Dominique Lopez-Piper
Dr. Martin
Solidarity and Recognition Yield Community Power
The very moment an unauthorized immigrant crosses into the United States, they become imprisoned. The negative attitudes of the general public, groups banding together against them, and the laws prohibiting them from everyday actions all confine them to hide in the shadows out of fear of mistreatment and deportation. However, even those who step out of the obscurities to fight for their human rights are often detained once again, this time literally. In this paper, I will use various sources to argue that undocumented people—especially undocumented youth brought to the US as young children (DREAMers) and undocumented workers—are overwhelmingly mistreated, discriminated against, and neglected so much by those in power, yet when they band together for a common good, they find that their voices and action hold influence as well; I will explain how these specific groups of people come together at the community level and use the sponsorship of several community organizing groups and tactics in attempts to implement the necessary changes for their survival and well-being as humans. There are several common themes among the sources, particularly of elite dominant groups exerting power over undocumented minority groups, the framing power that language holds, the nature of community organizing starting small and increasing over time, and the similar tactics of solidarity and power in numbers being used to achieve overarching goals, especially for undocumented workers and students.
I will use several pieces of popular culture to make the argument that the recognition gained by groups of undocumented people organizing with solidarity yields community power, no matter how little. These sources include documentaries, informative videos, and songs. The first documentary I will use is directed by Robin Blotnick and Rachel Lears and entitled The Hand that Feeds, and it features unauthorized workers coming together to effect change after being mistreated and denied basic labor rights at a New York City Deli. The second documentary is called The Dream is Now, directed by Davis Guggenheim, depicts the stories of four young DREAMers striving to achieve the American Dream despite being knocked down by the US’ educational system time and time again.
The two informative videos that help me assert my point are called Justice for Janitors: Si Se Puede Part 1 and Border Patrol Harassment and Vandalism. The former brings light to the issue of janitors that are underpaid and overworked joining together to march for change and being violently mistreated and arrested; the latter exhibits border patrol agents slashing the food and water left by community groups for undocumented people making their journeys to the US, with the hopes of avoiding the deaths that occur frequently along the way. Lastly, the music videos that I will use are called Wake Me Up by Aloe Blacc and Ice, El Hielo by La Santa Cecilia. They both bring to light the stories of undocumented people and their families living in constant fear of border patrol and suffering daily as a result of being separated from their loved ones and anxious about potential deportation.
To begin, one of the first themes I observed among the sources I examined was a sense of entitlement among the elite majority groups that came across as harsh power over the undocumented minority workers and students. This phenomenon was apparent in every single piece I selected as cultural content. For example, in The Hand that Feeds, the employers took advantage of their power: on top of general workplace harassment and cruelty, the management also refused to give undocumented workers overtime, paid leave and sick leave. This theme was also evident in The Dream is Now, as the universities headed by rich white elites turned away competent students from universities without excessive tuition and turned an outstanding young male candidate for the Marine Corps down, solely because of their undocumented status.
On the same note, in the Justice for Janitors video clip, the police—the elite group on the scene--was seen violently beating the peaceful protesters when they could have reciprocated the peace. Also, the second video clip showed clear evidence of border patrol misusing their power to vandalize and destroy the water and food that could have saved the lives of weary travelers, simply because they knew they could not be stopped by those without a state-given title. In both of the music videos, this notion of people with power using it to instill fear is especially apparent in how the Border Patrol and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents invaded the lives of undocumented individuals and families, crushing every dream they had worked hard to accomplish in the blink of an eye.
Additionally, the framing power that language has in each of the contexts I studied is significant and plays a big role in the actual power each group possesses in the long run. Most of the time, the language used in the sources I outlined demonstrates how language takes away power from undocumented people. In the Border Patrol Harassment and Vandalism video, the agent describes the action of aiding undocumented people as “aiding and abetting felons.” By describing these people as “felons” or “illegals,” as we commonly hear it, they are demeaning their entire existence first and foremost as humans. On top of that, simply existing in the US is not an illegal act, only the actual crossing into the country without documentation is, so while a person cannot be “illegal” by definition either way, the mere act of residing in the US is not illegal either.
In continuation of the theme of words having substantial power, the lyrics and their depictions in both Wake Me Up and Ice, El Hielo hold great value and put forth vivid imagery as a result. In the former, the poignant line “they tell me I’m too young to understand, they say I’m caught up in a dream” relates directly to DREAMers and how they were not old enough to make the decision to come to the US themselves, but set their entire lives up around the American Dream: they acknowledge that their parents risked their whole lives so that their kids could have the best opportunities possible, so they center their whole worlds around being the best they can possibly be, especially when it comes to their education. In the latter, the strongest imagery in the lyrics surrounds ICE being loose in the streets and chilling innocent undocumented people at every corner with the fear of deportation invading their daily lives. The song talks about three people’s stories, two of whom simply go to work and try to stay under the radar, and one who strives for the greatest heights at school but continually loses out to the citizens simply because they were born in the US, yet she will never stop fighting for that top spot.
