Notes from a bus.....

Salt Lake City, Utah

March 18, 2010

Third stop of the Pilgrimage for Reform: Change Takes Faith and Action, and I'm barely getting the energies to take out the laptop and do some actual typing. The cold AC in the bus brought back my flu, but the people's energies are keeping me up. They're keeping us all up. Though I haven't been doing much typing, I've been taking notes. 

I don't know if it's the snow-top mountains or the fact that we were fed an amazing breakfast here in Salt Lake City, but I have the sudden urge to type. I'm used to being the one who is going up to podiums and speaking out. But this time around, it's the younger generation of undocumented students who are doing the talking. These young students have grabbed my heart and left their beautiful marks all over. They're energetic and ready to speak out. They're not holding back. They're telling the stories that we've been told to keep quiet.

 

There's the young girl who is a high school senior and who will not take "no you can't" for an answer. The most articulate 12 year old boy I've met, whose dad let him take this trip for his future. A younger girl who is tired of not being able to go places out of fear that she might get deported. 

"They might as well pass immigration reform because we're not stopping," the high school senior said during her Salt Lake City testimony. She's right. We're not stopping. We're crossing the country in the name of immigration reform because we're tired. We're tired of having to wait around to be heard. Keeping all these emotions quiet for fear of immigration policy. Is just not fair.

 I see myself in all these kids. All of our lives we've been told to stay in school and be the best we can be. We have. We've done the homework. The extra credit. The extra curriculum activities. Everything in order to have the grades to go to college. 

In my case, I've done the college years. I've done the all-nighters at the library. I've learned so much, yet, like those children, I feel stuck. I can't seem to move on with my life because of a broken immigration system. I'm graduating this Spring and I'm freaking out. I have no idea what's next in my life......