"Every legislator I met with that day was White, male and old," says Najar Madera, an Aurora native who's now a rising senior at William Smith High School. "I really didn't connect with them, and it was hard for them to connect with me and see where I was coming from, because they had very different backgrounds."
After some self-reflection, Najar Madera realized that she wanted to be the representation she didn't see on Capitol Hill at the time. She became involved with local political organizations, started phone banking as a volunteer, and slowly built connections with prominent Coloradans who were involved in political mobilization. This year, she wrote a book.
Nuestra Historia not only addresses the question asked by many after the 2024 U.S. presidential election — "What can we do?" — but amplifies Latino voices. The independently published, 56-page book was released in both Spanish and English on June 2 and is available on Amazon.
Before her junior year in high school, Najar Madera was accepted into the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute's 2024 NextGen Latino Leadership Program and got to return to D.C. The highly selective program provides tenth- and eleventh-grade Latino high school students the opportunity to spend a week in the nation's capital while learning how it plays a major role in the country's history and future.
From meeting with Jason Crow, the representative for Colorado's 6th Congressional District, to taking a closer look at the city's rich history, Najar Madera loved every moment of the trip. What started out as an interest in local community organizing became a passion for federal policies and national politics that affects not just those in Najar Madera's community, but the Latino community across the nation.
"I want to do this for the rest of my life," says Najar Madera. "I want to bring that representation to the table in places that it's needed. I think politics is one of those places that really, really needs it."
After Donald Trump was elected president again last November, Najar Madera felt sad and angry. When she and her family visited Mexico the next month, she realized that the border divided two worlds and the two homes she belonged to. No one talks about the reasons that Latinos come to the U.S., Najar Madera realized. The idea for her book was born.
After months of writing drafts and interviewing immigrants and first-generation youth across the nation, as well as plenty of sleepless nights, the question of "What can we do?" has finally been answered.
"It's met my expectations," says Najar Madera. "It met what really inspired it."
Nuestra Historia highlights those who immigrated to the U.S. seeking their "American Dream," reacts to the 2024 election, gives thanks to the Latinos who make up many industries across the country, and discusses how the Trump administration has attacked the Latino community across the country since the start of his second term. Filled with rage, honesty, poetry, personal narratives and sincere passion, this book reminds readers that regardless of the difficult situation, hope and the ability to take matters into our own hands will always be there.
Carmen Madera Meza, Najar Madera's mother, says that she was proud of her daughter throughout the entire process.
"[Najar Madera] spent all her time writing, and in her free time, she suddenly said, 'I have to finish my book because I want to do it before I turn seventeen,'" says Madera Meza. "I felt so happy when she did it, and even happier when I held it in my hands and was able to read it."
For a chapter titled "The American Dream," Najar Madera interviewed both immigrant and first-generation Latinos across the country and asked them, "What is the American Dream to you?" Mothers, fathers and children discussed their immigration journeys, raising families in the U.S., and the ways they either have or haven't achieved their American Dream goal.
One of those stories came from her mother, who interprets the American Dream as leaving everything behind in Jalisco and finding better opportunities in the U.S. Not only was he seeking better chances for herself, but also for her children, so that they could get a better education than she did and attend college.
Fatima and her parents embracing one another with the Spanish version of Nuestra Historia.
Fatima Najar Madera
"My definition of the American Dream hasn't changed," says Madera Meza. "While achieving the American Dream has been more difficult for others, I feel like I am achieving it."
Nohemí Rodríguez Hurtado, who is featured in Nuestra Historia, was born and raised in Trojes, a small ranch town in Valparaíso, Zacatecas, Mexico. She remembers when her mother and youngest brother immigrated to California to provide for their family back home.
She later joined them, and now has been in the U.S. for over thirty years. An independent distributor for American international beauty manufacturer JAFRA Cosmetics, Rodríguez says that she is not just growing as a person, but is succeeding in her own journey with the American Dream.
"I was very pleased that [Fatima] gave me the opportunity to share my story with others," says Rodríguez, who knew Najar Madera's parents when she lived in Aurora for a few years. "I am a daughter of immigrant, Mexican parents with a mother who raised us on her own and taught us to fight for what we want, to not give up and to be strong people."
As Najar Madera prepares for her final year in high school, she hopes that readers will reflect on stories like these and appreciate what Latinos do for this country. With an administration actively criminalizing the Latino community, Najar Madera knows that there are people willing to crush the spirit of Latinos living here. Nuestra Historia is designed to make readers proud of their background and culture, while also reassuring them that "this is who we are."
Above all, she wants Latino youth to be "happy" that they can resonate and identify with the culture."We do belong, we are the future," says Najar Madera. "I hope that with this administration and everything crazy going on in the world, we don't get discouraged to be the change for future generations."
