18111 Nordhoff Street

Northridge, CA 91350
September 12,2020
Kenverly Rosas
7615 Harrison Street
Pacoima, CA 91331

Dear Kenverly,

I am writing this letter to inform you of all the new interesting information I have learned.
Although you may have your personal thoughts about Central Americans, I am here to explain to
you that they go through similar situations and sometimes go through even more than us
Mexicans. For example, Mexicans do battle to get over the border, but Central Americans have
to walk thousands of miles more to get over and remarkably do not make it across the border. On
their trips from Central America to hopefully the U.S, Central Americans face murder, rape,
exortion, and plenty of other dangers which can be traumatic, especially for minors. One piece of
information that really caught my attention was when I read the article “Central Americans
Migrants are on the Word of Mouth Exodus to the US” which stated that Mexican officials
detain Central Americans for weeks or months in detention facilities where they are beaten up or
tortured, and forced to pay for food. I would think that because Mexicans go through similar
situations while crossing the border, they would help out instead of abusing people who
essentially only want to cross over to live a better lifestyle. Most people would have much rather
wanted to stay in their home countries, but they left due to financial problems, gangs, and
because of ongoing wars.
According to the video “Why are Indigenous People Dying at the Border”, Guatemalans
make up for the largest portion of unaccompanied minors. Indigenous people leave their cultures,
traditions, and most importantly their language which is a part of their characteristic. Not only
are Indigenous children traumatized but so are other immigrant children. These children have
difficulties learning in classrooms. Lavandez who wrote the article ​Visibly Hidden: Language,
Culture, and Identity ​stated that students daydream in the classroom because they are thinking of
family members they left behind or could have been thinking of traumatic war zones such as
witnessing violence. One teacher Lavandenz worked with called one of her students a space
cadet which is someone who appears to be in his or her own world or out of touch with reality.
Rather than degrading these students and calling them “low performing”, they should be
receiving more guidance because it is clear they need someone to understand where they are
coming from. Also, many Indigenous Maya students may struggle in the classroom because they
can not speak any language but dialect. Children who speak dialects suffer at the border because
it is uncommon for interpreters to speak any dialect. About 5 Maya children will die at the
border. Because children can not communicate they do not get properly taken care of and get
less medical assistance. More people should try learning more about the Mayan Culture and
learn the language. It is important to know about different Central American cultures because at
the end of the day, even if the U.S may not want them, these students do make up a majority of
students at multiple schools.
As said in the article “Becoming Hispanic”, Central Americans are identified as Latinos or
Hispanics when they arrive in the U.S. People who come from Central America were not used to
hearing those terms. When people think of both those terms the first race that comes to mind is
Mexican. It is a common stereotype to believe that all brown people “look alike” and are
Mexican. As a result of this, plenty of Central Americans have lost their true identities. Although
some may feel as if they have lost their true identity, they still carry strong pride within their
culture and race.
I hope I made this straightforward and will learn as much as I did.

Sincerely,
Donna Calzada