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Undocumented Youth Pay Tribute to the Original DREAMers

As a member of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition and a self-taught photographer, Carla Chavarria, 20, has been capturing images of fellow undocumented youth for about three years. Her parents, who are currently undocumented, brought her to the United States from Mexico City when she was 7. As a kid, she didn’t understand the concept of immigration status. “I grew up in Arizona in a predominantly white neighborhood. I didn’t really know what it meant to be undocumented because I just went to school,” says Chavarria, who received temporary status through President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in February.

But when the federal DREAM Act failed in 2010, Chavarria says she started taking pictures in protest. “Art has always been my passion, and I wanted to do something that could help the movement even though I’m not that into the politics and policy side. That’s why I started the iDREAM campaign—photographing DREAMers and telling their stories. .”

The photos below are from “Por Ella,” (For Her) a series Chavarria created this month to highlight the Arizona immigrant youth movement as the so-called Gang of Eight senators hammer out the terms of a comprehensive reform bill. Chavarria says the photos represent a more expansive message: “We may have DACA now, but our parents are still waiting. They were the ones who have been pushing for reform all along. So this is us saying, ‘It’s [our] turn to take care of you.’”

Here are some new faces of the immigrant movement, through Chavarria’s eyes:

(Top photo)

Mom: Carmen Irene, 56, stay-at-home mom
Daughters: Asuzena Castro, 12, student; Maria Castro, 19, Arizona Dream Act Coalition treasurer and Arizona State engineering student Says Chavarria: “Maria [isn’t] undocumented but she’s a great leader in the Arizona immigrant movement; her little sister is as well. [I] shot them sort of standing behind their mom, like, ‘I have your back. You’ve always raised me and had my back. … So now it’s time for me to stand behind you.’ Their mom is undocumented but not them. So them holding hands is representing the bond they all have. It looks so much stronger that way.”

(Bottom left photo)

Mom: Rosa Maria Soto, 59, undocumented
Daughter: Dulce Matuz, 28, legal resident, former undocumented DREAMer, Arizona Dream Act Coalition co-founder
Says Chavarria: “Dulce is always talking about her mom, Maria, who is trying to learn English and go back for GED classes aside from being a mother, grandmother and being involved in the movement. I’ve seen Maria involved and at protests; she’s always there. In the photo Dulce is just admiring her.”

(Bottom right photo)

Mom: Olga De la Rosa, 43, undocumented, part-time caregiver and housekeeper
Daughter: Ileana Salinas, 23, Arizona Dream Act Coalition co-founder and Arizona Worker’s Rights Center co-director
Chavarria says: “Iliana is in the process of receiving her deferred action but she’s still going to fight for her mom, who is undocumented. So she’s standing behind her with the other hand holding her shoulder. You know [that phrase], ‘I had a shoulder to cry on?’ That was the inspiration for this picture.”

(via thepeoplesrecord)

Photoset

Apr 3, 2013
@ 5:12 pm
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thepeoplesrecord:

Close corporate tax loopholes, not public schools
April 2, 2013

Chicago public schools are facing a $1 billion deficit. The corporate media would like you to believe it’s due to excessive spending and that Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposal to close more than 50 schools, most of them in low-income neighborhoods (mostly black & Latino), is the only solution. But the state of Illinois loses $4.8 billion annually in federal tax dollars due to corporate tax loopholes that shift profits overseas. It doesn’t take a math genius to see that simply closing these excessive loopholes would save the schools that so many kids in Chicago depend upon for their education.

These corporate tax loopholes cost us over $100 billion a year in federal tax dollars, which results in state and local budget cuts and tax hikes due to a decreased allocation of federal funds. The corporations most known for complex offshore tax avoidance schemes get these loopholes by spending millions on hiring armies of lobbyists and in campaign donations to chairmen and ranking members of tax-writing committees in Congress.

The lobbyists submit draft paragraphs of new gimmicks and loopholes to those committees. The campaign donations continue to flow toward reelection campaigns with the understanding that those who are making the donations get what they want out of their sponsored politicians. Thanks to this corrupt process, the tax code grows longer and more complex year after year, the most recent version topping out at roughly 72,000 pages.

There is already legislation on the books in both the House and Senate to close most of these loopholes and rein in roughly $60 billion a year. A small sales tax on Wall Street transactions would raise roughly $150 billion a year, more than enough to offset the cuts that are closing 50 schools. These aren’t radical solutions; they’re based on the simple premise that if you hire Americans, sell to Americans, use American public services and infrastructure and make the bulk of your profits in America, you should pay the American corporate tax rate of 35 percent.

Ever since Brown vs. Board of Education, there has been a coordinated right-wing attack on free education. The latest plot is an attempt to close public schools and turn them into low-performing, for-profit charter schools funded by Wall Street bankers and hedge fund managers. The attempts to do this are disguised as “reform,” but are really little more than an effort to bust teachers’ unions and cede public education over to the authority of big corporations.

Public schools to educate our children aren’t a burden to the state, they’re an investment. If you want more kids to grow up into responsible, successful adults who contribute to our society, and if you want lower crime rates and prison populations, investing in good public education makes sense. We need our kids to help row the canoe down the river, not throw them out while ignoring the gaping hole in the boat. It’s time to stop making our kids pay for their crisis.

Source

Read the statement from the Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools to Rahm Emanuel here.