Henry Sales: Why Indigenous Families May Hide Their Identity
Henry Sales (Mam) explains why Indigenous families from Latin America may be reluctant to share their language or culture due to the discrimination they may have faced or continue to encounter.
Transcript
Indigenous families living in the U.S. may hide because, or may hide their identity or language because they have been victim of discrimination and racism in the past. Maybe sometimes in the past they, they were told, “Oh, you should be ashamed of your culture and language,” and they just want to get rid of the language because they think that if you speak Spanish or English you’re, you may have more rights. Or if you keep speaking the Indigenous language you’re stupid, right. Or if you speak Spanish and English you’re educated, but if you only speak the Indigenous language, you’re uneducated. Those are some of the reasons that students and indigenous families are afraid to tell who they are or they hide their identity and their language.