3 GUIDE

SPOKEN WORDS / PERSONAL STORIES / PERFORMING ARTS

IMMIGRANTS’

VOICES THE MATTER SPEAKS SERIES 3

TUES. APRIL 26 @ 2:45P

SHS AUDITORIUM

PRESENTED BY SHS WELCOME CENTER


IMMIGRANTS’


WHAT IS THE MATTER SPEAKS SERIES?

THE MATTER SPEAKS SERIES is an interactive event that allows

social issues to be shared upon—by both youth and adults—through

oral and musical stage performances.

A text conversation among three friends created this idea for students

and teachers to be able to share what matters to them.

THE MATTER SPEAKS SERIES is the space where individuals—

encircled by a community—deliver spoken words, personal stories, and

performing arts (for 5 minutes) on gender, sex, race, politics,

education, and culture.

It is the hope that this series can further empower our students and

teachers on how to express their voices in creative ways and educating

them on how to become better critical thinkers on community issues.

Thank you.


IMMIGRANTS’


WHAT IS SERIES 3?

The individuals who arrive on America's shores yearning to

breathe free have always offered talent, youth and global connections.

Some create jobs; others do the work most natives shun. The

foundation of this country was founded and built by immigrants.

And with this story, involves immigration laws that have been

put in place, reformed, dismantled. These laws reflect the needs of

the time, but often represent political statements of peoples'

perceptions, which have cycled back and forth from favorable to

hostile.

The Immigrants’ Voices (hosted by the Welcome Center)

aims to reflect on the love, celebration, hatred, and fear that our

students and teachers have experienced. They wanted to use this

series to address various viewpoints—with the hope that their

stories are seen and heard as part of the American story.


IMMIGRANTS’


PERFORMANCES

Capoeira by Gabriel & Hague

*The New Colossus by Emerson

You Can’t Be A Teacher by Ms. Ana Nogueira

*Yo by Saradiya

True Story by Erika

*Canção da América by Ms. Heloisa Taveira and Ms. Adda Santos

Grocery Store by Marlon, Anibal, Elvis

*Testimony by Ms. Nancy Macias-Smith, PSYD, MMHS, LSW

Is It True? written by Aya

Borders by Elvis

Q&A with Cast / Post-Discussion in Room 345

*Translation included within this guide


The New Colossus ("El Nuevo Coloso", Der neue Koloss , O NOVO COLOSSO)

is a sonnet by American poet Emma Lazarus. In 1903, the poem was engraved on a bronze

plaque and mounted inside the lower level of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty.

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Aquí, en nuestras puertas en el atardecer bañadas por el mar, estará de pie

Una poderosa mujer con una antorcha, cuya llama es

gezähmtes Feuer ist. Man nenne sie beim Namen:

"Mutter der Verbannten" und ihr Licht bereitet

Willkommen aller Welt, ihr Blick ruht mild gebreitet

auf einem Hafen, den zwei Städte rings umrahmen.

“Mantenham antigas terras sua pompa histórica!” grita ela

Com lábios silenciosos “Dai-me os seus fatigados, os seus pobres,

As suas massas encurraladas ansiosas por respirar liberdade

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"


You Can’t Be A Teacher

When I think about being an immigrant, the first thing that comes to my mind is

saudade, and feeling uncomfortable most of the time.

Being an immigrant for me is learning how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

I want to tell you today about a situation that happened with me, and I think it is an

example of this. I once was visiting friends in Colorado. I was introduced to a Brazilian woman,

married to a white American man. He was very friendly, wanted to know where I was from,

where I lived, and what did I do. When I told him I was a teacher he seemed very impressed

and interested.

“Oh really, that’s cool”

But when I said I taught U.S. History he seemed to not like it:

“You cannot do that!”

Well, then the series of questions followed: where did I get my degree, how did I get my

job, etc. etc. All in a very stern tone.

This is the kind of situation I face almost daily in my life. People implying I am not

capable of doing what I am doing because … I imagine it is because I was not born and

educated in this country. After a while, I just got used to feeling comfortable being

uncomfortable most of the time. After all, it was my choice to come here, finish my graduate

program and teach immigrant students. I love my job and think that educating people to live in

a multicultural society is very important.

