. My father’s family, a farming and tobacco manufacture, beginning from nothing in the early 1900s, grew into a …show more content…
He’d say this while speaking about Socialist/Communist concepts which would be heard in the policies of both Democrat candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. My father, a strong Catholic Conservative, was not afraid to speak out against his elected officials, and create a conversation about Presidential Candidate campaigns and polices. He did this, well, because he could. During his life in Cuba, and even today, Cubans do not have this basic right. In my life, especially through my studies of the American Constitution and political system, I see the importance of this basic, natural right. To speak out, to protest, to assemble, all these basic rights stem from a place that is also taken for granted by much of Americans, education. Though it may seem that Cuba’s current 100% literacy rate means much, in my eyes it doesn’t. Education is power, education is the ability to understand injustice and is the force behind a growing anger to get up and speak out against corruption. This is all motivated by our mind’s urge for fairness and equality. When we understand that something is injustice or unfair, we strive to bring balance. I truly believe that it is human instinct to seek fairness, not just for oneself but for all. How can, per these statistics, such an educated Cuba continue to allow injustice among its country. How can the Cuban people, commonly …show more content…
In my grade school years, the power of words, pierced my heart. I was constantly bullied and even physically attacked by many of my classmates. My mind began to tell me that I was stoppable. I was weak. These bullies were given the power by my dismissiveness, to control my self-worth. My inability to speak up, to fight back, only gave more power to my oppressor. I continued to search for outside help, but the only true help I needed was from within. It is within myself that I gained back my self-worth, and the power I once gave to my oppressor, was given back to my self-esteem. Intrapersonally, from within, I could escape this cycle of pain and injustice. While this circumstance is one from my own experience, I have seen in my community. Since I began learning American Sign Language, I saw the abuse Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community faced in our hearing world. Language deprivation of children, separation of families, sexual abuse, immense self-consciousness, and social isolation are just some of the burdens my Deaf friends have encountered, all just for being Deaf. Just like the Cuban people, my family included, traveling in groups and agglomerating in similar areas (Hialeah, Little Havana, etc.) so do those with a Deaf identity (Gallaudet University, St. Augustine, FL, Deaf Club, etc.) I have become active in this community and will
Castro became Prime Minster of Cuba in 1959, the year after my father’s birth in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba. My father’s family, a farming and tobacco manufacture, beginning from nothing in the early 1900s, grew into a …show more content…
He’d say this while speaking about Socialist/Communist concepts which would be heard in the policies of both Democrat candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. My father, a strong Catholic Conservative, was not afraid to speak out against his elected officials, and create a conversation about Presidential Candidate campaigns and polices. He did this, well, because he could. During his life in Cuba, and even today, Cubans do not have this basic right. In my life, especially through my studies of the American Constitution and political system, I see the importance of this basic, natural right. To speak out, to protest, to assemble, all these basic rights stem from a place that is also taken for granted by much of Americans, education. Though it may seem that Cuba’s current 100% literacy rate means much, in my eyes it doesn’t. Education is power, education is the ability to understand injustice and is the force behind a growing anger to get up and speak out against corruption. This is all motivated by our mind’s urge for fairness and equality. When we understand that something is injustice or unfair, we strive to bring balance. I truly believe that it is human instinct to seek fairness, not just for oneself but for all. How can, per these statistics, such an educated Cuba continue to allow injustice among its country. How can the Cuban people, commonly …show more content…
In my grade school years, the power of words, pierced my heart. I was constantly bullied and even physically attacked by many of my classmates. My mind began to tell me that I was stoppable. I was weak. These bullies were given the power by my dismissiveness, to control my self-worth. My inability to speak up, to fight back, only gave more power to my oppressor. I continued to search for outside help, but the only true help I needed was from within. It is within myself that I gained back my self-worth, and the power I once gave to my oppressor, was given back to my self-esteem. Intrapersonally, from within, I could escape this cycle of pain and injustice. While this circumstance is one from my own experience, I have seen in my community. Since I began learning American Sign Language, I saw the abuse Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community faced in our hearing world. Language deprivation of children, separation of families, sexual abuse, immense self-consciousness, and social isolation are just some of the burdens my Deaf friends have encountered, all just for being Deaf. Just like the Cuban people, my family included, traveling in groups and agglomerating in similar areas (Hialeah, Little Havana, etc.) so do those with a Deaf identity (Gallaudet University, St. Augustine, FL, Deaf Club, etc.) I have become active in this community and will