My name is Jonathan Marcano. I have two sisters. Everyone thinks they are twins, but they are actually one year apart. I am also bilingual, and my favorite book is March by John Lewis because of its powerful and authentic retelling of the Civil Rights Movement. I want to grow up to be a professional soccer player, but if that doesn’t work I want to be a lawyer. My mom and dad are my heroes because they work really hard even if they’re tired and help me when I’m sad or down, which means a lot to me. 

Martin Luther King, Jr. said “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” The first quote encourages us to participate in the fight for social justice and the second one reminds me that to be powerful we need to come together and be united as an interconnected community. 

BK2BAMA is an organization that helps students learn more about their ethnicity and Black history. I joined BK2BAMA to learn about American activism and how America was shaped into what it is today. I’m Hispanic and want to learn about my own identity and history. I specifically want to go to Alabama and Georgia to study the culture and rich history of Black Americans. I’m especially excited to meet historical figures like Robert Posey because I read The Watson Go to Birmingham – 1963, which is about the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church and Mr. Posey found and prosecuted the bombers. I also want to visit landmarks like the Edmund Pettus Bridge to see where “Bloody Sunday” happened.