Chapter 42: Answering The “Call”: We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For

Tēna koe¹ Most Beloved Educator,

Although you are queer and I am not, know this. I welcome you. While I cannot fully know your experiences, I choose to deliberately reach out, embrace and usher you into the teaching profession as a former K–8 bilingual teacher, school district professional developer, K–12 special educator, and current university professor, leader in higher education and educational researcher. From this myriad of professional experiences in education, I would like to share with you some words of encouragement, wisdom, and love from a multiple identities perspective (which is the only one I know).

Ostensibly, as a Spanish-born and Spanish-speaking Black African American woman of Oklahoma Choctaw Indian descent now living in New Zealand Aotearoa, ² I was born speaking the “wrong” language, into the “wrong” skin color, at the “wrong” time, with the “wrong” gender. A quadruple threat, my identity alone deems me the epitome of marginalization and estrangement from the mainstream experience. I want nothing to do with the notion of privilege in the hegemonic sense, yet I want you to know that I am honored to be able to share this space with you now.