Working to Achieve the American Dream by Commissioner Luis Aguilar (excerpt) Commissioner Luis Aguilar addressed the Hispanic Bar Association to recognize the increasing impact of Latina leadership, discuss some background on the Securities and Exchange Commission and improving financial literacy in minority communities, and to share his personal story as an example of the American Dream and why giving back is important. This excerpt focuses on his personal story. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Washington, D.C. September 19, 2012 (1) ...I want to tell you a little bit about myself, so you can understand what underlies my passion to protect investors — particularly those hard-working men and women who invest their savings in our capital markets. I was born in Cuba, and at the age of six, my parents sent my brother and me to the United States alone because they feared for our safety. Fidel Castro1 had seized control of the Cuban government and rumors were rampant that children would be sent to indoctrination camps2. Cuban parents, afraid and unsure, were desperate to send their children out of harm's way. Thousands of children arrived in the United States, as refugees, without their parents or any resources. When I arrived in the U.S., I did not speak a word of English and possessed little more than the clothes on my back. Moreover, I did not see my parents again for several years. (2) Once I was reunited with my parents, we moved from town to town as my father looked for better job opportunities. In some of these communities, we were among the first Hispanics in the area. We moved to Little Rock a few years after the 1957 desegregation of Central High School by the courageous African-American students known as the "Little Rock Nine3." Through this example, I saw that a legal process could be a catalyst for social change. The civil rights movement showed me the power of the law, and that's when I began to think about becoming a lawyer. It is also when I began to more fully appreciate the social and