This past Friday we had an event here in downtown Orlando, at Lake Eola, for the DREAM Act, and we had lots of people coming from all over Florida, mostly from down South, so it was quite good. I wouldn't say it made much of an impact, specially since we ran late and didn't have time to go to Lemieux's office, but it was a great personal experience for me and I feel like I got to learn a lot from it. It was also very encouraging for all of us who were there. We had great speakers, one of my favorites was Jai, this absolutely amazing girl from Haiti, who made us all have tears in our eyes by the end of her speech. I was also one of the speakers, although I read straight from the paper I had written on, it was my first speech and all. I was shaking real bad because I was so nervous, but I managed to keep my voice steady, loud, and clear. I'm still working on getting my hands on the videos people filmed of the event, including my speech, but while that doesn't happen, I'll go ahead and share with you guys what I said in my speech. It's not nearly as powerful as actually listening to it being delivered, I must warn you. This is a slightly modified version of it, I had to change bits and pieces so it could be posted on the DreamActivist website, but it's not by much at all.
My name is Belle, I am 20 years old, and I am a DREAM Act beneficiary. I am originally from Brazil, and I first came to live in the United States when I was 13 years old. Because of family matters, I have not been able to go back ever since, and have been living with friends and roommates since I was 19, up to that point staying with my step father. My family is mostly all still in Brazil, they're incapable and thus won't help support me. I am proud to say I've always been a very good student, getting my GPA as high as 3.5. Around the time I found out about my situation, I lost hope because I saw no future for me, and that took a toll on my studies and my GPA went drastically down, but I was still able to graduate with honors and recommendation letters.
Living here since the beginning of my teenage years and having very little contact with the culture I am originally from, I act, speak, think, and feel much more like an American. I am proud to call this country my home, and English my language. I grew up here, learned how to be an adult here, and how to fight from my DREAMS here. I would not be who I am today if I hadn't called this place my home and gone through what I have been through.
Right now my plans of going to college might be delayed, but I still have every intent of achieving that goal and getting my 4-year degree towards becoming a Psychologist. I want to do that because I believe there are a lot of people that need to be heard and helped. I want to help as many people as possible, so they won't have to go through something similar to what I went through alone. Someone's mental state is not something to be ignored. I want to be able to give back to the society which I call my own.
My opinion is that the DREAM Act should be passed for several reasons. It will greatly benefit both sides of this equation. We have these bright young people who are in this horrible situation through no fault of their own, who are incredibly capable and talented, but right now all that talent is going to waste. These people are Americans for all intent and purposes. The DREAM Act needs to be passed NOW.
We are stuck in time. Life's at a standstill. For most of us, there is NO way out. We need to stand up and fight to stop this reign of terror against completely innocent people who have never committed a crime in their lives. People who have only worked hard for their hopes, dreams, and aspirations, and can never be recognized for it. Each person here, each voice, each action, is crucial in this fight for human rights. This is the right thing to do. In the end, the difference will still be YOU. We are not backing down, we are not giving up. I know I am not. Because I... I have the heart of a lion.
Alright... so the day after that was when we left from Orlando into our DC trip. It was roughly fifteen hours inside the bus, we passed by Georgia, South & North Carolina, Virginia, etc, until we made it into the District of Columbia at around 6am on Sunday. The rally didn't start until around 2pm so my friends and I couldn't help but go sightseeing a little bit. We saw the Washington Monument, the White House, the Capitol Hill, the Smithsonian Institute & the Museum, and walked around a ton. Bunches of pictures. At the rally, I got frustrated because it was mainly held in Spanish, and they didn't even bother to translate it. I was angry because, being in the middle of all those people (news have been saying it was 200 thousand plus people, and I believe it), I tired of seeing different racial groups, such as Asians, and plenty of Americans, and otherwise other kinds of people who couldn't understand jack diddly of what was being said. I thought it was horribly selfish and unfair of them to hold a National Rally demanding immigration reform, and treat it like the only immigrants in this country are Latinos. It got my blood boiling. I don't care what others tell me, I think that if you wanna come into this country, and demand your rights to live here and call this home, you better start making plans of calling English your language, too. It doesn't make sense, to me. You're protesting something, hoping it makes its way to Congress, hoping it reaches the already hard-heads up in government, and you do it all in a language most of them can't comprehend? Real smooth. Morons.
