Latinx Youths’ Testimonios of Racist Nativism: Poetry and Acompañamiento to Bridge past and Present Experiences

This article focuses on Latinx youth’s testimonios or “stories of marginalization” tied to immigration. I drew from Anzaldúa’s conceptualizations of nepantla [unfamiliar in-between spaces] and Sepúlveda’s pedagogy of acompañamiento [accompaniment] to understand the youth’s experiences. Methods involved reuniting with former elementary students through pláticas [informal gatherings] to discuss poetry they wrote in fourth grade. Individually, their writing revealed tensions traversing temporal boundaries. Collectively, their poems exposed a racist nativist shadow cast over their lives. Implications for practice include teachers centering Latinx youth in the classroom, accompanying them, and witnessing their testimonios. Our responsibility as educators lies in empathizing with students as they face heavy burdens in society.