The way this Administration treats immigrant families has shown me that even I have privilege.
The following essay was written by Christina Angelica Avalos, a law student at UCLA School of Law. In 2017, Christina was awarded a fellowship from California ChangeLawyers to defend detained immigrants.
Ask a person of color in America if they’ve ever felt the weight of this country’s race problem on their shoulders as they navigate white spaces.
Chances are they have. I certainly have.
As a Latinx woman trying to become a lawyer, I’ve been made to feel like I don’t belong. There’s something about predominantly white spaces — like law schools, courtrooms, and law firms — that makes you question your own self-worth.
And yet I consider myself a privileged person in Trump’s America. The cruelty this Administration has shown towards immigrant families has shown me that despite being Latinx person, I too have privilege.
I have privilege because I was born a US citizen. I have privilege because I speak English without an accent.
Having no accent shouldn’t be a privilege. But in Trump’s America, it is. Because in Trump’s America, the worst thing imaginable can happen. Mothers can have their babies ripped from their breast. There are parents who will likely never see their children. Ever. Again.
As a future lawyer, I’m ready to embrace my privilege. I will soon have the ability to use my law degree to right historical wrongs. Lawyers are already suing the Administration left and right for what they’ve done to immigrant families.
I’m sharing my story today to ask you to please help me in this fight. Help me increase the number of immigration attorneys fighting at the frontlines to help parents find their missing children.
California ChangeLawyers has set up a Keep the Families Together Fund. 100% of donations will be used to help legal services organizations hire more lawyers and law students to fight attacks on immigrants’ rights.
The organization already has lawyers working throughout the state defending the very communities this Administration has relentlessly targeted for the past year and half. Because of California ChangeLawyers, I spent the summer of my first year of law school stopping deportations at the notorious Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield. They covered the cost of my legal fellowship.
