Last night I had the opportunity to attend “Enacting the Dream: a Conversation on Immigration Reform” at the JCC in Manhattan with guest speakers Jose Antonio Vargas and Roy Naim. The event was moderated by Immigration Equality’s Executive Director, Rachel Tiven.

Photo Credit: JCC In Manhattan

The night started with Rabbi Ayelet Cohen, Director of the Center for Jewish Living at the JCC,  discussing why immigration is relevant in a Jewish context, and how appropriate it was that we were discussing immigration reform on the day after Passover. Passover commemorates the story of Exodus, when the Jewish people had to flee Egypt. As a matter of fact, Jose Antonio Vargas joked that when he attended his first Seder, as he was reading the Haggadah, (text used to recount the Exodus story during the Passover seder) he exclaimed “this is all about immigration!” (This drew laughs from the audience!)

In what felt like a truly intimate setting, Jose and Roy, both undocumented immigrants brought here when they were young (Jose at 12 and Roy at 4), gave personal anecdotes about how being undocumented has impacted their lives. Most inspirational of all was the courage that they show, going around the country telling their story. Roy, whom I had the pleasure of tweeting with after the event, would probably like you to know that last night’s event was his second ever… A funny and relatable guy, he’s the guy next door, the guy who has spent much of his life helping others… I truly hope that he continues sharing his story; not only because he is funny and relatable, but because I think that it is incredibly important to show that undocumented immigrants can be ANY COLOR, ANY RELIGION, ANY ETHNICITY, and ANY CULTURE. This is not a Latino only issue, it is not an Asian only issue, or a “Brown” issue, as Roy said, this is a humanitarian issue.

Art by Favianna Rodriguez — with Julio Salgado, Josh MacPhee, Cynthia Brothers, Diana Mendez and Rita Jimenez.

We don’t ever think of Jews, Germans, or Russians as undocumented… we usually think of Mexicans, Guatemalans and other Latino people. I am truly grateful that Roy has decided to put a Jewish face on Dreamers, and immigration reform. Like many Hispanic, Asian and African fathers, Roy’s father came from Israel to the “Golden Medina” (the gold country) and later brought his family. Roy explained that his parents tried to find a legal pathway to citizenship but none existed. Today, after many expensive legal fees, Roy’s parents and siblings have documents; they are one of the millions of families who live as “mixed-status” families, i.e, families who have at least one member who does not have documents.

“Each undocumented person belongs to a family and to a community.” – Jose Antonio Vargas

“What is America? It is contributing to one another. I am American.” – Roy Naim

“An Unjust law is no law at all.” – St. Augustine, Martin Luther King Jr. (cited by Jose Antonio Vargas)

“Immigration should be seen as an opportunity, not as a problem.” – Jose Antonio Vargas

Perhaps the most poignant moment of the evening for me, came when Jose Antonio Vargas said that someone had asked him once, “What are you afraid of?” and He answered that he was afraid of how he would react when he saw his mother (Jose hasn’t seen his mom in almost 20 years!) As a daughter of immigrants, and now as a mom, my heart sunk when I heard him say this, and I had to fight back tears. I can’t imagine not seeing my parents for that long… I mean, it is a whole life time! I can’t imagine being separated from my son for that long! How hard it must have been for his mother to make that decision. Immigration opponents like to criminalize parents of DREAMers saying that they “broke the law” by bringing (or sending) their kids to the United States, but they fail to realize that it takes A LOT for a parent to separate him/herself from a child. Parents that do send their children away, usually do so because they want a better life, one that they cannot give them in their home countries. I assure you, it is not a decision that is taken lightly.

Both Roy and Jose talked about American friends who have helped them along the way: friends’ parents who wanted to adopt Jose, a rabbi who helped with medical bills. They both recounted events that were marked by the fact that they didn’t have papers: not being able to take the SATs, having difficulty traveling, not being able to study. Roy mentioned how limited he felt—knowing that he had so much to give, yet not being able to because of a piece of paper!

Photo Credit: Diana Limongi, AKA @LadydeeLG

Immigration reform is a human issue. It is inhumane to treat people like second-class citizens, especially when many of them are taking care of your children, mowing your lawns, cooking your meals, delivering your take-out, walking your dogs, picking your fruit… you get the picture.

My hope is that immigration reform will become a reality, so that people are not forced to live their lives without the possibility of realizing their full potential. This is a humanitarian issue, and, as Elie Wiesel said, NO HUMAN BEING IS ILLEGAL (thank you AP for stepping it up and banning the use of ILLEGAL when referring to a person!) 

What does the future hold for these inspiring young men? Unfortunately, Jose was 4 months too old to be eligible for deferred action, and Roy is eligible and is waiting for his documents. Jose continues to write, is working on a documentary and travels the country speaking about the issue. Occasionally, he enters into civil Twitter brawls with conservative anti-immigration folk. Jose is waiting for Immigration Reform that hopefully will give him a path to citizenship, because, as the TIME article said “He IS American.* (just not legally). Jose founded Define American, an organization that seeks to have real discussions on immigration. Roy has just started being a voice for immigration reform and DREAMers, and I hope he continues to do so!

You can follow Jose on Twitter: @joseiswriting and Define American: @defineamerican.  You may follow Roy @RoyNaim.

