00:00Translator: Riaki Poništ
Reviewer: Peter van de Ven
00:14My job is to talk to people
from all walks of life,
00:19Today, I want to tell you
00:21why I decided to do this with my life
and what I've learned.
00:26My story begins in Caracas, Venezuela,
00:29in South America, where I grew up;
00:32a place that to me was,
and always will be,
00:35filled with magic and wonder.
00:37Frоm a very young age,
00:39my parents wanted me
to have a wider view of the world.
00:43I remember one time
when I was around seven years old,
00:46my dad came up to me and said,
00:48"Mariana, I'm going to send you
and your little sister..."
00:52- who was six at the time -
00:54"...to a place where nobody
speaks Spanish.
00:56I want you to experience
different cultures."
00:59He went on and on about the benefits
of spending an entire summer
01:03in this summer camp in the United States,
01:07stressing a little phrase
01:08that I didn't pay
too much attention to at the time:
01:11"You never know what the future holds."
01:14Meanwhile, in my seven-year-old mind,
01:17I was thinking, we were going
to get to summer camp in Miami.
01:22Maybe it was going to be even better,
01:24and we were going to go
a little further north, to Orlando,
01:27where Mickey Mouse lived.
01:30I got really excited.
01:32My dad, however,
had a slightly different plan.
01:35Frоm Caracas, he he sent us
to Brainerd, Minnesota.
01:41Mickey Mouse was not up there,
01:44and with no cell phone,
no Snapchat, or Instagram,
01:47I couldn't look up any information.
01:51and one of the first things I noticed
01:53was that the other kids' hair
was several shades of blonde,
01:56and most of them had blue eyes.
01:59Meanwhile, this is what we looked like.
02:03The first night, the camp director
gathered everyone around the campfire
02:08"Kids, we have a very
international camp this year;
02:12the Atencios are here from Venezuela."
02:15The other kids looked at us
as if we were from another planet.
02:19They would ask us things like,
02:22"Do you know what a hamburger is?"
02:24Or, "Do you go to school
on a donkey or a canoe?"
02:28I would try to answer
in my broken English,
02:31and they would just laugh.
02:32I know they were not trying to be mean;
02:34they were just trying
to understand who we were,
02:37and make a correlation
with the world they knew.
02:40We could either be like them,
02:41or like characters out of a book
filled with adventures,
02:44like Aladdin or the Jungle Book.
02:47We certainly didn't look like them,
02:49we didn't speak their language,
02:52When you're seven years old, that hurts.
02:55But I had my little sister
to take care of,
02:58and she cried every day at summer camp.
03:01So I decided to put on a brave face,
03:03and embrace everything I could
about the American way of life.
03:08We later did what we called
"the summer camp experiment,"
03:11for eight years in different cities
that many Americans haven't even heard of.
03:17What I remember most about these moments
was when I finally clicked with someone.
03:22Making a friend was a special reward.
03:26Everybody wants to feel
valued and accepted,
03:28and we think it should happen
spontaneously, but it doesn't.
03:33When you're different,
you have to work at belonging.
03:37You have to be either
really helpful, smart, funny,
03:40anything to be cool for the crowd
you want to hang out with.
03:45Later on, when I was in high school,
03:47my dad expanded on his summer plan,
03:50and from Caracas he sent me
to Wallingford, Connecticut,
03:53for the senior year of high school.
03:56This time, I remember
daydreaming on the plane
03:59about "the American high school
experience" - with a locker.
04:03It was going to be perfect,
04:05just like in my favorite TV show:
"Saved by the Bell."
04:09I get there, and they tell me
04:11that my assigned roommate
is eagerly waiting.
04:16and there she was, sitting on the bed,
04:22Her name was Fatima,
and she was Muslim from Bahrain,
04:25and she was not what I expected.
04:28She probably sensed my disappointment
when I looked at her
04:31because I didn't do too much to hide it.
04:34See, as a teenager,
I wanted to fit in even more,
04:37I wanted to be popular,
04:39maybe have a boyfriend for prom,
04:42and I felt that Fatima just got in the way
04:45with her shyness
and her strict dress code.
04:49I didn't realize
that I was making her feel
04:52like the kids at summer camp made me feel.
04:54This was the high school
equivalent of asking her,
04:57"Do you know what a hamburger is?"
05:00I was consumed by my own selfishness
05:02and unable to put myself in her shoes.
05:06I have to be honest with you,
05:08we only lasted a couple
of months together,
05:11because she was later sent
to live with a counselor
05:14instead of other students.
05:16I remember thinking, "Ah, she'll be okay.
05:19She's just different."
05:21You see, when we label
someone as different,
05:23it dehumanizes them in a way.
05:26They become "the other."
05:27They're not worthy of our time,
not our problem,
05:31and in fact, they, "the other,"
are probably the cause of our problems.
