Latino wrestler Henry Cejudo took home the gold for the U.S. in men’s freestyle wrestling in a dynamic win today over opponent Tomohiro Matsunaga.

According to The L.A. Times, Cejudo, the son of undocumented immigrants, invoked his Mexican heritage as he spoke about his win:

“This is cool. Coming out of a Mexican American background, it feels good to represent the U.S.,” said Cejudo, whowasborn in Los Angeles. “Not too many Mexicans get the chance to do that.”

Cejudo’s parents divorced when he was 4 and he saw his father, Jorge, only one more time before he died in Mexico City. But his mother, Nelly Rico, raised a family of six children on her own, bouncing from low-paying jobs in California to New Mexico and Arizona, where the family sometimes slept four to a bed.

It’s a nice story, indeed. But what I personally don’t care for is the way his win is billed as “The American Dream”, supported comments from people who know him make it seem like that it’s a miracle he didn’t turn out to be a criminal in light of his family background. In fact, that’s exactly what they imply:

“He has done an unbelievable job coming from the environment that he came from,” his coach, Terry Brands, said. “Could be in prison. Could be a drug runner. Could be this, could be that. He’s done an unbelievable job of not being a victim.

Is this because he comes from a situation of adversity or because he comes from a situation of adversity and he’s brown? Way to taint an otherwise uplifting story…

Via / LA Times