Celebrating Representation

Linda Rosa-Lugo

• Associate dean of faculty excellence, graduate and global affairs
• Founder and director of UCF Listening Center at the UCF Communication Disorders Clinic
• Associate professor of communication sciences and disorders

The first time I saw West Side Story was the first time I saw someone on the silver screen who looked like me. I am a Puerto Rican baby boomer who grew up in Soundview, a housing project in the Bronx, New York.

Every summer my brother and I went to Puerto Rico to visit my grandparents, my dad, sister and brother, and our extended family on both sides. We enjoyed the beauty of our island, but I never had any Puerto Rican role models.

Then I saw Rita Moreno. Her character, Anita, brought our rich culture to life through singing, salsa dancing and her passion for family. In our neighborhood, I had been exposed to all those wonderful things by my mother — a dancer — and by our extended family.

West Side Story also told the story of the rivalry between two teenage street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks. To this day, their conflict reminds me of how much we have struggled. We still have a long way to go for people to see us, Puerto Ricans, as American citizens or the beauty of our diverse skin colors, the richness of our language and culture, or our contributions [to society].

Geraldine Charles

• Biomedical sciences major and women’s and gender studies minor
• Alpha Xi Chapter of Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority Inc. member

I’m Afro-Latinx, but it’s not because my Latinx side is rooted in African descent. It’s because I’m biracial: Nicaraguan and Haitian.

Growing up in the Latinx community, I didn’t encounter very many people who looked like me, and sometimes it was hard for me to feel accepted because of my darker complexion and my hair.

I was 7 or 8 when I saw the video for Celia Cruz’s “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” (“The Black Woman Has Style”). Just seeing her want and need to celebrate being a Latinx, dark-skinned woman was a very positive influence for me. We need to start having these conversations and celebrating the different hues and shades within the Latinx community. I would like to see cultures across the world embrace being Black and brown as a beautiful thing, so little boys and little girls can grow up feeling accepted and loved and stand proud.

I have been blessed to be immersed in different cultures. And being Latinx and Haitian, I’ve been able to see the world in a lot of different ways. It’s shown me that even though all of our struggles are different, we’re often struggling in the same ways.

Justin Andrade ’10

• Assistant director of programming for the Office of Student Involvement
• President of the Pride Faculty and Staff Association
• Psychology graduate

I grew up with influences from Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Panama, but I really identify as Cuban and Colombian/Panamanian.

When I was in fifth grade I started watching ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?, which chronicled a Cuban family coming to Miami and experiencing American culture. It was actually the first American bilingual sitcom and the first time I got to really see myself on TV and hear things my abuela or abuelo would say. I related a lot to the daughter, Carmen, who was always kind of torn between wanting to understand American culture, but her family was always like, “No, you’re Cuban. You have to remember that you’re Cuban.”

In college, I did a lot of identity exploration and I was trying to understand how I fit into this American makeup of what being Latinx is or what being American looks like. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I don’t need to compromise any of my identities to fit into any kind of mold of what it means to be American, Latinx, or even Latinx and gay. For me, it’s really important that I talk about both, and that they’re not exclusive — they’re intersected — because I’m just as proud of being gay as I am of being Cuban, Mexican and Colombian/ Panamanian.