Even before Victor Lopez-Carmen came into this world, he had already embarked on his life’s journey.
When Victor’s mother was pregnant with him, she traveled to Mexico and other parts of Latin America to learn about the struggles of indigenous peoples. She explored the barriers confronting indigenous people and supported their efforts to secure equity and justice. She did so to bring lessons learned home and apply them to her Pascua Yaqui community, which faces racism as well as economic and social injustice.
Once Victor arrived, another source of inspiration was ready for him. Victor’s maternal grandmother — the daughter of a strong woman who fled from Mexican government attacks on her Sonoran Yaqui village and walked to Arizona — lived with the family on Tucson’s south side and taught Victor Yaqui cultural values and history.
“This has been instilled in me by my family and community, and I’m very grateful for that. It gave me strength and identity,” said Victor, who later grew up in the Amphi area.
Today, Victor, a graduate of Amphitheater High School and Ithaca College in upstate New York, is working in the Washington D.C. office of Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva.
Victor is now preparing himself for another life journey when he enters Harvard Medical School this year.
“Indigenous youth are strong and capable of doing anything they want,” said Victor, 24, in a recent telephone interview from Washington D.C.
In D.C., Victor is a paid intern working for the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States. He organizes Subcommittee hearings; assists with legislative and policy projects; conducts research on legislation, regulations and public law; drafts policy memos for staff; and other tasks. He also attends meetings with tribal government leaders and organizations. Victor joined the staff in February and will finish in mid-June before beginning his first year at Harvard in August.
This has not been an easy journey for Victor. And despite his notable accomplishments to this point, he’ll continue to face obstacles.
Victor’s parents did not buy his way into college or pay for someone else to take his entrance exams. Still, Victor, who has earned merit scholarships, will likely be viewed negatively as an “affirmative action” student who is taking the place of a student who “deserves” to be in his place.
Victor will be questioned over his identity politics and even his nationality from those who proudly extol their European heritage. And without a doubt, Victor will encounter fellow students who don’t have an ounce of knowledge of his indigenous communities and their history of self-determination over the past 500 years.
And some people on campus will simply dismiss his history.
But Victor is determined to see himself at the end of this journey with the title of medical doctor.
“My heart of course is being a doctor and having an impact on the community level,” said Victor, who is officially enrolled with Crow Sioux Creek tribe, his father’s tribe.
Some of his early struggles came growing up, encountering a different path, one that some of his friends took. He knew he was smart but felt he was pressured to do drugs, get drunk. And he did.
But Victor knew that that wasn’t him.
“I was going down that path that a lot of people make mistakes,” he said. Some of his friends ended up in jail.
While in the seventh grade, Victor had a serious accident. While in Mexico visiting family, he sustained third degree burns from fireworks. The accident helped him understand something critical: marginalized people don’t have access to good medical care. While he had two skin grafts and learned to walk again, he began understand how poor people are treated differently.
In this period of self-realization and awareness after the burn accident, Victor began to understand that he needed to do something different with his life. He realized he was messing around.
“It gave me a different sense of responsibility to my family and my community. It was a blessing in disguise,” he said.
He refocused in high school and steered himself toward academics. He earned his academic scholarship to Ithaca where he studied health sciences with a focus on social justice. He volunteered in social-justice activities. He immersed himself in the work of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He and the few Native American students pushed the college to develop a Native American Studies program.
Still, he encountered a different kind of struggle. He was pulled between the modern and traditional worlds. He wanted to be with his family and support them. His family struggled while he was away. Some family members were unhealthy.
But Victor understands that his road will lead him back to his family and his community and give him the tools, knowledge and spiritual connection to help the people he loves.
“One day I’ll be able to come back and contribute something,” he said. “I want to do something positive.”
