Volume 14 Issue 3 

2020  

AMAE Special Issue  

Latinx Students at Minority-Serving Institutions 
 

 

Guest Editors  

Taryn Ozuna Allen 
Texas Christian University 
 

 
 

Charles Lu 
University of California, San Diego 

 

 

 

Emily Calderón Galdeano 
Elevate Consulting Group

 

 

Editors  

Patricia Sánchez 
The University of Texas at San Antonio 
 

Antonio J. Camacho 

AMAE, Inc.  
 

Associate Editors  

Julie L. Figueroa  
Sacramento State  
 

Lucila D. Ek  
The University of Texas at San Antonio 

 

Managing Editor 

Christian Fallas-Escobar  
The University of Texas at San Antonio     
 

Association of Mexican American Educators Journal 
A peer-reviewed, open access journal 

 

http://amaejournal.utsa.edu ISSN: 2377-9187 



Ibarra 

Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE) Journal © 2020, Volume 14, Issue 3  
 

140 

On Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 

 

Anahi Ibarra 

University of California, San Diego 
 

Put me on the front cover of a school pamphlet,  

just so you can claim diversity 

and brag about how you have it. 

Use me as proof that you’re doing way more  

than you have been. 

But if that’s true then tell me why, 

the work you’re doing feels stagnant. 

 

You can’t imagine, 

how difficult it has been 

to navigate institutions 

that were not created for your skin. 

To navigate the culture of classrooms 

with rhetoric  

that is violent and oppressive, 

yet we’re expected just to sit.  

& listen. 

 

Don’t want to dive too much into descriptions,  

But on the note of equity, let’s talk tuition. 

You want diversity so bad  

But won’t support our transition.  

And with no help financially,  

we struggle with basic needs 

 & It’s got you questioning  

how we ever got in these conditions. 



Ibarra 

Association of Mexican American Educators (AMAE) Journal © 2020, Volume 14, Issue 3  
 

141 

 

I bet it’s the reason why most student workers look like me, 

I nod my head and greet them every time they pass by me, 

Faculty, students and custodians who remind me  

of the resilience we carry  

and why we must keep trying. 

 

So, this is why we say that representation matters, 

Not only in the posters and pictures you love to plaster.  

It matters in the books and research we’re told to master, 

It matters in the questions you ask, and how you answer. 

 

This is also why we say diversity ain’t enough, 

What good is a seat at the table,  

if I can’t speak up? 

What good is speaking up, 

if people hear but won’t listen? 

Tell me how it is you plan on making a difference.