Listening to the Dreamers to Build a Better Reality
In this week’s reading, we looked at how Counter stories of subordinate communities challenge how we see certain issues. Yunuen’s story was about her immigration from Mexico to the United States. Growing up, I was taught about these issues through the lens of the dominate. Since starting a service-learning and being at Dominican, I have been exposed to the stories from the perspective of the people in the Canal. Reading first-person account like Yuneun illustrate the power of putting subjugated voices in the center.
The issues Yunuen’s story brought to my attention the trauma that comes with immigrating to the United States. It makes me think about how this has happened to so many people who live in the Canal. At my community partner, some of the students I work with could have experienced similar events to Yunuen. Things that also intersect is the choice to immigrate itself. Her parents the choice to persevere through so many adversities in order to make a better life for their children and themselves. Yunuen also talked about the hard work ethic of her parents. She explained how he did many odd jobs for low wages. It reminded me of how the majority of manual laborers in San Rafael are latinex, and as we talked in class, they often will work for wages quite below the minimum wage.
The gentrification of neighborhoods is also a thing I see at my community partner. While Canal Alliance does address education inequality, it cannot combat the housing situation and the threat of ICE outside of its program. In her story, Yunuen mentioned how first she moved almost 10 times a year and struggled with feeling like one place was a home. She explained how she “Felt a little nostalgic for Mexico” but knew if she went back it would not be a place she would want to stay. This made me wonder about my students and how they viewed their ancestral countries. From my time volunteering at Laural Dell Elementary, I knew some schools promoted acceptance, self-reflection, and how they worked towards your unique identity. The collage the third-grade students made represent something deeper one student, it shows a conscious movement towards acknowledging the individual and empowering them through building a sense of self and worth.
I believe projects in a classroom can turn into changes in policy. The schools where our politicians went imprinted on them from age five with a narrative. I believe if the narrative or curriculum teaches responsibility for actions, values of honesty, empowerment of subordinate to equality and accountability then we will stand a chance in bridging the disparity around us today. The action we can take now is to listen, truly sit down and hear the stories of those oppressive voices. It is through the act of hearing those with opposing viewpoints that we fight our own ignorance, and create truly conscious conversation and thought.
