Although some of the promised faces were absent Friday at “The Real Face of Immigration,” about 125 students from a broad coalition of campus and city groups offered up their own stories in what became a open forum on Latin American immigration.
Billed as an opportunity to hear immigrant high school students from strife-riven Prince William County, Va. share their experiences, the event evolved into a more general discussion after the Virginia group was caught in traffic and failed to arrive on time.
“This is an issue that for me is very personal,” said Johanna Ocana, CC ’10, chair of Lucha, and the education chair of the Student Organization of Latinos “Both of my parents are immigrants. They’re legal now, but one of them was not always.”
The event, which was spearheaded by the SOL and co-hosted by groups ranging from the Jewish Progressive Alliance to Chicano Caucus, opened with a series of YouTube videos detailing the often-vitriolic immigration debate that has recently dominated Prince William County. As it became clear that the visitors would not arrive in time to participate, organizers facilitated discussion about both the attendees’ personal experiences of immigration and the role immigration plays in national life.
Several attendees noted the disconnect between the number of college students interested in immigration issues and the number that actually take action.
“If we are to turn our backs on ignorance, I think it’s just as important to turn our backs on irresponsibility,” said Glenda Smiley, BC ’09 and a member of Barnard Organization of Soul Sisters.
Others called for greater participation in the day-to-day work of groups like SOL. Ocana commended the event’s “great positive vibe,” and encouraged similar get-togethers. “It takes a lot of time and energy to organize events like this, like protests,” she added.
The theoretical soon turned to the practical as the debate moved forward.
“You talk to anybody who’s willing to listen,” Ruthzee Louijeune, CC ’08 and co-president of the Haitian Students Organization, said to a room full of nods. “You know who your audience is and adjust to that. You don’t waste your time on people who are obviously speaking only through hate and fear, through years of indoctrination.”
Despite the last minute change of plans, organizers and attendees said afterwards that they felt the event had accomplished something positive. “People were here from a lot of different constituencies, which is what we were looking for,” Natali Segovia, CC ’08 and president of SOL said.
“It [the delay] allowed for the opportunity,” said Alba Mota, a student at the School of International and Public Affairs and public relations manager for Grupo Quisqueyano, a campus Dominican cultural organization. “It was a spontaneous moment that students built themselves.”