Define American
"Define American", the phrase used by Jose Antonio Vargas to make the political statement that Americans are also those who are undocumented. After seeing him speak today for the first time I realized that he is American, I am American, my Undocumented community, and our allies are American.
What makes us American is not a piece of paper that proves our citizenship towards a country obtained through genocide and war. What makes us American is our acknowledgement of our privilege, our willingness to give up that privilege, and the use of our voices to speak against injustices to work towards social change that accepts and celebrates our diversity.
Jose Antonio Vargas gave up his privilege when he decided to come out as an undocumented immigrant. Many people of our undocumented community have also come out. Some of my friends and myself included have came out in order to make a change and abolish a system that in not in place to protect "national security" through bans and walls. But that uses the excuse of "national security" to protect white supremacy.
Today I pose the question; Who is truly willing to give up their privilege to help free all of our brothers and sisters who have been used and disposed of under the excuse of freedom which masquerades white supremacy ideals?
#EmergingUS
#Heretostay
#undocumentedandUnafraid
What makes us American is not a piece of paper that proves our citizenship towards a country obtained through genocide and war. What makes us American is our acknowledgement of our privilege, our willingness to give up that privilege, and the use of our voices to speak against injustices to work towards social change that accepts and celebrates our diversity.
Jose Antonio Vargas gave up his privilege when he decided to come out as an undocumented immigrant. Many people of our undocumented community have also come out. Some of my friends and myself included have came out in order to make a change and abolish a system that in not in place to protect "national security" through bans and walls. But that uses the excuse of "national security" to protect white supremacy.
Today I pose the question; Who is truly willing to give up their privilege to help free all of our brothers and sisters who have been used and disposed of under the excuse of freedom which masquerades white supremacy ideals?
#EmergingUS
#Heretostay
#undocumentedandUnafraid
Biography
Monica Robledo Cornejo is a senior Psychology major. She will be attending University of California, Santa Barbara in the fall 2017 to pursue her Ph.D in Communication Studies.
Monica Robledo Cornejo is a senior Psychology major. She will be attending University of California, Santa Barbara in the fall 2017 to pursue her Ph.D in Communication Studies.