Welcoming Back Congress.
Personal essay.
As legislators came back from recess to The District ready to work on the budget package immigrants from all over the world, coming from every state in the Nation poured into DC streets to demand that the Immigration provisions stay in the budget and most importantly, a pathway for citizenship for ALL, which would mean Relief for 11 million undocumented people. As we continue pushing through the pandemic it is imperative that those essential workers that have been keeping the country going are given a proper thanks and that the social safety nets that we all deserve are wide enough to catch us all.
Hosted by CASA, The National Domestic Workers Alliance, SEIU, NAKASEC among many other organizations, the march and rally took over the city, shutting down a tunnel and getting into dance breaks in front of ICE Headquarters. I am personally very impressed by the level of organization and formation behind this march. There was not a thing amiss and it was so safe for undocumented folks that for me personally for a second there, with my eyes closed, breeze on my hot skin, dancing in front of ICE to the beat of drums from all over the world (and a whole marching band!) I felt like I had a micro dose of liberation.
This march felt personal to me for many reasons. Being surrounded by immigrants like me, living undocumented and unafraid (or rather, always afraid and ready to fight) means the world: I am so used to being the only undocumented person within organizing spaces (that usually pretend to be fighting for our liberation, when really they are fighting for grants) that in my life, it has become a source of frustration that eventually lead me to rage quit a lot of things…
Being publicly vulnerable has honestly given me more heartbreak and stress than I can freely speak on here. Earlier this year I found myself both on top of the world and in the deepest pit within a few weeks time. White violence got ahold of me during a time that I should have been healing and growing. I will never forget this one night in the Spring when I thought ICE was going to come for me for the level of organizing I have engaged in for awhile now. After these events took place, I took a step back from the world in general but organizing specifically. I lost friends and community due to a campaign to defame my character byway of questioning if am truly undocumented or an undercover ICE agent, the biggest gaslight of my life at the time, however silly it feels to even put it on writing now — For transparency: I engaged in horrible level of speech during an unfortunate zoom confrontation. I felt like I let my Elders down for biting the bait of a bad faith actor and abuser and exploding into explicits. They were ambushed like I was or worse, as there was much more than they knew around the dynamics which brought this meeting forth on the first place, their reaction was not their fault anymore than mines was mine. I felt like I let the Campaign and Freedom Church down after pledging myself to be non violent in word. I felt like I let myself down for letting someone and something so insignificant trigger me that way. I am not writing this to cover my ass in the event that this zoom meeting comes to light one day, but rather, I want to acknowledge that something happened that I cannot talk much about and so I went on self inflicted hiatus to heal. I am still healing and not until the Poor Peoples Campaign called me to move during our season of Moral Nonviolent Direct Action did I come back to organizing work and co-leading Iglesia del Pueblo with my Comrades. So here I am today in DC knowing my purpose and myself so much more than yesterday, but less than tomorrow. The energy of being out on the street, seeing dear friends from the movement from all over the states and moving forward again and again despite setbacks and malice, with people who know the struggle of the undocumented life reminded me that no matter where we are planted, we do continue to grow and bloom.
There is no telling how things will play out in the next few weeks, months as congress goes back to doing ugh, whatever it is that they do, seriously one thing we can expect is that concessions will be made, and they will try to give us crumbs, our demands must remain clear and firm. At the Poor Peoples Campaign we are taught that you are only going to get what you are organized to take, and we want it all, we must want it all for all. The time of DACAs, amnesties and small steps is really over, there is 11 million people, essential workers, parents, human beings, some here because of the mess the US created in their own countries, seeking refuge, and every single one of us no matter the background deserve to be greeted with resources, support, social services instead of ice boxes, walls of cop cars, rougue militias and ICE agents with guns, tear gas or whips, a reality that many immigrants have experienced before proof like the images we have seen on the news recently.
I have been in this country longer than ICE has been in existence. As images and stories and bodies continue to pile up under ICE no matter who the person in the White House is, it is immoral at this point for anyone living here to ignore that the immigration system as we know it needs to be completely abolished, dismantled and a system that focuses on human infrastructure (healthcare, education, transportation, housing, clean air and water for all) be put in place. In the coming days you will see more organizing and moving around this issues. Put down the Hispanic Heritage Month banners and get down with the movement instead, find local organizations that align with your values, volunteer, donate to mutual aid and show up when you can. You dont have to be perfect (god knows I dont have my shit together) you just have to be willing to speak up. Like we say in the Poor Peoples Campaign:
Somebody is hurting my family and its gone on far too long, and we wont be silent anymore!
Take action by signing this petition for a pathway to citizenship:
Reverend Leonina Arismendi Zarkovic is part of the Prophetic Council for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival and Co-Leader at Iglesia del Pueblo. They are an award winning writer and artist from Uruguay living in the US.
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