Melody Rivera Speaks out to Empower the Hispanic Community

By: Melody Rivera

Melody Rivera

PERTH AMBOY – Melody Rivera was born and raised in Perth Amboy. After her turbulent teenage years, she graduated from Perth Amboy Adult School as part of the Class of 2015. College was always the first priority for Melody. A degree from an established college was Melody’s dream. Right after high school, she enrolled in Berkley College. She started college the following fall of 2015. She did not waste any time getting into college because she knew exactly what she wanted. Through her hard work and determination, Melody excelled in her classes and graduated with Associate’s Degree.

Recently, Melody was one of the lucky students to represent her college in Washington, D.C. at the National Congressional Hispanic Caucus. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute holds an annual leadership conference rallying Hispanics from all over the nation to discuss the issues harming the Hispanic Community and form strategies on how to rectify them. It was located in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington D.C. from September 11^th through the 13^th. Melody was able to sit in on numerous conferences regarding racism among the youth, workplace and society. She also was able to focus on the statistics and ratios behind the numbers of immigrants and their importance in America and the innovating ways the Hispanic community has been breaking the stigmas created by today’s society. Melody was inspired by the first ever-elected Puerto Rican official Nydia M. Velazquez. Velazquez, being the first Puerto Rican woman in the House of Representatives, made Melody feel motivated for the future Hispanic women to succeed and prosper.

They also discussed different suggestions and alternatives to companies on today’s issues and their stance on how they are helping the Hispanic Community. With the threat of DACA affecting thousands of dreamers across the United States, this conference made a point that every dreamer is welcome here and they will not let the bigotry that is happening in America discourage them.

Melody described how this experience has influenced her to embrace her culture more and to encourage the people around more to get more involved with their legislatures. In order for change to happen, mindsets must change. The overall message was that BROWN IS BEAUTIFUL!