For years, DACA recipients, immigrant youth, and the Latinx communities have been used as political pawns while simultaneously denied access to social safety nets, being subjected to ICE and police brutality, underrepresented in leadership, and disregarded in our numerous demands for change.
Earlier attempts at reform have only led to an increase of ICE and police presence in our neighborhoods, a limited and contested federal policy, a horrifying number of innocent lives lost or placed in cages, and with no long term restorative solutions.
While the SCOTUS decision last Thursday remains a victory, it does nothing to protect and uphold the rights of immigrants at-large or communities of color as we face continual discrimination and oppression.
The limited protection from deportation DACA recipients receive has come at the expense of the physical safety and lives of our loved ones.
We must ensure that conversations around relief for immigrant communities include ALL immigrants while promoting Black and Brown unity in our shared fights for justice and equity. Thus, Padres & Jovenes Unidos supports the communities demands for:
- Governor Polis to enact the proposed executive order to protect all undocumented Colorado residents.
- Local officials to immediately #DefundThePolice and reinvest in housing, education, economic support, climate justice, healthcare, and mental health services for working-class, Native, and people of color, in accordance with M4BL.
- The federal government to #AbolishICE.
Last week’s demonstration of solidarity and commitment to affecting genuine institutional change was a powerful moment. It was a moment of celebration along with a cry for more from the institutions that run on our labor and benefit from our participation; more from our friends and families in calling out injustice, educating ourselves and addressing the ways we, ourselves, have been complicit in upholding anti-Blackness, prejudice, sexism, classism, homophobia, and transphobia in our communities.
We have come so far, fought so hard, and for so long to be where we are today. The revolutions led by our elders and the difficulties and sacrifices faced by the generations before us have allowed present and future generations to push us beyond what we ever thought possible. Now is our time to fully dismantle the systems and positions designed to uphold our oppression.
|
You must be logged in to post a comment.