Editor’s Letter – 9/20/17

I went to college with a woman named Marie Gonzalez who came to the U.S. as a five year-old with her undocumented parents. She was among some of the first Dreamers, advocating for the Dream Act and immigration reform as early as 2005. She travelled to D.C. to speak at symposiums and with legislators. Several times, she appeared on television.

I didn’t comprehend her courage or plight, which is similar to what hundreds of thousands of people in this country face. Throughout her high school years, her family faced deportation. One month before she began college, her parents were scheduled for deportation and she was granted a one-year deferral. They were sent home; she managed to stay through the uncertainty and graduate.

Marie described her high school and college life as a roller coaster. It vacillated between fear and unease in a country she and her family were devoted to, but that didn’t fully accept them.

Immigration and deportation weren’t things I had to think about it, and I didn’t. I recall wanting her to be able to stay in the country and at school, but that was as far as I extended support. A year after college, she married her longtime American boyfriend. I remember thinking, “Marie’s safe now.” But why couldn’t she be safe, regardless?

I regret not supporting her (and, by extension, others) more, asking questions, listening to understand, or making calls to legislators when she asked our group of friends to do so. In a way, I too was Neimöller.

Unfortunately, those calls to legislators are still needed, as President Trump threatens to rescind DACA and Congress scrambles to find a solution. In this issue, writer Mary Noble talked to some local Dreamers and immigrants who implore the rest of us to use our voices to help them. Read that article here.

Today, there is so much to consider that it often feels difficult to know what to pick, or how to think about it. For this issue, we chose a few classic, heavy topics.

Damion Shade interviewed Reverend Joseph Morris, who believes we are living in the end times. I spoke with a local atheist podcast host who used to be a Christian radio DJ. Brady Whisenhunt gazed at the heavens (pg XX). Mary Noble found some peace at Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey. Mason Whitehorn Powell toured a crematorium and thought about death.

And while each of those has a place in carving out identity and understanding our world, I'm only now starting to understand how privilege allows them to become points of focus.