A DREAM Deployed

Our Oakland October 4th

2011-10-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

ATTENTION:
Oakland City council is backing away from a commitment to the community to stop investing in policing policies that are not working and shift toward policy that addresses the root causes of violence.

This Tuesday Oct. 4th the Oakland City Council will look at the possibility of implementing youth curfews day time and night time, expanded Loitering laws and further growing the Gang Injunction areas.

Our Oakland October 4th from pablo paredes on Vimeo.

This is a double nightmare for undocumented youth because it creates more opportunities for arrest and ultimately deportation. Something as small as staying too late at a friends birthday party becomes grounds for deportation through the police and immigration authorities collaboration known as Secure Communities or SCOM.

NO TO MARSHAL LAW IN OAKLAND!

Come out and resist, don't be the reason our communities get criminalized!

For more details and to stay posted on this ongoing struggle, please check out:

http://stoptheinjunction.wordpress.com/

Tow Trucks: Undocumented Profit

2011-08-31T10:23:00.000-07:00

AB 353, A bill in the California legislature would address the tow Truck industry's best kept secret.

They make a killing off undocumented drivers!

In some cities like Bell , a suburb of Los Angeles, it is also a lucrative reality for city coffers as they auction off cars once the owner can't afford the fees accrued after many days of holding. Check Points are conveniently set up in immigrant communities. Here is one story of the experience in Oakland's Fruitvale District:

Towing Trucks: Undocumented Profit from 67 Suenos on Vimeo.

The LA Times reports that:

"24,000 cars were impounded in 2009 at DUI checkpoints in California but that only 3,200 of those behind the wheel were charged with driving under the influence. "

AB 353 a bill that would limit this predatory impoundment, has been approved by the state senate and is moving it's way to Jerry Brown's desk.

Folks should call their local assembly person to find out what their position is on it. If they support it congratulate, if they don't plan a collective action/meeting to persuade.

List of Assembly Members and contact info:

http://www.assembly.ca.gov/clerk/memberinformation/memberdir_1.asp

Pintando Verdad contra el Poder

2011-08-23T22:45:00.001-07:00

Es un terreno baldío abandonado a tres cuadras de la alcaldía de San Francisco y al lado del edificio de los Amigos (cuáqueros) de San Francisco. Los cuáqueros han tratado de trabajar con la ciudad para crear un jardín comunitario, pero hasta ahora sin resultado. Las agujas usadas, basura, cristales rotos y las viviendas improvisadas de las personas sin hogar, lleno de sueños en la última década.

Esta semana un grupo de jóvenes migrantes con status mixto del proyecto 67 sueños de AFSC, sus amigos, familiares y aliados han estado trabajando duro para transformar este espacio. Desde la limpieza de la basura para la colocar un hermoso mural de unos 100 por 30 pies, cada parte de este mural refleja la experiencia del migrante.

Estamos literalmente en el terreno de los migrantes. La mayoría de los comentarios hasta ahora ha sido muy positiva. "Esta es la cosa más hermosa que he visto en una década de vivir en este barrio", dijo un transeúnte. "No conozco a nadie que etiquete la pared, porque es un mural que nos muestra respeto y el respeto que damos cuando lo conseguimos", afirmó uno de los locales, mientras buscaba materiales en el basurero para raspar reciclables lo suficiente como para ganarse la comida. Muchos han hablado con sus acciones, dejar de tomar fotos de su iphone y facebook a esta rosa de concreto. Otros se han ofrecido como voluntarios para ayudar a alimentarnos o nosotros. Mientras que la comunidad es casi unánime con nosotros ya ha habido algunos momentos en los que el miedo a lo desconocido han dado lugar a la ira. Un peatón le gritó obscenidades a los inmigrantes a nuestros jovenes y derribo nuestros cartels cuando que pasaba por allí.

Al igual que los migrantes en general somos los chivos espiatorios de los verdaderos problemas del barrio. Al igual que la experiencia migratoria en realidad estábamos trabajando muy duro para hacer que la comunidad sea un mejor lugar para vivir y aún así se convirtió en el blanco de odio.

Pero estos jóvenes están imperturbable por su duro trabajo y dignidad, están seguros de ganar en algunos corazones y mentes. Una semana con un bajon y dos más para salir adelante. Es el proximo tercer edificio construido de esta manera en San Francisco. Siéntase libre de pasar por aquí y pintar con nosotros de lunes a viernes de 11AM a 4 PM.

Definitivamente salga el 26 de agosto para la Inauguración de nuestro Mural y la presentacion del proyecto. Será una gran noche de arte, video, música, comida y una comunidad de amor.

Painting Migrant Truth To Power

2011-08-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

It's an empty abandoned lot three blocks from San Francisco City Hall and next door to the San Francisco Friends Meeting. The Quakers have tried to work with the city to create a community garden but so far no luck. Used needles, trash, broken glass and make shift dwellings for homeless dreams filled the lot for the past decade.

This week a crew of mixed status migrant youth from AFSC's 67 Sueños Project, their friends, family and allies have been hard at work to transform this space. From cleaning up the trash, to putting up a 100 foot by 30 foot beautiful Mural every part of this journey mirrors the migrant experience.

