By Isabelle Foley and Amy Andrukonis
Sentry Staff Editors
Yorktown’s Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) chapter was joined last week by a special guest speaker. Ernie G (Ernesto Tomas Gritzewsky), a Latino comedian, empowerment speaker and activist, has given presentations across the world and is affiliated with comedians such as George Lopez and Gabriel Iglesias. He came to speak to MSAN members about the importance of identity, pride and education.
On September 30, Ernie G challenged African American and Latino young men to embrace their identity as “beautiful, powerful and educated” members of society. He emphasized the importance of having love for all races, but never forgetting to celebrate the triumphs and accomplishments of your own. In his talk, Ernie G shared stories of his own upbringing and struggles in the ghetto, and how that time shaped the rest of his life, and how the ghetto maybe never really left him. He laughed his way through stories about using dish soap as shampoo and splitting up sandwiches into several bites so as to maximize the number of school lunches he could get out of it. After sharing a few of these hilarious memories, Ernie G made a big statement.
“There’s something beautiful about embracing every piece of who we are,” he said.
Ernie G discussed his disappointment in the stigma that is associated with the word “ghetto.” He hoped students of the MSAN chapter could embrace the “ghetto inside them” without shame. Ernie G believes that if you have grown up in the ghetto, you are a survivor, and that there should be nothing embarrassing about that.
At the end of his talk, Ernie G discussed how he was the first in his family to graduate from college, and the audience celebrated the MSAN members who will be the first in their families to do the same. At the end of the event, he left the audience with an inspirational charge: “if it is to be, it is up to me!” The chapter repeated Ernie G’s motto with gusto and left Patriot Hall motivated and inspired.
Featured Image by Isabelle Foley/SENTRY
