an undocumented immigrant and queer activist,
who lives
and writes in Los Angeles.
I love my undocumented people.
I love us because every day we wake up to a country that
hates us.
We wake up, give thanks to God and go to work,
Watch the news, hear how our own TVs vilify us.
We change the channel and pray that tomorrow will be a
better day for us.
When they give us a little breathing room we make the most
of it.
We’re so grateful that often we forget that we deserve
better,
That all this mess is not our fault.
We stay low on the radar,
Want peace,
Want to exist without the added stress of having to be
public about where our spirits ache.
We just want to go to work to feed our families,
Yet we become scapegoats to a system that is addicted to exploiting
the poor.
I love my undocumented people,
Because the way our spirits are toyed with,
You need some unfathomable strength.
I love us, because we have constantly had to prove our
humanity
And constantly done it beautifully,
Because to stay human under these conditions you have to have
An understanding of beauty.
I love us,
Even when our stories are manipulated and exploited,
Even when we are presented as gloom and doom narratives.
I love us,
Because at the end of the day somehow
We always manage to make something out of nothing.
I love my undocumented people,
Because being undocumented is not political, it’s not
physical,
It is a condition created to keep us from smiling
But look at us,
Thriving.
