Blotches of paint filled an empty canvas on Wednesday afternoon in honor of Latin Heritage Month, with each stroke illustrating how the Ramapo College community defines what it means to be LatinX in America.
“No one has to speak on what they think this is. It’s a drawing and everyone can perceive it in their own way,” said Niocelys Guzman, junior nursing major and president of Chi Upsilon Sigma.
Committed to educating, elevating, and empowering Latinas, Chi Upsilon Sigma’s Ramapo chapter was founded in 2014 and continues to uphold the values of its founders. Representing all genders and identities at its renamed LatinXpression event, the sorority encouraged students, faculty and staff to push past prevalent stereotypes and contemplate the …show more content…
“Everyone should have the right to love who they are and love their roots without being discriminated against.”
By empowering both Latinos and non-Latinos to share their point of views, Chi Upsilon Sigma, like most other multicultural groups on campus, set the stage for a dialogue against stereotypes.
“There are a lot of stereotypes that go around, especially on campuses. This is a predominantly white school and since there is not enough of us, they really don’t know what we do or who we are,” said Guzman. “That’s what Chi Upsilon Sigma and other sororities and fraternities are trying to expand upon. We’re trying to educate people on what we are, what we do and our culture.”
Drawings on the canvas, including musical notes and flags of various countries, highlighted the diversity and reality of the LatinX culture, heavily contrasting with the conventional image perpetuated by lack of awareness. Participating students seemed confident in Ramapo’s ability to defy these stereotypes that depict Latinos as loud, uneducated drug dealers by continuing programming such as
“No one has to speak on what they think this is. It’s a drawing and everyone can perceive it in their own way,” said Niocelys Guzman, junior nursing major and president of Chi Upsilon Sigma.
Committed to educating, elevating, and empowering Latinas, Chi Upsilon Sigma’s Ramapo chapter was founded in 2014 and continues to uphold the values of its founders. Representing all genders and identities at its renamed LatinXpression event, the sorority encouraged students, faculty and staff to push past prevalent stereotypes and contemplate the …show more content…
“Everyone should have the right to love who they are and love their roots without being discriminated against.”
By empowering both Latinos and non-Latinos to share their point of views, Chi Upsilon Sigma, like most other multicultural groups on campus, set the stage for a dialogue against stereotypes.
“There are a lot of stereotypes that go around, especially on campuses. This is a predominantly white school and since there is not enough of us, they really don’t know what we do or who we are,” said Guzman. “That’s what Chi Upsilon Sigma and other sororities and fraternities are trying to expand upon. We’re trying to educate people on what we are, what we do and our culture.”
Drawings on the canvas, including musical notes and flags of various countries, highlighted the diversity and reality of the LatinX culture, heavily contrasting with the conventional image perpetuated by lack of awareness. Participating students seemed confident in Ramapo’s ability to defy these stereotypes that depict Latinos as loud, uneducated drug dealers by continuing programming such as