Internal Strategic Vision

My Name is Samantha Melo, and I am not your local Hero. I am a young Latina, cisgender woman activist with high hopes for a better future. I was raised in a traditional Dominican household with three siblings and hardworking parents. I spent most of my youth in my native country, where I thought I lived a perfect life. That idea changed when I moved to the US and was exposed to a completely different culture of people and realized I was different from my peers. Being different wasn’t a good thing in middle school. I had to look over my shoulder on my way home from school, often ate lunch by myself and was made fun of when I spoke or read aloud. It was hard for me to advocate for myself when I didn’t know how to express myself, and for a while I let the feeling of intimidation and oppression stick with me.

Fast forward ten years I can say I’ve build a tough skin. Through my relationships with others, and my experiences working with youth, I’ve grown to love healing and supporting other people as best I can. I trust that the little work that I do, makes all of the difference. I wouldn’t be who I am if it weren’t for the compassion and the humanity of others. I feel mostly inspired by my colleagues and their passion for social justice and equity. When like-minded people surround me, I am more at ease and have high hopes for positive change and peace in the near future. I can see a world where there is love and acceptance. A place where we feel comfortable being vulnerable and can be our authentic selves. I hope I can carry that feeling everywhere I go and share that with young people so that they can help create the world they wish to be a part of.

Staying motivated through this work has been by far the biggest challenge. I struggle through watching the news and hearing what is happening around me and feeling helpless. Especially when I see how it affects folks at school or at work and our goals become unobtainable. Those are the days it is hard to believe things will get better. Those are the days I question my ability to do this work and wonder if I am even capable of representing my community. What are we missing? Am I doing things right?

I hope for the day when I get to wake up and step out to the world being myself. Where I walk down the street and people are looking at me in the eyes and not my body. I hope for a day where people greet others and wish them a good day, instead of crossing the street with their heads to the ground or staring blankly on a device. A day where I can have dinner with my family and tell them my lesbian friend is getting married and wants me to be a bridesmaid without feeling awkward. I dream of a day, where I walk my son to school and I trust that he is safe, receiving the best education and is supported by the adults in the school despite his challenging behavior. I dream of a day where my mother doesn’t feel the need to work two jobs in order to make ends meet because she lives in the city with the highest living cost. I dream of a place where families stay together, regardless of their legal status, and receive the necessary tools to succeed.

Ultimately, it’s all about unity and love. It’s about continuing to learn about others accepting them for who they are. It’s about not having fear for the unknown and engaging in the noise for change. It’s about sticking together with love and compassion and trusting one another. It’s about respect for yourself and others.