Tag Archives: Hispanic Center

Poet challenges social prejudices and misconceptions

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Gomez delivers encouragement through engagement.

By Emma Allen | Delta Digital News Service

JONESBORO, Ark. – Cold weather bearing 30-degree temperatures were no match for the itching ears of a crowd wanting to hear the words of Poet Carlos Andrés Gómez on Thursday, January 25th  at Arkansas State University.

The event, which was free to the public, was slated to be held in the Drama Theatre with a seating capacity of 344, but was changed to Riceland Hall, a 970-seat auditorium in the Fowler Center, due to social distancing guidelines for COVID-19. 

Gómez, a Colombian American poet, actor, and educator from New York City, stars in HBO’s “Def Poetry Jam” and has acted in films such as Spike Lee’s award-winning movie, “Inside Man”, with Denzel Washington. 

Gómez was invited to campus by the A-State Department of Theatre and its Office of Diversity and Community Engagement. 

“The faculty met with the theatre students last year and one of the things that we talked about was diversity issues,” said Associate Professor of Theatre Jeff Mclaughlin.

Mclaughlin said, “It became clear in that conversation that our students were interested in having more tools in their tool kit to deal with microaggression and social injustices that they didn’t really know how to deal with.” 

According to Mclaughlin, the department spent time this summer looking for someone they could bring in to discuss those issues.  He said Gomez was recommended by another group they had contacted during the search. The group was told they should “bring in Carlos.” 

Gómez has conducted workshops in the past that cover “Antiracism as Action”, “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion”, “Healthy Masculinity and Gender Equity”, and “Tools for Self-Care: Mental Wellness & Emotional Resilience.”  He covers some of the topics in his poems during his performance.

Sharon Lee, director of the Office of Diversity and Community Engagement really liked the idea of bringing in Gomez.

“We thought it was great,” Lee said.  “We wanted to be a part of it too.” 

Although colleges and universities are part of Gomez’s circuit, this was his first time performing at A-State and visiting Jonesboro.

“I mean, I think for me, the thing that I love most about visiting colleges and universities is, I feel like it’s a rare time that you encounter a human being when they are in this moment of tremendous change instead of flux and figuring out who they are,” he said.

Gomez said that he was very honored and humbled to have been invited to perform. “The city has been great and I’m really excited to be here,” he said.

Gomez’s  poems included such titles as, “Above The Speed Limit”, “Gifted”, and “Where Are You Really From?”

Although the event was attended by people within the community, the venue was packed with students.

Madison Stewart, a senior from Trumann appreciated Gomez’s attempt to connect with the audience during his performance.

“I think that Carlos was such a kind and genuine person. Having a conversation with his audience and turning us into a part of the performance was very important to him, and you could tell throughout,” Stewart said.

“I think that Carlos was such a kind and genuine person. Having a conversation with his audience and turning us into a part of the performance was very important to him, and you could tell throughout”.

Madison Stewart, A-State theatre major

“In between all of his poems, he took the time to talk to the audience about their personal life experiences and was genuinely interested in what we all had to say. I have never seen a poet as engaging as him, ”she explained.

Gómez said that human moments is what inspired him to write. “I don’t know if you have ever experienced a moment that feels really profound, but you’re the only person that seems to either see it, or appreciate it?  So, I think creating snapshots of really profound moments of being a human being, and also bringing some of those things that we don’t talk about to the surface, so we can deal with them,” he said.

            “I don’t know of another moment, and definitely another moment in adulthood, when I think people are as open and receptive to considering perspective so different from their own,” he elaborated.

Gómez said that he really relishes going into places and often being in spaces with people who may come from a different life experience, or have different ideas about the world.

Freshman Norah Wilborn of Jonesboro attended the event. Wilburn said she often encounters situations where her ethnicity and her behavior don’t match other’s expectations.

“I’m constantly told that I sound ‘white’….I’m not exactly sure what that means,” Wilborn said.  She said that Gomez’s poems helped her to understand about stereotypes people often encounter.

Juanita Acosta, Community Navigator with El Centro Hispano,  a community-based nonprofit organization serving the Latino community within the city also attended the event.

            “I think it was a really good opportunity to see that not everyone is there to judge you for who you are,” Acosta said.  “It was also special because he is of Colombian decent, and I am actually from Colombia as well.”

Acosta attended the event with friends and family members. “There were a few of us that went because we saw that he was going to be there.  We were happy about that.  It was nice because you don’t normally see that in such a small town in Arkansas, especially for such a famous poet like himself,” she said. 

