Final

Alan Romero
EWRT 1A
August 9th, 2007
Final Essay

Please, for your sake, let me go to school!

Pedro woke up at 6am and quickly dressed up and had a cold cereal, with just enough time to catch the public bus at 6:30am. As he arrived to school, he reviewed the history homework assigned the previous day, and made necessary adjustments to his English essay. During lunch hour, he held student meetings to improve the environment of the neighboring areas of the school, and helped planned new recycling guidelines for his class. After school, Pedro headed to the local hospice and was always greeted by curiously shy but pleased smiles from the elderly. It was now 6pm when he came home and started working on the science project. Pedro had a 4.0 GPA, was an honors student with outstanding marks on the SAT test, and with plenty of extracurricular activities and a love for science and charity. Pedro, in other words, was an excellent candidate for attending university, but a tiny tick stood in his way, he was an illegal immigrant.

Pedro’s parents, “Juan y Claudia,” were born and raised in Sonora, Mexico, and they worked for most of their life in a plantation, which earned them less than $1 per hour. Juan y Claudia did not plan to have a baby on such conditions, but alas, it was born, and they firmly believed that Pedro should not grow up to work in a plantation. They saved money for five years and were able to play the Coyote (a person who smuggles people for a fee), but Claudia died while walking in the heat of the Arizona desert.

Pedro’s illegal status prevents him from receiving federal aid to pay for tuition and collegial expenses, which now border close to $50,000 per school year. There’s no way that with his father’s income, he could pay at least one year of university, let alone all four, not including books and fees. Pedro is a model student, but why is he being forgotten in the eyes of the government?

It is time to tell Congress that undocumented students are not at fault for the decision that their parents made, and it is time to critically evaluate how detrimental it is not to aid them.

By not aiding undocumented students, we are losing some of the brightest and most compassionate minds in America. Pedro struggled at first to overcome the language difference, but his ambition for fitting in and, standing out at the same time, allowed him to excel in areas such as math and science. As he progressed through his schooling, English soon became his second favorite subject and he fervently read classics of literature such as Frankenstein, Of Mice and Men, Medea, Brave New World, etc. His academic interest was finally made public as he scored outstanding marks in the SAT. Despite his accomplishments, the Financial Aid office still denied him any assistance. What relevance does his individual performance have on our economy? It has been the individual motivation of a few who have built this country to what it is today: Carnegie’s steel industry, J.P. Morgan’s banks, Henry Ford’s automobiles, Bill Gate’s software, Vanderbilt’s railroads, etc. By preventing students like Pedro to attend a university, we are preventing great minds from developing, closing the doors to innovation, reneging the principles in which this country was built. In addition, we are implicitly telling Pedro that we do not care for his misfortunes.

I come here announcing that we should care, that Pedro’s misfortunes are our misfortunes, that we are eliminating any chance of a balanced society, where races and backgrounds of all kinds are evenly distributed in political offices, hospitals, even on our own workplaces. What would happen if we had a Congressional representative that came from a disadvantaged background? Or, how would it transform the health care industry if the people at the top truly understood and cared for the millions suffering from terrible diseases? Pedro’s frequent visits to the hospice suggests that he is exposed to a truer reality than many of the people “at the top,” particularly politicians. And we still think he is the misfortuned one.

I call unto you to realize that this situation is not situational; it is not confined to a specific remote area or should be deemed far away; rather, this situation speaks to the ever-present character of modern society. By letting kids like Pedro—or rather, forcing them to—be in a condition of helplessness, we are telling our own kids that segregation is ok if it is legally backed. This type of segregation is a lot subtler, and therefore a lot more permanent, because we think it shouldn’t concern us—“if it’s illegal, it’s illegal”—but I’ve already talked about the capitalistic values that we’d be conceding, as Pedro could have become a Carnegie or J.P. Morgan. But, the kind of character sacrifice that I am referring to is one morally based. ‘Turning a blind eye’ on the situation that the kids in our country are going through represents how the government willingly ignores the thousands of petitions for improvement, including petitions related to the war in Iraq, that it receives daily. If we ignore this issue, or procrastinate, are we taking the same approach that the government takes on us?

Therefore, we must take action if we wish things to change. Since this matter resides at the legislative level, it is with great intent that we should approach our Congressional leaders and demand that the undocumented students of today, do not pay for the mistakes that their parents committed. They are not criminals, but rather they have to bear the crimes that society deems they have done. Instead of calling them illegals, why don’t we call them by their first name? Pedro, Juan, Pablo, Lucas, Santiago, Filipe, Simon…they have a name and they have a story. It is our responsibility to communicate their stories with Congress, so I urge you to write a personal letter to your local, state, and federal representatives, not asking for their opinion, not asking for approval, but demanding change. I am not setting forth a threat, but know that "Oppressed people cannot remain oppressed forever. The urge for freedom will eventually come" (King, 1963). My words by themselves cannot solve anything, but I pray that they incite compassion and unearth love within you.