As always, I welcome your feedback below, on Twitter, or on Facebook.

Dora came after my time… I do remember thinking though, “Dora doesn’t look like me” (hell, Dora doesn’t really look like anyone, with those larger than life eyes and pet monkey)  or is very representative of my culture, aside from the fact that she spoke Spanish.
I’m going to be honest- While I think Dora The Explorer is a pretty good show,  I actually think Dora reinforces stereotypes about Latinos being a certain shade of brown, or  another mistaken belief, that all Latinos are of Mexican descent.
Growing up, I remember liking Ariel (the Little Mermaid) because she had a beautiful voice… and she was a mermaid, and I thought Eric was cute. I remember liking Belle (Beauty and the Beast) because she could sing, and had pretty brown hair… like me! (So I guess maybe I “identified” with Belle? Who—for the record, is from France… I guess that has followed me my whole life!) These characters, while I have fond memories of them, well, they are make believe. There are many aspects of these fairy tales that are not true—who the hell lives with seven dwarfs or talking candlesticks?

After reading a lot of the comments out there, I am perplexed about the reaction to Sofia, the new Disney princess. Most, if not all, of Disney princess story lines are, well, not based on reality! Why has Sofia become so controversial?

The reality is We’d need 15 different cartoon princesses to represent the variety of Hispanic women that exists.  The truth is, no one cartoon will ever satisfy all the different types of Latina women out there. Disney will never be able to please everyone…

What many who try to put all Latinos in one category don’t realize, is that inside each and every Latin American country, there is a huge variety of shades, shapes, ethnicities and races. Something else that is true, whether we like to admit it or not, is that there is racism and class tensions represented in a different and perhaps subtle ways in each individual country. When immigrants from different parts of Latin America come to this country, they bring some of these ideas with them. I know we like to pretend that we are this united bunch, but the reality is not as pretty. Inside each country there are even regional differences and biases, among countries as well. And perhaps it is a legacy of a colonial past, but the truth is, I have found that certain skin tones and traits are preferred, for example. It suffices to watch any telenovela or Spanish-language program to realize that there is an ideal that is still preferred in Latino culture… I remember the heroines in telenovelas I watched growing up… I know some things have changed, I like to think that things have become some what more inclusive, but the reality is that there are preferred types of women, usually with more “Euro” or “Caucasian” looks on television. (I would like to give a shout out to Brazilian telenovelas, because I see a lot of diversity on their television shows)  I am bringing this up because it seems almost hypocritical to call out Disney for Sofia, when mainstream Latino TV isn’t representative of all types of Hispanic women. 

As a Hispanic woman, I am not so much concerned Sofia’s skin color. I am more interested in what other aspects of my culture will be displayed. Will Sofia speak Spanish? Will the importance of familia be highlighted? What kind of food will Sofia eat?  What kind of music will she dance?

If Sofia had had pigtails and a poncho, i would not have identified myself with her either, any more than if she had had darker skin. If Sofia eats tortillas, tacos and mole, I won’t identify myself with her either… Because I didn’t grow up eating that, it’s not part of my culture.

As I said earlier, Disney will never be able to please anyone… had Sofia been darker-skinned, people would have complained that she was being too stereotyped, and the outrage would be, that not all Latina women are dark-skinned. By the way, Sofia the First looks like a very successful Latina… Natalie Morales! 

I don’t have any little girls who want to be princesses, but I am going to check out Sofia the First, hoping that the amazing aspects of Latino culture are highlighted. I am not too worried about Sofia, I think she will be what she is meant to be, a princess little girls can dream about, a fairy tale… make believe. Little girls shouldn’t be looking to identify with Disney princesses… their lives are far from reality. We shouldn’t forget that.

What is more pressing to me is the need for more characters on television that represent the rich variety that exists in the Latino culture, bilingual and bicultural successful individuals. TV INDUSTRY: TAKE HEED!

What does a Hispanic/Latina woman look like?

I thought it would be interesting to put something to the test… Below I have included photos of different women, some are Latinas, some are not… try to guess! Results of my little experiment will be posted next week!

Leave your guesses below, or tweet me @dianalimongi 

Through my journey as a first time parent, I have discovered many wonderful blogs about mommies who, like me, have chosen to embark on this journey to raise their children bilingual (or in my case—trilingual as soon as Baby E starts school—but more on that to come!) When I was pregnant my most pressing concern was not “Will I break the baby?” (that came at about 40 weeks). It wasn’t even “Am I having a boy or a girl?” (not so much a concern as a question) My most pressing concern was “How am I ever going to teach my child Spanish?” After all, I think in English, and while Spanish was my “first language” (i.e. the language that I first learned) I consider my main language to be English, so the thought of reverting to Spanish full-time was quite daunting. I asked a close friend “how did you do it?” and she replied “it was hard at first, but you get used to it.”

So I guess this blog is about my journey through the ups and downs of womanhood and motherhood while I try to juggle a full-time job, part-time graduate school, a toddler full of energy, marriage, familia, etc. etc.! Of course, it will be through my perspective—of being a first generation Hispanic-American New Yorker who is married to a wonderful man from the South of France. (Can you say OOH LA LA?)

Oh! and by the way—I’m happy to report that my friend was right—you get used to it…  Baby E’s first word was AGUA—and I couldn’t be happier =)