Friday, February 18, 2011

Out of the Mouth of Babes....ONE DAY they shall RISE UP.... In Judgment. Will It Be of YOU (perhaps for your silence?)

This past Tuesday was unbelievable......I kept it together pretty much despite the utter shock of witnessing first-hand HB 59 pass out of committee.  Kept it together while talking to my boy afterwards-who followed my tweets the whole time to YET AGAIN watch a GOP majority legislate against him (while in detention he watched the U.S. Senate vote the DREAM Act down-which would have facilitated his struggle to stay inside this country exponentially).  And I kept it together long enough to get through a meeting immediately after the hearing.  But it wasn't until I chatted with Gina, one of the guests from my show and a GA DREAMER, that I felt my inner damn breaking under the pressure of the rushing tide of all of our collective chagrin, shock, anger, and disbelief.  I think I ended up encouraging her, but I really lent her my last ration of hope for the day.  In that hour I exchanged my "beauty" (optimism, defiance) for her "ashes" (do I need to really explain?).
HB 59 is GA's "Anti-DREAM Act" bill which would seek to bar students like my Ali from pursuing higher education in ANY public GA university or college.  (If you would like a blow-by-blow of the events in the hearing, please see my live tweet transcript at http://ow.ly/3XYW7). This past Saturday I had the privilege of interviewing three GA DREAMERS: Gina Perez, Eva Cardenas, and my own Ali.  If you speak Spanish, you are a voter, are relatively uninformed and inactive politically......... allow me to baptize you in the blood of our struggle.  Please have a listen and judge for yourself whether these brilliant minds, hearts, and spirits deserve ANYTHING less than OPPORTUNITY.