FLINT, Michigan – Somos Latinx serves to highlight and connect community members in Flint & Genesee County.  Recognizing the experiences of families and individuals in our community reveals the complex experience of Latinx Life in the United States and in our local community. Somos Latinx drives civic engagement and awareness, such as the 2020 Census.

The following is a conversation between Latinx Flint Media and Victoria Artega: 

Where are you from? 

I am from Flint. Both of my parents were born in the U.S. in Texas. My mother was raised in Texas near the border and her parents were from Mexico. My father’s parents were from Mexico near Nuevo Loredo and he was raised there. So he lived his life in Mexico until World War II. He joined the navy and that was the first time he came to the United States. 

Did you ever feel different growing up in Flint? 

I think most of the time you don’t think about whether you are different or not because you are in your place and you don’t think that you are different because you are who you are, you are always that way. I have experienced things that have made me distrustful of the larger community. I’ve had times when people wouldn’t want to have physical contact with me, which was hard. I still remember that before I was married my husband and I went to a restaurant and they would not wait on us. It was shocking to me that somebody would do something that blatant, that was hard. I still do see it, but most of the time I feel like we just see how to fit to our community and we adjust to that. 

Did you attend university? 

Yes, I went to college. I’ve always loved school, so I kept going. I think that’s one of the problems in our community. People of color do not live in that environment where they have the expectation that you are going to go to university, that you are going to do something with your life. I think my parents felt like it was enough if I graduated high school, it was enough if we got a job and they didn’t see more or they didn’t expect more the way other communities do. So, I didn’t go to college until my late 20’s and I remember working months and saving up money enough for a term of school and I would just do school and work and not see anybody or do anything else, it was just work and school. I saved up money and went to school when I could. I have a bachelor’s degree in applied science and then I went back because I was working for general motors and I got laid off and they paid for us to go to school, but it had to be something useful. I went back to school and I wound up with a degree in foreign language because my Spanish wasn’t really that good, so I wanted to communicate better in my community. I worked for General Motors as an electrician, so I did a lot of computer science and math classes. I got my license and then I had to retire early, so I went back to school. I got a degree in law and went from there.