Yes, there is another part to this Reflection on immigration. This second part is focused on the DREAM Act. But if I had to put it as another thing it would be that of a rant. It is neither our job nor our goal to be the great undocumented leaders that have come to save the adorable, helpless undocumented youth from the big, bad machine. Our mission, our aim is to work on our liberation collectively, to empower all undocumented youth by creating this environment, these safe spaces, this critical mass that enables them to own any and all parts of their identity with dignity. This notion of our bound liberation also brings to mind the kind of crazy realization that though undocumented, some of us live in “safe states,” states that may not exactly be friendly to undocumented youth, but are miles ahead of states like Georgia and Arizona, who are openly hostile to not only the existence of undocumented youth, but remain hell bent on stripping the few rights and resources they have away. In addition to this safe state mentality comes this sense of complacency for those living in these states, that as long as we have in-state tuition/financial aid/access to certain resources, we’ve “won” or have nothing to fight for. We must continue to challenge and push back on that mentality with the fact that, as long as other undocumented youth don’t have these same opportunities, there remains a reason to fight. Though we are all marginalized and oppressed, there should still be a reason, an obligation even, to fight, to defend them, no matter how geographically removed from you they may be.
One central point of consensus of the idea of being on the offensive if you haven’t already been forced to be on the defensive, or maybe even better, striving to pursue both. Inaction is not a viable option, not a sustainable option, and sure as hell not an option that serves the empowerment of undocumented youth. No one is going to do our liberating for us. Sure, Congress may get their acts together and pass the DREAM Act, but that is one piece of our liberation puzzle, and a piece that we still have to actively work for, as the past 10 years have shown. We, the affected, know our struggle the best, know our stories the best, and we need to own our liberation. Another realization? That very strange limbo/backwardness of ICE and police and fear. We find ways to stay in hiding so we don’t get caught by police, and when we do happen to get caught. Rolling a stop sign, driving to school, it’s tough love, instant deportation. But when we work through our fears and choose to buck the system and openly risk arrest, something strange happens. Police officers treat you nicely (as they’re arresting you, nonetheless), ICE officers treat you differently and suddenly, under the microscope of the public eye, the PR machine of ICE and DHS decides it’s a bad idea to get involved and try to deport anyone. ICE is a greater threat when you accidentally come into contact with them than when you get all up in their respective grills and tell them that you are undocumented and unafraid.
For the DREAM Act, we lobbied. In the words of Cesar Chavez, We Organized. In the words of Harvey Milk, We Came Out. In the words of Martin Luther King Jr., We Escalated. Then, and only then, in our words, We Existed.
END of rant. ^^
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