After his performance, Goméz mentioned on Instagram, “Last night in Jonesboro, Arkansas at A-State was one of the most generous and vulnerable audience I’ve ever had.  The electricity of that experience was beyond words.”

Gomez met with attendees while signing several copies of his award-winning book, “Fractures” after his performance. Gomez was treated with an afterparty by event organizers before continuing on his tour to share. 

Hispanic community works to complete census among challenges

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By Krishnan Collins
Delta Digital News Service

JONESBORO – With the 2020 census on the horizon, the Hispanic community faces an ever present and mounting number of challenges while trying to get as many people to complete the census as possible. 

   Challenges like technological issues, misconceptions, the political climate and the coronavirus all represent a hurdle for the Hispanic community, said Gina Gomez, executive director of the Hispanic Center in Jonesboro. 

   Most of these challenges were expected, but the coronavirus situation presented new challenges and dampened plans that Gomez and others had been working on for a while. 

   “Even though we have been planning this work with the census for months now, we didn’t expect this was going to happen,” Gomez. “Every activity that we had planned, like door-to-door canvassing and going out to events where we were going to promote the census have been canceled. That’s a big challenge. Right now we are looking into ways we can continue promoting the census using online resources and social media.”

   Gomez emphasized in the current political climate there are many misconceptions on what will be done with the information given by families in the census. The community is working on educating families that information given will not be used against them or given to law enforcement agencies and informants. 

This graphic from Census.gov shows the percentages of various ethnic groups in Jonesboro and the United States.

   “Our people are afraid to provide information to the census,” Gomez said. “There’s been an educational phase where we have been trying to inform people about what the census is, how the census impacts them and also that there is not any risk by providing the information.”

   According to the census, counting children is a tough challenge for all families, no matter what ethnicity or race.

   “Children under 5 years old are among population groups historically undercounted in the census,” a Census Bureau press release said.

   Gomez said counting children in Hispanic families is a problem too. Gomez highlighted that many families completed a census in their home country, but once these families move to the United States they question whether they need to do the census or not.

   “Many families don’t understand what the impact the census has on your family or kids,” Gomez said. “If they don’t see the importance of bringing those funds to our city in order to have better schools, access to healthcare providers, improving our roads, it’s difficult to have people participating. A lot of this is education related. We need to educate our community.”

   This is the first year families can complete the census online. This makes it easier on some, but can also be a problem for others. 

   “For some of our families, they don’t have computer access, online access, they don’t have internet or they just don’t have the knowledge of how to do it,” Gomez said. “They can do it on a computer, an iPad or cellphone. It’s a little complicated for some of our people, especially for ones living in more rural areas. That’s one of the areas that we as the Hispanic Center were trying to work really hard on.”

   With the coronavirus dampening many ways to advertise the census, Gomez and the community have put a lot of emphasis on social media. Gomez noted just how important it is for Hispanic families to do the census as those families will see benefits moving forward. 

   “We hope by demonstrating the number of Hispanics we have in the area and in general the state, because we are part of the state coalition, we’ll be able to assure based on the percentage of Hispanics there are specific needs to target this minority in Arkansas by providing language services when it comes to healthcare or schools,” Gomez said. “But, if we are not able to demonstrate by how many people we have, the need will not be as evident even though we have the people here.”

   The coronavirus was not the only thing that affected the push towards the census. On March 28, an EF-3 tornado tore through Jonesboro. Homes and businesses were destroyed throughout the city. 

   “Now, more than ever, we need to bring funds to our city to help rebuild it,” a post on the Hispanic Center’s Facebook said. “You can help us with this, completing Census 2020.”

   Gomez worked with the Hispanic community in 2010 to complete the census but she said then the effort was not as widespread and did not have as many people involved. 

   “In 2010 Arkansas was really undercounted,” Gomez said. “We want to assure we are counting as many people as we can around the state this time so we are not letting those funds go.”

   According to the census, the Hispanic population makes up an estimated 6.1% of the total population in Jonesboro. The estimated total population in Jonesboro reads 76,990. 

   This time around the Hispanic Center created its own campaign with the city of Jonesboro and also created its own logo. There is also a state coalition called Arkansas Counts to spread the word about the census and efforts surrounding the census are more structured now.

   “When I moved here to this country, I didn’t understand why it was that important for me to fill out the census,” Gomez said. “But now that I have been educated on the topic I can educate others.”

Editor’s Note: Feature photo courtesy of the Jonesboro Hispanic Center: Members of the Hispanic Center and Jonesboro community work together to spread the message about the 2020 census.