Antonio — See Me Because

My friends describe me as weird. I remember I used to name myself “weirdo” on video games. I like to dress weird, and do weird things. It’s just the way I am made up, and I like it. When people say, “He’s weird,” I’m like, “Thank you.” I believe in the impossible - mermaids, gnomes, ghosts, La Llorona and the Chupacabra. I believe in it all. People say, “When pigs fly.” Well, when it really happens, they will be the salty one.

I want my portrait to show me in a group of people - a community that I created and they became real because I believed in them. I believe in the impossible.

In Milwaukee, it can feel dark. Not really dark, but just like, you don’t really talk to people. To go up to a person and say ‘hi’ - people are scared to do that, to meet new people. You have to go to school or a job to meet someone, instead of just randomly saying ‘hello!’

I have three friends I’m close with that I eat lunch with. I can talk to them about anything. I take them to class and tell them that they have to go to class because I want them to have a good education. It their last year and I figure you might as well work hard. They are all older than me, but I guess I am the wiser one. I say it to a bunch of people too. I say, ‘Listen here, bro. I want you to succeed.” They want to skip school and I say, ‘Don’t do it. 15 minutes can ruin your life!’ I learned that because I went on this trip to Colorado and there were four kids from every city. For one city, only three kids came because of the fourth kid got shot and died right before coming on the trip. That experience changed me forever. It hurt my heart. I told my group at school that story when they were going to skip class, and they were in shock and were like, ‘You know what, I am going to class!” It takes that in order for them to understand.

For youth of color in Milwaukee, we have a lot of people who cheer us on and tell us we can do better, but then they don’t give us help to do so. How do we do it? Where do we start? And I think that we should say, “We don’t have the tools!”. It’s not that hard to talk out. We do it everyday. You just have to talk out, and somebody might hear you. We can find somebody we trust and say, “I need help. Can you help me?” There are resources and opportunities all around. You have to take them. This man, Mr. Prince at my CLC, he was like, ‘Want to go see a college with us this weekend?’ I was like, ‘Sure.’ Because of that, then he went and set me up at Marquette for the summer for a lawyer thing. I said, “I’ll take it!” You have to take every opportunity. You never know what you’re going to get.

What stands out to me in my life was freshman year, I joined the debate team. I became more of a spokesperson. Then I spoke for Wisconsin. I started going around talking to people who don’t think they’ll succeed. That’s what I feel I’m born to be now. And, I mean, it’s always going to be in me. I might do something else with my life, like if I want to do soccer or be a lawyer, but I am always going to be around, helping people.

Milwaukee, 2019