What Would You Really Do
On Tuesday September 19th, Jorgensen Center held the event Illuminating the Path with featured speaker, John Quiñones, presented by the Puerto Rican/Latin American Cultural Center (PRLACC). This producer, journalist, motivational speaker, and co-anchor, is most known for his work as the creator and host of ABC Primetime’s What Would You Do?; the hidden camera show depicting various social dilemmas. The point of which is not to simply expose the adversities people face daily, but to highlight those who step up to do the right thing and intervene. For the past ten years, Quiñones has does an unprecedented job of promoting bystander intervention - a fundamental component of producing social change. Throughout the night, Quiñones gave a narrative of his life and the path he followed to become the successful reporter he is today. He began with his childhood in San Antonio, Texas and the hardships he faced as a young Mexican-American with the dream of upward mobility.
“We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”
Raised in a Spanish speaking home, he didn’t learn English until entering the first grade where he and other bilingual students would be beaten with paddles as punishment for speaking their native language. By age 13, he and his sisters became migrant farm-workers after their father was laid off, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles following crops to work for 75 cents/hour. He continued this work alongside family members until his father encouraged him to pursue his dreams and attend college. Despite having discouraging teachers tell him to take up a trade rather than chase his career goal, Quiñones became the first in his family to attend college. He spoke on his gratitude for the program, Upward Bound*, which enabled him to attend St. Mary’s University in San Antonio while he simultaneously took night classes at his local community college.
“Be who you are, take advantage of it, be proud.”
If I were to ascribe a theme to his dialogue, it would be the belief that he recounted numerous times. Persistence. To Quiñones, it was persistence that kept him going as he worked three jobs while attending two schools during undergrad. It was persistence and the sense of ambition to ask for or demand access to the next step in achieving one’s dreams. Persistence to take advantage of any and all available internships and opportunities. Persistence is, in essence, the key to ‘Illuminating the Path’ to one’s brightest future. Without it, he would not have gotten his first job as a radio news editor at KTRH in Houston, Texas, or his next as an anchor and reporter for KPRC-TV then WBBM-TV in Chicago. Without this persistence, which he attributes much of his success to, What Would You Do? would not have started 10 years ago producing over 500 different yet equally significant scenarios teaching countless viewers across the country (and world as episodes can be found online) about salient social issues. While it may be impossible to quantify the impact of his show, it's clear that we have all benefited by the persistence of John Quiñones, and the day to day heroes featured on his show each week.
“We cannot remain silent. Now, more than ever,
we have to speak up.”
While this event was put on by PRLACC, I went with a group of fellow Pack Leaders of the University’s Bystander Intervention Program, Protect Our Pack. The mission of Protect Our Pack is to promote bystander intervention among students on our campus through interactive workshops/trainings by providing information and various way to intervene when necessary. An example of which is the What Would You Do? type videos we produce illustrating what any student could do in the event that intervention is necessary. The videos will film showcase different styles of mediation as we are aware that everyone is more or less comfort with different levels of confrontation. Assistant Dean of Students for Victim Support Services & Bystander Initiatives and our program leader, Jenn Longa, encouraged us to attend the event as the question of "what would you do?" pertains so directly to our work. The ultimate goal for each scenario produced by Quiñones and his fellow writers is to commend those who intervene in defense of those whom they assume to be a real victim, thus promoting bystander intervention, as is the mission of Pack Leaders alike. It is imperative to remember that doing nothing is always worse than something, regardless of circumstance. As we all know, it’s not what you would do but what you actually do that counts.
Thanks for reading! Check out the links below for additional content and information.
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*Upward Bound serves high school students from low-income families; and high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor's degree to support their efforts and facilitate access to higher education.
