April 29, 2021 When Alejandra Ibanez immigrated to the United States from Chile in 1979, she didnât know the language or the culture. She came to Evanston as a high school sophomore, but she never felt it was her home. She said the lack of notable Latinx representation in the city was often isolating. âI didnât think this was a place for me,â Ibanez said. âWhen you donât see yourself or your culture or your gender, those parts of you that help identify who you are, you donât feel that you belong, you donât see yourself as capable â itâs how the internalized oppression starts to eat at you.âÂ