Nestor Gomez - “The A-B-C story”

 

 

What am I doing here? I thought to myself, as the kindergarten class was taken back to the classroom. I have been asked to tell them a story and it had been a disaster. A six-minute story about my dog, which usually works really well with older kids, has been constantly interrupted with comments like “I have a dog too [audience laughter] and I have a cat.” [audience laughter]. And this one kid that was saying “I—I—I--" I ignored that kid. When I finally acknowledged him, he said, “I-- I forgot what I was going to say.” [audience laughter] 

 

When I was a kid, I used to be very shy, because I stuttered. I thought that kid also stuttered, but he was just a kid being annoying kid. [audience laughter] For half an hour, I tried to tell them one story with no success. To be honest, kids are my kryptonite. I have a really time getting their attention. It might be because they are easily distracted, or it might be because I get easily distracted when they start eating their boogers. [audience laughter] 

 

At the next kindergarten, it started to fill up the auditorium. I thought to myself, maybe I'm not good for this. I started to look for ways to excuse myself. I tried to tell the kindergarteners a story and they kept interrupting me. It was going to be another disaster. I look around the room and feeling like I had nothing to lose, I decided to try something new. 

 

When my kids were young, when they were babies, I taught them the ABCs. “We know our ABCs,” the kids say. “Well, let me hear you singing.” “A, B, C, D, E, F, G.” I let them finish. That's not the ABC song that I taught my kids. I started singing, “Ah, beh, ce, deh, eh, efe. That’s the ABC in Spanish. “Does anybody here speak Spanish?” A couple of hands went up, just like I knew they would. My people, la raza, we are everywhere. [audience laughter] “Do you know your numbers in Spanish? Do you want to come and help me teach them to the rest of the class?” The kids that raise their hands came up onto the stage and we started saying the numbers in Spanish, were the class who repeated them in English. It was magical. 

 

When I came to this country undocumented at age 15, I didn't speak the language and I didn't see myself represented anywhere. At school, the classes, the stories that I heard were about people that did not look or sounded like me. Now, these kindergarten kids were giving me the opportunity to give them a little bit of representation that I did not have when I was a kid. We spent time saying the numbers in Spanish and the class repeating them in English. 

 

When the Spanish lesson was finished, I looked at the time, I still got 15 more minutes to go. [audience laughter] I wondered how else I could entertain these kids. One little girl raised her hand, “I know my numbers in Portuguese.” I invited her to the front of the class and she shared her knowledge with us. And then, another little kid raised her hands, “I know my numbers in Chinese.” And then, nine little kids came up to the stage without even waiting for me to invite them to the stage. [audience laughter] We even have one little girl that spoke Arabic. 

 

My immigrant heart was crying of happiness. Before I knew it, I looked at the time and it was time for them to go back to the classroom. “Oh, my God, oh my God, oh my God,” a teacher was coming over wanting to talk to me, “I have to tell you, I have to tell you. The little Portuguese girl, she's new in a class. She's very shy. This is the first time that we ever heard her speak.” 

 

The teacher started to cry, and I had to do my best not to start crying with her. I started to walk out of the school and I remember that only a few years ago, I used to cry out of anger and frustration and not having a voice because of my undocumented status and not knowing any English. By the time I got to the parking lot, I started to remember the look on the kids’ faces. So proud of themselves and so eager to share their heritage with the whole world and to accept everybody else's heritage. It was like a glance into the future of the kind of country America should be. [audience cheers and applause]

 

When I got into my car, I couldn't hold it anymore and I started to cry unashamed, because these were no longer tears of anger and resentment. These were tears of happiness and acknowledgement, because I don't know if all my trials have been a blessing in disguise, but what I do know is that everything, everything that for years made me feel like I was being held back. My undocumented status, not knowing the language, my daughter, even my failure with the first class, everything led me to the magical moment with the kindergarten class sharing our languages. And in the end, I would not have it any other way. 

 

I started to drive out of the school and with tears running down my face, I began to sing A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P.

 

[audience singing] 

 

Unison: [00:46:06] Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. Now I know my A, B, C--