Because of that reason, I ended up not paying attention to most of what was going on. I tuned in when they showed the video clip of Obama speaking, and the one with the Trail of Dreams kids. I was a bit frustrated about the speech Obama made, too, because right now I feel like he only makes these pretty speeches to the Latino communities and the groups that support immigration reform. But when it came down to business, like for example in the State of the Union Speech, he completely ignored the issue. He's only supportive when it's in front of us. Behind our backs, he acts like immigration is not a pressing issue at all. So I got angry when people started cheering to what he said and shit. I called it a lie. Because that's what it seems like to me. I'll start seeing it as the truth when I start seeing something being done about it.
Finally, the actual march was delayed by about an hour, so we didn't walk much with them, since our bus captain was throwing a fit about us being back by the parking lot on time. I also heard that the whole thing didn't really make it to national television, which was a bummer, but I guess it has its good sides, too. Maybe we don't need THAT much coverage right about now. Don't want to attract anti-immigration groups' attentions and such.
The other issue I was gonna talk about was Leslie, the Miami Dade 18-year-old girl who was detained for no effing reason at all. But I heard from a source that she was already let go (as of today, I do believe), so for right now we can celebrate, but I doubt that her case is over. Just like Walter Lara's. (OH by the way, I met him too!! I got pictures with him and such, he came to the Orlando event, it was great <3)
Just for the record, though, here's Leslie's story.
Please Read, Sign,& share this petition
http://action.dreamactivist.org/leslie/
At about 8:30 in the morning on Friday, March 12, 2010, 18-year-old Leslie Cocche was on her way to the Miami Dade College (MDC) Wolfson Campus – where she majors in criminal justice administration because she hopes to become a forensic analyst. Leslie has been an honors student her whole life.
But on this Friday, Leslie would not make it to campus.While walking to the platform of the Tri-Rail station in Ft. Lauderdale, Leslie was approached by a Customs and Border Protection agent who unnecessarily questioned her and asked her for documentation.
Leslie produced her student ID card, but apparently this did not suffice. The agent proceeded to handcuff Leslie and put her on a patrol van; shortly after, she was on her way to Broward Transitional Center, a detention center for immigrants in Pompano Beach, FL.
A few days prior to Leslie’s detention, a spokesman from the Department of Homeland Security said, "[The Obama] administration is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that focuses first on those dangerous criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, not sweeps or raids to target undocumented immigrants indiscriminately." Yet days later, Leslie, a high-achieving 18-year-old student and a vital asset to our community, was detained on her way to class and could soon be deported from the “land of the free.”
Leslie came to the United States from Peru in 2001 when she was ten years old. As a child, Leslie excelled academically, repeatedly earning the Principal’s Honor Roll for achieving a 4.0 GPA at New River middle school. Leslie continued to excel in Stranahan high school, where she was part of the competitive medical magnet program and was on the Honor Roll for her outstanding performance in her honors and advanced placement classes. She also earned a school-wide Gold Award for her high FCAT scores and was inducted to the National Honors Society for having achieved the same qualities of scholarship, leadership, service, character, citizenship.
Aside from her academic achievements, Leslie also pursued her passion for dance. While in high school, Leslie was an active member of the “Elements Dance Group” which practices and performs jazz, ballet, and contemporary dance. Outside of school, she belonged to the Kuyayky Foundation’s Sumaj Tusuy Andean dance ensemble, and often performed for charitable functions.
When she was not studying or dancing, Leslie strived to serve her community. As she walked in her high school graduation, Leslie wore a Silver cord, indicating that she had completed over 460 hours of community service. Leslie was also one of just twelve high school seniors who completed an internship at Broward General Hospital, where she helped the hospital’s staff and took care of patients. As an active volunteer at the Kuyayky Foundation Leslie helped fundraising efforts to send aid to the 2007 earthquake victims in Peru, as well as send a holiday breakfast and toys for three consecutive years two to over two thousand impoverished children and mothers in the Peruvian highlands. Actually, if Leslie had not been detained on that unfortunate Friday morning, she would have been a volunteer to set up a benefit show to aid the people of earthquake-stricken Chile.
Without a doubt, Leslie’s detention is a loss to our community. Why are dreams deferred in the "land of opportunity"? If the Obama administration is seriously focusing on “dangerous criminal aliens,” Department of Homeland Security must stop the senseless raids and random questioning that lead to unnecessary detention.
