 "Photo: Marc Hamel")
A dancing Chihuahua wearing traditional Mexican clothing, Manuel, the lawn mower on a late-night television show and street thugs drooling over a hamburger in a commercial all supposedly represent them.
Students at the Latino Leadership Council's Latino Leadership Summit this weekend viewed these problematic clips as part of a workshop geared toward breaking these stereotypes. The two-day conference also worked to create unity among Latinos by teaching and further developing students' leadership skills. More than 100 student leaders from around the country attended the conference on the UT campus.
The fourth annual conference began Friday with a discussion about the state of the Latino community in America, led by Jackie Cuevas, an English graduate student and assistant Mexican American studies instructor. She posed questions to the audience about problems in the Latino community, including alcoholism, abuse and drug use, to foster discussion on those issues.
The conference isn't meant to be a place to just complain about issues that affect some Latinos, said marketing senior Anna Lara, co-chair of the event.
"It's acknowledging our past, seeing where we are today, where we want to be in the future and how we can get there," Lara said.
Jonathan Brown, a Texas A&M University-Commerce freshman, said he attended the summit, because he thinks many problems the Latino community faces could be solved through education.
"I feel that each race is born equally, so we should act like it and unite," he said.
Following the discussion, students participated in networking activities and listened to a keynote speech by Celia Santiz Ruiz, a founding member of a Mayan weaving cooperative in Chiapas, Mexico.
Ruiz described how the Fair Trade Cooperative seeks to educate its workers by providing courses from women's studies to accounting. She said the group also participates in marches and other political activities to try to improve their living conditions.
"If all we did was sell our products, nothing would change," Ruiz said through her translator.
Saturday, various workshops focused on leadership, building coalitions with members of different minority communities, media and government education and breaking stereotypes.
Conference attendee Alex Mateo, a business freshman, said there is discrimination both inside and outside the Latino community. Despite this problem, he said strong leaders can overcome the internal problems a community may have.
"A lot of us look down on each other just because of the way we dress or the way we look," he said. "I think if we are united, we would be able to overcome in a better manner, rather than if we all try to approach it individually."
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