“You’ve always been there, but you really don’t count.”
Those are the words of a young man named Juan in Miami, who suddenly feels pushed into this dehumanizing corner: You don’t matter any more.
Why? Because he graduated from high school.
For most of us, turning 18 and leaving high school feels like being paroled from the long sentence of adolescence.
But for Juan, it’s like being convicted for something you didn’t do.
The Colombian native is among a unique class of people in the U.S. He’s an undocumented immigrant who journeyed to America at age 6 with his parents.
The fact that Juan’s family broke the law to come here matters to many — but not to the U.S. Supreme Court. Some 25 years ago the court ruled that all undocumented children are entitled to a free public education.
But once they graduate from high school, all bets are off. You can’t work. You can’t get a driver’s license. You face deportation. A bill to legalize these students has languished in Congress for years. Critics say we shouldn’t unfairly reward people who immigrated here illegally.
Newspapers have long written stories about the murky no-man’s land facing these students. I’ve edited many. But surprisingly, Juan’s personal story, the most powerful I’ve seen so far on the issue, did not come from a mainstream newspaper. Or a magazine. Or TV.
In fact, it didn’t even come from a traditional journalist — but from the emerging social media-stream.
Juan’s story is told in a video and essay produced by the Movement Vision Lab at the Center for Community Change, based in Washington, D.C. The Movement Vision Lab, an online space that started last year, says it brings together grassroots organizers and activists to discuss visionary ideas for humanity’s future. I guess they’re not a bunch of slackers over at the lab.
