My American Dream

My name is Daniel Nieves III. I am 29 years old and a college student living in New Haven. My long-term goal is to complete law school and help my homeland, Puerto Rico, become America’s 51st state. To understand why this is important to me, you have to understand where I come from and the journey I have taken to today.

A Childhood In Isolation

I grew up in a town called Ceiba, next to the only tropical rainforest in the United States, El Yunque. My town was very secluded. There was no running water. There were dirt roads. My sister and I did not have the neighbors, grocery stores and many forms of entertainment other children had access to. We grew up isolated from the modern world.

My parents raised us as Christians. They practiced Christian fundamentalism and an extreme form of Catholicism. They gave me their work ethic, which I keep with me to this day.

The average day for me as a child was filled with responsibilities, hard work and punishment for my mistakes. During the day I would work on the land or tend to the livestock we depended on for survival. Or, I would help build our small house, which was really a tin shack.

I often reflect on a time when I was 7 and my father had me mixing cement the torrid, humid heat of the rainforest. The temperature was well into the 90s. Heat stroke was common amongst farm workers.

That day I passed out and slept for twenty-four straight hours. I had passed out before, and like then, there was no medical help to be had. Our location was too remote. The only time I saw a hospital was when I slipped while playing on the roof of our house. I fell seventeen feet into a metal dumpster and suffered internal bleeding and broken ribs. I was 6 years old at the time.

My parents have been huge influences on me. I learned much that was useful but also learned much that I would like to forget. Living in subsistence poverty is difficult. My parents had to be firm, but frequently my sister and I were treated very harshly. Today it would be termed child abuse.

My father was unforgiving. Despite this, he taught me the importance of hard work and that I was entitled to only what I earned. My father was also an army veteran, who had suffered similar abuse, if not worse.

In Puerto Rico, the landscape is beautiful but you live in hurricane alley. Almost every hurricane that originates in the Caribbean reaches the island. The two that impacted me most were Hurricane Luis in 1995 and Hurricane Georges in 1998. Hurricane Georges ripped my house from its foundations, while my family and I huddled in the basement. Later, we found parts of the house and everything we owned, scattered for miles. After this tragedy, my parents decided it was best for us to move to the mainland United States.

“Blood In, Blood Out”

I was 10 when I moved to New Haven. We lived on Chapel Street, where crime was at an all-time high. I witnessed three murders in my neighborhood during my first year in the United States. Violence was so prevalent, I have memories of people and friends who were shot on multiple occasions and recall times when bullets barely missed striking me.

Coming from such a different lifestyle in Puerto Rican farm country, I didn’t fit in. I spoke no English and my adjustment was difficult. My parents’ dire financial state and constant bullying from the local kids only made it more so.

I was also diagnosed at the age of 11 with a severe speech impediment. Since the diagnosis I have used self-taught speech therapy to improve my fluency, but at the time, the disability resulted in relentless teasing and crippled my self-esteem.

As a coping mechanism, I turned to sports. I realized I had a talent for football, wrestling and other sports. I was rewarded for my hard work with a state championship medal for wrestling in 2008. I credit those athletics with helping me assimilate and adjust to my new surroundings.

However, I never felt that my sister or I were safe. To ensure that safety, I did what many young, Latino males do in that environment. I became a gang member at 14. I later regretted my decision but was unable to escape my circumstances because gang affiliation is ​“blood in, blood out.” It’s for life, or so I thought.

As I aged, I yearned for a life without that constant violence. During this time, I was working at a factory with my father. I knew that being a factory worker was a dead-end job, so I enrolled at Central State University in New Britain.

I was unable to matriculate. I could neither financially nor emotionally afford to continue. I returned to New Haven, gave up my dreams to graduate college and returned to gang life. It was a life I did not want but felt I had no alternative. I was tired of being poor and struggling.

I found myself involved in things that were the antithesis of my value system. The result was that between the years 2009 and 2016, I was arrested eight times. I was charged with firearm violations, drug offenses and other crimes too numerous to list.

A New Purpose

That was when I met an attorney, Jamie E. Alosi, and my life began to change. She represented me during those seven years, and we became very close. Through her efforts, the efforts of various treatment providers and my own hard work, we managed to prevent me from being convicted of any criminal offenses.

Jamie became more than my attorney. She became my friend and a reason my life took a new direction after 2016. That year, Attorney Alosi and her partner (in both life and work) Richard Silverstein asked me to come work for them. I worked as an assistant for Attorney Silverstein, translating for Spanish-speaking clients and attending court five days a week.

It was during this time that Attorney Alosi and Silverstein helped me continue my education at Gateway Community College. I have now received my associate’s degree and plan on going further. While I was working for the law firm, I realized that my true purpose is to help, especially those I see going down the same road I have traveled. I want to prevent those less fortunate from making the same mistake that I made.

I now have been working for Jamie and Richard for four years. This last year, I have been living with Richard and Jamie. I believe I have escaped both the ghetto and, more importantly, the ghetto mentality that I had adopted and lived by. I plan to complete my bachelor’s degree and pursue a law degree after that.

My long-term goal is to return to Puerto Rico to fight the corruption, poverty and violence that exist on my island. Puerto Rico suffers a crime rate that dwarfs that of any state in the United States. Because we are a territory, Puerto Rico is largely ignored by the United States. What I believe is necessary to help my people and the island I love is to get involved in politics with the goal of making Puerto Rico our 51st state. We are an island of 3.4 million people that, if granted statehood, would become the 31st most populous state. We would be entitled to representation in the Senate and the House of Representatives. It is my desire to play a major role in starting this process.