I am tired of hearing pundits and pollsters talk about Latinos as a monolithic group and how they will vote. As a member of the Latino community, I know that not every single Latino in America is a supporter of Hillary Clinton. I am not. My dad is not. We make independent decisions based on our life experiences and based on which candidate we think will lead an America that we want to live in.

My father, until recently, was a legal resident working as a truck driver. For 20 years he avoided the so-called "path to citizenship" because he was frustrated by American politics and felt alienated by the Democratic party.

And then, in 2004, he saw Barack Obama give his speech to the Democratic Convention. He called to tell me, 'That man will be president one day."

In January 2008 my father took the U.S. citizenship exam and passed. After more than 20 years, he is finally on his way to becoming a full-fledged citizen and is looking forward to voting for the first time... for Barack Obama.

Latinos are individuals. We express our ideas and votes as individuals. The media needs to stop generalizing and categorizing us.

We are Americans.

E. Patricia Alcalde

Class of 2001