The weekly newsletter of the México Solidarity Project 2-5
| February 3, 2021/ This week’s issue/ Meizhu Lui, for the editorial team |
Home. Where do we find it? In the land, in the life cycle of the plants and animals we live among? In the voices of our ancestors whose spirits still surround and guide us? In the vibrancy of our culture, the excitement of our city? In the priceless embrace of our family? No wonder most of us want to stay home!
But sometimes powers from far away disrupt our comfort and safety. A war — like the US-Mexican war — turns our home in México into a US home, where we live as the conquered. In what remains México, a government that serves “development” takes our lands and puts them into the hands of foreigners and wealthy businessmen. Trade agreements negotiated in faraway places make our farms obsolete. We cannot stay.
In the new country, we try to remake “home.” We even grow to love new landscapes, new neighbors and friends, new work. We have children. Our children know no other home. We want to stay. But we cannot stay. The powerful call us criminals just for being here. So we stay in the shadows. We live in fear — of losing our jobs, of the police, of getting deported.
Enough. No more. No one can deny families a home. In spite of the odds, the repression, people in México and Mexicanos in the US are raising their heads, their voices, their fists. They’re growing their clout, using any tools they can find — or invent — to demand basic rights. They’re showing they can win.
Yes, activists in groups like Mijente may be tired from the fight to defeat Donald Trump, but they understand the movement must keep stepping up. We need staying power to win the right to stay — in whichever country we call home.
On Day One of his new administration, President Joe Biden announced two long-awaited immigration measures. He halted deportations and proposed a path to citizenship for migrants living in the United States. Several days later, Mijente senior campaign organizer Jacinda Gonzalez discussed Biden’s two new initiatives. We have the main takeaways from her comments. You can watch her full analysis online.
