25 Years, One Pacers Jacket, and the American Dream

There’s a photo of me from 25 years ago — the last time the Indiana Pacers made it to the NBA Finals. I’m just a small kid in an oversized, puffy Pacers coat I got from a winter coat drive. But that jacket was more than just a coat. It was warmth. It was safety. It was a place to hide from a world I was still trying to understand.

I had just moved here from Venezuela. I didn’t speak English, know what the American dream was, or even who the Pacers were. I knew I was cold. I knew I felt different at age eight. I knew I didn’t understand why kids made fun of me for how I spoke, or why they told me to go back to my country.

I also knew that coat was my sanctuary. I’d zip it up, tuck my arms and head inside, and call it “Dexter’s Lab.” It was my safe space. My imaginary world where I didn’t feel so out of place. Where I didn’t have to share a mattress with my mom and sister. Where I didn’t have to hear drunk strangers pounding on the door of our apartment off 42nd and Post Rd.

And now, here we are.

25 years later.

The Pacers are back in the Finals.

And somehow, so am I.

I’m living the dream, right? Assistant principal, dad, husband, homeowner. I figured it out. I learned the language, the culture — even who Reggie Miller was. I learned how to blend in. I learned how to survive.

After all this time, I still stare at that photo — not just at myself, but at the other kid. The one without the Pacers jacket, without the warmth I had — the one ICE just detained.

Why him?

Why anybody?

I don’t have all the answers, but I do know this: I see the fear in our students’ eyes and hear it in their parents’ voices. For too many, the American dream still feels out of reach. All I want is to give every one of those kids a Pacers jacket — not just to keep them warm, but to remind them they belong here, too.

So here’s what we can do:

Check in with a student. Donate a coat. Volunteer with your local school’s English as a new language program. Support immigrant advocacy groups here in Indy.

We can’t change the system overnight, but we can show up. Showing up can look as simple as a  warm jacket, a kind word, or a little space where a kid feels like they belong.

Sometimes I wonder if the dream was ever real. For both of us.