Twenty years ago, I was invited by Mark Schultz, who was then an Editor at the Durham Herald-Sun, to contribute my opinions to a weekly bilingual section of the Friday edition called Nuestro Pueblo. Nuestro Pueblo was a natural extension of the Nuevas Caras/Nuevas Voces series chronicling the early impact of the arrival of the Latino community to Durham. The power of Nuestro Pueblo was the bilingual format. It quickly became an ESL tool in the schools and was widely read across Durham.  The opinion page then quickly became a Spanish monthly stand-alone newspaper, the first of its kind printed in Durham.

Nuestro Pueblo was instrumental in bridging cultures between the growing Latino population and the receiving community that was learning how to adjust to these historical and unprecedented demographic and cultural changes. Durham would never be the same. After twenty years, I wanted to take the opportunity to reflect back on the opinions that I wrote to see how they still resonate in the present and how exploring the ideas and challenges we faced as a community in 1999, can help us move forward in 2019 with a sense of justice and inclusivity for all Durham residents. The format is simple. I will give a short contextual introduction to the opinion. You can then read it. After that, you can read my critical reflections on it.

Check out the Nuevo Espíritu de Durham: New Spirit of Durham companion blog for Rodrigo’s opinion pieces and other posts about the exhibit!