Mehalet Shibre. Immigrant Children Can Turn Into Heroe

Mehalet moved to San Francisco from Ethiopia when she was four years old. She thought everyone in her new home would speak Amharic and couldn’t understand why they didn’t. She was used to the grains and stews of Ethiopia and hated American food. When she went to kindergarten she had to spend all her time on the computer learning English and couldn’t play with the other kids. No wonder she thought that this country was not built for her.

Her family moved to the City Heights part of San Diego in 2006. By that time she spoke English as if she’d been born here but was still in a class of immigrant kids. There were hardly any Black kids in the school. One of the teachers was Black and went to bat for her. Mehalet was transferred to a class that would more fully nourish her capabilities. Advocacy became a key principle that Mehalet believes in.

Her parents worked so Mehalet always was involved with an after-school activity. In fourth grade she and her friends checked out the Cesar Chavez Service Club. The Club ended up being an activity that changed her life. The leader was Natalie LeGerrette. Natalie was Black like she was and seemed to understand her.

The Club was so different than what she expected. For the first time the group asked her opinion and reflected on it. She learned how to examine the many sides of an issue to try to get to the real truth. Mehalet was so happy with the Club that she wrote a letter praising how it had helped her. The letter was very thoughtful and Linda LeGerrette, one of the Club founders, forwarded it to the board and the superintendent of schools. Already the Club was helping Mehalet see her potential.

In middle school the students had darker, more critical opinions. The way they highlighted student differences made Mehalet feel alienated. But she could relax at the Chavez Club, where she was accepted for what she was. No negative energy. She found her view of the world expanding and her curiosity taking off. She even tried robotics and loved it. The club sponsored a trip to Washington DC and, for the first time, she traveled in the U.S. outside of California. Mehalet fell in love with the city and what it stood for. Rather than giving her a cynical view of politics, DC inspired her.

In high school Mehalet continued being part of the Cesar Chavez Service Club. It was a time when she and her friends explored who they were and what they wanted to be. They delved into what skills they needed in order to achieve those ambitions. These were life topics that school classes didn’t teach. The Club also sponsored cleaning up canyons, putting on food drives, and erasing graffiti. She learned the dangers of climate change and wrote a paper that was passed on to the entire community about avoiding plastic straws. She now had the confidence to express her opinions and to incite change.

College at UC Davis was a whole other challenge. Here she was part of a Black community that had its own needs. Mehalet joined student government. Because of all the things she’d done as a teenager, she was put in charge of Ethnicity and Cultural Affairs for the student body. The Chavez Clubs bad taught her to listen to all sides of problems, so she organized events to gather opinions. A key problem was that students couldn’t use food stamps to buy food. The university administration and the vendors told her it wasn’t possible ,so she mobilized. She knew that most problems could be solved with the right advocacy. She wrote a resolution, got it passed by student government, and disbursed it throughout the university. Soon students could use food stamps to purchase food. To help the Black community, she recruited Black students to serve in student government, won government grants for Black initiatives, and organized events for Black pre-law students.

I think it’s amazing how much a young person can accomplish when they seize the tools that a nonprofit like the Cesar Chavez Service Clubs can give them. Especially when they start at an early age. So what is twenty-three-year-old Mehalet doing now that she’s graduated? She knew Richard Barrera from his work with the Cesar Chavez Clubs and in the City Heights Community. He asked her to help as his deputy campaign manager in running to be the Superintendent of California Schools. Then it’s on to law school.

I asked her what big lesson she has learned since she was that four-year-old child who didn’t speak English. She says she thinks what helps economically disadvantaged communities prosper is advocacy. A diverse community like City Heights has different ideologies, languages, and insecurities. People living there don’t realize that the government can help them. That’s where an advocate comes in. The motto she likes best from Cesar Chavez is: “Knowledge is power. Share it.”

When I see this, I wonder how in the world this country would stop welcoming immigrants. What they need is opportunity and someone to speak up for them and their children. What happens then? A child who thought her country was not built for her learns to help build her country.

Here is a picture of Mehalet and Carlos LeGerrette. Carlos and his wife Linda founded the Cesar Chavez Service Clubs.

(2. Mehalet and Carlos)