Christian Salgado

My Mom came to the United States from Mexico. She married my dad, a U.S. citizen, and my sister and I were born in Texas. She says her heart was tied to the United States from then on.

She moved to Nashville as a single parent because she found more job opportunities in Tennessee than in Texas. She came here for the summer and saw that her children would be better growing up here and so decided to stay.

My dream is to become a politician or lawyer to promote civil rights everywhere- an international attorney maybe. I know that if I accomplish this I can help my mom so that she does not have to work so much. And maybe by fighting for the rights of people I will make it easier for her to live her dreams, and my sister and friends too.

In school I lead other students like me in fighting for the Dream Act and immigration reform. Other kids in my school often don’t understand what we are fighting for but I always debate with them and try to explain. By standing together, by being peaceful, by showing how much we care in a positive way I know we can make them understand. It has been done before during the Civil Rights Movement; it can happen again.