Leticia X is Human, Too: Tragedy & Waiting for Pres. Obama

In
October of 2009, I wrote a column about a brilliant high school DREAM
student
whose goal is to attend college in the fall of 2010. I referred to her
as
Leticia X. When she spoke to my class at the University of Arizona last
fall,
she had my students in tears, knowing full well that unless the
immigration
laws change, she will be unable to pursue her dream.

Leticia
X has a special love of land (agriculture) and her dream as a new high
school
graduate is to become a teacher in Mexican American Studies. I saw her
this
past week at the annual Raza/Ethnic Studies conference in Tucson, but
this
time, it was she who was in tears because her father had been picked up
that
morning by local Sheriff's deputies and was subsequently turned over to
the
border patrol.

The
most dynamic of educators from across the country had come to learn
about the
battle against HB 2281 - the new anti ethnic studies law - and the SB
1070 law
- the racial profiling law scheduled to take effect July 29. Her
presence was a
reminder of how Arizona has become the epicenter of dehumanization; her
life,
and the lives of her family are now in limbo. At the prompting of a
professor
who had just met Leticia X, the educators instantly sprung to her
defense.

Because
Congress has still not reformed the nation's immigration system, she
will not
be living her dream this fall, though she is now undergoing an even
greater
tragedy, in this insane asylum known as the apartheid state of Arizona.

Leticia
X is not afraid of using her real name. When she spoke to my class, she
used
her actual name and high school. It is I who chooses not to identify her
publically (Recently, DREAM students staged a sit-in at McCain's Tucson
office,
subjecting themselves to arrest so that they themselves can take control
of
their own movement. In Phoenix, other DREAM students served Maricopa
County
Sheriff Joe Arpaio with a community indictment, charging him with crimes
against humanity.

Incidentally,
Leticia X does not consider herself undocumented or an illegal alien.
Neither
do other DREAM students conceive of themselves in such a manner. Neither
do I.
To do so buys into the dehumanization that has become normalized in this
society.

The
notion that children, who had no choice in coming to this country can be
considered illegal, stands logic and the law on its head. Minimally, it
is
immoral to say the least. To break the law, one has to consciously break
a law.
Leticia X crossed into the United States at age three... hardly an age
when she
could have consciously broken any law whatsoever.

She
considers herself a U.S. citizen because she has no conscious memory of
any
other nation than this one; she is guilty of no crime, and should be
treated as
such. The potential deportation of her father/family puts a human face
on the
inhumanity that our society has descended to. Her father is not illegal
either;
his only "crime" was to try and make a better life for his family.

This is
at a time when President Obama recently directed the Immigration and
Customs
Enforcement to concentrate on deporting violent criminals who are a
threat to
the public safety and (a canard) those who are a threat to national
security.
Leticia X's father is neither. Neither is his family.

In the
heat of an electoral campaign, where she is vying to become the elected
governor of the state... and in the heat of defending the state's racial
profiling law, Arizona's unelected Gov. Jan Brewer has taken the lead in
the
misinformation department, alleging that most migrants are carrying
drugs and
that drug cartels have been beheading people in the Arizona desert. Both
are
fiction.

Brewer
should meet Leticia X. If she did, she would come face to face with a
beautiful
human being, guilty of no crimes and deserving to be treated as a full
human
being. If anything, this future teacher merits a full scholarship.

President
Obama should also meet Leticia X. He should meet her father and be
reminded
about his recently declared immigration enforcement priorities. Upon
meeting
them, he would know the face of this debate; he would know that it is
high time
to reform the nation's immigration laws and that it is also high time to
bring
millions of people, not into Arpaio's infamous tents, but rather, into
the tent
of humanity.

For
more info re this unfolding situation: landandfreedom@gmail.com.
To support Leticia X and her
father, checks can be written to: Barrio Sustainability Project - TYLO.
They
can be sent to: Tierra Y Libertad Organization, 3649 S. 7th Ave. Tucson,
AZ
85713