The American Story - Improbable or Impossible

Recently I heard what was called an improbable American story. It was the story of a young minority woman who grew up in household of very modest means, in a low income Chicago neighborhood. Raised in a loving family with strong traditional values, she was nurtured by a hardworking father and a stay-at home mom. When her father was stricken with a crippling, incurable illness, he continued to work, striving to put food on the table and to create a better life for his kids. She was an achiever, and even at an urban public high school, she excelled and imagined a bright future for herself. She dreamed of going to college, then law school and of making a difference in her neighborhood. She pushed straight through all of the barriers that could have held her back and went on to capture the American Dream she imagined.

Maybe you heard this story also, and recognize the heroine as Michelle Obama, a person whose hard work paid off in a scholarship to an Ivy League college and law school, who true to her dream, returned to the south side of Chicago to make a difference in her community. Her life story is an inspiration, and while improbable, was not impossible.

Now see this story through the eyes another American dreamer. See another dedicated hard working minority family living in a Latino urban Chicago neighborhood, raising a focused, bright young woman, who has all it takes to become an achiever and a leader. Change only one detail. Change the place where this young woman was born from Chicago to Guatemala, our heroine emigrating to the USA with her undocumented parents as an infant.

In this story, her place of birth changes everything. It makes achieving the American Dream impossible.

Although this young woman plays by the rules, after graduating from high school with honors, she has no valid “identity” to take her forward into adulthood. Without a Social Security number, she is not able to work legally in the USA, is not eligible for federal student loans for college or able to even get a driver’s license. She is left to live a furtive, fearful life in the shadows. Although raised in the USA, she, like all “illegals” must live outside of the American Dream with daily fear of detention and deportation.

For youth “without papers,” the improbable American story becomes the impossible American story, where the aspirations of these uncounted, undocumented young people collide with the reality of our immigration laws. This is the heartbreaking theme of nearly all youth drama and media created by young Latinos.

In Chicago, New Routes is providing the means to help Latino youth tell their stories of dreams deferred, offering the tools of media making and self-expression through drama. Here are some of those stories, radionovelas produced by youth in “Salud, Healing through the Arts.” These youth are using what power they have, the power of their own stories, to take a stand for the reform of immigration law in the USA. For them, the ultimate American Dream is that everyone who was raised, and educated here, regardless of their place of birth, can fully participate in and contribute to American life.

Read about the Dream Act, proposed legislation that would make it possible for immigrant children, raised in the United States, to qualify for student aid to attend college.

Tags: American Dream, Dream Act, minorities
Topics: Education, Founding American Values, Immigrant Integration, Immigrants, Storytelling, Youth