Dear First-Generation Latinx Millennials,

Our generation is known as the millennial generation. The dreamers of society, if you will. The ones who believe that our generation believes that we cannot be in a workplace that does not feel like making a difference and work well when we are part of a culture that is open to talking to the higher up. Other generations look at us as the “oh boy” generation. But as a Latina, being 20% of the millennial population, I believe that the US Hispanic “millennial” generation can change to be part of changing its "rep" to being a “Movement” generation.

Our generation grew up with the vast belief that we could do anything that our mind placed us with. We also grew up with the most rapid technology growth in history that has made knowledge accessible to most who have wanted it. Not only grow up with the rapid technology that our parents have but with the knowledge of the stories from previous generations. The stories of the struggles in the past and what happens when a society does not work the way that it has to.

I know that a lot can relate to their parents treating them as if they were part of a vast “movement”, but the problem is that a lot of us did not have to work this hard. We were fortunate enough to gain the knowledge from past generations. We can potentially move to being “the movement” generation because we have the passion for making a change and for being a part of something that is meaningful.

I remember the countless stories where my mom used to talk about budget cuts and things that the governor did that made her upset. I remember my mom telling me stories of her days at the University, “When I was in the UP(University of Puerto Rico) we fought so hard” and her battles to argue on why Puerto Rico should not be a state. I see that in our schools as we make marches for equality, but I wonder, why when things do not happen immediately do we stop? Why do the emotions get passed many of us, who decide to stay silent? It makes me angry the generation has so many ways to unite: Social media, telephones, newsletters, and just by going out and talking to people, and still we cannot be consistent with our resistance. I love that I have the love for the US as much as I do love Puerto Rico. It saddens me when things such as budget cuts happen and tuition rises, but people still say well we cannot change it why fight it? Your family probably had to fight for a long time to get where they wanted to be, they did not make things happen by saying “Oh well”.

My abuela taught me the ways of the real story of why Columbus day existed by bringing me to the library and reading to me stories of how Christopher Columbus killed all the Native Americans and brought disease to our nation. She reminded me of how it was nothing to celebrate for and that in our nation, we have never learned how to be independent because we have not been given the chance to for so long.

This history teaches us as, Latinos, of what happens if we sit there and do not do enough. We as Tainos are no longer defenseless like they were. Most of us went to school for free, some of us went to higher education, and some of us will soon be getting a master’s in something. We, as the Latinx generation are strong.

My papi, although not very into politics, taught me the movement in a very different way. My Papi needed to fight for everything that he earned to maintain it. Nothing was handed to him and for that, he has lived a life of pain but has grown to be very wise.

I tell you these stories so that you begin to understand that the battles and the movements of our previous family generations. It may not be the battles that we have gone through, but it is the battles that we learn from and gain knowledge. We also have the power to gain knowledge in the click of a button.

It amazes me how we have so much technology in the palm of our fingers and we decide to not use it sometimes. We decide that we can not confide in the news because all of the news is skewed. However, we do not take the time to research what is good out of it to make our own conclusions about things.

Many of our generation says that they want to mean something. They want to be happy in what they do. However, in order to be happy, there is going to be a lot of sorrows. It takes an of battles and that’s something that a lot of the Latinx generation has. Learning from others and trying to unite with others is the way we are able to be effective.

As Latinx members we are fortunate to have to opportunity to see the struggles that we have had and deal with the oppressions that we might have faced. Through the times that we have felt belittled can help us identify the people who may oppress others and work towards showing that oppression is the wrong ideology to use because understanding how others feel is an advantage in itself.

We have learned from our parents that we cannot sit there and watch the world dominate us. We have learned from our ancestors that are not the way to handle things because many people will get hurt if we sit there and do nothing. However, that does not mean that we must fight every battle. Some battles we must walk away from like our ancestors and strategize how we will. We must learn from previous generations on how things were done, and what needs to change when moving towards our own. As the future generation, we should not only strategize what we see around us but how we have to change ourselves in order to be a better asset for the world.