- I don't like to say, we crossed the border,
I say, the border crossed us.
(upbeat music)
- I am first generation.
- I am a first generation American.
- So I am actually fifth generation.
And I'm Mexican, well Chicana.
- My grandfather, who recently passed,
he ended up landing in New Orleans
because it had that more Caribbean feel
because I'm Honduran American.
- My parents were both born in Dominican Republic
and then migrated over here.
I grew up in Miami, in a city called Carol City,
which is now called Miami Gardens.
Doesn't it just sound better?
Well that's gentrification for you, okay.
(laughing)
- The area that I grew up in is all being gentrified.
And these, and just to be clear, these aren't gentrifiers
they are actually "gentefiers", they're Latinos.
It's gente, meaning people en Espanol
and then a play on words with gentrified.
So gentefied 'cause it's your own people in your community
gentrifying the neighborhood.
- I did not grow up in an environment
with a rich Hispanic culture.
So I didn't know any different to be quite honest with you.
Moving to LA for my career
is where I really saw the differences.
- They're not trying to beautify
or better the community for the community.
They're bettering it for themselves.
It's like, I get it baby, I want you to find a place
to live too, I want you to feel comfortable.
But can you understand and see our point of view?
- My family comes from Washington Heights.
If you know New York, Washington Heights is very Dominican.
Or used to be very Dominican.
Now when I walk into a building that was Dominican
and smelled like mangu, and salami,
and you heard bachata blazing, you don't get that anymore.
Instead you get a hipster that's like, hey.
And you're just like, hey.
- You wanna come to this community
because of the fact that it's so enriched with culture.
Yet the main reason why you wanna come here
is the exact thing that you're erasing with your ignorance.
So as long as we're aware,
and then little by little let's take steps together,
I'll hold your hand, I got the time.
(dynamic music)
This is gonna sound bad,
I don't see people that look like me.
I don't think the American Dream
was created for brown people.
- I don't really resonate with the term American Dream.
At least, not anymore.
Maybe when I was a child I did.
But now when you grow up
and you really see America for what it is.
I don't think American Dream equals Julissa.
- It's something that my parents instilled in me
because their parents instilled in them
is you can do anything you want, you're enough.
And you don't have to apologize
and/or ask for permission to do it.
- I think that I am my ancestors' wildest dreams.
I think that's who I am.
I think I am living proof of my ancestors
in Dominican Republic, and in the motherland of Africa.
I think that that's the dream.
- I was raised knowing that anything
I wanted was okay to have.
I can't fully relate to other's experiences
because mine was so so different.
I was never not proud of who I was.
It was just an extension of who I was
and everyone around me.
- I think it's not about trying to achieve
the American Dream, but just to achieve
a life that works for you.
And create a whole new construct of what that looks like
so that the other one becomes obsolete.
It's not trying to change the one that we live in,
but create a completely separate one.
One where we can all work together and there's equity.
Because equality doesn't really work.
We need equity.
(upbeat music)
- Man, my dream for us is for us to realize that we are us.
- I can stand in my power as a female,
as a woman, as a Latina, and so can you.
- Keep having the conversation of what we want
and not the conversation of the way
in which we're being oppressed.
- We are beautiful with all of the melanin that we have,
all of the kinks that we have,
all of the beautiful juicy lips that we have.
- You are valuable no matter what you want in life.
No matter your background, your color, your ethnicity,
anything, your race, your religion, your sex.
You can do it.
- The dream for me is for little brown and black kids
to never have a doubt in their mind
that they can never do anything.
- You don't have to apologize or ask permission.
- I felt like, where are people like me?
And why do I get made fun of because of this?
I don't want them to ever have to feel that way.
I want them to come out of the room swinging
and say, look at me, I got this, I am enough.
(dynamic music)
- Oh my gosh, Gentefied is the exact
everything that is right right now with Hollywood.
- [Julissa] Gentefied is opening up
so much dialogue and conversation.
- It is multigenerational.
- Whether it be our grandparents,
our parents, us, the future.
- The Gentefied story starts a conversation
from every single side.
- Not vilifying anyone, but trying to humanize everyone.
And I think that is the progression that we need.
- [Karrie] Every single character,
whether man or woman, is so incredibly powerful.
- It's allowing us to see ourselves
in a way that we've never seen ourselves.
Allowing us to know that we are human, we make mistakes.
- We just are, and we've been here,
and we ain't going nowhere.
- Let us continue to tell our stories
because we're the only ones that are gonna get it right.