05:37So, how do we recognize our blind spots?
05:40It begins by understanding
what makes you different,
05:45by embracing those traits.
05:47Only then can you begin to appreciate
what makes others special.
05:52I remember when this hit me.
05:54It was a couple months after that.
05:56I had found that boyfriend for prom,
05:58made a group of friends,
06:00and practically forgotten about Fatima,
06:02until everybody signed on to participate
in this talent show for charity.
06:07You needed to offer a talent for auction.
06:10It seemed like everybody
had something special to offer.
06:14Some kids were going to play the violin,
06:16others were going to recite
a theater monologue,
06:19and I remember thinking,
06:21"We don't practice talents
like these back home."
06:24But I was determined
to find something of value.
06:27The day of the talent show comes,
06:29and I get up on stage
with my little boom box,
06:31and put it on the side and press "Play,"
06:34and a song by my favorite
emerging artist, Shakira, comes up.
06:39And I go, "Whenever, wherever,
we're meant to be together,"
06:44and I said, "My name is Mariana,
and I'm going to auction a dance class."
06:50It seemed like the whole school
raised their hand to bid.
06:54My dance class really stood out
06:56from, like, the 10th violin class
offered that day.
06:59Going back to my dorm room,
I didn't feel different.
07:02I felt really special.
07:04That's when I started
thinking about Fatima,
07:08a person that I had failed to see
as special, when I first met her.
07:13She was from the Middle East,
07:14just like Shakira's family
was from the Middle East.
07:17She could have probably taught me
a thing or two about belly dancing,
07:20had I been open to it.
07:23Now, I want you all to take that sticker
07:25that was given to you
at the beginning of our session today,
07:28where you wrote down
what makes you special,
07:30and I want you to look at it.
07:32If you're watching at home,
take a piece of paper,
07:34and write down what makes you different.
07:38You may feel guarded when you look at it,
07:40maybe even a little ashamed,
maybe even proud.
07:44But you need to begin to embrace it.
07:46Remember, it is the first step
in appreciating what makes others special.
07:52When I went back home to Venezuela,
07:55I began to understand
how these experiences were changing me.
08:00Being able to speak different languages,
08:02to navigate all these
different people and places,
08:07it gave me a unique sensibility.
08:09I was finally beginning to understand
08:11the importance of putting myself
in other people's shoes.
08:16That is a big part of the reason
why I decided to become a journalist.
08:21Especially being from a part of the world
that is often labeled "the backyard,"
08:26"the illegal aliens,"
"third-world," "the others,"
08:29I wanted to do something to change that.
08:32It was right around the time, however,
08:34when the Venezuelan government shut down
08:36the biggest television station
in our country.
08:39Censorship was growing,
08:41and my dad came up to me
once again and said,
08:44"How are you going to be
a journalist here?
08:49That's when it hit me.
08:51That's what he had been preparing me for.
08:54That is what the future held for me.
08:57So in 2008, I packed my bags,
and I came to the United States,
09:03without a return ticket this time.
09:06I was painfully aware
that, at 24 years old,
09:10I was becoming a refugee of sorts,
an immigrant, the other,
09:15once again, and now for good.
09:19I was able to come on a scholarship
to study journalism.
09:23I remember when they gave me
my first assignment
09:26to cover the historic election
of President Barack Obama.
09:31I felt so lucky, so hopeful.
09:33I was, like, "Yes, this is it.
09:35I've come to post-racial America,
09:37where the notion of us and them
is being eroded,
09:40and will probably
be eradicated in my lifetime."
09:45Boy, was I wrong, right?
09:49Why didn't Barack Obama's presidency
alleviate racial tensions in our country?
09:54Why do some people still feel threatened
09:56by immigrants, LGBTQ, and minority groups
10:00who are just trying to find a space
10:02in this United States
that should be for all of us?
10:06I didn't have the answers back then,
10:08but on November 8th, 2016,
10:11when Donald Trump became
our president, it became clear
10:15that a large part of the electorate
sees them as "the others."
10:18Some see people coming to take their jobs,
10:21or potential terrorists
who speak a different language.
10:25Meanwhile, minority groups oftentimes
just see hatred, intolerance,
10:31and narrow-mindedness on the other side.
10:34It's like we're stuck in these bubbles
that nobody wants to burst.
10:39The only way to do it,
the only way to get out of it
10:42is to realize that being different
also means thinking differently.
10:48It takes courage to show respect.
10:51In the words of Voltaire:
10:53"I may not agree
with what you have to say,
10:55but I will fight to the death
to defend your right to say it."
11:00Failing to see anything good
on the other side
11:03makes a dialogue impossible.
11:05Without a dialogue, we will keep
repeating the same mistakes,
11:09because we will not learn anything new.
11:13I covered the 2016 election for NBC News.
