ICEcream
Around nine a.m. on the morning of July 4th, you power up the TV and Univision is on.
Later that afternoon, you’ll have to explain to your shockingly white boyfriend exactly what Univision (and Despierta America and Caso Cerrado and Primer Impacto) are.
Univision is running a report about how ICE has detained 30 undocumented workers in a raid. The reports have been stacking up, even though you’re pretty certain you and the folks at Univision are the only ones counting. You wonder if your boyfriend knows what the acronym ICE stands for. The anchorwoman ends the segment by offering a condolence to the families who are being ripped apart.
Immediately after the report ends, the anchorwoman cues to a video of a bear walking through a fast food drive-thru. An employee sticks his hand out of the window and feeds the bear soft serve ice cream, which it hungrily runs its tongue over. Suddenly, you find a deep guttural urge, a gnawing in your stomach, for ice cream.
Thank God your boyfriend had suggested you go out for ice cream that afternoon.
Ruben Reyes Jr. is the son of two Salvadoran immigrants and a senior at Harvard University studying History & Literature. He has written for The Florida Review Online, Poynter, The Harvard Crimson, La Horchata Zine, and other publications. Follow him on Twitter @rubenwrites and Instagram @rubenreyes_jr.
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