A Light Shines in Steel Town: A Response to He, Phillion, & Roberge’s Review of Language, Culture, and Power: Bilingual Families and the Struggle for Quality Education

Abstract

Living and writing in Steel Town was a challenging experience for me as a researcher, a parent, and a community leader. I found myself grappling with many different issues as I contemplated how to conduct my research. In many ways I was an insider to the community. As a Latina woman who is passionate about the histories of my peoples and the preservation of our identities through language, I found that I was intimately involved in the battle for an ethically and just bilingual education. Any attempt to cover up my vision for a stronger Steel Town community, founded upon an understanding that differences in our past can lead to a healthy citizenry only when those distinctions are respected and engaged, would have been a disservice to the field of education. There were many times when I would sit in front of the computer and cry as I recalled the number of injustices I had witnessed among the community, administrators, teachers, and students of Steel Town. I felt humbled as a scholar and I questioned if any words would sufficiently express the daily-lived realities of the people with