800,000!
I was 7
years old when my parents decided to move us to Puerto Rico. It was June.
One brother turned 9 that July, one turned 16 that August. It was without question the hardest decision
my parents had to make for their family - and without a doubt the best
one. The difference in upbringing
between one child and the other two is staggering. I won’t dwell on that right now because that
is not my focus. My focus here is that I
am Puerto Rican. Yes, both my parents
are from there. But I was born in New
York City. I never tell people I am from
New York. I am FROM the island. That little piece of land is in my heart
because that is where I grew up. Where I
came of age. First album purchased. First date. First concert. School
graduations. My life story started there and nothing will ever change
that. It doesn’t matter how many turns
my life has taken (and there have been quite a few) I am Puerto Rican
first. All politics aside, that is my
truth; that is your truth; that is everyone’s truth. You are from the place you formed, not where
you were conceived or born, not where your heritage comes from, but where you
were at home when all those critical life events that happen from ages 8 or 9
until you are an “adult” in the eyes of the world. So, I am Puerto Rican. New York is where I was born. Georgia is my chosen home as an adult. I am from Puerto Rico.
Those DACA
kids… they are American. Their parents
made a decision for them just like my parents made it for me. Politics aside, those parents did something
unbelievably brave. They said “We are
going somewhere else so that your life can be better” just like my parents did
for us. And you know what? It was.
Has it been easy? Absolutely not. Did my brothers and I have a “caught between
two cultures” upbringing? Definitely.
Would we change it? Not for a
billion dollars (a million isn’t what it used to be). I don’t want anyone to
read this and say “Well your parents didn’t break the law.” Because if breaking the law is what it would
have taken for them to give us the gift they gave us, I am absolutely sure that
they would have. As a parent, I don’t
give a rat’s ass about the law over my kids’ wellbeing. And if you cannot understand the level of
sacrifice and love that those parents felt and the bravery of what they have done,
I honestly do not want to know you. What would stop you from saving your kid’s
life? And do not kid yourself, because for
some of these people that was the choice they faced.
Empathy is
the ability to put yourself in the shoes of another. Maybe it is easy for me because I know what
it is like to be the underdog. And I will forever be able to put myself in
someone else’s suffering space. I feel
sorry for every one out there who is unable to understand this. I pity the fools (pun intended) who are so
full of hate that they can look at a 21 year old who has no real memory of
anywhere but here and say “go back to where you came from”. Go where?
Again, when I was 21 I was graduating college in Mayaguez, something I
seriously doubt would have been as easy had I been in the South Bronx. If someone had told me then “You have to go
to the South Bronx because that is where you are from” I would have been
terrified, and rightly so. Does this sound ridiculous to you? It should, because it is.
The sight of
President Trump is revolting to me for many reasons. I had originally set out to further explain this past sentence, and
redacted it on hubby’s advice. Putting that aside for a minute let us focus
on what he has just done here. For years
these brave kids have been coming out of the shadow that is the life of an
undocumented immigrant and said “Here I am”.
They have stepped up and said “Hey, I didn’t choose to be here but here
I am. What do you need me to do? I will
do it.” And they have. Most of them are working or going to
school. They understand what is at stake. The government told them “come forward and we
will give you a shot.” And so they did. They
gave their address, finger prints, their blood… do you understand this? 800,000 people voluntarily went into the
USCIS and said “take my biometrics, sure”. Can you imagine how terrified these
people are now? All reports indicate
that ICE agents have become “more aggressive” under Trump. Could you sleep at night knowing you gave
them everything they need to hunt you down?
And now the
president is saying “I do not give a shit”.
It doesn’t surprise me because it has been obvious for a long time that
the president cares only about himself and his self-interests. But this amounts
to Lucy pulling the football from under Charlie Brown. What is worse is he is so completely spineless
that he does not take a stand on the issue.
We hear over and over “he is not a policy guy”, a euphemism for
intellectually lazy. Or “he really doesn’t
have a firm ideology”, another euphemism for his caring about nothing but his
own ego. I have seen him say “We love the dreamers” before. We all know his words are meaningless because
he contradicts himself all the time.
What matters is action.
His actions
say he is coward. He cares nothing about
these kids, the precedent, the presidency, or ramifications of his actions in
the future. He cares about his base and
he doesn’t want to offend them.
Therefore, he punts. He gives the
program 6 months for congress to fix it or it is dead. OK.
You mean the same congress that has passed nothing in the last 8
months? All of a sudden they are going to
fix this problem? The people, most of whom
are facing reelection in 14 months? I
know he hopes they fix it, I mean…he is human, right? But he is too chicken shit to say so. He is
incapable of taking a stand. I would
respect him more if he just said “I’m ending it” because at least then these
kids could know where they stand. But he
can’t fix it because that would piss off the racists who LOVE him. He can’t just stop it because the business
community would turn on him, that’s tricky too.
So he puts it on the group of people who for seven years promised to
repeal and replace Obamacare and have a majority in both houses but still can’t
pull it off. Those people!
He is a
coward. Those DACA kids have more
bravery in their pinky finger that this man. He didn’t have to do this. This is a decision because a handful of
Attorneys General and senators threatened to sue over this. Everyone knows he’s a tough talker, unless it
means angering his base (that 24 % is all powerful).
If you want
to know more about DACA here is what they say at the Pew Research Center about
it:
Here is what
CEOs say:
I will leave
you with this: 800,000 mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, students and
soldiers, employees and friends. This
guy said it better than I can:
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