A personal account by a Latinitas after-school club volunteer
Shortly after an increased series of Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids took place in Austin, I led my first Latinitas after-school club at a new Northeast Austin elementary School. This school is in one of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods for people living and working here in Austin who are undocumented. It was the location of daily high school student protests during the raids. We introduced an activity titled #ToImmigrantsWithLove, building on a national campaign launched by FWD.us, a movement founded by immigrants and others in the tech industry. The letter-writing campaign encouraged participants to show love and support for immigrants but, to our surprise, when my co-leader and I presented this project to the students, there was some definite pushback.
The activity was meant for the students to channel their reactions to the new changes in immigration policies — how they have affected them, their families, and their community, as well as show support and positivity for any immigrants under these trying times. We were looking to inspire self-advocacy and expression.
I was disheartened by what I saw that day — these girls were brought to tears at the thought of having to talk about immigration issues within our club.
We realized though students were in support of their community, their level of anxiety and fear was overwhelming. Some girls refused to do the exercise entirely. They were fearful to discuss anything about immigration because some have seen, firsthand, their families and others in their class being torn apart and have had many questions, but get uncertainty from their parents and community.
We took time to talk out the issue but the girls could not take comfort in knowing that everything would work out in the end because at the end of the day, nobody knew if it was going to be okay.
One girl told me that we were not allowed to say the word ‘immigrant’ because it was a bad word.
How discouraging it was to hear something so germane to being American — the immigrant experience — had become a taboo word. But, I took a moment to realize I was in Latinitas for a reason: to be a role model, to mold these girls into strong leaders, to tell them never to give up.
After a few more club meetings at this school — a club that has become very near and dear to my heart already — the girls have definitely come around and can see the importance in standing up for what you believe in. Though the lesson was painful and opened up some fresh wounds, I think we the leaders and the girls learned that sometimes things are going to be difficult for you in life, but you have to stand up for yourself and others and go out there and make a difference in the world!
Denise Maldonado was born and raised in Austin, TX. She is majoring in Education at Texas State University. She plans to continue her work with students as an educator or leader in the education field. Denise has been volunteering with Latinitas since January of this year at two Austin-area middle schools and one elementary school. She enjoys working at the schools and seeing all the intelligent and creative energy the students put into the clubs. Latinitas gives her the opportunity to interact with the students and empower them to do their best.
