Hundreds of elementary, middle and high school students from Bellingham, Ferndale, Mount Vernon and Sedro-Woolley school districts attended the Latinos in Action Youth Leadership Conference on Friday in Bellingham.
Latinos in Action is a national program focused on empowering Latino youth, but only four districts offer the classes in Washington.
The keynote speaker, 22-year-old Mexican climate activist Xiye Bastida, was set to appear in person on Friday morning, but spoke via Zoom instead after she was not allowed to enter the U.S. “despite having lived in the U.S. for nine years and having my paperwork done,” she said.
[ Read more: Ferndale students connect with culture, grow into leaders through Latinos in Action ]
Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, incidents of people being denied entry into the U.S. have increased.
“Hopefully that will be fixed sooner rather than later, so that I can go keep spreading the message and do some of the work that I need to do for all the communities that I have connected with,” she said.
She spoke to the students about moving to New York City as a child after extreme flooding and spoke of the challenges she experienced as an immigrant.
“I was told that I shouldn’t have aspirations because I couldn’t speak English, that I shouldn’t want to run for class president, that I shouldn’t want to go to the high school of my dreams … I saw that as a challenge,” she said. Bastida is now a leading voice in climate activism, particularly for Indigenous people and immigrants.
“We have to do our part,” she said. “We have to keep going. We have to learn things from different perspectives. We have to be able to share our stories.”
The conference, on Western Washington University’s campus, included panels and workshops on college and leadership, career paths and entrepreneurship. Many students also performed, including Mount Vernon High School’s Mariachi program.
Charlotte Alden is CDN’s general assignment/enterprise reporter; reach her at charlottealden@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 123.
