Manifesting Change: Making Progress

Irma J. Zamora Fuerte, Doctoral Student, English

Lourdes Barroso de Padilla is a Columbus native. Her parents migrated here from Cuba, escaping the dangers of the Castro dictatorship. Inspired by service, a value instilled by her parents and more than 20 years at City Year, she campaigned for Columbus City Council in 2020. In a Spring 2021 panel, Lourdes "manifested to the world" that she would be the first Latinx person to serve in the Council. In December of 2021, this became a reality.

I caught up with Lourdes recently and talked about her current work and future aspirations Below is an excerpt from that conversation.

What inspired you to run for city council?

Lourdes Padilla de Barroso:I saw that our city was getting more and more diverse. Immigrants, migrants and refugees are the leading force behind our population growth, and that changes the city. I didn't see anyone thinking about that. I didn't see us in the plans for the city, people who look like you and [me]. I think about my mom who's been in this country for more than 50 years, and she's never seen anyone who looks like her at the table, making decisions on her behalf. It further inspired and encouraged me to run. Especially coming off the Trump administration where in my own country, I didn't always feel like there was a place for me. Now more than ever, we must ensure that we have representation at all levels.

Why is it important for us to make spaces for each other and for others down the line?

It's a funny thing about representation because it changes everything. Now that I'm here, the conversations are different. We can be intentional about things. We expanded the work of our neighborhoods committee. Now, it's Immigrants, Refugee, and Migrant Affairs (IRMA). We were deliberate in not calling it New Americans. The idea of what we call ourselves, how we are thinking about people, how we're thinking about their needs is [where] we're changing that dialogue. That's only happening because we created space for ourselves. […] We have a place where we can start to bring issues to the table and change the conversation. We can educate people about things that are challenging us in a way we couldn't before. It changes the way that we engage people. It changes the way we think about opportunity. It changes the way we give to people, and how we do things. That's how you start to create change in the system.

How do you keep making room as you progress through your role as councilmember?

A couple of things. One, we expanded the work of the committee to be a community-led conversation around what immigrants, migrants and refugees need. We're going to start a listening tour and have a deliberate space where people can share their priorities. Then we can start to figure out a plan to support those priorities moving forward. That’s one way we're changing the conversation. […] My colleague Nick Bankston is running the Small Minority Business Committee. [We partnered] together to meet with these business owners to figure out what opportunities and resources they need. Again, it's about bringing other people to the table to hear the community.

What else are you manifesting out to the world?

I want to ensure that we continue to center our decision-making on our people and families; that we’re continuing to advance people of color and women in our community. We went through a process…call it social uprising…the summer of protests. All these things... where we started to really understand [and] see each other. For some, it was an awakening. How are we supporting our Black brothers and sisters? How are we dealing with our own shit as a Latino community? When it comes to colorism when it comes to racism, how are we defining ourselves and finding a place in this community? How do we continue to show people that we’re not a monolith, that we’re unique and have different needs? I want to manifest a future that sees more equity and more prosperity for all of us. I dream of a day that DREAMERS aren't just DREAMERS. That there's a place for them. We must continue to push because that's the only way that we're going to make progress. Progress is the tension between honoring where we've been and pushing to where we want to go. Even in this time that feels gross and like we’re backsliding. We need to have esperanza that every single day there's going to be something better on the other side.

Headshot Lourdes de Barroso de Padilla