A multicultural Conversation

Conference challenges Missourians to strengthen Latino community

By Rebecca Rivas
Adelante assistant editor

Rebecca Rivas / Adelante Valorie Romero and Enrique Chaurand perform a lively folkloric dance for De Colores attendants.

KANSAS CITY — In a black suit with gold trim that sparkled across the room, Lt. Col. Consuelo Kickbusch stood in tears before 300 attendants of the De Colores conference at the University of Missouri. Don’t be fooled by my dress or my success, she told them. She once lived in a silver-painted boxcar while her father worked on the railroad in Laredo, Texas.
“But I got a chance,” she said. Many migrant children don’t get the opportunity to fulfill their dreams as she did.
“On behalf of all the children in migrant colonies, whose dreams have been shattered, I plead with you to be a new America,” she said, “one nation under God…for all.”
The crowd was moved to tears – a crowd that could not have been more diverse in ethnicity, ages, career titles and gender. They had all come to find answers to the question: How can we build a bridge between the incoming Latinos and the rural and urban communities of Missouri?
Throughout the course of the March 12-14 gathering, attendants came to some conclusions: They need to share resources and become more involved in the legislation that could make a difference.
In Kansas City, the city with the highest Latino population in Missouri, Hispanics will make up the largest minority by 2020, according to the Census 2000. However, Melinda Lewis, coordinator for El Centro in Kansas City, said the Census doesn’t tell us anything. In a survey of 200 people in Kansas City, Lewis found that only 38 percent filled out census forms. Most of the remaining 62 percent had not arrived at the time of the Census.
With over 11,000 Spanish-speaking children in the state, Spanish interpreters are needed everywhere, especially in rural Missouri.
With the economy slowing, budget cuts in social services are widespread. But despite the gloomy news on the budget front, the group seemed determined to find solutions during hard times. As Nancy Rios, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said, “Some of the best ideas come when there is no money.”
Rural clinics and community outreach programs are key to reaching this population and preventing problems in education, health care and law enforcement.
Community advocacy centers could also help police departments struggling with issues of racial profiling. In a study of police relations with immigrants in rural areas, Leigh Herbst from the University of Nebraska found that police officers refrained from stopping people who looked Hispanic because “they knew they couldn’t communicate with Spanish-speakers anyway.” They also checked boxes of white or Anglo for Hispanics in order to keep the ratio below levels that would classify as racial profiling.
After sharing horror and success stories, the attendants will have a common resource at their disposal: the conference website, www.decolores.org.
“This conference reminds me of the Spanish phrase for giving birth, “dar a luz,” or giving light,” said Domingo Martínez, a conference coordinator. “Someone had to say it, something had to be done.”

Life, Love and Family in the Spirit of Don Quijote

By Erin Eggers
Adelante staff writer

Rebecca Rivas / Adelante Victor Olvera from Marshall, Mo., won first place in the Don Quijote Literature statewide contest for his story about his journey to the United States. Miriam Reyes, behind, from Marshall placed third. Keyla Guzmán of Noel placed second.

Victor Olvera, an eighth grader at Bueker Middle School in Marshall, stood, shyly grinning, among eight other finalists of the Don Quijote Literature contest. The entire congregation of De Colores conference attendants clapped as he received a first-place award for his story and as Miriam Reyes of Bueker received her third-place award.
Writing the story took Olvera on a journey through his and his parents’ past. The experience turned out to be as much an education in family history as in writing.
“My mom told me that when I was about six months old...”
He recounts how he was left behind in Mexico with his grandmother when his father left to work in the United States, and his mother went to visit him after he’d been injured in an accident.
When his mother returned, he was a year and 2 months old. “I began to call my grandmother ‘mama’ and I didn’t want to go back with my mom.”
He also wrote about his little brother’s death and the new brother that filled his place a year later. When he was 11 years old, his family moved to the United States.
Olvera’s ESL teacher, Rebecca Morris, incorporated the contest into her curriculum. The contest’s theme, of life, love, and family, inspired students all over Missouri to explore their roots. Applicants were encouraged to write in whichever language they were most comfortable. Most of the winning stories were in Spanish.
Along with a first prize ribbon, Olvera also received $150. He said he’s thinking of sending the money home to Mexico, to his grandmother whom he left two years ago.
For the winning stories see www.decolores.missouri.edu.