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Hispanic at HBCU: Rattlers Come in All Colors

By Aurelio Mitjans
Black College Wire

I was mostly excited when I first found out that The Famuan, the student newspaper at Florida A&M University, wanted someone to write an article about being a Hispanic student at an HBCU.

At other times, I was confused. I kept asking myself, "What do I write about?"

My four years have gone by pretty well. No one yet has made me feel really uncomfortable about being a Hispanic Rattler.

However, I have encountered some interesting people.

First were the curious. These were the people who needed help with their Spanish, or reminded me how their best friend back home was 1/8,000 Dominican.

Some of the curious women called me "papi" every chance they had and my nickname provided them with ammunition for countless Scarface jokes.

Next were the oblivious. They came with a dude-you're-black-just-like-me attitude that was kind of refreshing.

Finally, the ignorant came along. They were my favorites. They would ask questions like, "What do you know about that? You're Spanish!" They say things like, "The Spanish people in Miami do this, Castro does that," as if all Cubans are part of some secret society working under him.

I had to school them and let them know that Cuba is more than 75 percent black, and that slavery in Puerto Rico was still going on after it had been abolished in the United States.

Those darts had to either be extremely sharp or thrown with great force, for ignorance raises a mammoth shield.

By the way, my father is a black man from Cuba and my mom is half-black, half-white, all Puerto Rican, in case you were wondering whether I had the credentials to write this article.

Over the past year, I have noticed an influx not only of Hispanic students, but of students either born in other parts of the Caribbean or possessing roots there.

A walk shoots me back home for a couple of minutes. It is not uncommon to see Puerto Rican, Haitian, Dominican, and Trinidadian flags emblazoned on a shirt, hanging around a neck or sewn to a backpack.

I remember when finding a decent cup of Cuban coffee in Tallahassee was about as difficult as finding Osama bin Laden, but things have changed.

Being here has allowed me to realize how knowing a second language is truly an advantage, and being at FAMU helped me appreciate the heritage I once took for granted.

When it comes to Hispanics we do not all look like Antonio Banderas or Salma Hayek.

We cannot all dance to salsa music, Believe it or not, we do not all speak Spanish.

We represent FAMU pretty well, being that just like Hispanics, Rattlers come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

Hasta luego.

Aurelio Mitjans, 22, is a senior broadcast journalism student at Florida A&M University. He is from Miami.