On Oct. 1, Villanova School of Business brought in Dr. Javier Ávila as part of its Spotlight Speakers Series. This event is part of a wider Villanova celebration of National Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month which takes place from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.
Dr. Zakiya Elliott, the Assistant Director of VSB UNITAS, began the event, thanking sponsors.
“We would like to thank our hosts today, CASA, the Center for Access, Success and Achievement, and our Hispanic and Latine Ministry from Mission and Ministry,” Elliott said.
Elliott then introduced the speaker, providing background on his achievements and his development of his show.
“In 2015, he was named Pennsylvania’s Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation,” Elliott said. “This award inspired Javier to take his classroom to the masses, using the power of poetry and storytelling to deliver a compelling message about unity and inclusion. And so, ‘The Trouble with My Name’ was born.”
Ávila began his performance by discussing the negative comments made about Bad Bunny, a Puerto Rican like himself, playing the halftime show at the upcoming Super Bowl.
“Bad Bunny, like me, is very much an American because we are all, all Puerto Ricans are American citizens, and we actually have more Puerto Ricans in the U.S. than in Puerto Rico,” Ávila said.
Ávila moved into discussing his relationship with race and the differences between his understanding of race in Puerto Rico and in the United States.
This, he said, was the “bubble that needed to burst first in my life, the bubble of race.”
He continued talking about other things he began to realize as he got older. Growing up, he did not understand the level of trauma his father carried from his time serving in the Korean War. As a Puerto Rican soldier fighting in a segregated army, Ávila shared that his father was put in highly traumatic situations.
“Puerto Rican soldiers were not allowed to fight alongside white soldiers, and the missions that they had were essentially suicide missions,” Ávila said. “So he experienced something so awful as to have his best friend die in his arms.”
Ávila then discussed his experiences in both Puerto Rico and the U.S. on the topic of language.
At the University of Puerto Rico, Ávila said he was made fun of for speaking “Spanglish” to his friends and classmates, being accused of trying to impress them by being bilingual. This judgement, Ávila explained, followed him to Pennsylvania.
“Something could happen if you were caught speaking Spanish while brown,” Ávila said. “Hopefully nothing, but every now and then someone will say the words, ‘This is America, speak English.’”
To cope with incidents like this, Ávila stated that he writes poetry. He read his poem “Denied Service” aloud. This is a poem about a negative encounter with a waitress that occurred while he was speaking Spanish with a colleague.
Despite many negative experiences, Ávila shared the importance of channeling his father’s attitude.
“You can’t just have a single story of one place based on one bad thing that happens, because there are many people who are good, who are kind, who don’t want to exterminate you, and you have to live your life with that kind of optimism,” Ávila said. “I would say, if you want to be happy, you have no choice. You can’t live life thinking people suck.”
Ávila then moved into a discussion about his experiences of becoming part of the minority when he moved from Puerto Rico.
“When you become a minority, you realize that one of the burdens is that you constantly have to prove that you are not the stereotype that they have of you, and that can be exhausting,” Ávila said. “Not only do people hold entrenched stereotypes but they also still doubt you even though you know your stuff. They will question your credibility, your qualifications.”
Through a poem titled “The Trouble with My Name,” Ávila illustrated the many ways in which individuals have mispronounced his name. He used this poem to transition into discussing his mother and grandmother’s stories, specifically speaking on his grandmother’s involvement in politics as a Puerto Rican nationalist. Due to waiving a Puerto Rican flag during a time in which that was banned, his grandmother had to serve time.
He spoke to the significance and contradictory nature of this punishment.
“We could not express our Puerto Rican-ness,” Ávila said. “The point is, this was happening in the 50s while her three sons, my dad and my two uncles, were fighting for this country and all came back damaged.”
Ávila concluded his presentation with his poem, “En Casa de Abuela,” dedicated to his grandmother.
By sharing his story, Ávila shed light onto the importance of culture and one’s identity.
Villanova will continue to celebrate Hispanic Latine Heritage Month with a variety of events and conversations in the upcoming weeks.
