“Why do you do it?”

A question posed to me by Storm Lake’s City Council member Jose Ibarra.

I didn’t know how to answer. Why do I do it? I put myself on the line and I express myself because I want to represent people who look like me. Who sound like me. Who have experienced similar lives as me. I came on this trip because I thought I would find answers to my questions. So far I have only acquired more questions. I have found that there are privileges for white farmers across the state. I can’t help but question how farming looks so different for Black farmers. I want nothing more now than to find and support advocacy groups that rally for Black farmers. I question presidential candidates and critique how their plans for agriculture may not fit or exclude Black farmers. Most importantly I have learned the language. Just other spaces I occupy at school I understand the way the people talk about their issues. People only need to say what they know. I don’t push for translations by making people cater to me, ask I only that they speak earnestly and honestly about their experience. Being in Iowa I have learned the language and I can now apply the language.

That’s why I did it. I wanted to hear the narratives. They are not my stories nor should they be. I can take these stories as a template and discover how these stories intersect or match with other stories that I can express.

Council member Ibarra does it because he wants to urge his community to be more active. He is one of the many citizens that gives Storm Lake its vibrant diversity. He does because he wants to see more representation in places that makes decisions for his community.

This experience has taught me so much. That’s what the immigrant community has done for Storm Lake; it has made people learn. Learn how to interact with those different from them and learn how to teach others how to navigate new and different spaces.

Storm Lake is template. It proves what merging communities can be and it allows room for itself to grow.

Storm Lake has stories.

Iowa has stories.

I have stories.

They all connect, they are all different, but they all have purpose and all these stories are the reason why I do it.