WAR SURVIVOR BRINGS CHILDREN TOGETHER
4-H leader works to help youth of all backgrounds get to know one another
Each week, this series will introduce you to an exceptional American who unites, rather than divides, our communities. To read more about the American profiled here and more average Americans doing exceptional things, visit onenation.usatoday.com.
John-Paul Chaisson-Cardenas witnessed the civil war in Guatemala as a boy. The memory of it is at the root of everything he does today.
What does it mean to you to be an American?
I love being a part of this country because of what it stands for. Around the world, this place is a beacon. Not because of what it is, but because of what it could be and the aspirations of equality. To me, that is what America is.
What moment touched and motivated you to launch this effort?
For me, youth are not only our future but they are much more diverse than the general population. When you start where youth are today, I truly believe they are ahead of us when it comes to inclusion and diversity and, more importantly, belonging. I truly believe that 4-H is an organization that can make a difference for every group in the United States — over 7 million youths in this country.
What gives you hope or what concerns you?
What gives me hope is youth. I work with over 100,000 youth in Iowa alone, so when I hear their voices and see them come together, that gives me hope. What worries me are actually the adults, the rhetoric out there that is destructive, that is divisive, that has taken us apart from the fundamental values that I believe this country is about — inclusion, diversity, bringing people together and being a beacon of hope for the rest of the world.
What do you hope to accomplish?
What I want to do is allow youth to be themselves and understand how powerful they are. And at the same time understand how the other youth around them are powerful within themselves, no matter where you come from, no matter who you are, whether you are white or black, whether you are LBGT or you are not, it doesn’t matter to me. What I want them to do is feel good about themselves and find their own strengths.