Richard
Portrait with Kat Schleicher
Description: A young man wearing a New York Yankees’ baseball uniform stands on a baseball field at night. He wears a Puerto Rican Flag on his shoulders and he holds a baseball bat. The stands are crowded.
Portrait with Zachary Maxwell Stertz
“I was raised here in a Puerto Rican family. They came from Puerto Rico.
My early life was complicated. I had to choose between who to live with: my grandma or my mom. That’s probably the hardest decision I ever made. And childhood life was basically just - I basically got everything I needed. I still got to see my mama. You know, she didn’t live far away from me, so I can just hang with her. My grandma, mom, and aunt raised me to be the man I am today. My stepdad’s important to me, too, because of the words he’s told me. On New Years, he said, “I want you to go to college. I want to be a cheerleader for you. When you go to college and play in the big leagues, I want to be in the front row.” That really touched me. He’s an important person to me.
My family is my community. I just want to get out of here, make them proud, and get them what they deserve like what they gave me. I climbed the hardest challenges I have had in my life. I came through it. I have a lot of support. My mama tells me she loves me. She never gives up on me, even though the custody went to my grandma. I know I really got somebody that cares for me. I am truly thankful for her, for my family. Look at me - I am still in school, and they are a major reason.
I’m focused to graduate and get to college. I got to go to school every day and get my work done - stay after, get extra help. Some teachers think I’m like other kids who don’t come to school and don’t do work. But sometimes I take care of my grandma. Sometimes the bus don’t come because of weather. I get judged. Some days, I don’t like to go outside the house a lot, because for me, when I walk out there, I’m not safe. Yesterday, there was three gunshots in front of the crib. And I was like, that could have hit anybody, honestly. It can happen today when I walk out to wait for the bus. I said, “I gotta go to school to do this for my grandma.” But I felt traumatized.
The most memorable moment I can recall was the first time I went to Puerto Rico to visit my grandma’s side of the family. It was amazing just to see who my grandma was raised with and just realizing what she went through, and the house where they was raised in. It was emotional, because it was like I was reuniting with them.
I would like the world to know that to this day, I’m not going to give up on things. I’m not going to stop. If there is a brick wall, I’m going to try to break through. And by 2022, y’all probably see me in the major leagues hitting home runs. I am accomplished. I’m passing high school and when I graduate, I will be the first person in my family. I’m waiting for the graduation, so I can get a photo with them.”
Milwaukee, 2019