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I hope that one day US Mainland faculty and institutions understand students that complete their degrees under a huge amount of stress. Today is a pandemic, but Puerto Rican college students have been through so many natural and political disasters over the last years. 1/n
In addition to hurricanes, earthquakes, and economic depression, we are victims of colonial oppression and governmental abuse. With a heavy heart, most of us have no other choice but to leave home, sometimes experiencing rejection from our own community. 2/n
We are resilient and perseverant when we are not speaking or learning in our native language, when we educate our microaggressors, and when we are reminded by standardized exams that other, more relevant academic achievements, are not enough. We still show up but also suffer. 3/n
When y'all review our applications for grad school, for grants, for jobs, don't think for a second that our academic experience is anything comparable to State applicants. In a given semester, we didn't just go to lectures, had jobs and struggled with tons of assignments, 4/n
we also fought and confronted our politicians, we defended our university against federal budget cuts, we faced the possibility of losing our institution's accreditation, and with that, the invalidation of our degrees, we spent months without power and limited potable water. 5/n
And we did that on top of an ongoing mental health crisis, in a system where seeking help is tabu, and its access incredibly limited. To financially survive and pursue our goals, we forced ourselves into exile and into new sociocultural challenges. We're young fucking adults. 6/n
We are US only colony and, damn, we are treated like one. If a Puerto Rican student forms part of your team, I urge you to start a conversation, create a safe space for communication. Diversity, inclusion, equity, rapport, yeah, aha. How about we start practicing it? /fin
