Flashback
Disney’s ‘Gotta Kick It Up!’ Was a Celebration of Latinx Resilience
The movie centered around a dance competition, but the dynamics between Latinx students and White saviors were hard to miss
My native language, Spanish, is one of the most beautiful languages I’ve ever heard. I grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in a middle-class family, and the English language was my tool for upward mobility. There are private schools for every budget and the most selective ones are those that teach in English. Every May, these schools would publish the list of colleges their seniors got into in El Nuevo Día, the leading local newspaper. Some were lucky enough to get scholarships to colleges on the mainland. I wanted to be one of those students.
I was a precocious and inquisitive child always looking for a challenge. It was 2001, and we had just gotten cable TV, and I was excited to finally watch Disney Channel and the Food Network. To shape my conversational English, I watched Even Stevens and Rachael Ray. To improve my vocabulary, my mom drove me to Borders to purchase the books I’d devour during recess or after finishing my classwork. I sat with Tibby, Lena, Bridget, and Carmen as they cemented the sisterhood of the traveling pants. I watched as Mia Thermopolis…
