to be continued
As another semester starts I cannot help but wonder what awaits me when I set foot in Oswald Building. Not so much for the excitement to attend class but for the anxiety and possibly a drop of gratefulness of being able to complete an Associate’s degree at the end of the spring.
That’s what we all expect, a degree which has for long been promised to be the key to a great future, which has also been promised to bring along with it the opportunities and the big bucks. Education opens doors, haven’t we all heard that? But what some of us haven’t heard is that even with a college degree you can’t go anywhere but home, hang it up on the wall and stare at it. That is the reality of many students. Students with a bright mind, loving personality and an outstanding moral character. Imagine innumerous hours at the library studying for that exam, the classes you took, the early morning’s coffee, the all-nighters with your buddy, the lack of sleep, walking in the rain to get to class, looking for a parking spot trying not to be late to class, the college experience itself. Imagine all that for a degree that will not guarantee you the job you deserve, the career you have worked for and the life you have dreamed of. This is the reality of undocumented students.
Immigration reform is one of the biggest and most controversial issues our government has to deal with, and has not yet come up with a definite decision as to what to do about it. However, a bill has been circulating the Senate and the House for long 10 years now attempting to fix one of many broken immigration laws. The DREAM Act, Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act, was introduced in 2001 by Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois and has been reintroduced every time it doesn’t get past the Senate. The last attempt to make this bill become a law was last year, in December of 2010, where the voting did not exceed the 60 needed to overcome the Republican opposition. It is not set yet when the bill will be reintroduced, but the DREAM is not dead!
We remain UNDOCUMENTED and UNAFRAID.
