Breaking Colonial Shackles

Matt Hinojosa (Photo Credit: Lupito's Photography)

Sharing this equal-measures heartbreaking and hopeful profile of Dreamer Matt Hinojosa, who overcame his struggles with poverty and addictions in an effort to live out his true purpose of serving the community.

Matt is a recipient of UnidosUS's Líderes Con Alas scholarship, designed for college students who are determined to make an impact in the Hispanic/Latino community through their education.

UnidosUS is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States—works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans. Through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations, UnidosUS (formerly known as NCLR) reaches millions of Hispanics each year in 41 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

Props to UnidosUS writer John Marth for documenting this inspiring story of re-discovering his roots and heritage, and regaining resilience through the process.

Below is an excerpt from Matt's story, which you can read in its entirety here.

Matt grew up in Laredo, a border town in Texas. “My family struggled to scrape up an existence,” he says.

For some of them, that meant involvement with drugs and relying on alcohol to cope with what Matt calls a “disconnectedness of community.”

The family moved to San Antonio when Matt was 13. He eventually started drinking and using too, but his parents still insisted he go off to college.

In 2011, Matt started at University of Texas at San Antonio. In February of his freshman year, he spent a night in jail for a marijuana charge. After a few more setbacks, he left the school. He started taking classes at Northwest Vista, a nearby community college, off and on. That’s when he turned to landscaping.

With the money he’d saved landscaping, Matt started another semester at Northwest Vista, taking a class called Intro to Chican@ Studies. Finally, he says, he could relate to something in his coursework. “I saw myself and my family’s trajectory within the larger context of things here in the United States.” He saw a history of racism and colonization that led to poverty and other unseen barriers.

The whole experience was eye-opening, and led to Matt feeling empowered to make some changes in his life.

“By the end of the semester I was different. I ended up getting sober and I felt like I could finally hold my head up for something.”

“The trauma, the pain, the suffering had to end there,” he says. “Plenty of addicts and alcoholics in my family, but I had never heard of anybody in recovery.”