We are literally in the migrant terrain. Most of the feedback so far has been really positive. "This is the most beautiful thing i've seen in a decade of living in this neighborhood" said one passer by. "I know no one will tag that wall because that mural shows us respect and we give respect when we get it" asserted one of the locals while dumpster diving to scrape enough recyclables to earn a meal. Many have spoken with their actions, stopping to shoot from their I-phones and facebook this rose int eh concrete. Others have volunteered to help or feed us. While the community is almost unanimously with us there have already been some moments when fear of the unknown have lead to anger. One pedestrian yelled profanities about immigrants at our young folks and tore down our posters as he walked by.

Much like migrants in general we were scape goated for the true problems in the neighborhood. Much like the migrant experience we were actually working really hard to make the community a better place to live and still became the targets of hate.

But these youth are unfazed their hard work and dignity is sure to win over some hearts and minds. One week down and 2 more to go. San Francisco's next Landmark is a third of the way built. Feel free to drop by and paint with us Monday through Friday 11-4 PM.

Definitely come out August 26th for our Mural Unveiling and project introduction. It will be a powerful night with art, video, music, food and a beloved community.

BOLD MOVES NOT BASHFUL MEMOS = LATINO VOTE IN 2012

2011-06-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

Last week Obama got the proverbial "Chankla" thrown at him from Puerto Rican leaders who saw his 5 Hour "lay over" in Puerto Rico as a far cry from leadership on issues Puerto Rican's care about including relief for the longest standing political prisoner in the hemisphere, meaningful action on decolonization and a real process that honors the island's wishes and autonomy on the status question.

Instead Obama barely got off of Air Force one. He had lunch, rolled a couple of R's and made sure to shake the hands of big campaign support. There is a sad fact that the president seems to be completely in the dark about. His baby step approach to courting Latino votes is not going to pay dividends in 2012.

On immigration issues a major priority in the Latino community Obama was equally unimpressive last week. Last Friday a conference call and then a quiet memo was released by the head of ICE. While the media was busy paying attention to Senator McCain who stopped short of blaming Brown People for Global Warming, Obama was secretly taking another baby step.

Interestingly enough McCain the maniac, sorry maverick, has helped remind us why we need Bold Leadership not baby steps. We are in the middle of a massive anti-immigrant hysteria that has moved racial profiling legislation forward in 4 states, led to a rise in hate crimes across the nation and all the while deportations are at record numbers. A memo? Really?

Latino leaders are no monolith but from the grass roots to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus there has been a steady call for decisive action on issues ranging from a moratorium on the corrupt "Secure Communities" pilot project that has helped the administration claim those record deportations, to calls for a moratorium on deportations of DREAM Act eligible youth by Executive Order.

The latter is the more moderate call to action in the Latino Community. At 67 Sueños and many human rights based migrant justice groups we want to see a moratorium by Executive Order on ALL deportations until humane and just immigration reform is passed. That is what we would call Bold Leadership. That is what it will take after record deportations and inaction on Latino issues for 2 years to regain the Latino vote in 2012 and stand up to the wave of hate that McCain is riding.

But Obama is not even meeting the moderate demands half way. The memo released amounts to a suggestion that maybe it is not necessary to deport DREAM eligible youth - not action, and not an executive order. The administration has consistently batted away criticisms by suggesting they prioritized "criminals" in their deportation dragnet. This memo simply restates the tired talking point that has never convinced any Latino voters with undocumented friends or family.

A memo? Really? A 5 hour visit and lunch? Really? Is this the extent to which the administration is taking the brown vote for granted?

67 Sueños: An Introduction By New American Media

2011-06-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

67 Sueños from New America Media on Vimeo.

Our Oakland based "67 Sueños Collective" ("67 Dreams"--- a group, named after the 67% of undocumented youth who would not benefit from DREAM act) has made an appearance on Colorlines Magazine and several blogs, tumblers, and tweets over the past week thanks to a video introduction by the New American Media.

Video by Josue Rojas & Ann Bassette
NewAmericaMedia.org
YouthOutlook.org

67 Sueños - The birth of a movement

2011-03-21T20:37:00.000-07:00

Black and white portraits of undocumented youth dominate our media, our politics and even our movements. On the one hand migrant youth are painted as criminals by a xenophobic right wing hate campaign. In response many counter the narrative by lifting up only the exceptional individual stories of 4.0 students and valedictorians. In Oakland, California migrant youth are refusing to be elbowed out of the conversations about their future by these black and white narratives. They are bursting on to the seen in full color. This project aims to lift these powerful voices to shine a light on the reality of migrant youth. No more angels and demons a new movement is being born.

UPR Solidarity Rally en La Mission de San Francisco

2011-03-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

In San Francisco the small but vocal and vigilant Borikua community marched in solidarity with the students of the UPR who are facing intense repression for standing up for accessible affordable education.

NO TO THE YOUTH INJUNCTIONS

2011-03-07T05:39:00.000-08:00

YOUTH WALK OUT AND TAKE OVER STREETS!

On March 4th 2011 , Xicana Moratorium Coalition youth from various Oakland and East Bay High Schools affected by proposed "gang" injunctions targeting Raza Youth in the Fruitvale WALKED OUT and shut down the streets of the Town demanding an END to criminalization of youth and displacement of brown people in the name of "violence prevention." These injunctions, that have been similarly applied across California cities including San Francisco, San José, Modesto, affect more than just the 50 people named Norteño gang members or associates on the gang injunction list: all young people fitting the "description" may be stopped, searched, harassed with no right to legal representation. Walk down 24th and Mission in San Francisco where gang injunctions were most heavy handedly applied - who do you see? Eliminitating rights of assembly and imposition of curfews (no being on the block after 10pm) are some of the ways the Oakland city council members seek to create favorable conditions for gentrification of the Fruitvale district.

Following in the footsteps of previous generations of Bay Area Youth movement and 519+ years resistance on this continent youth shut down 5 major intersections and used popular education and cultural resistance to share their demand of human rights to land and life and community self determination.

-Text by Natalia Favi García P

RALLY AFTER THE MARCH @ OAKLAND CITY HALL

- Rally Video By the Community Justice Network for Youth

Full Article Here

Ethnic Studies

2011-02-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

Ethnic Studies is on the ropes in Arizona and many parts of our country are inching toward following step. It's more important now than ever to understand the value of knowledge. Knowledge that brings clarity to one's own experience. This video sheds some light on the value of ethnic studies for Raza youth but this is equally true for any youth of color

Precious Knowledge Trailer from Ari Palos on Vimeo.

SAVE ETHNIC STUDIES!

Before You Enlist / Antes de Alistarte

2011-01-19T11:28:00.000-08:00

2011 version of the must see video for young people thinking about enlisting in the armed forces.
Now Available in English and Spanish.

The military spends billions of dollars painting an attractive picture of military life for prospective young recruits. This video spends 15 minutes describing some of the inconvenient truths that military recruiters don't share with potential enlistees.
Please share widely.

ENGLISH

ESPAÑOL

DREAM for Some But not for All

2010-12-08T22:22:00.000-08:00

This is one of 1.4 million youth who need more options than currently offered by the DREAM Act. We can make excuses or we can make calls demanding more options for our undocumented youth:

Tell Your Senator to have the courage to improve the DREAM Act | American Friends Service Committee

We Want DREAMs Not M16s!!!

2010-12-07T02:08:00.000-08:00

Students rally for Dreams Not M16s! from k9sound on Vimeo.

For the first time in the history of a 9 year movement, on December 3rd 2010 a DREAM Act Rally had High School youth Leading chants that challenged the militarization of the DREAM Act. Oakland youth understand probably better than most people in this country the terrible state of public education and the rising cost of higher education. This is why they understand better than most the need for more options than college or military in something going by the name of DREAM Act.

Please share this video and these emerging fierce voices demanding more than Democrats seem willing to fight for. At a time of political cowardice on anything related to migrant justice this kind of courage from the youngest and most vulnerable migrant youth is inspiring.

If these young people don't get to DREAM don't let it be because you did not fight for their future:

Tell congress Improve then PASS the DREAM Act!!!

The Death of the DREAM - and how to breathe life back into it!

2010-12-01T09:57:00.000-08:00

Last night Sen. Reid filed a new version of the DREAM Act under Rule XIV procedures (S.3992 Development Relief Education for Alien Minors). It has at least 16 major changes from previous versions of the Act 15 of them toxic.

The original DREAM much like the Bay-Area Graffitti artist by the same name is dead. These changes were made as a last ditch effort to win Republican support to pass a bill in the Lame Duck. It is important to remember that Democrats never fought for this as a stand alone bill when they counted on super majorities and had much more political capital in DC.

For some this bill is still worth fighting for, for others it is too little to late with too many military strings and not enough viable alternatives to gaining legal status. Regardless of where you stand, one thing is clear, this is not the same Bill that inspired a 10 year movement on college campuses. It is not the same bill that immigrants rights orgs and activists held their nose and supported when CIR lost it's last chance. It is the new and degraded Republican DREAM Act and here are the major changes:

1. Creates conditional nonimmigrant status for 10 years, followed by 3 years of LPR status (Lawful Permanent Resident Aka Green Card Holder) prior to application for naturalization. (Original bill 2001 was 3 years, in 2003 it became 6 years of waiting and now a full Decade)

2. Eliminates repeal of in-state tuition ban. (In-state tuition can be ten times cheaper than out of state, this is probably the biggest barrier to college access for undocumented youth and the DREAM Act no longer addresses it)

3. Broadens the definition of institution of higher learning to include vocational institutions (One of the few positive changes unfortunately only impacting a very small slice of potential DREAMers)

4. Must show good moral character since time of entry into the country (rather than date of enactment as in previous versions, this will make less undocumented youth eligible)

5. Creates more grounds of inadmissibility, deportability, and other grounds for exclusion. (This again limits number of eligible undocumented youth)

1. Ineligible for engaging in voter fraud, unlawfully voting, marriage fraud, public health risk, likely to become a public charge, student visa abuse, polygamy, draft evasion, persecution of others.
2. Ineligible for one felony or three misdemeanor convictions.

6. Lower age cap from 34 to 29.

7. Requires submission of: biometric and biographic data, a background check, a medical examination (big brother facilitating possible deportations in the future)

8. Expands required disclosures and creates exceptions to confidentiality requirement for criminal, homeland security, or national security purposes. (Big Brother again prepping for future deportations)

9. Application deadline for conditional nonimmigrant status– alien must apply for conditional status within one year after obtaining high school degree or GED, admittance to institution of higher education, or date of enactment. (Will create more ways to be denied)

10. Requires selective service registration. (continues the militarization of the DREAM Act and migrant youth)

11. Requires alien to demonstrate prima facie eligibility to receive stay of removal while application pending. (More hoops to jump through)

12. Burden of proof – requires alien to demonstrate eligibility by a preponderance of the evidence. (And More Hoops)

13. Adjustment to LPR status (more ways to delay and deny naturalization and the franchise)

1. Must show good moral character during the 10 years in conditional status (longer period in which to catch 3 misdemenours = more low-income migrant youth excluded)
2. Cannot have been absent from the US for a total of more than 365 days during the conditional status
3. Application deadline – must file for adjustment of status during the period beginning 1 year before and ending on either the date that is 10 years after the date of the granting of conditional nonimmigrant status or any other expiration date of the conditional status.

14. Requires alien to pay back taxes before conditional status removed. (Creates cost barriers for some)

15. No Expedited Processing of Applications section, as included in earlier version. (Delays process more room for reasons to deny)

16. Eligibility for Health Care:

While in conditional nonimmigrant status, ineligible for subsidies under the Exchange. (migrant youth can't get health care another reminder of second class status in this society)

If the DREAM Act were Graffiti you could say Washington just "went over our piece" 15 times. No higher form of disrespect exists. The DREAM for many is DEAD. But much like the Graff Artist Mike "DREAM" Francisco who is more alive in the BAY-Area and beyond today than when he walked these streets and tagged these walls, we too can breathe life back into the real DREAM Act by honoring it, by screaming it's true name to those in power who don't want to hear it anymore than they want to see urban art.

One positive change to drastically transform and breathe life back into this dying legislation is to bring back the community service path to papers. This would create an accessible path to legal status for the overwhelming majority of undocumented youth.

If we are giving away 15 bargaining chips I think we should be demanding at least one from the other side?

Now is not the time to light candles and morn. It is the time to tag the walls of congress with our truths.
Grabb your cell phone and your spray can and hit up congress:

TELL CONGRESS TO BREATH LIFE BACK INTO THE DREAM

Mike "DREAM" Francisco Rest In Power!

Papers for ALL Undocumented Youth!

2010-11-29T19:05:00.000-08:00

BLOGGER'S NOTE: This post is reposted here from mexmigration. It is the most clear and concise analysis of the DREAM Act, with adequate contextualization married to a call for action that I have come across. Gracias Alejandra. (Images were added for emphasis)

By: Alejandra Suarez

On Wednesday, November 10th just one week after the Midterm elections, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) came out in support of the DREAM Act. Along with Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Pelosi has promised to push for its passage during the lame duck session. Both legislators are keenly aware of their party’s dubious standing without Latino support. Certainly, it was the Latino vote which helped Reid maintain his congressional seat. Likewise, as Pelosi seeks to become House Minority Leader, her announcement to push for a vote on the proposed legislation is meant to rally support from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and progressives.

But what are they offering us?

In 2008 Barrack Obama won the presidency by securing the Latino vote on the promise of comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) during his first year in office. Yet almost two years later 11 million undocumented immigrants continue to wait for a path to legalization. Worse yet, they wait in fear as the number of raids and deportations have skyrocketed under the Obama administration, a record 400,000 this past year alone.

The intensification and institutionalization of repressive measures like S-Comm, 287(g), E-Verify, and the militarization of the border have all created an atmosphere of terror in immigrant communities.Obama's delayed promised of immigration reform also allowed for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s strike, enacting SB 1070, which represents a widespread attack on the immigrant community not only in Arizona but throughout the nation. Democratic leaders including President Obama have declared CIR dead. Instead they offer piecemeal legislation like AgJOBS and the DREAM Act.

The numbers don’t add up

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of undocumented youth living in the United States, estimates are in the millions. According to studies only around 2.1 million would potentially be eligible to apply for legal status under the DREAM Act. However, the Migration Policy Institute reports that a merely 825,000 or 38% of these 2.1 million would meet all the requirements for legal permanent residency (LPR). This is a tiny minority who would actually benefit from the DREAM Act, leaving the overwhelming majority with no way to legalize their status and vulnerable to deportation.

Furthermore, one of the requirements for gaining LPR is attending college or university for at least two years; an unlikely proposition taking into account the costs of higher education and the discrimination inherent in our national educational system. Nationally, the cost of attending college has increased 439% from 1982 to 2007 (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education). In California, tuition fees at the UC’s and CSU’s continue to increase from 32% last year to 15% this year and a scheduled 8% and 10% increase next year for UC’s and CSU’s respectively. The community colleges are no different. Last year they saw a fee increase of 54% and course offerings shrink.

Along with that grant and scholarship offerings are also shrinking. And contrary to popular belief “students from lower-income families, on average, get smaller grants from the colleges they attend than students from more affluent families” (National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education). Likewise, DREAM Act students would not be eligible for federal financial aid -- only loans and work study. Moreover, the DREAM Act gives states the prerogative to decide if these students qualify for in-state tuition (repealing Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996).

Moreover, the barriers to socio-economic progress are stack such that racial and ethnic minorities have a slim chance of success in this country. For example, although Latino, black, and Native Americans accounted for 29% of high school graduates, they only made up 13% of incoming freshmen at the UC’s in 2007. And that number has decreased in recent years. The national high school drop-out rate among Latinos is around 40%. In California the drop-out rate is 36%.

In addition, a significant percent of the 1.5 generation coming to the United States without papers arrive with very little schooling and come to work to contribute to the family income. These undocumented youth would not even qualify for conditional LPR status.

Guns for Papers

The other option the DREAM Act offers in order to gain LPR status is two years of military service. Given the new higher education framework, the military option then becomes the de-facto choice to gain LPR status for most undocumented youth. Those non-citizens already fighting overseas have gained very little as permanent residency is not guaranteed and posthumous citizenship brings no benefits to families of the deceased. Besides, the threat of deportation even for those in uniform is still a possibility.

With the continued occupations in the Middle East and elsewhere, as well as the increased militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border, it is very likely that those joining the military under the DREAM Act will see combat. And although the DREAM Act asks for only two years of military service, we must be aware that there is no such thing as a two-year military contract. Since the National Call to Service Plan passed in 2003 all enlistment requires a minimum of eight years.

For a DREAM Act with NO military strings!

Undocumented youth are tired of the vast inequities and limited opportunities afforded to them because of their citizenship status. We fight for the right to education for all, the right to have a job that helps our families get out of poverty, the right to live without fear of incarceration and deportation, the right to keep families together.

We denounce the Democrats for their political maneuvering offering empty promises in exchange for our vote. We should not be asked to assist in the continued occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, or in any new militaristic adventures in Latin America, Iran, or elsewhere in order to obtain papers for our immigrant brothers and sisters. Nor should we have to subjugate our Peoples in their native lands or on the border.

We in the immigrant community are not discouraged by the lack of political will in Washington. We will continue to fight for a new and just immigration policy based on human and workers' rights. More than ever, it is necessary to (re)build an independent mass movement for legalization. It will take huge mobilizations and strikes like those that took place in the spring of 2006 to force the ruling elite to grant our just demands.

More than ever, the passing -- and the content -- of the DREAM Act depends on our independent struggles today. The future of the DREAM Act depends on us being able unify and push forward in united action!

Students, parents, community activists and their organizations are mobilizing on December 3 in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco to demand papers for ALL! Join the anti-military, pro-legalization contingent calling for a DREAM Act with No Military Strings Attached! And join us in San Francisco or organize a solidarity action in your community.

To endorse this action: jos3rom3ro@gmail.com

Cohorts and Class

2010-11-12T02:17:00.000-08:00

The Migration Policy Institute issued a report in July with an analysis of the potential impact of the DREAM Act as currently written.

CHECK OUT THE FULL REPORT

Although the two white women who author the report are clearly favorable to passage of the current DREAM Act. They lay out some damming numbers. They slice up the Undocumented Youth Community into 4 cohorts which allows for class and educational attainment analysis of the DREAM Act's impact.

The first cohort is made up of the clearest beneficiaries of the current language of the DREAM Act.

These are undocumented young adults who already have at least an Associates degree, some have a Bachelors and a small portion of this cohort actually have post graduate degrees. For this cohort the DREAM Act would mean instant legalization for all without the need for almost any action on their part. I would argue that this group is the base for most of the current DREAM Act campus based organizing. It is a cohort slightly larger than 100,000 undocumented young adults. They make up less than 5 percent of the undocumented youth community that will be impacted by this legislation and according to the report less than 1/3 of them are low income.

However for every other cohort this report analyzes they estimate more than half of each cohort would not be likely to gain legal status through the current language of the DREAM Act.

In fact for the last cohort, Young adults without a GED or High School Diploma, the possibility of legalization is glum.

This last cohort accounts for 24% of undocumented youth and a staggering 96 % are estimated to remain undocumented after the current DREAM Act passes. Not surprisingly over 2/3's of this cohort is low-income.

We have heard a great deal from the first cohort, the ones who see a guarantee of legalization in the current language of the DREAM Act. We have not on the other hand heard from the rest, the vast majority of undocumented youth. We have not heard from those more likely to be faced with the choice of being on the run from Arpaio or Al-qaeda if the current DREAM Act passes.

This blog will continue to lift their voices and this analysis. My guess is they will demand more for their cohort from anything that calls itself a DREAM Act. They will demand the kinds of guarantees the current DREAMers and their cohort see in the current DREAM Act - and they deserve nothing less.

67% Is Not A Choice

2010-10-27T21:33:00.000-07:00

Jesus is undocumented, unafraid and speaking out for more than just the undergrads:

67% is Not A Choice. from Producciones Cimarrón on Vimeo.

A New voice within the movement of undocumented and unafraid youth is finding it's self. It is not the voice that has taken college campuses by storm with mock graduations and the rhetoric of valedictorian dreams deferred. They are not the DREAMers we watched with admiration sitting in at Senator Mccain's office. And Although mainstream media is yet to profile these youth on the pages of the New York Times or release op ed after op ed about their plight, these young folks are equally bold and with DREAMs that are just as valid as the DREAMers who have come out undocumented and unafraid.

These youth share a lot with their DREAMer brothers and sisters, but they also bring to the movement table, an understanding that most of their undocumented brothers and sisters who aren't enrolled @ UCLA or any other institution of higher learning face so many obstacles on the road to college that anything calling itself a DREAM Act needs to afford more options than College or Military.
They are beginning to raise these issues and this critique and like their DREAMer brothers and sisters they demand to be heard.

Please take a moment to sign this petition to demand that the community service path to legalization be added back in to the DREAM Act.

Sign this Petition, Support Undocumented DREAMs

More of these voices will continue coming out, and this website plans on lifting up their voices when they do:

http://67percent.net

An Invitation to the DREAM movement and Paul Ortiz from an Ally

2010-10-17T11:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Paul and beloved DREAMers,

I read the two articles linked above and reflected a great deal on your perspectives. As Latinos, veterans and activists Paul and I share much in the way of life experiences. When I hear Paul's history I am proud and stand in admiration wondering how I can connect with such a committed activist and build together. I can see why you are throwing your hat in the ring in defense of the DREAMers (Amazing Undocumented and Unafraid activist in support of the DREAM Act). These are folks I also admire and feel a deep sense of pride for because I consider myself connected to the larger community with them - a community of migrants, children of migrants, people of color, and marginalized folks fighting back against injustice. In many ways, I feel they have become excellent role models for our community. They challenge us to be unafraid and to stand for what is right even if it means taking risks. They have answered a call that many sheros and heros in our history have before them. They now form part of an amazing continuity of freedom fighters that includes the freedom riders of the civil rights era, the out and unafraid queer folk who staged the Stonewall uprising and many even before those moments in relatively recent history.

5 years ago I also felt the call and I also took some risks. See in 2004 I found my brown body in a blue navy uniform and I was asked to take young Marines to Iraq to face possible death and probable orders to take the lives of Iraq's women, children and elderly in large numbers as "collateral damage". I could not do it. What's more, I felt it was the time to take a stand. As a Latino I was also motivated by the reality that 4 green card Latin@ soldiers were among the first week's casualties and over 20% of the invading force was RAZA. These numbers speak to the reality that when brown bodies finish boot camp they are more likely to navigate combat rather than navigating radar and high tech systems. On the day I took my stand, December 6th, 2004, and refused to participate in the invasion and occupation of Iraq and spoke out publicly against that illegal and immoral war being fought disproportionately by folks of color - my family was actually risking something else as well.

My partner's visa had expired and my actions were drawing attention to our family at a time when her status made us vulnerable. She told me that the risks we faced were so much smaller than the risks that soldiers of color and Iraq's people faced. So I went through with it, and I was Court Martialed and kicked out of the military without many benefits. I was held in a legal detention center for 10 months and I served out a 3 months of a Hard Labor sentence as well. My wife discovered she was pregnant a few months before my trial. I was not free during the final months of her pregnancy our young family was divided.

It is this history that makes me feel closer to the ideals, activism experience and willingness to face risk of the DREAMers than perhaps most people who haven't lived these kinds of life choices that come with serious risks. After being discharged I was unemployed, uneducated, and unqualified to do anything other than War making from a Navy vessel. My undocumented partner and I, who were living in San Diego where I was discharged, had a newborn baby. Our Young family went from one friend's living room to the next living room trying to survive and figure out an employment opportunity that would allow me to support our young family. We were always terrified of travel even in the city and of accessing services because there were raids back then all the time and families torn apart by deportation. I wanted to petition for my wife's status but the process took long and living on unemployment checks and food stamps we could not afford the application and legal fees ($1500 just to get started at that time.)

After almost a year of this lifestyle a job opportunity appeared in Oakland. This was almost as scary as continuing our current reality because it meant crossing immigration check points in order to go north. Because the job had a 3 month trial period we made an even more difficult decision that I would go first and stay in a friends living room while sending money back to my wife who now had to navigate the city, undocumented and not very fluent in English- by herself. As soon as the first paycheck came we began trying to work for her status but the lawyers said we had to be together and so she had to come up to Oakland. I went back down and we decided we would risk everything driving up even though my trial period was not over yet. We hopped in a little car and headed north with a newborn and not much to call our own. As we approached a truck weigh station I think some powerful force intervened on our behalf. I accidentally got off on the weigh station, which was only for trucks, and it just so happens by doing so we dodged immigration Checkpoint. My wife's heart pumped so hard I could feel it in her tense piercing grip around my right hand as we drove just ten feet to the right of the destruction of families like ours.

I am sharing some of my personal life to assure you that I am not the "Social Justice Elite" by any stretch of the imagination. I am not an "anti-militarist absolutist" by any stretch of the imagination. My experience led me to commit myself to work with young people of color and undocumented youth in low-income realities to fight for rights and challenge the militarism that leads so many in these communities to death, psychological trauma and dire poverty. I've spent the last 5 years working with high school aged youth from low-income communities of color mostly in the public schools of this interesting state of California. I am committed to these youth. I organize with them politically, I believe in lifting their voice but I also am committed to their basic needs. I help many of the youth I work with on homework and school projects, I've invited more than one into my home when they were in trouble. They have cried on my shoulder and vented in my living room. I've advocated with them about problems in their group homes, in altercations with police, and in problems at school. I've volunteered to teach Spanish as an active elective, in an effort to make enough credits to graduate on time for one of them. This community is my life. I know it well, I know their stories and most of this country does not. Most of this country does not seem to want to listen to young low-income people of color.

So let's talk about undocumented youth within this community. Studies and activist often mention that there are over 2.1 million undocumented youth in this country and about a quarter of them live in California where I have been committed to doing my work in the public schools. Most are in elementary school or High school or were there in the last 5 years at the same time that i've been active in these same High schools. Few, a relatively small percentage, are in college where you do your work. I don't mean that to minimize your commitment or your voice but I think perspective is critical. The fact is of these 2.1 million we know that at least 1.4 million will never see a college classroom. There are reasons for this. Reasons that most activist and people wrestling with our country's inequality are somewhat familiar with. But I will restate a few.

Tracking systems in public schools that often pipeline white students to college tracks while students of color and especially undocumented English language learners are tracked into paths that don't prepare them for transfer into 4-year institutions. English Language Learners often undocumented are also mislabeled "special needs", other times they are erroneously thought to have speech impediments and other tracked disabilities simply because they are not English dominant and administrators misunderstand this. The parents of undocumented youth earn far less income and work longer hours on average than parents who are citizens, leading to low parent involvement and behavioral as well as academic problems that push these students out of school or into poor grades and bad tracks. The lack of federal financial aid for those who somehow make it past all these other barriers means youth who are academically prepared for college still lack access to college. Many undocumented youth have family commitments that result from their parent’s status. These commitments don't allow them to pursue a higher education and they include coming from single parent homes where the eldest has to play parental roles or become a wage earner at an early age.

These stories and these youth who will never see a college classroom, account for over 67% of the 2.1million undocumented youth being talked about in the DREAM debate. They are the majority, the most affected, and they are almost completely absent from the dialogue. We are focusing on the voices of the relatively small slice of this community that is very articulate, educated, and either already in or clearly pipelined toward, a 4-year university. I admire them, I support them and I can understand very clearly why being with them and seeing their valiant efforts day in and day out how someone as committed to justice as you, would stand with them. This is exactly why I stand with the other 62%. I admire them and I support them because they have a strong voice as well, they have a lot to say and they are also valiant. Every day they face this adverse system that pushes them literally out and they do so with courage. Yesterday one of these valiant youth told me enraged how he feels when even teachers speak of "illegals". He responded "I may have come from Mexico but they came from England, so why am I the Illegal."

These moments of push back and resistance have made me fall in love with these young folks that no one seems to want to listen to. They are not as fluent and articulate as some of the DREAMer voices in English. They are not without "baggage". They are often not college bound. But they have dignity, humanity and incredibly valuable things to teach us as well.

I learned a lot from your open letter, Paul, even if some comments felt unfair. I am sure this letter will contain some language that you to will take issue with. But I also hope that the DREAMers and you too, will find some value in my perspective and my call for inclusiveness and unity.

Given that I absolutely admire and stand in solidarity with the intentions of the DREAMers if not the current DREAM Act options for 67% of our youth. Given that I want to build with this new vanguard of the freedom fight and with you and your important contributions to this fight. Given that our movement can be stronger if it includes more voices especially the voices of the majority and the most affected among undocumented youth. I want to propose that we try to move forward together incorporating each other's voices and concerns. I want to invite the DREAMers to meet with the youth I love and hear their stories, concerns and needs. Most importantly I want to ask that the DREAM movement would invite us to their table where we would be honored to sit and better STAND with them and organize with them for all of our collective rights and freedom.

At that table we will have to have difficult conversations about whether federal financial aid such as Pell grants is negotiable, and whether community service and vocational paths are negotiable, and lastly what the military component means to 67% of the youth who are most affected and for whom college may not be an option.

I am sure there will be some compromises; I don't expect all of our issues to unilaterally shape the debate. But I do hope they can get a fair hearing, without name-calling and with sophisticated understanding of what is at stake and sufficient voice for the major stakeholders.

I think I have laid out the case for why the voices of the youth I love and of veterans of color like myself deserve to become part of the dialogue. These are the most affected youth and the largest part of the undocumented youth community and to exclude them would betray the spirit of this struggle for justice. As long as a military component is on the table then including voices from young vets of color are critical so that issues around militarism in communities of color are raised so that we understand are at stake. Paul, I know and appreciate that you were able to follow the footsteps of Zinn and Fanon and to a large extent so have I even if I am still low-income living in affordable housing and not your typical success story. And you are right that those experiences shaped me and politicized me as they did you and our elders you mention. However this experience is the exception not the rule. For every Zinn there are thousands of homeless vets. For every Fanon there are thousands of veteran suicides (18 a day as we speak).

For every story like mine there are dozens of stories like Jesus Suarez del Solar who got his citizenship through the military but post humorously after bleeding to death in the harsh Desert lands of Iraq. So our stories and our ability to raise the stories of the homeless, the war casualties, the suicides and all manner of injury that the military can inflict (on our Arab brothers and sisters as well) have to become a part of the DREAM dialogue so long as a military component is considered.

I’m hoping to build bridges and unity like what we saw in the marches of 2006. Back then I marched with a diverse group of folks from the community - Latino families who lost someone in the deserts of Iraq and others who lost family in the desert of Arizona. We marched from Tijuana, Mexico to San Francisco, California raising the issues of criminalization and militarization of the Latin@ community. We said no to deportation and no to deployments. Our March stopped of at Cesar Chavez's Grave to let him know he can rest in peace and power because his struggle continues. We stopped at recruiting stations not to advertise the military path to our community but to challenge it. We marched with folks in the central valley living the migrant struggle and with urban Latin@ youth who have a military recruiter’s target on their migrant backs. Brown Berets and Latino Veterans marched alongside each other calling for peace in the Middle East and in our communities here at home.

In struggle and toward comm-UNITY,

Pablo Eduardo Paredes
Latin@ Veteran and Ally to Undocumented Youth
American Friends Service Committee
Youth and Militarism Program and Human Migration and Mobility Network

Insults aside, Issues emerge

2010-10-17T01:17:00.000-07:00

On my birthday and Indigenous People's Day, Sally Kohn, a shero whom I otherwise admire, decided to fight fire with fire in an Insult match with four DREAMers. But insults aside some real issues emerge from both pieces.

The DREAMers argued that:

"The Nonprofit Industrial Complex is a network of politicians, the elite, foundations and social justice organizations. This system encourages movements to model themselves after capitalist structures instead of challenging them."

But for many that critique was lost in an emotional reaction to:

"Our progressive allies insist in imposing their paternalistic stand to oppose the DREAM Act" (emphasis added)

Sally argued that:

"While the young DREAM Act leaders are mainly those who want to go to college and thereby gain citizenship, the undocumented members of most 'mainstream' grassroots immigrant rights groups are low-wage workers who are struggling to make a living and support their families"

But for DREAMers this challenge to acknowledge privilege was probably lost in an emotional reaction to:

"I wish that, in the aftermath of a collective and hard defeat, they weren’t acting like petulant children." (emphasis added)

Two wrongs don’t make a right, and two P-words don't make a dialogue. But if we can get past the name calling of “paternalistic” on one side and “petulant” on the other side, some real issues emerge.

Too many DOCUMENTED, privileged, often white and often men - do too much of the talking, framing and decision making in the Non-Profit Industrial Complex (which is a fair term and accusation in this current staffer of a non-profit's opinion). Even in my non-profit, ultimate say on what work does and does not happen on the immigrants rights front is not in the hands of a person of color or migrant for that matter.

At the same time, the DREAM movement rasing these concerns is generally led by folks within the migrant community who have a level of privilege that is the exception not the rule for undocumented folks. We are talking about graduates and post-graduate students of schools like UCLA, UC Berkeley, and even a Harvard student or two. Promotional videos, congressional testimony and most things pro-DREAM Act generally reflect this college going or college bound led movement dynamic.

Both of these real critiques, as they relate to the DREAM Act, can be addressed in a meaningful way by going back to the community. Now I’m not talking about propagandizing and talking pointing our folks to sign petitions and support policies that remain illusive. I’m talking about genuine listening and dialogue and sharing of full information about what is being talked about in the halls of washington and non profits. Then listening and making a space for undocumented folks (the majority of whom are not going to a UC or a big private school anytime soon and neither are the majority of their sons and daughters) to lay out what THEIR agenda is and not impose OURS or guilt trip folks into supporting ours.

Campesino Housing, Rural Oregon- No Soy El Army Tour

Every time I have dialogues in the community about the DREAM Act without framing terms with non-profit or DREAM Movement imagined limits of “what’s possible and politically viable” just laying out the text of the document the intent and basic facts. The community always responds by saying things like: we want legalization without conditions, we want financial aid for college, de-criminalization, an end to ice raids and secure communities, an end to enforcement approaches that have taken thousands of lives. The vast majority of folks I dialogue with never ask for a military path to citizenship, while a vocal minority strongly rejects it. The vast majority of community voices are also unwilling to negotiate away their demand for financial support to make a college path in the DREAM Act viable and equally unwilling to negotiate away non-military paths to legalization.

In short, the community prefers CIR that does not include border enforcement approaches and deportations, but if pushed to articulate a DREAM Act vision the community basically describes Dick Durbin's original bill with a community service path to legalization, Financial Aid including pell grants and no military "option" and they reject the current language of the DREAM Act as a de facto military Draft for most undocumented youth. This has been my experience at several gatherings it does not speak for the entire undocumented community but we wont know where they are, unless we hear from them. My guess is their Agenda will continue to reflect these demands.

When we take THAT agenda, the community's AGENDA and fight for it with the community voice in front and us as allies behind. When this agenda becomes the immigrant's rights non-profit agenda and the DREAM Movement agenda, then these real critiques that have emerged will be silenced and we will look more like a people power movement. But in the mean time, Non-profits look too much like political parties detached from their constituencies and the DREAM movement falls into the traps of the very things it critiques of these non-profits, speaking for and not with a community from a position of relative privilege.

Let's DREAM bigger and together!

Deployed to Iraq or Deported to Mexico

2010-10-15T17:21:00.000-07:00

The "Latino Instigators" at Cuentame are asking us to stop and think hard about, "what does the military path mean for Latina/os?"

In the clip below we get a rare glimpse of the double standards that our community is constantly facing. Deploy our young brave youth to the middle east as good old american soldiers but the families left back home are threatened with deportation to Latin America because they are not "American enough"

Fighting Two Wars (Video from Cuentame)

These double standards are everywhere a Latino or migrant of color looks. When it's time to pay taxes your status doesn't matter. You can pay taxes under any social you choose to use and Uncle Sam will gladly take your cash. However, when you fill out an application for financial aid to go to college, your status becomes an issue for Tio Samuel.

When you are asked to sign up for the selective service so that you can be drafted to fight in a war your status is no problem. But when you want a license or the right to work then your status is a big problem.

This constant double standard of brown bodies always being just good enough for the battle field but not quite good enough for much else is alive and back again in Washington D.C.

This time our DREAM Act is adopting the double standard. In its first version, the DREAM Act was a real DREAM come true. It involved financial aid in order to help our struggling families send their youth to college. It involved a community service path to legalization for migrant youth who may not be able to access college or want to be involved in military actions. But those Dream supporting options were deferred and deported from the final language of the DREAM Act. A military option as a path to legalize was then deployed by the Senators who marked up the original DREAM document with nightmarish options.

This Cuentame video ends with a moving story of triumph. A Family that joined hands with allies and stood up to the double standard. There is no better time to learn from this experience and join hands and stand up to the double standards that have been written into our beloved DREAM Act.

Without a fight, without us lifting our voices up to demand more. To demand a community service path to legalization, to demand financial aid including pell grants. Without a struggle to demand what we deserve, we will see many dreams deferred, many dreams deployed and many dreams deported.

No more double speak and double standards; Demilitarize the DREAM!
Pablo Paredes
Latin@ Veteran and Ally to Undocumented Youth