Around the apartment in 80 days!
And boy has there been a lot going on. Before I reflect upon the current state of affairs, I wanted to mention here that I managed to get a one-second cameo on VICE News!
Here is the caption I shared on Instagram and Facebook:
What am I doing on VICE News?
To find out why, and more importantly, find out more about what has been happening with families separated by the US government at the border two years ago, get on Showtime (there’s a free trial) and check out Season 1 Episode 9 of VICE.
These past nine months at Justice In Motion, I’ve been working with our partners in Central America trying to find parents separated from their children who have been unreachable from the USA and impossible to contact. It’s involved a lot of sifting through terrible, sloppy government records and creative sleuthing. It’s resulted in frustration with the sheer difficulty of the task and with the absolute inhumanity of the US government, but it’s also resulted in unlikely moments of triumph only made possible by the international collaboration I am honored to help make happen.
Swipe to see my art making a cameo and a caption I wish I could elaborate on.
The search for "unreachable parents" is something we've been required to do to support the ongoing litigation against the US government. I've been the main person on the team coordinating the searches, assigning them to our Defenders, and organizing the data they send me. It's probably the most fulfilling thing I've done on this job - I have access to government data in the ACLU's database, and I get to make my own reports to organize all of it and help our legal director make decisions more quickly. I've also gotten to know our Defenders, their capabilities, and their geographic locations so well that I've been trusted with deciding who to assign which parents.
Also, to elaborate on the caption, the unreachables aren't necessarily parents for whom we only have the name available. Lots of times that is the case (ergo we only have their name, their child's name, and the country where they're from), but in many cases we do have some information. By some, I mean names of towns that are often terribly misspelled, and phone numbers that are out of service or, when called, don't lead to anyone answering. Our Defenders work so hard not only to figure out where parents could possibly be from, but also to physically go on searches in extremely remote areas, asking often mistrusting people who are wary of their motives. When they reach the parents, a number of things happen–some parents are glad to receive some help and follow up after all this time, some want nothing to do with the Defenders and want to forget what happened to them entirely.
I've assigned almost 300 cases to Defenders. They've found almost half of those parents.
In other news, people have broken out in riots across the country, and I couldn't be more proud. Here are some reasons why, taken from an Instagram story I posted.
I'm not here to give updates on current events; I'm just here to share where I stand.
It's taken a lot of education outside of school for me to arrive where I am now. I had always been appreciative of humanity and always believed that all human beings deserved to live comfortable lives free of fear and poverty, but I also used to believe in meritocracy and the ideology that "you can get ahead if you work hard enough." Now, I'm more aware of the deep systemic forces that shape our current society. I realize that no matter how some people work, they might never be able to escape poverty. I also realize that there are many people who believe that some people are beneath deserving basic human rights, which deeply disturbs me. Growing up, I thought colonialism was evil, but thought it was over, so everything was good now. I was very wrong. Colonialism, slavery, and the other institutions that upheld white supremacy continue to affect the lives of everyday people today in overt and more sinister ways.
People realize it, and they are very rightfully angry.
I'm angry too. I'm angry when I see the US government attack migrants by separating parents from their children and locking them up in detention centers in conditions not worthy of animals. I'm angry when yet another police officer kills a black person for no reason. I'm angry when videos of black people dying are shared on social media, as if watching a video somehow absolves people of their racism when videos of white people dying would never be shared in the same way. I'm angry when Filipinos are overtly anti-black, somehow believing themselves to be better than black people. Spoiler alert: the American colonizers also called Filipinos the n word when they were looting and pillaging the Philippines. Another spoiler - black Americans who fought for the USA in the Philippines saw the way white Americans treated Filipinos, and some of them deserted in favor of helping Filipinos fight for independence. Are Filipinos aware of that? No.
The thing is, it's not even their fault. The education system doesn't do anything to decolonize the minds of people today. This is why everything I know now comes from seeking knowledge about my own history from sources outside of formal education. This is why I stand with the protesters and rioters fighting white supremacy at its source - the police, the institution that upholds it.
Today, I engaged in discourse on a Filipino group about the current riots. Somebody genuinely wanted to know why so many Filipinos who've left the homeland end up becoming super conservative. This is what I replied.
As I hoped, the commenter messaged me to learn and discuss more. His use of the word mayabang (and many other Tagalog words in later conversation) made me think he was Filipino, but he was actually black and had been married to a Filipina. His ex-wife lives in the Philippines with his daughter. He appreciated learning more about racism among Filipinos, and as always, I appreciated talking to a non-Filipino who loves the Philippines and its people. He told me that darker skinned Asians have a lot in common with the black community, especially in terms of self hate. I told him that I hoped his daughter would never have to live with that self hate that so many of us have, and he said that he's teaching her to love how unique and beautiful she is.
His saying that made me think of my 8-year-old cousin in the Philippines. While we were at the beach during my last visit, my sister and I were horrified to hear her say, "I hope I didn't get tan. I want to be white like Europeans."
The fact that she so nonchalantly said that was indicative of how her socializing and educational system still very much bears the colonial mentality, and it breaks my heart. I hope that she realizes that beauty does not depend on skin color or size. I hope she learns about our fierce ancestors who valiantly fought against the colonizers so that our beautiful, tan island people could continue to exist and make waves today. And most importantly, I hope she grows up to realize that the world is full of different people to learn from, and full of brothers and sisters who do not bear the same privileges we do to fight for.
There is so much more I have to say. But for now, let it all burn.
Comments
Post a Comment