by Linda Castillo
This week Julian Castro was confirmed as the new secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
The Huffington Post reports that Castro’s new appointment makes the 39-year-old Mexican-American one of the government’s highest-ranking Hispanics.
Castro’s personal story represents the American dream. He is the son of a single mother who was a Latino rights activist growing up in a working-class San Antonio neighborhood.
President Obama recounted about how Castro’s story represents the American Dream:
Julián’s grandmother came to this country from Mexico. She worked as a maid, worked as a cook, worked as a babysitter — whatever she had to do to keep a roof over her family’s head. And that’s because for her, and generations of Americans like her, a home is more than just a house. A home is a source of pride and security. It’s a place to raise a family and put down roots and build up savings for college or a business or retirement, or write a lifetime of memories. And maybe one day the kid grows up in that home and is able to go on to get a great education and become the Mayor of San Antonio, and become a member of the President’s Cabinet.
Julián ha vivido el Sueño Americano. And it’s precisely because he’s lived out the American Dream that he’ll work his tail off to make sure more people can travel that same path and earn their own dreams as well.
Castro will be the third Latino to hold a cabinet position in President Obama’s second term and is considered a potential vice presidential pick for 2016.
Linda Castillo is the Founder and Executive Editor of www.ModernLatina.com. She writes on topics that empower and inspire Latinas including art, motherhood, green living, culture, travel, and issues transforming the Latino community. Linda has earned a B.S. in Business and a M.S. in Mass Communications from San Jose State University.