[Music]
[Applause]
before I was born my parents met fell in
love and got married in Mexico and they
knew that before they started to have
children they knew they had to leave
Mexico in order for their children to
have more opportunities than what they
had you see they wanted to come to the
US so that their children could have
exposure to other cultures and other
languages things that they had not
experienced before
more importantly they wanted their
children to have the opportunity to
really live out that American dream so
shortly after my parents got married my
dad the bravest most courageous man that
I know to this day said to my mom I'll
go first he left everything behind his
family his friends his work the only
language he knew was Spanish but he was
willing to come for his children and so
he did
with only a few dollars in his pocket a
month later he called my mom and said
I'm ready I'm gonna send for you I have
a job now I know a few words in English
I'm ready I have $10 in my pocket
come join me we can start a family my
mom the most compassionate kindest
person loving so that I know without any
hesitation said I'm coming and we're
starting a family my parents moved to
the US Dallas Texas and more
specifically Pleasant Grove my childhood
home still stands where it did back in
the 70s I'm within a drive away a short
drive away from that me I am a first
american-born citizen my first language
was Spanish
that is until my oldest sister started
kindergarten and my sister Marie would
go to kindergarten and she would learn
the ABCs and she will learn the numbers
and any words that she could absorb and
she would come back and teach her four
youngest siblings English she was able
to teach us that so by the time that I
started kindergarten I was prepared I
was set up for success
I was bilingual I could speak two
languages and I'm forever grateful to my
sister for that so again I would speak
Spanish with my parents because of the
sacrifices that they did and then I
learned English and I would do that at
school when I was in school there was no
program such as English as a second
language in any of the schools around
here and I remember one day a classmate
of mine she I saw her struggling she
didn't speak English as well she knew I
spoke Spanish so I asked her can I help
you in Spanish and she asked me a
question in Spanish and I answered her
in Spanish and I heard a faint voice
behind me from a teacher saying don't do
that I continued to help the little girl
because I didn't think she was talking
to me I didn't do anything wrong why
would she be talking to me so I
proceeded to answer the questions to my
classmate in Spanish but this time a
stern voice Laura stop don't do that if
you do it again you're going to the
principal's office I was confused what
did I do wrong I asked she said you
spoke Spanish this is America speak
English if you do it again you're going
to the principal's office assimilate
adapt be like everybody else for me that
was very confusing for me at the time
because the ages this is me between the
ages of 7 and 9 I was confused I didn't
know that was wrong after all I spoke
Spanish to honor the sacrifices that my
parents had made for me and yet I was
being told by
have authority to no longer do that but
that wasn't okay part of my identity was
being stripped away from me without me
even knowing I was a child I didn't know
how to defend myself I didn't know and
no one was there to help me
imagine the psychological effects that
has on a child think about that it's
like telling a child you can't play with
that toy or you snatch the toy away from
them we all know how that feels no kid
likes that but mine was worse I was
being asked to not be myself to take a
piece away of my life that I had
respected for so long and to stop I
didn't understand
Frasor raise your hand if you know a
child between the ages of 1 to 11 years
old it doesn't have to be your child it
can be a niece and nephew grandson
neighbor's kid at school Community
Church and keep your hands up please
it could be a friend's daughter son
anybody well I'm here today to propose
that you you and you and everybody who
raised their hand that you start to talk
to your children about what diversity
and inclusion means that you start its
educate them on what that truly means
diversity that's a differences that we
all have celebrating those differences
recognizing understanding them inclusion
piece of it is being kind being
compassionate inviting someone else to
the table along with you that's all it
means it's simple teaching our kids
talking to our kids the same way when
you're helping them with math or science
or reading talk to them about inclusion
the art of belonging and being kind
equip our children with powerful tools
that they can use one day as they
continue to grow up because guess what
they will grow up these children of
today will grow up to be
police officers policymakers recruiters
at corporate America judges and even the
President of the United States it's our
obligation let's start changing the
narrative it's up to us to make it
better research shows that kids between
the ages of 0 to 3 years old they start
to notice the differences in our skin
tones they don't know what it means yet
they're too little they're too young but
they also start to pick up on the words
that you're using the words that you're
using to describe those differences be
careful with that kids ages 4 to 6 start
to identify with those identities more
importantly they start to put a positive
connotation behind that identity or a
negative connotation kids ages 7 to 11
years old start to get deep in that
relationship with their identity they
start to know who they are again for me
I was confused during that time it's our
obligation to empower our children to be
courageous to be confident and to own
their identity that starts with you and
you and everybody in this room I
remember when I was graduating high
school I was becoming an adult and I
reflected the sacrifices that my parents
had made for me and the opportunities
that were approaching and I was so
excited because those opportunity that I
had were because of my parents
