In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the first Hispanic to give a keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention spoke on campus Tuesday night about his career as a politician.
Sponsored by ACCENT Speaker’s Bureau, Julián Castro — the current mayor of San Antonio — spoke to about 200 people in the University Auditorium about seeing his family experience hardships due to their Hispanic ethnicity.
“I never thought of becoming a politician,” he said. “I thought it was a joke.”
However, he said he found he could make a change through politics.
Génesis Lara, 21, a UF history senior and executive director of this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, said she picked Castro to speak at the event because he is a role model for minorities. She said she thought of having Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio but did not because of Rubio’s stance on immigration reform.
José Miranda, 21, a UF political science and international studies senior and president of the Hispanic Student Association, said Castro has been a spokesman for the Hispanic community for years.
Castro is an immigration-reform supporter, and minorities can relate to him, she said.
His parents migrated to America and had to struggle for Castro to get an education.
“Castro has defied the odds of immigrants,” Lara said. “ He never forgot where he came from.”
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 9/25/2013 under the headline "At UF, Texas mayor discusses Hispanic identity, immigration"
