As most of you know March is Coming Out month. A long with thousands of undocumented youth all over the nation, I too, came out. Coming out can be difficult and very scary. Someone expressed their worry in this email and here’s my response.

Hi,

I’ve spoken to various people, family and friends who are undocumented or were before. I asked them if they would actually wear a shirt or post the fact that they’re Undocumented. Their response was: “Hell no! I wouldn’t want to get deported!” I don’t think it’s a good idea to do this, it could put people’s situations at risk, it wouldn’t be safe and people would definitely not feel safe to wear this. There are many other ways to raise awareness. Although this exposes a powerful message I don’t think it can go very far. Have other people told you this? What can guarantee people that they are safe and nothing will happen to them by exposing the truth? Since I could remember, family and friends have kept their situations in secret.
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Hello,

I know exactly what you mean! I sat down with my mother a few days ago and told her that i would be coming out- she was terrified. She’s against the whole idea of speaking out and telling people. My mom raised me in an environment where speaking out about your status is wrong, and she taught me that same fear.

I started seeing things differently a few weeks ago on a trip to Minnesota where 4 brave students were planning to turn themselves in to ICE. It was then that I realized, there was no need to live in fear. Sure, I’m not going to challenge ICE but there are different ICEs that I DO need to challenge. For example: coming out to my friends, to my teachers, and most importantly coming out to myself. We must accept the fact that we’re undocumented, being quiet about it isn’t going to change it.

Not everyone is ready to tell the whole world they’re undocumented but we must take baby steps. Your friends and family need to accept the fact that they’re undocumented and that the lack of a social security number doesn’t define them. We deserve to live here just as much as anyone else. By coming out you’re taking back your rights and power as a human being. For me, Coming out is such a liberating experience and it’s lifting a weight because I no longer have to try to explain why I don’t travel back to my home country, why I don’t have a license, why I’m not in school this semester and much more. For someone that isn’t ready to fully come out they can always change their statuses on facebook to, ‘’I support the immigrant movement” or ”Don’t just Dream, Act!” and they can wear shirts that say they support undocumented students and the immigrant community.

Coming out is a long process and you can’t expect someone to just come out from one day to the next but at some point people need to come out for their own well being. By keeping it in you only cause yourself more damage and you let “the man” win by suppressing your own voice.

Your family and friends can visit the NYSYLC office and come out to us, we provide a safe place and there is a support group that helps each person throughout this process. I know because I personally told them my story for the first time. There were a lot of emotions that I kept to myself and in the NYSYLC I learned how to use those experiences for the better. Listening to the stories of other undocumented students can be a way of preparing yourself to come out. Someone can also come out by sharing their story with the NYSYLC, we’re posting new stories each day.

And yes, when National Coming Out Day was first planned we thought about the pros and cons of this movement. There are lots of campaigns ready to be launched that help stop deportations because we’ve had cases of students and families being deported (and it wasn’t during a coming out event).

Coming out doesn’t have to be something extreme like provoking ICE but in this case, I think you should start by coming out to yourself. Putting a face to all the numbers and statistics does go really far and it opens up the ‘’coming out’’ door to others that are going through the same challenges. After you’ve taken baby steps to coming out, maybe sometime you could send us your story!

Don’t Be Afraid,
Angy

P.S. Here’s the link to my story CLICK HERE

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For more ideas or to just hear from others who have made the coming out journey, join us tonight on a national call with leaders from the Immigrant Youth Justice League in Chicago and Students Working for Equal Rights. Maybe you are wondering when was the first time they ever came out? What inspired them to get involved in the movement? Why walk to D.C.? Anything goes, RSVP and ask your question.

RSVP for this National Coming Out Call

WHEN: Monday, March 15th (TONIGHT)

8 PM EST / 5 PM PST
WHO:

• Felipe, Gaby, Juan & Carlos – Trail of Dreams, Students Working for Equal Rights (SWER)
• David, Immigrant Youth Justice League (IYJL)
• Host: Renata, Student Immigrant Movement (SIM)

We have made amazing progress this week by coming out as undocumented youth, but we need to keep it up in order to make the changes we want to see and pass the Dream Act this year!