Articles

Fear of diversity should not stifle dreams for future

October 2006

By Rev. Jo Beecher

Editor’s note: This commentary was part of Beecher’s speech when she accepted the 2006 Distinguished Alumni Award from Antioch University Seattle.

I went to El Salvador as a do-gooder missionary. In the decade I was there, I experienced a profound spiritual transformation, walking with the Salvadoran people in their struggle for freedom and justice.

When I returned to the United States, I made a commitment to serve and empower the oppressed and exploited. I put my Christian faith into practice by working for justice and respect for the God-given human dignity of all people.

We live in a multicultural world, albeit dominated by the U.S./European cultural and economic model. From Jimmy Smits to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the United States is blessed with Latino performers, artists and politicians.

I would like to tell you about a few of the less famous and less well-paid Latino-Americans I know.

I wish you could meet Andrea. Andrea was born in Mexico City and came here when she was about 8. She has been coming to our church since we first had services. She first showed up to distribute Christmas gifts to low-income Hispanic kids. She was too late to sign up to receive a gift, but asked if she could stay and help.

Last Christmas, she was in charge of organizing the distribution of gifts to 650 children. Last year, she was one of just two middle school students in the district to be awarded a trip to the Houston Space Center for her good science grades. She is in high school now. Because she is Hispanic and doesn’t have legal immigration papers, school counselors direct her to a vocational track. They tell her, “You don’t have papers. You can’t go to college.”

Washington state passed a law establishing in-state college and university tuition for graduates of Washington high schools, regardless of their immigration status.

But the path to college is still strewn with obstacles. Federal grants and loans are not available without a Social Security number. It’s almost impossible to qualify for private grants and loans because you can’t even fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) without a Social Security number. Working your way through college and contributing to your family’s support is difficult when the only jobs that won’t check your papers fall below minimum wage.
There is also fear of being caught by immigration officials and sent back to Mexico. Andrea doesn’t remember Mexico. English is her first language. The United States is her home. The school tells her not to get her hopes up about college. And I tell her to keep hoping.

Then there’s Paulina from Oaxaca, Mexico, who plays clarinet and wants to be a teacher. Paulina speaks three languages and wants to study French in high school. Education already has made a big impact on her. She wants to pass that on. But she walked across the desert from Mexico with her family when she was 5 and does not have papers.

Her older brother, Juan Pablo, is a math whiz, and is enrolled in high school agriculture classes. He hears the same message: “Don’t get your hopes up.”

I say we have to lift their hopes high and help them realize their potential in this land they call home. Whatever else may happen, I pray there will be real immigration reform soon. Senate Bill 2075, the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, better known as the Dream Act, is still pending in Congress.

The Dream Act applies to kids who entered the U.S. before they turned 16. They must have lived in this country at least five years before they apply. They must have been accepted to a two- or four-year college program or completed high school or have a GED. They would be granted conditional legal residence, which would become permanent residence when they graduate from college. They would have six years to finish a degree. Students 12 and older could apply and be protected from deportation while they finish high school.

Our world, our country and our continent are rich in diversity. The United States is not monochromatic or mono-lingual and has never been so. Fear of others and fear of diversity should not stifle our hopes and dreams for the future. The right to an education should not be subject to distinctions of race, gender, religious beliefs or country of origin.
Remember your own struggles and opportunities. Join me in making it possible for these young immigrants to see their Dream made real.

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The Rev. Jo Beecher is an ordained Episcopal priest and founder of La Iglesia Episcopal de la Resurreccion, a mission that ministers to Latino spiritual and social needs in Mount Vernon.

This article appeared in October 2006 as a Pulpit Exchange column in The Source, the ecumenical newspaper of Greater Seattle. It is reprinted here with permission from The Source.

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