My object is my grandma’s Native American statue. My grandma bought this statue from a Native American fair that we went to in Bellmawr, New Jersey, which had Native American statues, shirts, and indigenous people wearing traditional clothing. My grandma bought a few statues. She was obsessed with anything related to Native Americans. She kept these in her room because she believed these statues protected her from evil spirits and bad luck. When my grandma passed away, my mom and I kept all of her statues and put them on a big shelf in our house with all her shirts and dreamcatchers. Her statues remind us that her spirit is still here. We feel like she is still with us in our house and protects us just like her statues did for her. We also believe Native Americans symbolize our ancestor's struggles when they first moved here from Puerto Rico. Native Americans were discriminated, killed, and forced to work for the Europeans. Although when my great grandparents came to the U.S. in the early 1900s, their struggles were different from those, they still faced discrimination and were “outsiders.” While working on this project I also learned that many Puerto Ricans can trace their roots to the Tanios, indigenous persons who lived on the island before the arrival of Spanish. In a way, the statues represent my ancestors who settled in Puerto Rico a thousand of years ago. The statues honor my ancestor's lives and remind us that my grandma is still here with us.

– AC

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant