The term ‘coming out’ is most often used in an LGBTQ context. But it’s a certain process that undocumented folks have also. I didn’t know I was undocumented until high school. After that, I felt I had to keep this part of me hidden, because I didn’t know who it was safe to tell. After I came out as undocumented, it was liberating.
What compelled me to be more involved, not only in immigration issues in education, but in all social justice issues, were all the ICE raids in Austin in 2017. The school community was really impacted. Parents were afraid to pick up their kids. If I’m scared and I have DACA, I can’t imagine what these parents and kids are going through. ICE is the boogeyman for many of these kids because they have seen their communities torn apart.
A parent came to me one day and said was going to pick up her kid early to go to get passport photos. She wanted to make sure she had one if they were deported. In that conversation, it came down to a choice for me of disclosing to her that I was also undocumented. I didn’t. And I immediately felt regret. That pushed me to come out about my undocumented status. Kids are scared, families are scared, and communities are scared. I don’t want kids to come to school scared.
What has catalyzed all my work in my union has been racism and anti-immigrant sentiment and all the hateful things that have been going on in our country. I became active because I thought I could relate to things these other families are going through.
One person who I impacted and empowered after coming out was my mom, who is the most important person in my life. She told me ‘I see you going all over the country and saying your truth. And I’m undocumented too.’ About a year ago, we had this beautiful rally. She wrote something and said she was undocumented. And then she said it in front of all these people we had gathered around. For her to do that was really empowering. For 30 years, she felt she had to be silent about being undocumented.
A few educators have balked or complained about our social justice work. Some people have said we should be focusing on better pay, health care, and working conditions. But social justice unionism, our work, includes ALL of that. Health care is totally a social justice issue. And our working conditions are their kids’ learning conditions.
The most important win I’ve had as a result of my education advocacy is bringing more attention to the issues that matter. For a lot of the folks I work with in my community, they weren’t aware of many immigration issues at first. And I have worked with some people who maybe in the past didn’t agree with a lot of things I believe in immigration-wise. But in organizing and going out and talking to people in the community, we have brought a lot of awareness. I have had conversations with a LOT of people, and many of them have done a complete 180 on this issue. That would not have been possible without me coming out and being safe in the knowledge that I could tell people I’m undocumented and it’s not going to be an issue. And we always have an ask of them. Such as go out and vote. But I think we also we need to have harder asks. Like, ‘If you see something racist, don’t just let it slide.’
To me, an ideal public school is one that encompasses the community it is in and the communities our students live in. I do see schools as the center, as the pillars of our communities. If you don’t see schools around, there’s probably not a lot of joy. In the best public schools, I see folks coming in from the community and helping out. People from the community coming in and showing students different things. Everyone working together to make sure our kids have what they need to be successful.
The biggest thing I would love people to know is that social justice is education justice. We can’t have one without the other. We can’t focus only on the academic stuff if kids are dealing with so many other things. And how do we address those other things?
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