To My Dearest Ancestors,
Because of you I have power, strength, and resilience burning in my veins, passing through every ounce of my body. But I’m left with one question for you:
Am I Your Wildest Dream?
Did you ever dream this is how the world would turn out? Turned over by newly found institutions built against us? Would you have dreamt that we would find a way to push past the darkness and come out from the other side with bright light shining in our path? We did because of you.
Am I Your Wildest Dream?
Is my ambition and need to succeed everything you hoped it would be?
Am I Your Wildest Dream?
Did you ever look at all the negativity brought throughout time and think that through it all, a brown skinned, puffy haired daughter would bloom through all the adversity? Who chose not only to look past it, but use it as a fuel to propel her into better days. Harnessing all the positivity and light around her, her prayers finally coming to light as she embraces the dreams and aspirations she’s developed because of the mindset you’ve helped instill in her.
Am I Your Wildest Dream?
Because you are mine.
Hearing your sons and daughters, my grandmothers and grandfathers, reminiscing about all that we’ve endured. The sacrifices and pain was all cast aside because the day you dreamt of has arrived; all your blood, sweat, and tears have lead to a better life.
You sent your daughters, my great grandmother and her sisters, from Mexico to the US at a young age. You told them it would all be fine because you were sending them to a place you truly believed was divine. When they arrived the only mindset they had was an everlasting drive to strive and a constant need to succeed. It’s you that I thank for that.
I hope I’m your wildest dream.
You never would’ve imagined that despite all the pain and struggle, we’d come out on the other side. I say we because without you there is no me. And with me I hope I’ve become everything you wished I could be.
Because of you I know we’re going to succeed.
In the end I know I Am Your Wildest Dream.
As crazy as it seems.
So thank you for being everything you can be.
In my heart, through my veins, it’s going to forever be you and me.
With the deepest love,
Samantha A., We Are What They Envisioned
Roxana Dueñas, Eduardo López, and Jorge López are three groundbreaking teachers who created the Ethnic Studies course “Boyle Heights and Me” for ninth grade students at Roosevelt High School. Using the themes of resistance, resilience, and re-imagination, students analyze the root causes of oppression while taking a closer look at their own identities and their Boyle Heights community.
We Are What They Envisioned explores how students must navigate and carry the histories of their ancestors as they walk towards their own futures. Inspired by Octavia Butler, Tupac Shakur, Kendrick Lamar’s song DNA, and the concept of becoming their ancestors’ wildest dreams, this collection of student writing reveals reflections on the past of colonization, the present of their current family struggles and success, and the future of their own legacies for the next seven generations.
