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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2015)
Street Roots • Dec. 11-17, 2015 Commentary Working to turn barrii Page 13 into bridges to a better future BY JOHN CAMACHO result, I wrestled with cultural identity, feeling regret that I had somehow let my y journey to the United States family down by not being successful enough. began at the age of 18 months. Only years later would I begin to realize how Unlike many of the harrowing much of the shame and guilt of being gay stones of illegal crossings full of danger and conveniently wrapped itself around had death, my crossing was aboard a jet plane being undocumented. I knew I could rely on from Mexico City bound for Chicago. My my language skills to prove to the straight, mother and I came here to meet my father white dominant culture that because I was who had come here to continue his career ' articulate, I was smart. It was my shield often used to mask my fear and feelings of as a professional soccer player. Although mj father was bom in the United States, he left inadequacy. Despite the real or perceived barriers I at the age of 13. Because he lived outside experienced, I realize now that the answer the United States all of his life, he was was always in me. The solution to my ineligible for any benefits for me, my sister problem was not so much a piece of paper, or mother. It would be a long battle before a document, but an attitude of security in ’ obtaining any legal status. who I was and what I could offer. My work At 14,1 began to struggle with yet at the Farmworker Housing Development another aspect of my acculturation that Corp, is in many ways a culmination of the crashed squarely into the face of my very work I have done as a county mental health traditional upbringing and home life. I was outreach worker, a tribal child protective an only son and I knew that I was gay. services social worker, gay activist, artist Coming out seemed easier than the and curandero. underlying dread I felt while I sat in As a family interventionist, w o rk in g with advanced placement classes at school and families who share so many of the same began to hear more and more of my fellow dynamics around acculturation that I had, I students testing and applying for prestigious can more easily relate the wellspring of colleges. In order to complete the process compassion and skills that my life for any loan application, I would have to lie. experience have brought me. I am seeing Out of fear, my choice was not to apply. As a how I can aid these families into a greater C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T M John Camacho is the project coordinator and family interventionist fo r at Farmworker Housing Development Corp. sense of who they are by emphasizing the value of their adaptive skills as a contribution to the dominant culture. It is especially rewarding to see them connect that capacity to how they are raising their children. In many ways, I am their child grown up. I can only imagine how much further these children will be able to go. Regardless of how or why they got here, it takes the heart of a lion to endure and supersede their challenges. I feel such deep admiration and respect for the tenacity and resilience of these families. They are taking the barriers created by acculturation stress in the family dynamic and turning them into bridges to better futures. Almost 10 years after submitting my application for residency and over 44 years since my arrival, I was sworn in as an American at the Paramount Theater in Oakland, Calif., on March 17, 2009. My mom and partner were with me that day as I stood with about 2,000 people in that gorgeous Art Deco palace and declared my allegiance to the United States of America. It was surreal, and somewhat anticlimactic after such a long wait, but I still cried. As I looked around, it was clear to me that finally and forever more I was a global citizen. LAUGHINGPLANET.COM