11:17It was my first big assignment
in this mainstream network,
11:21where I had crossed over
from Spanish television.
11:25And I wanted to do something different.
11:28I watched election results
with undocumented families.
11:33Few thought of sharing that moment
with people who weren't citizens,
11:37but actually stood
the most to lose that night.
11:42When it became apparent
that Donald Trump was winning,
11:45this eight-year-old girl named Angelina
rushed up to me in tears.
11:49She sobbed, and she asked me
if her mom was going to be deported now.
11:54I hugged her back and I said,
"It's going to be okay,"
11:57but I really didn't know.
12:00This was the photo we took that night,
forever ingrained in my heart.
12:05Here was this little girl
12:06who was around the same age I was
when I went to camp in Brainerd.
12:11She already knows she is "the other."
12:13She walks home from school
in fear, every day,
12:17that her mom can be taken away.
12:19So, how do we put ourselves
in Angelina's shoes?
12:23How do we make her
understand she is special,
12:26and not simply unworthy
of having her family together?
12:32By giving camera time to her
and families like hers,
12:36I tried to make people see them
as human beings,
12:40and not simply "illegal aliens."
12:42Yes, they broke a law,
and they should pay a penalty for it,
12:46but they've also given
everything for this country,
12:49like many other immigrants
before them have.
12:53I've already told you how my path
to personal growth started.
12:57To end, I want to tell you how I hit
the worst bump in the road yet,
13:02one that shook me to my very core.
13:05The day, April 10th, 2014,
13:09I was driving to the studio,
and I got a call from my parents.
13:13"Are you on the air?" they asked.
13:15I immediately knew something was wrong.
13:17"What happened?" I said.
13:20"It's your sister;
she's been in a car accident."
13:24It was as if my heart stopped.
13:29My hands gripped the steering wheel,
13:31and I remember hearing the words:
13:33"It is unlikely she will ever walk again."
13:37They say your life can change
in a split second.
13:41Mine did at that moment.
13:44My sister went from being
my successful other half,
13:48only a year apart in age,
13:49to not being able to move her legs,
13:53sit up, or get dressed by herself.
13:57This wasn't like summer camp,
where I could magically make it better.
14:01This was terrifying.
14:03Throughout the course of two years,
my sister underwent 15 surgeries,
14:08and she spent the most
of that time in a wheelchair.
14:12But that wasn't even the worst of it.
14:14The worst was something so painful,
it's hard to put into words, even now.
14:21It was the way people looked at her,
14:24looked at us, changed.
14:28People were unable to see
a successful lawyer
14:32or a millennial with a sharp wit
and a kind heart.
14:39I realized that people just saw
a poor girl in a wheelchair.
14:43They were unable to see
anything beyond that.
14:48After fighting like a warrior,
14:50I can thankfully tell you
that today my sister is walking,
14:55and has recovered
beyond anyone's expectations.
15:02But during that traumatic ordeal,
15:05I learned there are differences
that simply suck,
15:08and it's hard to find positive in them.
15:11My sister's not better off
because of what happened.
15:15But she taught me: you can't let
those differences define you.
15:22Being able to reimagine yourself
beyond what other people see,
15:28that is the toughest task of all,
15:30but it's also the most beautiful.
15:34You see, we all come
to this world in a body.
15:37People with physical
or neurological difficulties,
15:41environmentally impacted communities,
immigrants, boys, girls,
15:47boys who want to dress as girls,
girls with veils,
15:50women who have been sexually assaulted,
15:52athletes who bend
their knee as a sign of protest,
15:55black, white, Asian, Native American,
my sister, you, or me.
16:02We all want what everyone wants:
to dream and to achieve.
16:07But sometimes, society tells us,
and we tell ourselves,
16:11we don't fit the mold.
16:15Well, if you look at my story,
16:17from being born somewhere different,
to belly dancing in high school,
16:21to telling stories
you wouldn't normally see on TV,
16:25what makes me different
16:26is what has made me
stand out and be successful.
16:32I have traveled the world,
16:33and talked to people
from all walks of life.
16:36You know what I've learned?
16:39The single thing every one of us
has in common is being human.
16:46So take a stand to defend
your race, the human race.
16:53Let's be humanists,
before and after everything else.
16:58To end, I want you to take that sticker,
that piece of paper
17:01where you wrote down
what makes you different,
17:03and I want you to celebrate it
today and every day,
17:07shout it from the rooftops.
17:09I also encourage you
to be curious and ask,
17:12"What is on other people's
pieces of paper?"
17:14"What makes them different?"
17:17Let's celebrate those imperfections
that make us special.
17:22I hope that it teaches you that nobody
has a claim on the word "normal."
17:28We are all different.
17:29We are all quirky, and unique,
17:32and that is what makes us
wonderfully human.
