Thanks for the timely post from @atedge on this Veterans Day with an image and quote from a shoot I did for @thefader. ・・・ "I didn't receive an education on my heritage growing up, so I grew up like a lot of Mexican-Americans feeling confused and with lots of questions about our identity, where we come from, and really just feeling less than. A big part of why I joined the Marine Corps was that I wanted to feel included. I wanted to come back home to my family, who are all first generation Mexican-Americans, and say look, we have a place here, we belong here. But the truth is, there was no need for that because we already belonged here and were part of this country." This portrait of social worker and veteran Eduardo Rodriguez was taken during a protest at the Texas Capitol Complex. Students, activists, academics, politicians, and veterans gathered in response to the approval of a textbook that is suppose to cover Mexican-American culture and history, but instead has been proven to include hundreds of inaccuracies that promote blatantly racist stereotypes. The quote above was Rodriguez's response to the question "What lesson do you hope kids learn in school that you didn't?" At Edge Photographer Matthew Johnson // @mynameismattjohnson #atedge (at Austin, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqGhw5qFjSF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1xu50ca4jklf6