Leslie’s detention represents the need for legislation such as the DREAM Act, which would allow Leslie’s dreams, and the dreams of the thousands of other students in her situation who this country has already invested so much in, to become a reality.
Leslie needs our help now. Demand that Janet Napolitano and John Morton release Leslie Cocche now, and stop deferring the dreams of others like her.
Well, I think that for activism and events concerning CIR and DREAM, that's about it. This week seems to finally be slow for me, which gives me a chance to recharge, and go job hunting. I'm super worried about money lately. This is when the ugly side of me starts to come out, so if you wanna stop reading here, feel free.
My family is so incompetent, I fully blame them for the position that I am in right now. I have to pay 250 dollars rent by April 1st, but I only have 18 dollars in my bank account right now. My wisdom teeth surgery was close to 600 dollars, I still need those braces, my sister still owes me almost 300. Ever since I left that horrid place and the company of the people who call themselves my family, I've had to spend the rest of the money I had saved up, for necessary things, like groceries. I've been holding on to as much as possible, but being undocumented and not being able to legally find a job, employment has been almost impossible here in this city, also for the fact I don't have a reliable means of transport, therefore leading to me having absolutely no idea how I'm gonna find the 250 dollars for rent in about a week. *major sigh*
I even got some calls back from some jobs I've applied to, but I wasn't able to get to any of them due to buses not going that far, or not having a ride, etc. I still need to make some calls for some odd jobs I'm supposed to be doing. Hey, right now, anything will have to do. I barely have money for food, and it's incredible that it's taken me having to write that sentence down to go through my head how difficult things really are for me right now.
I got a phone call just about an hour ago, it was my aunt from Portugal. We talked a bit on the phone, and when I told her I only had 18 dollars in my pocket, she said she's gonna send me $100 dollars. Of course I accepted it, since I really really really need it right now, but of course I had to hear some guilt tripping and bitching in exchange for it. I don't wanna go into much detail about it right now, I'll just say that I don't trust her and that's about it. I need the money, I'm grateful for it, it shows that God is watching out for me and that by His will I will never be left without a roof over my head or my daily bread. It's little by little that we get things accomplished. And if it means I have something better waiting for me in my future, I am quite willing to go through this right now. I know the war is hardly over, but I just try to keep myself going every day by repeating in my head, the night is always at its darkest right before the dawn. It's true.
Lately I've been having some communication problems with my friends. I know some of them are not happy with me at all. I know I've done some things wrong. I know I can seem cold and uncaring at times. It's just so hard to have to take care of all of this at the same time, and I'm just one person. I do have a lot going on in my mind. I haven't spoken to two of my dearest friends ever since they dropped me off in Orlando, and I know that they feel like I'm being ungrateful. They probably don't read this blog anymore, so I don't know if it makes much difference to write here. But they haven't answered my texts or phone calls, so I guess all I can do right now is wait for the dust to come down and try to talk to them later on.
Also another thing that has me worried is my step dad. I don't recall if I mentioned him here in this blog before, but before I came back to Orlando, he had an accident at work, got electrocuted, spent three days in a hospital, and because of some stupidity by his boss and the insurance company, he was sent to court - because he doesn't have papers and isn't supposed to be working in the country. The last I heard of him, he had just gotten out of court and there was a chance he might've been sent deported. Ever since then, he disconnected his phone line, and I tried sending him e-mails and such, but he hasn't answered them. I haven't heard from him since. So that's definitely something that's been on my mind, since I have absolutely no idea where he's at, who he's with, or what's happened to him... sigh. I hope he contacts me soon. It's just so much to worry about.
So, the one last thing I have swimming in my head to write down here would be that I'm still scared to share this blog in public, and to my friends and acquaintances. I mean, it sounds silly if you think that I've already said I'm undocumented in public, in the middle of Lake Eola, but it's still a very vivid fear. I guess because this blog has so many more personal things. I was contemplating the idea of posting the link to this blog on Facebook, but I don't think I'm ready for it yet.
Well, for now, that seems about it! Whew. It was a lot, wasn't it. I guess I got you guys all caught up now. It's good to have some free time. Now I need to get back to my job hunting, and I'll post again when something more happens and when I get a chance to be on a computer again.
Thanks to everyone who's read all this. See ya!
