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These experiences are still important, Mendoza said. According to the Heartland Institute, a nonprofit research group, national Latino graduation rates are at 54 percent. And, according to the 2000 census, in Minnesota alone the Latino population increased 166.1 percent between 1990 and 2000.

Mendoza joined Jim Bonilla, assistant professor in education and public administration at Hamline, and Andres Gomez, a public speaker and community activist, for MISA’s "Conversations on Race, Identity and Racism" on Thursday.

As minority populations continue to grow, discussing such experiences is necessary in order to overcome the social problems that divide minority groups from the rest of society, especially in education, said Mendoza.

Mendoza had to take years off from school after graduating from high school before he could “reconcile his experience in education and go to college,” he said.

Education should not favor the dominant culture, the panelists said.

The only reason Bonilla made it through school was because of an accident that left him legally blind and gave him the personal attention in school that saved him from following the path of the majority of other Latinos during his childhood — dropping out, Bonilla said.

In the 1960s, many Cubans held a preferred immigration status after the 1959 revolution. Gomez, as part of an affluent Cuban family, came to the United States when he was 13 under such circumstances.

Gomez, an educated student, had different experiences in the U.S. education system because he was able to fall back on his own experience in Cuba as a person of higher social class.

“Many felt we were rejected by white Americans because we were not considered white," he said. "Most of us didn’t give a shit."

Those from less-privileged positions had to deal with the internalization of racism, he said, and the repercussions came through in continuing education, or a lack thereof.

The situation for Cubans now is far different than it was when Gomez came to the United States, with newer generations experiencing the problems that are typical for Latinos in American culture, Gomez said.

Understanding that there are many other minority groups that have similar experiences is necessary in order to overcome such difficulties, the panelists said.

Such issues can’t be tied to a particular ethnic group, but need to go beyond each distinct group, Gomez said. Addressing the problems that affect all the groups will help minimize the divide that separates society.