As others who come from poor and working-class backgrounds or people of color have done I too could have bought into the deficit perspective that I am better than my own,but the practices of mainstream schooling, curriculum, and patriarchy I continue to experience serve as a constant reminder that I am perceived as belonging to a community of second-class citizens at best. Even after poor and working-class,women, and/or people of color enter the academy as faculty members, we continue to struggle within a system that is not setup for our success. Therefore, I continue to learn about and extend the limits and possibilities within which I might envision the future of my communities—communities of women, working class, Latina/o,and/or immigrant students.
(The Stings of Social Hierarchies: From the Central San Joaquin Valley Vineyards to the Ivy Walls by Linda Prieto)

I find it to be devastating that even when women, immigrants, or minorities make it out of their lower class situations they continue to be viewed as second class citizens. I have realized that although I am a successful, by the standards of society, multicultural woman that I am still struggling with maintaining and accepting that success.

Constantly feeling as though you don’t deserve to be at a certain place in your life can be tiresome and stressful. You become obsessed with believing that you are a second class citizen in society and every failure or setback that you face becomes another weight that you carry throughout your day. Spending constant hours imagining how can I be more effective and wondering how everyone seems to have it all together becomes a part of your lifestyle. The mentality of a second class citizen becomes a part of who you are and eventually you begin to accept the fact that no matter how hard you try you will always be staying up later or running to where you need to be because that is what second rate citizens do. I’d like to envision a future in which minorities do not feel as though they are second class citizens but instead feel empowered, especially once they have become “successful” in whatever terms they’d like to deem as successful living for themselves.