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| Sergio Romo, a RHP for the San Francisco Giants./Getty |
Ana Perez/Presente.org
On the streets of San Francisco, Sergio Romo spoke for me. Wearing a T-shirt with the slogan "I just look illegal," he captured the attention of millions of people with a sentiment that most Latinos in this country have held for what seems like an eternity: the feeling that we are just not wanted in this country. While the word "illegal" has been wrongfully used to hurt and target undocumented immigrants, eroding one group's humanity hurts us all. But by taking on this word, Romo sent us a message of pride - pride of place, San Francisco, and pride of person, Latino.
Seeing Romo bouncing in Wednesday's celebration of the Giants' world championship while also wearing an unambiguous statement of Latino pride sent a significant message to Latinos nationwide: We're here, we matter - all of us.
I have lived in the Bay Area for almost 20 years. I have worked on behalf of civil rights for Latinos and immigrants for most of my career. Here on the Left Coast, I have collected countless stories of how I have been made to feel less than I am or that I don't belong in this country.
I've seen it all in San Francisco, from overhearing BART riders disparage Latino-looking construction workers on the train to encountering the not-so-subtle store attendants raising their voices and saying in a slow, patronizing tone, "Dooo yoouu need ... help?" as if I don't speak English. And I am not alone. Most people of color and those whites committed to ending racism know exactly what I am talking about.
Like most Latinos in the United States, Romo was born here. Yet, this is not what many people in this country think of him and other Latinos. More than 30 percent of non-Hispanics inaccurately assume that a majority of Latinos in the United States are undocumented, according to a new poll from the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Latino Decisions about media portrayals of Latinos and immigrants. The truth is only 37 percent of Hispanics in the United States are foreign-born (and about half of those are undocumented). The remaining 63 percent are natural-born Americans.
California, like the rest of the Southwest, was part of Mexico until 1848, when the United States expanded its territory. Romo's display of pride taps this history, this sense of Mexican and Latino belonging.
Yet, having our right to belong here questioned, consciously and not, happens every day and everywhere. This is what Romo's T-shirt was pointing out. That even a sports hero suffers from racial targeting in subtle and overt ways says much about how we have yet to become a post-racial society.
In the Mission, the neighborhood where I devoted many years of my life, the battle to belong rages on. A few months back, Latino neighbors woke up to find flyers that read "Mexicans Go Home" scattered on the streets. My former co-worker, Lorena De La Rosa, came to the community-based organization we worked at in tears. "I was born in this neighborhood. This is my home," she said.
Many Latinos living in the Mission are third or fourth-generation Californians, and some have roots going back even further. They feel squeezed out by the growing number of businesses that cater to affluent newcomers, by the racism they confront on the streets and by the forever-rising rents. To them and to most of us, Sergio Romo is a champion of many causes.
Thank you, Sergio Romo, for so powerfully reminding us of who we are.
Ana Perez is the movement building director for Presente.org, a national online Latino political engagement organization.