The world is super fucking overwhelming. There is so much beauty, so much sadness, so much anger, so much love, so much hurt, all of which I try to understand. Over the years, I’ve had opportu- nities to engage in movements which aim to adress this plethora of things to think about. I’ve begun to understand how and why we need to allocate both intense action and reflection in order to make critical, redical, productive change
I’ve always been aware of my familie’s close connection to and history of relliance on immigration as a means of survival. We vis- ited Ellis Island when I was eight to search for my great-grandparents names on the roster. Until I was fifteen, my dad was a legal alien, with no United States citizenship. As the struggle for peoples’ rights to immigrate to the United States has once again become a prominent part of political, and personal, discourse, this history has motivated me to take interest and wanting to be involved in protecting peoples’ right to migrate.
Through putting together this zine, I’m hoping to exemplafy a process of critical self reflection about my own involvement in and interest in this issue (as well as that of oth- ers), and perhaps come up with an effective method of self-reflection to motivate empa- thy and action for this issue. In the vein of, “the personal is political and the political is personal” (Anne Braden).In addition, I detail what work I have done over the course of this semester to plan a social media campaign, event, and fundraiser for immigrant rights education and action with a group of stu- dents.
critical questions
[borrowed/ abstracted from my weekly class questions]
Can tracing issues back to personal histories be helpful when confronting oppressive social norms? Does focussing on the individual stories truly always relegate us to thinking of as this iteration, rather than how it is currently iterated, and how it cur- rently affects people? My connection to immigrant rights is a pretty immediate one. I wonder, can we universalize this message, “The Personal is Polit- ical and the Political is Personal,” without providing people with a lived experience/history to validate it? Can tracing peoples’ previously unkown/un-cared about histories provide motivation for people to find points of connection and inspiration to act? Often, the rights of immigrants/deplaced peoples are grouped into a broad catagory. In this zine, I am grouping my families im- migration story with current immigration work that I am doing. What disservices does this do to the people currently experi- encing the crisis? Would it be better to have specific, specialized “Immigrant Rights” theories and practices for specific people, by specific people? Does the broad grouping of “Immigrant Rights” even make sense in the context of the diverse, intersectional world we live in? I am a guilty person. I am guilty because of my positionality in comparison to that of my family in the past, and because of my positionality compared to many people around me today. I walk without worry across borders, double citizenship ensuring me immense freedom. Of course, this guilt does nothing. How can I transform and then maintain this transformation of my mindset, from one of automatic guilt and avoidance, to anger and action?
CECELIA [from Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity] WORKING FOR GENERATIONS
The issue of immigration was something very close to me. My mom and my Abuelita came to the US undoc- umented. I grew up hearing their stories of fear and obstacles of navigating the US in the 1980s. My mom’s career has been dedicated to servicing the immigrant community in various capacities, and watching her instilled the belief that I had the capacity to make a difference and support others. Through my dissertation I was able to become deeply involved in the Sanctuary Movement in the Inland Empire. I knew I needed to do this work with my home community, and I feel very for- tunate that my research provided me that opportunity. In the short term, I hope to be able to open more spaces for people to create and dialogue on issues white suprema- cy, immigration reform, and imagining alternatives to the carceral system. I really enjoy creating community spaces. In the foreseeable future, I would love to see an end to detention centers. I hope that through these dialogues we are able to mobilize individuals to action and change hearts/minds on constructs of criminality and belonging.
I truly believe coalitions are the key to change. When everyone is able to realize how interlocked social, economic, and environmental issues are is when we will see less division. Everyone has a role to play and a skill to offer in changing our world.
I CONTINUE TO FLEE, BUT FIND USE IN PERSONAL HISTORY AS MOTIVATION TO FIGHT I definately flee safety in community. It was not difficult for me to make the descicion to move to California for college from Boston. It wasn’t difficult for me to decide to study abroad for the next two semesters. I have moments where I feel as if I am self-sabatoging, and moments where I feel as if movement feeds my power, and success. I think this tendency is due to both the nature of my extended family (spread across the world) and immediate. My family took a while to find roots when I was growing up, I moved eight times be- fore I was ten. Staying in one place does not feel normal, or comfortable. Despite patterns of fleeing in my physical location, I feel that my families history of immigration has motivated me to fight for continued access to free immigration for others. I think that, in this fight, I hope to awknowledge this history as a motivation of mine, while simultaneously making sure to recognize the current state of immigration in the United States. Who is being targeted by this now? Whose voices are important to raise now? Who is im- portant to listen to now? I awknowedge my history as motivation, and that my history is not the present.