Bravery. No, it goes beyond bravery I think. She did something words cannot describe. She is not the only one either, to ‘out’ herself in order to bring attention the immigration issue and its injustices. There have been many others who are willing to pay the price, whatever it may be, to bring justice to our cases.

To live in the line between marginalization and privilege is something that is too difficult to describe, too abstract. I live in the line everyday. I walk past the buildings, the amazing classes, and the professors. But at the same time, I know something is different within me. I’m not like everyone and I know so. I spoke about this in an earlier post, about the price of being at a university of 17,000 students and being one of three undocumented students. It is solitude in a manner that you can’t possibly imagine. Knowing the frustration that once I graduate I will have to take up the mantle of ‘illegal alien’. The stupidity of the mindset that says that we can’t become Americans is mind-boggling. Undocumented students are people who want to give back to the society that saw them grow up, the society they love. We are as American as any of my peers, anyone who disputes that is a fool because being an American is more than the color of your skin or the papers that you have. We have been raised America, she is our mother and we are its sons and daughters and no matter what anyone says, that is just the way it is. We hold all the values of America. All undocumented students have the mindset to be determined to be someone even though the obstacles are overwhelming, and despite it all, we believe we can still prevail. All undocumented immigrants who make it to college fit that description. I am proof of that, and so is Grecia Lima. We just want to a chance to give back to our community. That is all we ask for. A chance.