But I think it is important for all of us to be aware of the prejudice that surrounds

everybody who is “different” in any way, regardless of what we do.


Yo

is a song about a group of Haitians trying to flee their country because of extreme poverty.

One day, they boarded a ship—headed towards the United States—when they got there they

got rejected while on their way back their ship sank at sea and they all died.

yo kilbite nan fon bato yo fe koskouch nan dlo move tan bare yo amrican pa vle Haitian yo fe

yon retunen paske yo pa kuban.

Yon ti jes pou yo, yon tandres pou yo, yon fave pou yo, yon lone pou yo, yon parol pou yo,

yon bonte pou yo, lamitye pou yo.

Yon ti jes pou yo, yon tandres pou yo, yon fave pou yo, yon lone pou yo, yon clete pou yo yon

fyete pou yo, libete pou yo.


Canção da América

By Milton Nascimento, this song is dedicated to friendships near and far

Amigo é coisa pra se guardar Friend is something to keep

Debaixo de sete chaves Under seven keys

Dentro do coração Inside one's heart

Assim falava a canção que na América ouvi So said the song that I heard in America

Mas quem cantava chorou ao ver seu amigo partir But the one who was singing cried upon seeing his friend leaving

Mas quem ficou, no pensamento voou But the one, who stayed, in the thought flew

Com seu canto que o outro lembrou With his song that the other (person) remembered

E quem voou, no pensamento ficou And the one, who flew, in the thought stayed

Com a lembrança que o outro cantou Remembering what the other (person) sang

Amigo é coisa pra se guardar Friend is something to keep


Do lado esquerdo do peito On the left side of the chest

Mesmo que o tempo e a distância digam não Even if the time and the distance say no

Mesmo esquecendo a canção Even forgetting the song

O que importa é ouvir a voz que vem do coração What matters is to listen to the voice that comes

from one's heart

Pois seja o que vier, venha o que vier No matter what happens, no matter what happens

Qualquer dia, amigo, eu volto a te encontrar One day, friend, I will find you again.

Qualquer dia, amigo, a gente vai se encontrar One day, friend, we will meet again.

Seja o que vier, venha o que vier No matter what happens, no matter what happens

Qualquer dia, amigo, eu volto a te encontrar One day, friend, I will find you again.

Qualquer dia, amigo, a gente vai se encontrar One day, friend, we will meet again.


Testimony

I was born in Bogota, Colombia over 50 years ago – although I’d prefer not to think about my age!

I grew up surrounded by brother and sisters - the 10th of 12 children in my family, and the last girl. I have six brothers and

five sisters – or rather I had, because my beautiful older sister crossed over to be with our parents on the other side – if there is

one.

I’ve had many influences in my life: I think growing up in the middle of the last four brothers was a very important one,

because being surrounded by brothers is always a real adventure, and I’m lucky I lived to tell the tale!

My father worked with books all his life – that’s where I inherited my desire to surround myself with books and words. It’s

also what led me to keep striving in my education; a bachelors, a masters, a doctorate…. And I still hope to keep learning.

My mother was a community nurse; that’s where I inherited my desire to help people - any place, any time, with

compassion and without discrimination or looking for return favors. Just helping because doing the right thing is the reason we exist.

My brothers and sisters are a mix of everything, a teacher, a businessman, a secretary, a nurse, an architect,

administrators, an accounting assistant, a community outreach worker, company owners; that’s where I inherited my ability to

understand enough about a lot of things, and not too much about any one thing.

My mom was the oldest of six; a natural born leader! My father was the youngest of six, but his mother died when he was a

baby. His father remarried someone much younger and they didn’t have time or energy for a tiny baby and they gave him away to a

monastery. So my father was raised by priests. He grew up wanting to be a priest, but ended up being a father of twelve!

Although I generally have good memories of my childhood, we had our fair share of problems, fights, separations, alcohol

abuse. My neighborhood suffered violence at the hands of the drug traffickers as well as delinquency and domestic abuse at the

family level. All these things affected me deeply.

