The Brave in Arizona

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Posted on May 18, 2010 by None | Post a comment

Tonight, America’s like an open wound, more visible than it was yesterday and probably not as deep as it may be tomorrow. This is the plight and burden of a movement: to make manifest to us all the suffering that we should have never gotten away with ignoring. How did we ever get away with the ignorance and indifference towards more than 60,000 students every year that weren’t even granted the option of aspiring for higher education? How did we get away with letting 95% of undocumented graduates to simply fall through the cracks?

Losing Tam may not have been a direct cause of the broken immigration system, but it was an overwhelming reminder of the thousands of times the system tried to destroy her or hold her back –keep her from everything she aspired to and deserved, as it continues to do to the millions like her.

Tonight, I am thinking of my brother Mo and my sister Yahaira held in custody in Arizona as they fight for my freedom –freedom from the internalized oppression and terror that has crippled migrant communities nationwide not simply on a basis of status, but even on gender and race. My heart beats loudly in solidarity with their struggle, our struggle, as we each take the lashes of every step toward liberation.

Tonight, I am inspired by those that are still here with me fighting, continuing the fight without means, without infrastructure, and so often without approval –because these efforts are keeping us all grounded and alive, infuriated and impassioned.

You can’t imagine the difference you make when you speak out, stand up, and overcome your fear. You can’t imagine the power that you have to save a life.