My name is Jonathan Arcos and I am a Latino that lives in North East Portland. I have lived in Portland all of my life. I moved once when I was a year old, and ever since I’ve been living at the same place for the past 19 years. When I think of Portland, what immediately comes to mind is “Home” because Portland is the place I was born and raised in. Wherever I go in the world, I’ll view Portland as home. Being a latinx has influenced my life by living in two different worlds. I live the American lifestyle at school or other places, and I live the Mexican lifestyle and culture in my neighborhood. My community has a lot of Latinos and Somalians living here, and I was very used to a diverse setting because that is what I grew up in. My elementary school had just about every race, and my Spanish immersion class had white, black, Latino, and Asian kids in it. Pretty cool community to grow up in.
My favorite places to visit are Soy Grill, best teriyaki chicken in town, order the #2 and thank me later. I also like visiting Century 16, it’s a movie theater that has the comfy seats and on Tuesdays movies are $5, that’s a deal. In my life time I have experienced racism about 2 or 3 times, but it wasn’t bad. I didn’t get offended really, but I knew what the intent was. I remember there was a time that my skin color and culture didn’t make me feel different. I was living in a very diverse community, therefore I felt that this lifestyle was normal. When the 2016 election happened, I felt that my skin color and culture was targeted, and that is when I first was experiencing racism at work when I was a waiter. Things have changed and I’m not getting racism towards me, but I do see racism more than I ever have on the media. I don’t think being Latino restricts me from doing anything, I’ve heard some people complain that because they are Mexican, they can’t do certain things some Americans can do. I have been able to accomplish many things in my life and I never viewed me being Mexican as a barrier, and that’s due to me living in America.