We, the Mobilized Women and the Fight for DACA
In the year since Women’s March, women have illustrated the sheer power of uniting to upend and remedy current and long-standing injustices. These coalescing moments, from #MeToo to Time’s Up, amplify inspiring voices from a movement that has neither dissipated nor dwindled over the past year.
But for all its current energy, I can’t help but notice (as others have) this groundswell — centered mostly on the experiences of white, affluent, documented women — leaves many of us behind. While organizers have taken care to make clear that they view issues like racial and economic justice as part of their collective cause, white women still show up in much smaller numbers to support issues that affect black and brown women.
That narrative can change. Now more than ever, the energy of loud intersectional feminists advocating for a Clean Dream Act needs to resound. With the fate of 800k Dreamers on the line, not only are all women capable of advocating for immigrant communities in large numbers — they must.
While it’s true that Dreamers are seen as sympathetic figures by the vast majority of America, it’s equally true that support and saliency don’t align. With a finite number of days left to pass a Clean DREAM Act, I can’t help but ask myself: How far does female solidarity extend? Will it attend to the nuances of power and privilege and lift up all women in all walks of society?
The DREAM Act was first introduced by a Democratic Senator and a Republican Senator in 2001. For nearly two decades, this widely supported, bipartisan attempt at basic human decency has languished. Right now, it must be issue number one — to keep families together, to support those vulnerable to state violence, and to protect women who have no legal means to voice their struggle. To the millions of mobilized women who took to the street again this year at the Women’s March, I ask you to join me in this fight.
In the absence of courage from our politicians and our political parties, we, the mobilized women, need to harness the energy of this watershed moment to prioritize the lives of our most vulnerable communities. Whether it’s worth it for congressional Democrats to draw a line in the sand and protect Dreamers shouldn’t be a question. Rolling over on DACA would be evidence of Democrats’ inability to truly stand for something and protect young people of color in the era of Trump. The time is ripe for Democrats to live up to their stated ideology with compassion and justice at the helm, and for white women to stand in solidarity with black and brown women of color.
Our distracted media and hyperactive news cycle leave individual stories untold. We, the mobilized women, need to be out front, utilizing our privilege and power in numbers to force attention on this urgent issue. Allyship is an action not a state of being. When advocates use their privilege and resources to build a platform to amplify stories that must be shared, others will listen and follow. With many undocumented folks unable to give specific personal accounts of their daily experiences in fear of persecution, the fight to protect Dreamers demands a heightened need for allies. As we saw with #MeToo, a tidal wave of harrowing narratives has the potential to turn complacency into bold action. We need more examples of white women using their megaphones to amplify the stories of women of color, and we need to make sure we’re using all available platforms to do it.
We, the mobilized women, need to speak truth to power and reveal the civil rights abuses and violence inherent in crimmigration. We can’t be afraid to tell immigrants’ stories that highlight the violence of deportation and immigrant detention. Neither fear-mongering nor alarmist, these stories acknowledge a blatant reality for undocumented communities, realities that need to be recognized and dismantled by people with transformational political power. These stories have the ability to throw people out of their comfort zones and force their families to understand what embattled communities are feeling. They have the power to move the needle and inspire real change. We need to use our platforms to tell these stories and demand they are heard.
We, the mobilized women, need, with extreme urgency, to fight for this cause before it’s too late. We are too late to prevent the crisis. We must not be too late to prevent the catastrophe. Not only would the loss of DACA lead to lost jobs and income for participants and their families but a very violent future for many immigrant communities. I know the Women’s March and its marchers emphasize the importance of an intersectional movement of women’s voices — now, let’s demonstrate that by coming together in this moment to use our power to defend those who’s agency has been stripped from them.
A year out, the voices of Women’s Marchers are in more spaces than ever. And those voices, taken together, are a formidable and unstoppable force in American politics — — if we continue to fight together. Women need to bring their voice, their vote, and their political power not just for themselves, not just for the issues that directly impact their families, but for the issues of all communities, particularly those without civic political power. These are the lives of American families in all but name and the stories of women Dreamers whose bodies and livelihoods are being subject to state control.
At RALLY, we work on behalf of Dreamers, and we show up for the Protect DACA rallies just like we showed up for the Women’s March. We hope to see all of our fellow Women’s Marchers with us, and we’re here to help anyone interested figure out how we can all help — on this and the next big fight.
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RALLY is an issue-driven communications firm that takes on sticky political and social problems and finds ways to push them forward. Micaela Chavez is an Account Associate based out of RALLY’s San Francisco office.