Several of the sources focus on organizing for workers’ rights
After spending day and night pushing forward despite getting mistreated, the workers in The Hand That Feeds saw an opportunity to make a change and ran with it. They worked with the Laundry Workers’ Center to organize towards getting fair wages and work conditions along with establishing a worker’s union. Although they faced several obstacles and were almost unsuccessful every time, their persistence led them to prosper in every single one of their goals, even when the rest of the world thought it was impossible. Additionally, both of the music videos were presented by NDLON (National Day Laborer Organizing Network) and exhibit the difficulties of having your workplace randomly searched by one form of immigration control agent or another and going to work with that imminent fear every single day. Wake Me Up is specifically sponsored by one of NDLON’s projects called Not 1 More Deportation, a movement that aims to bring together individuals, groups, allies, and artists to bring the issues surrounding unjust immigration laws to light and expose them for what they are and to avoid deportation as a whole. Comparably, Justice for Janitors is a social movement backed by the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) that aims to fix the low wages and minimal health care coverage received by janitors.
Similarly, a great number of the sources also highlight dreamer’s rights, especially The Dream is Now and the two music videos. The documentary itself tells the stories of high achieving teens whose efforts are constantly thwarted by the system’s rules that keep them from making their dreams a reality. One of the young men, Alejandro cannot join the Marine Corps without a social security number, even though he worked his entire high school career to become a prime candidate; he was even recognized city-wide for his achievements at his school’s ROTC program. The other young man, Jose cannot make use of his prestigious mechanical engineering career because his undocumented status prevents him from getting jobs, so he has to resort to construction work. Ola, one of the young women highlighted works to research more effective ways to treat cancer, yet she has no way to avoid her potential deportation in the spring. Lastly, Erika is a key organizer in the national DREAMer movement, but cannot escape the piercingly difficult realities surrounding her mother’s deportation as well as her own.
These four stories are similar to those conveyed in the music videos, as they all demonstrate the hardships of working and going to school as an individual as well as having to deal with distance and struggles inherent in a family. Wake Me Up shows the story of a father struggling to find work day to day to send money back to his family, his wife and child getting intersected by Border Patrol on their way to the US to reunite with him and getting sent back, but then finally reuniting in the US and pursuing the fight against unjust immigrants’ rights issues together. The video starts off with the young woman—who is the child in the video--staring into a border patrol agent’s eyes and then closing her own eyes to symbolize wanting to be woken up only when this unfair life is no longer a reality for her undocumented family; the ending is even more powerful, with the young woman’s gaze causing even the agent to see how painful her reality was and forcing his own eyes shut in the hopes that things could change. The video for Ice, El Hielo shows the day to day fears that come with simply leaving the house to go to work. One of the women in the video gets confronted by ICE for doing nothing other working peacefully, showing the harsh reality they all fear coming to life in an instant.
Lastly, tactics of solidarity and holding power in numbers is another strong and relevant theme in all of these sources. In all the organizing I learned about through the cultural content at hand, the effort starts off among a small group of dedicated people and becomes larger in size and more impactful as time goes on. One of the most notable examples of this is how the workers in The Hand that Feeds started off as just a small group but gained so many more supporters from their workplace along with outsiders who wanted to make a difference as well; some of the Occupy Wall Street protestors caught a glimpse of their situation and joined forces with them, even getting arrested for their cause in order improve wages and eradicate the mistreatment they were facing from their employers. Their achievements would not have been possible without the serious commitment and sacrifice they put into this ever-so-important cause. A quote from one of the workers in this film that still lingers in my mind is that "there is no justice unless you make your own."
All in all, the individuals and groups emphasized in this paper risked their entire lives in the United States and experienced harsh mistreatment just to make their voices heard and attempt to gain meaningful power as a community. However, by making these immense sacrifices, they finally got to stand up for themselves and everyone else in similar positions. Even with all the miseries the people highlighted in this essay have faced, they are still confronting the necessary challenges to make positive changes. These workers, students, and families, were able to achieve all kinds of advancement, from changing tough legislation and pushing new regulations into place to making their rights as humans known on a global level; these undocumented people changed the world of immigration as we knew it. Now, they are widely recognized as irrepressible people sticking up for a crucial cause and not stopping until they no longer have to identify as DREAMers and undocumented workers, but rather as human beings and Americans; they are just as capable of asserting community power as any other group, and these cultural sources prove it.
Works Cited
The Dream Is Now. Dir. Davis Guggenheim. Perf. Ola Caso, Erika Andiola, Alejandro Morales, and Jose Patino. 2013. Documentary.
The Hand That Feeds. Dir. Robin Blotnick and Rachel Lears. Perf. Mahoma Lopez and the Workers at the Hot and Crusty Deli. 2014. Documentary.
Other videos mentioned that are actually accessible online:
Border Patrol Harassment and Vandalism:
Justice for Janitors: Si Se Puede Part 1:
Wake Me Up:
Ice El Hielo: