In the midst of a United Nations Association club end of the semester party, I received perhaps the worst news of my life. I was talking to my friends when I looked down at my phone to see a news alert from The Washington Post which said, “Over 50,000 Hondurans who were allowed to live and work in U.S. since 1999 must leave, according to DHS memos.” My mother happens to be one of the 50,000 Hondurans. The news shattered my heart and left me feeling overwhelmed with emotions. I abruptly left the party and ran to my campus’ honors lounge, the only place I truly feel free of judgment. I cried once I was inside, completely disregarding the fact that someone else was already in there and could witness my vulnerable state. I started to think about …show more content…
It is the sister nonprofit organization of Texas Freedom Network, however, Texas Rising focuses more on younger, university students. Both organizations want to make a difference in the Texas legislature and advocate for issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, reproductive justice, voting rights, immigration rights, and criminal justice. Overall, being president of this organization has helped me amplify my voice for communities who are stronger when more people are organizing and rallying together. In addition, I am a volunteer deputy registrar which helps tremendously in relation to the work I am doing with this organization since we actively work at increasing voter registration on our campus and at other events outside of the university. By working with Texas Rising, I have learned to not only be an advocate for my own immigrant community but also for other communities that also need help on working towards equality and fair treatment in the representation of legislative bills. My advocacy work and my own personal motivation will strengthen my skills as an immigration lawyer because I will know how to best represent others and I will be able to take a more personal approach when I speak with clients since I have a personal experience with the issues they are facing. Ultimately, I feel that my upbringing and my current experience has lead me down a path towards being a service towards others who are in disadvantaged positions in which I can empower them through the legal
Mississippi Damned is a fictional film based upon real life situations. Is it centered on a small urban town in Mississippi that has experienced issues from generations to generations. The film centers around three families who live in close proximity of each other. All three women are sisters who are either married or dating with live in boyfriends. There are also three young children who grow up with these families and are subject to experiences far beyond their years.
The La Raza Unida Party began in the 1960’s as a social movement in the small South Texas town of Crystal City. Although Mexican Americans made up the majority of the population at 85% they had very little clout within the political landscape, which was dominated by Anglos. The Mexican Americans experienced no political representation and many were denied the right to vote because they didn’t speak or read English and many could not afford the poll taxes. The discrimination experienced by the Mexican Americans in this small town was comparable to the discrimination of African Americans in the Deep South, yet the brave Mexican’s in Crystal City, Texas chose to band together to generate change, awareness, and hope in creating new perspectives with respect to politics.
Part Three of the book “Just Like Us” written by Helen Thorpe is comprised of illegal undocumented individuals residing in Denver Colorado. The individuals consist of a group of four Mexican young adults all with the dream of one day attending college and finally obtaining a legal status within the United States. In this portion of the readings, Yadira, Marisela, Clara, and Elissa are entering their senior year at their University and have defined the odds of successfully completing college while maintaining an illegal status. Helen Thorpe clearly demonstrates a passion in tracking individuals that are determined to become legal citizens within society; however, lack the proper advocacy and documentation to do so. Part Three of the book envelops
This past week SUU’s native American student association (NASA), hosted their 38th annual powwow. Our club, the SUU Polynesian club was invited to dance for thirty minutes between their activities and we happily accepted. After we danced we were invited to come back so that we could watch and experience the native American culture. I was surprised to see how similar their culture was to ours!
There are not many positive outcomes expected to arise from this major shift in Texas’ population. In recent years, the Texas Hispanic population has shown to have lower education levels when compared to other races within society. “The average income of an undocumented immigrants’ family is 40% lower than that of native born families or legal immigrant families, causing most people from illegal immigrant background to be the first in their family to attend school.” (Glidersleeve, 41). By having a lower education, this can cause a majority of Hispanics to have low wage jobs which causes a vast amount the Hispanic population to rely on government support for assistance in health care and child care. This issue could be resolved by the Texas government by pushing and expanding the field of education to ensure that a majority of the Hispanic population obtain at least high school diplomas. This may not be an easy goal to obtain but can be done by making education more accommodating to the Hispanic population through the expansion of Spanish speaking schools and through scholarships for college. Ultimately education is the basis of everything in a person’s life and it is vital for a society that a majority of a population attends
At the age of two my parents made the long and devastating journey to bring me and my siblings to the United States from Mexico. Wanting a brighter future for us, my parents fought tooth and nail to give us the world they didn’t grow up having. Ever since stepping foot on the U.S soil, going back seemed impossible. The effects of this life-changing move, couldn’t mask the unforeseen disadvantages. Lacking exposure to Mexico’s colorful culture, little to no bonding time with my family from abroad, and the struggle of trying to blend into an environment that was so different, soon began to interfere with my overall identity. Realizing this, my wonderful parents prepared a transformative trip back to my homeland, and back to the past, facing
Each and every day is hard to live through since whatever that can happen to my family absolutely terrifies me. Being a Chicana in the late 1960s hasn’t been a bed of rose petals, but I’m seizing every opportunity America will grant me. One of the biggest challenges is arriving home one day and my family is no longer there and they’re deported back to Mexico. Another huge obstacle is discrimination, we’re often called demeaning terms by complete strangers and it’s difficult to understand why or how they could be so cruel to someone they don’t know. It’s been tough to also learn a whole new language than the one I had been accustomed to. English is difficult with their pronunciations and strange spelling