sacrifices and for me that's when I took
back my identity what that teacher had
said I blocked it out I forever I never
looked back
and I was proud of who I was I was proud
of my parents and their sacrifices no
longer was I embarrassed to speak
Spanish a couple years after that I
ended up working at one of the largest
entertainment and telecommunication
companies in the entire world I guess
what they paid me extra to speak Spanish
to the customers they did I was proud
and they fully embraced me my
my previous employer fully embraced
every single part of me in who I was and
I didn't have to hide I would walk in
the door proudly never had to hide but
also that was the first time that I
encountered a bully just a couple years
ago about three years ago to be exact I
mean at first I didn't understand I like
to think that I'm nice a nice person
people like me I work well and I'm smart
and I have good ideas that's what I
thought but no matter what ideas I had
or what ideas I shared with this person
everything was a no you never wanted to
collaborate with me he never wanted to
work with me no matter what are my
initiatives nope not gonna do it not
gonna support you and I didn't
understand I didn't but as he has more
and more time passed by he got
comfortable with being my bully to me
and he started to use words that were
demeaning in front of others in front of
30 40 people at a time and I remember I
remember that I wanted somebody just one
person one person to defend me but then
never happened that never happened no
one spoke up for me nobody did and I I
had to take that I did I did speak up it
wasn't okay the behavior that he was
demonstrating was not okay and the more
than I started to share this story with
my friend my friends and colleagues at
work the more I realized it wasn't just
me that this male colleague he had been
at the company for over 40 years and he
just did value their opinion of women he
didn't work well with women he didn't
like our ideas and that was sad I was
sad for me so I again spoke up
appropriately at my company and again
unfortunate fortunately for me that
resolved itself but that is the
consequence if we don't teach our
children of how to own their identity
how to educate other people that don't
look like him or think like them that is
a consequence
and that could happen and if we're
intentional about creating junior
diversity inclusion ambassadors if we
aren't very intentional about that we
can change we can change a lot of good
things for our children it's gonna help
us reduce bullying cyber bullying
bullying at work it does happen it's
gonna help us reduce gender biases that
unfortunately are still happening to
this day and it's also gonna help reduce
racial profiling and hate crimes that we
all know unfortunately are happening in
this world and right now all we can do
it's turn a blind eye and we shouldn't
we should start change we should start
changing the narrative today we
shouldn't wait so I'm asking everyone to
do three easy things three simple steps
role model the behavior that you want to
see your children be careful and mindful
of the words that you choose to use in
front of your children when you are
describing the differences of others be
mindful that me mindful the behavior be
compassionate be kind to others that's
what we want to see in our children
number two assess the environment and
what your children are in start with
your school if you're asking how if you
look at their school does everyone in
their school look like them think like
them come from the same backgrounds
that's not diversity and guess what when
your child goes to university or starts
in corporate America they're gonna get
hit with culture shock so it's up to you
to change that to create experiences for
your children that will help them
understand different cultures there's no
excuses you can go to a different
restaurant outside of your neighborhood
and try a different meal from a
different country there's no excuses
we live in this huge city of Dallas no
reason you shouldn't and there's so many
different events happening throughout
the community so we just celebrated dr.
Martin Luther
King jr. Day International Women's Day
is coming up Veterans Day is coming up
Diwali Hispanic Heritage Month pride no
reason why you should not create those
experiences for your child and number
three create a safe space for your
children
let them be able to talk to you about
things that are happening in their lives
these at they're experiencing it's so
easy the same way you're teaching them
about math and science talk to them
about the art of belonging and being
kind about what diversity and inclusion
really means I'm not asking to do
anything that I wouldn't do these the
pictures you see behind me these are my
children Lilly and Jay go there they are
junior diversity and inclusion
ambassadors and they've been that way
since I can remember and the proud
moment for me was when I was and
probably 20 feet away from my children
and I remember when my son he was 8
years old at the time somebody said
something racist and my son said that's
not okay that's a racist thing to say
don't say it again
that was a proud moment and my son is
now educating his friends and my
daughter is now educating her friends
about what that means as well it's very
important I do this to pay homage to my
parents and pay tribute to the
sacrifices that they did when they moved
over to the u.s. to give me more
opportunities to live out the American
dream that's why I teach my children I'm
educating them and I'm empowering them
so that if they're confronted with the
bully or a teacher that says you can't
be who you are that they know how to
defend themselves that they own their
identity and they're proud of who they
are I'm in power my children so tonight
when you and you and you go home tonight
and you hug your children or your
neighbor's kids
or your niece or nephew when you go home
and you hug them start changing the
narrative teach them about what
diversity and inclusion means it's
important if we do this right if we do
this consistently we have the
opportunity to change their schools the
community and even society thank you
[Applause]