Undocumented and Unapologetic

Hi everyone,

This is just a post about the upcoming event with Tania Chairez at TGH ths coming Tuesday. Professor Cameron sent out an email to the Class of 2015 but I figured I'd post about it here in case he missed anybody:

You are most welcome to attend the following event organized by the Department of Spanish at Bryn Mawr College

"Undocumented and Unapologetic: Redefining Citizenship in the United States"

A discussion featuring Tania Chairez from the University of Pennsylvania, Edward Menefee, co-founder of VamosTogether, and moderated by Bryan Cameron, Visiting Assistant Professor

Tuesday, November 22nd from 9:30am - 11:00am, Thomas 110

The discussion will continue the dialogue initiated at Bryn Mawr by BMC student Jessica Hyejin Lee, author of "Out of the Shadows: Undocumented at Bryn Mawr" and Haverford student Edward Menefee, co-founder of VamosTogether. We will consider topics such as (il)legal immigration, "coming out" as an undocumented citizen, ostracism, limited educational opportunities, federal and state policy, and the DREAM Act. Faculty, students, and staff are all welcome to attend and share their opinions, experiences, and concerns. 

Please see the link below for more information on Tania Chairez's essay and the links below it for reactions to her op-ed piece:

http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/10/tania_chairez_undocumented_and_unapologetic

http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/10/your_voice_undocumented_immigrants

http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/10/your_voice_let_wouldbe_americans_live_out_their_dreams

http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/10/your_voice_seeing_beyond_labels#comment50116

I really encourage anybody interested in the topic of immigration to stop by. It ends before we have E-Sem, so if you aren't doing anything at 9:30am, please join our discussion! And bring your friends. I emailed Tania a couple of weeks ago to tell her about how inspired I was after hearing her story and I told her that I thought Bryn Mawr's community would really benefit from hearing her speak. With all the GOP debates going on and the upcoming election, I have a feeling that this topic will matter to all of us. If you don't know a lot about our immigration policies and would like to learn more, or if you just have questions that you'd like to ask her, this would be the time to do so. I have friends who are undocumented but we never talked about it because it was such a touchy subject. I signed the DREAM Act to show I cared, but really, I could've done more to show support. It doesn't matter where you stand on the idealogical spectrum - we welcome everybody. Tania has been kind enough to accept our invitation and it's a great opportunity to learn more about such a highly contested subject.

At our E-Sem workshop we got to learn about how people felt when it came to talking about the subject of class at Bryn Mawr. Most of us agreed that it would help if we broadened our audience. The people who knew and cared about the subject attended the workshop, and those who needed the workshop more, didn't attend. Let's do the same with immigration! We talk about "levelling the playing field" in E-Sem all the time, but did we ever think about how the playing field looks to undocumented students?

I strongly encourage you to read Tania's article and then pay attention to the comments. How would you feel if you were in her shoes? Tell us your reactions about it at the discussion. And if you can't be there to do so, I don't mind hearing about it here!