Hiding Your Heritage?

Elena is a high school student in New Jersey who immigrated with her parents to the United States from Mexico at a young age. She is proud of her Hispanic heritage, and she volunteers at a cultural center after school to share her culture with others. However, Elena notes that Hispanic people are treated unfairly in America, something she has witnessed personally with her father, who often has a difficult time staying employed in the construction industry. She is currently required by her school to take part in a senior internship experience, and she is applying for a few different opportunities. She wonders if she should “hide” certain aspects of herself, such as her full name and experiences related to her ethnicity, from her resume when she is applying for the internships in order to eliminate the possibility that she will be discriminated against by hiring managers. Ultimately, she decides that it is better to represent herself truthfully, come what may.

Elena is a high school senior in New Jersey. She comes from a close-knit family: she has a younger brother and a younger sister, and her parents are very protective of the three of them. When Elena was just seven years old, her parents immigrated legally from Mexico to the United States in order to give her and her siblings a “better life.”

Elena still considers herself an immigrant as well and is proud to be of Mexican descent. Unlike her siblings, who do not have memories of their brief childhood in Mexico, Elena has vivid memories of her daily life there. She maintains ties with friends from her elementary school and has traveled back to Mexico several times to visit them, as well as members of her extended family who still live there. After school, Elena also volunteers weekly at a Mexican cultural center that organizes events and festivals in her region of New Jersey. Elena often performs traditional “baile folklorico” dances in colorful dress at the festivals. She feels she is able to share something beautiful about her cultural heritage with others and has even started teaching a dance class for younger girls at the center on the weekend.

While a source of pride, Elena is also aware that being Hispanic means she is a minority in her community. She says that some people may “look down” on her and her family, and she is always prepared to experience small acts of hostility or racism throughout her day. For example, Elena’s family still speaks Spanish as their primary language of use with one another, including in public. Sometimes, when they speak Spanish at a store or restaurant, the family has noticed others giving them “annoyed” or even “hostile” looks.

Elena’s father works in construction and was a foreman on projects in Mexico. However, when he moved to the United States, he was forced to take a less senior role in order to find work on construction projects. Recently, Elena’s father lost his job due to slowing growth in the construction industry, which has made Elena evaluate her views of the way Hispanic people are treated in the U.S., particularly in the working world. She notes,

"Even though my father is now a citizen, somehow he never has the right thing, or is first to be cut when layoffs happen. They always want more experience or more this or more that. Or he doesn’t know enough English. Somehow they always find a way to not give him the job or keep him on the job."

Her father’s employment difficulties are discouraging to her and make her feel as though the system is “rigged” against her and her family finding success.

As a senior, Elena is required by her school to participate in a senior year job internship, which can be in any field of her choosing. Her father’s experiences with the job market, though, have made her worried that she will also be discriminated against when she goes to apply for her own internship. Because of her time volunteering at the cultural center, she would like to find an internship at a museum, assisting with the coordination of community events. However, she is concerned that she will not be able to find opportunities because she is Hispanic. She comments,

"We heard about those studies at school where resumes with White names are hired more than others. I see those types of things happening to my dad."

Elena is considering her options, and she thinks that maybe she will have better luck getting hired for an internship at a museum if she changes some of the information on her resume. For example, she is considering using just her initials so her full name is not visible to potential employers. She also wonders if she should not include her experience at the cultural center on her resume. Although it’s directly related to the type of internship she wants to do, her time volunteering at the cultural center would “expose” her as being of Hispanic descent to potential employers.

Elena is conflicted. She knows she could conceal her heritage to potentially get the internship she wants. Ultimately, though, Elena doesn’t want to lie on her resume, which she feels is somewhat dishonest. She also knows that her identity is too important to her personally to hide it. 

Have you ever had to misrepresent aspects of yourself to pursue a passion? When is this the right choice, if ever? If you were Elena’s friend, what would you have counseled her to do in this situation?