Seeing my parents in the crowd has always been very soothing, especially in stressful situations such as this. My parents and I have always been outwardly enthusiastic with each other, no matter where we are. Whether at a football game while I cheer on the sidelines or at a banquet where I receive an award, every time they catch my eye, they throw their hands up in the air and begin to wave frantically until I wave back. There were only two girls left in front of me. One stuttered as she tried to finish her speech, and the other swayed back and forth unable to keep still. It was at that time that I looked into the crowd and just as I had anticipated, I spotted my parents. As expected, they waved their arms wildly to catch my attention. I smiled and waved back, though my wave was much smaller than theirs as I was doing my best not to draw attention to myself. For a moment, I was at ease because of their presence. But just as the girl in front of me stepped forward to take her place behind the microphone, my heart undeniably started to race once
To understand the first one there is a little background story to it. My family came into America as Illegal Mexican immigrants, although now they are citizens of the United States. My parents have friends that had come to America as well. After living here for numerous years and having children already in high school, one of my family’s friends Caesar was apprehended for speeding and ultimately deported back to Mexico for this small infraction. From what my parents have told me this drastically changed the life of that family entirely. In the beginning they were coping well but eventually their mother needed help drawing in more income. Along with this both of their son’s schools work began to turn down. Their grades suffered, I remembering hanging out with them and having a great time until someone mentioned the word father. Discouraged that they had to live like this, I feel it was the biggest problem. Eventually what came to pass was that both brothers had to find jobs to help their mother. These two promising people who could have easily been admitted into a university were forced to suffer on behalf of their parents. Although my family friend was not sent to jail the premise of being sent away as punishment and the stigma would share similar
Being a Hispanic have impacted all my entire life; I lived 15 years of my life in Mexico I love being there because most part of my family live in Nuevo Laredo, I was cursing my last months of 8th grade and one day my mom told me that she was thinking about send me here to the U.S to start learn English; since I’m a U.S citizen and I didn't know the language of my country, I accepted. The most hard prove was live without having my mom at my side, since I live with my aunt now; when the days passed here in the U.S I started to depressed myself because I missed so much my house and all my family, one day in the middle of the night I call my mom crying and I told her that I really want go back to Mexico, but she didn’t take into account my desire my mom just explained me that it will be the best for my future and with the time I will be thankful with her for don’t let me go back. My mom, and my grandmother are the ones who motivates me to be a better student. Actually I’m in dual enrollment and I have taken AP classes; sometimes is hard for me talk, read or write in another language that the one I was accustomed but, every time I fail I get up and persist until I’m able to do what I want.
It is my memory of first year in the United States. Back then, I was a between 16 and 17 years old girl who would be called, ‘fob,’ which means ‘fresh off the boat.’ I was quite shy, not fluent in English, exotic looking and nervous but excited at the same time. Coming to the U.S. all by myself, leaving behind familiar culture, friends and family was quite challenging at such a young age, but I was all ready to endure hardship and obstacles of language barrier, cultural difference and loneliness. However, the trouble that pushed me into the well of suffering that I could not see the bottom came from the most unexpected source. It was my host family; they were white with a middle-class background, living in a rural area. They seemed like nice and friendly people at first. They brought me and my roommate to various events and places where I can learn American culture, helped me learn English, taught us the basic manner accepted in the U.S. and even celebrated my birthday. Nevertheless, they had a contradicting side as well. The family had eccentrically strict house rules which gave us heavy house chore, and eventually it led them to treat my roommate and me like housekeepers in the
When my family and I got in the plane that would take us to the U.S., I was very excited. It was as if I had butterflies in my stomach. I was also nervous because I had heard of people that were turned away when they got to America because the government was not letting as many immigrants into the U.S as they had in the past. Therefore, my whole family was a little anxious. Two things could happen when we arrived at the Washington, D.C., airport. We could either come to the United States to chase after “the American dream”, or we could be turned away which meant that we would have to return to our country of origin.
The day my mom told me we were moving was a school day, I’d just left hanging with my friends, of which I had many. So we were stopped at a red light and she said “ You know that job I interviewed for in San Francisco? Well they called today, and I got it!” I don't know how she expected me to react, but I just kind of sat there not saying much. Wasn’t this supposed to be great news, a huge promotion, a way out of her job that she hated. But I just couldn’t be happy for her. Move to California? Thats absurd. But all our family is here, what about all my friends. It was so crazy I couldn't even be sad or angry. I just kind of pretended it wasn’t happening. I just told my friends, and we didn’t talk about it. I would hang out with them like normal, we did all our usual things right up until the last day of school. The last day was the hardest, how was i never going to be here again, there's no way, it just didn't make any sense. You are probably hearing this and thinking what a wimp, who is this upset, it's just a move there are people in the world
Throughout my life I’ve never really witnessed any traumatizing social issues. I live in a community that’s inhabited by people of the same racial and socioeconomic status, so despite being a lower income Hispanic I usually am accepted in my community because my social standing is common in my society. Yet, as I’ve gotten older and have been opened to the injustices of the social world, I’ve noticed some past and current events of discrimination due to my race that I’ve received from others outside my normal social environment. Discrimination in my younger years wasn’t so prominent, but there are some figures in the media currently that have spread hatred towards people of my racial group and those of many others.
When I expressed my fears and anxiety about leaving Kentucky, no one seemed to really listen to what I was saying. They kept saying it would be alright. I was mature and almost an adult and the Western world with its great material temptations wouldn't corrupt me. But in my mind I felt isolated. I wanted them to sit and feel my anguish with me. But they wanted to pacify me, console me as though I were a baby. At that time I fel...