Blog #3

A Reclamation of My Rights as an (Un)documented Person


This article really resonated with me, I think in part because the author and I are two completely different people. He was undocumented; I'm a natural citizen. He is queer; I am straight. He is black; I am white. But despite all of our physical differences, there are some similarities present. For the most part, he and I both believe people should have the same rights. There are some that I disagree with him on, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion, right? For instance, he mentions that "I Have a Right To Not Be Deported". I personally disagree with that statement, just because if you are here in the United States, or any other country for that matter, illegally, then you should be aware of the consequences that come with it. I don't think deportation should be the first thing to happen if you are ever found undocumented, but one of the last steps if someone fails to comply with the rules. When we had the guest speaker, he mentioned he was a DACA child. In that case, children really had no choice when they came to this country, because they were a minor and had their parent making their decisions for them. Earlier that same day, we had a guest speaker in my education class who came and talked to us about the immigration process. She had previously worked for the U.S. government for immigration in Washington D.C., but now she runs her own company for immigration straight out of San Marcos. I thought it was quite the coincidence that I had two people in the same day talk to me about DACA. Before, I was unaware of what DACA was, but by the end of that day I considered myself relatively informed on the topic. 

This article also made me realize the struggles that undocumented people go through. Being a natural citizen, I never have to worry about being denied worker's compensation or being raided by the police force. I don't have to worry about being threatened by my employer, all because I am a natural citizen. There are many, many more things I never have to worry about, but undocumented people worry about daily. Because of my natural status, I think I take many things for granted, and undocumented people don't have that luxury. As for intersectionality, the author has many. He is black, but he is also queer. He is undocumented, but he is also male. I think those are two of his biggest intersectionalities. I enjoyed this article, as it has made me more aware and opened my eyes to the everyday struggles some people face but that have never crossed my mind.


 

Blog #2

Prompt #1

I think a gender rule that I wish I did not have to follow is wearing make-up. Sure, it makes me feel prettier and gives me that extra oopmh feeling, but what's sad is that it is so expected of young girls to wear mascara at such an early age. I remember when I was in 7th grade and I got my first mascara. It was a pretty exciting moment then, but looking back on it now, I was probably about 11 or 12 (if I did my math right). Now I see some girls in 6th grade wearing a full face of makeup! It's crazy to see how young these girls are, wearing makeup and following this gender rule so young. I felt obligated to start wearing mascara because every other girl in 7th grade was wearing mascara. As I was conforming to wearing my mascara, it made me feel pretty, and it made me feel like I fit in with the rest of the 7th grade girls. Now I've come to the point where I wear mascara practically every day and it's no longer a weird thing to me. It's come to the point where I feel weird if I don't wear mascara, compared to 7th grade when I had no idea what mascara even did. 

Prompt #2
 

I have actually witnessed gender policing fairly recently (if I'm understanding the term correctly). I was with my family out at dinner, and the waitress was taking our order. My sister is gay, and so she tends to dress a little bit more masculine than I would or than my mom would. I think that particular night she was wearing black skinny jeans, doc Martens, a black band shirt, and a denim jacket. Also, her hair is cut pretty short with shaved sides. Anyway, the waitress gets to my sister and addresses her as "sir", even though my sister identifies as female. My sister let it slide and went on to order, but I'm pretty sure I was just sitting there with my mouth open. I suppose my sister could come across as male, but like it's pretty clear that she has boobs. Maybe the waitress had a lot on her mind; I don't know her life. The point is, she clearly misaddressed my sister, based on what she saw looking at my sister (who she thought was a dude) and what she knows as societal standards of being male. She put two and two together, and came up with my sister being male. Now, that was obviously incorrect since my sister is a female, but society has come to identify people who have short hair as male I guess. If the waitress had not addressed my sister as "sir", she might've just addressed her as "miss" or just made direct eye contact and said "you", especially if she did not know what to identify her as. But she chose to identify her as "sir". If she had chosen to address my sister as "miss", I wouldn't have had my mouth open and therefore would not be writing about this incident on my blog. But hey, life happens. 

Prompt #3

I think the thing that resonated most with me from watching those videos is the comment Janet said when she was interviewing with Oprah. When she was in kindergarten, she was supposed to put her stuff in the blue cubby hole for boys, even though she wanted to put her stuff in the red cubby hole for girls. She had to identify herself with one of the two boxes presented, and the box that she was supposed to identify with didn't feel right with her. I think it's so crazy and so amazing that she knew from such an early age that she didn't feel right. I've always felt right with who I am; I can't imagine not feeling right with who you are.