Heartless in Paris
Note: This story is being posted for another author, Danisley Jayson, who lives in Cuba and does not have access to Medium. She is one of the talents selected from more than 100 countries who are participating in UNLEASH, an innovation lab that annually convenes 1,000 millennial thought leaders from all over the world, each year in a different country (this year in Singapore). In this piece, the author laments the fact that, because of her Cuban citizenship, she is not allowed to see Paris, the stopover city on her way to Singapore.
The author looking longingly at Paris from inside the airport, which she could not leave because of her Cuban citizenship.
The struggles to get to UNLEASH are real.
I am more than tired and disappointed. Once again, the shadow of being Cuban intervenes to prevent another of my dreams from being realized. Bureaucracy and human barriers get in our way all the time. In this case, the misfortune of being Cuban means not being able to travel freely around the world, once again the dictatorial and confined memories cloud my eyes with drops of water and salt.
After almost seven years, the fact of being a Cuban citizen gets in the way of my dream to visit “La Ville de Paris.” To visit the city for a few hours I had to have a visa with an approximate cost of €80 or $93, send an application, two passport type photos and a lot of confirmation documents of who I am, besides waiting 90 days for confirmation or denial of said visa, which I only need for two hours.
Apparently my green card, my ID and my passport are not enough. What a surprise for this Cuban naïve who thought she could shake off the dust of the past, apparently it is not possible.
I’m on my way to #UNLEASHLAB2018 to help our common cities and communities and even then, it’s not enough to let me see the city. I’m trying to help our planet but still my place of birth marks me on a lifelong list, I’m chased by the surplus of doubt, the leftovers of immigration, the shadow of why you’re here, the surplus of feeling out of place.
That is what borders have done, put barriers between people and their dreams, rather than to protect them, barriers to segregate and point out your position, the position that someone decided to judge you for, the rank of the segregated and the poor, the rank of that they have less and apparently they are worth less.
We [UNLEASH talents] were asked before our trip to think about some question we will like to ask Sophia the robot [one of the keynotes speakers at UNLEASH], which I’m not sure how to refer to. It is a she, a he or a it?
I had my doubts about what to ask the robot, but now I know what I will like to know, although it will be a rhetorical question because it will not be able to help me to visit “la Tour Eiffel” and “le Arc de Triomphe,” because like the French immigration officers, it can not understand the tears of helplessness and disillusionment that ran down my face, because like the French immigration officers, it has no heart.
