NYC Rally during National Coming Out of the Shadows Week

Strategy · 03-15-2011, 10:35 AM

http://thebronxfreepress.com/archive...pinions_2.html

Alison is an undocumented immigrant who wishes to stay in this country.

Up until recently, she did not know other undocumented individuals, nor did she openly share her status.

Alison is a Bolivian immigrant who came to this country at the age of four with her mother and brother in order to reunite with their father who had previously emigrated to the United States.

Alison grew up here and was educated here.

Last year, at the age of 26, Alison finally confided in her childhood friends that she is undocumented.

Alison's friends have shown her tremendous support and have expressed anger over the unfairness of the current state of immigration law and her inability to legalize her status.

Alison has a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Political Science.

Someone who has acquired two college degrees has clearly demonstrated her manifest intention of becoming a contributing and productive member of American society.

Alison wishes to remain here, and put her talents and skills to good use.

However, due to her status, she cannot work or drive legally, cannot travel freely, cannot buy health insurance, and lives in constant fear of deportation.

Alison is inspired by the poetry of Walt Whitman and the works of Gloria Anzaldua, authors who have saved her from becoming engulfed in frustration and depression.

The idea of borderless identities expressed by these authors captures her imagination; she truly appreciates what it means to be a citizen of the world.

When asked to recount childhood memories from Bolivia, Alison fondly recalls the avocado, tomato and salt preparations found at a neighborhood market. To this day, she enjoys the contrasting flavors of this savory combination.

American society does not benefit from a repressive immigration policy that prohibits the "Alisons" in our midst from living up to their full potential and to contributing to our nation’s intellectual, social and cultural resources.

The struggles of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and cannot earn American citizenship is only one troubling aspect of American immigration policy.

Some legislators have announced their desire to terminate birthright citizenship, meaning that your citizenship can be terminated even if you were born in this country.

One shudders to imagine the ambiguity of such anti-immigrant sentiment. What will this lead to?

An eventual investigation into the birthplace of your parents, your parents' parents, and so on?

Since last year, with the near-enactment of the DREAM Act, federal legislation that promised to offer a path to citizenship to qualifying immigrants, tens of thousands of undocumented students have taken the risk of making their immigration status publicly known.

Gaby, a Colombian immigrant, is an organizer with the Lehman College DREAM Team, a student-run group at the college founded in support of the legislation. At a recent CUNY Law School panel discussion, Gaby emphasized the importance of making the public aware of who they are and that the immigrant rights movement “is a fight for our own futures.”

Like Alison and Gaby, these “DREAM-ers” have chosen to reveal themselves at great risk.

But there is a growing movement to lend them and their outspoken activism support.

Today, Wednesday, March 16th at Lehman College’s Campus Quad, from 3:30 – 5:30 pm, the school’s DREAM Team will host an on-campus “Coming Out of the Shadows” Rally.

There will be another “Coming Out of the Shadows” Rally this coming Friday, March 18th at 2:30 pm in Union Square.

They are open to all.

The "Coming Out of the Shadows" rallies are being led by undocumented immigrants, particularly those who were brought here as children, raised here, and educated here. They hope to educate others about the necessity of integrating immigrants who want to stay in this country and make positive contributions.

They want, after lives spent here, to come in from out of the shadows, and be let in, to truly and finally be let in.

Inspired by the DREAM Act, states such as California and Utah are enacting laws that recognize the necessity of integrating immigrants who are here to stay, and have much to offer.

New York should also move in this direction.

We all need to educate ourselves about what makes someone a U.S. citizen and the rights of immigrants before it is too late.

These “Coming Out of the Shadows” rallies will be a good time to start.

Alison will be there.

So will Gaby.

Will you?