If an observer from the USA were to write about us, they would probably say we were from a “lower-class” or “poor”

family. I believe that this type of judgement lacks cultural understanding and compassion; in a house where there is a lot of love,

enough food on the table, and books, even if you have to wait your turn to eat, that doesn’t make you poor! On the contrary – we

were given good moral values and the chance to move our lives forward. Sometimes people just don’t know how to tell the

difference – but that’s their problem not mine!

I came to the USA after qualifying as a psychologist in my country, looking, (like all of us), for a better future. A lot of us

came from Colombia in the 80s and 90s, fleeing the violence that had gripped our country. Bogota was nicknamed “La Gran Piñata”

because the entire city was littered with bombs.

It wasn’t easy resettling here – but I made it! I had start again from the beginning because at that time my qualifications

were barely even recognized here! I find this a bit short-sighted. In our “developing” countries we have to work just as hard, if not

harder to earn our qualifications if we want to get anywhere. However, his has improved in the last 25 years, and now, especially if

you are from a “developed country” they accept at least some qualifications.

So I was able to earn my Masters and then my Doctorate. I worked really hard, put in the hours and made a lot of

economic sacrifices to get where I am but it was worth it. Getting to a point in your life where you feel professionally fulfilled is very

important.


I am the proud mom of three teens; my twins (a boy and a girl) are 19 years old and my younger son is 16. My kids give me

the strength to bring love to every aspect of my work and to keep doing my part to make this world a better place for all young

people.

So why is my story helpful?

Well, I want to share with all my dear students, the things I learned along the way:

In our community we don’t “own” things, we share them – our ideas, our books, our dreams.

Being poor has nothing to do with owning things. If we have family or friends, affection, hopes and dreams – we aren’t

poor!

Many of us have to create everything we want from scratch – there isn’t an inheritance or a legacy for us. And that’s

fine! We are still more than able to achieve our goals.

Even if our childhood wasn’t perfect, even if we have painful memories, we are able to make peace with our pasts and

try to remember some of the good things too. Nearly all of us have at least one friend or family member who is dear

and precious to us.

I am like you. We have a shared history in many ways, we bears the scars of violence from our home countries and we

have all been through moments of crisis. When I first came, I often went hungry, I often didn’t have a permanent place

to live, I didn’t have papers for a while, I felt discriminated against for being a woman, for not having a good enough

level of English, for not being white, for not having the right connections. But all these things didn’t make me less of a

person; quite the opposite, they made me stronger!

America: North, South and Central; we are all American!

If people tell you are not the best, never believe it. Just go out there and prove them wrong – not for them, but for yourself. We

are, or we soon will be, bilingual. That is an amazing skill and for those who think English is the only language, the only doorway, they

couldn’t be more wrong! We are smart, hard-working, we have dreams, hopes and faith and we believe in the future. Nobody can

stop us! If, in the 1970’s, people had seen me in my “developing country,” speaking Spanish, from a large, working class family,

nobody would have looked twice at me. Maybe nobody looks twice at me today either – but I don’t need them to! I am like all of

you, smart, capable, hard-working, an agent of change towards a fairer and more equal society. Stick with it guys! Every single one of

us can make it, we just need to believe in ourselves. I’d love to see you all 20 years from now, with your own families, stable and

successful, making progress. Maybe I’ll be able to! The one thing I am sure of, is that with the right attitude, motivation and love for

learning and working, you’ll get wherever you want to go. Remember your roots always, because these roots are what make us

strong. At the same time, welcome all the great things this county has to offer to help you grow into healthy adults, at peace with

yourselves.


Testimonio

Yo nací la verdad hace más de 50 años aunque siempre me gusta esconder los años! Yo crecí en medio de muchos

hermanos y hermanas. Soy la hija número 10 de 12 hijos, la última mujer. Mi vida ha tenido muchas influencias: Se de pérdidas y de

duelos, mi hermosa hermana mayor se fue a acompañar a nuestros padres, abuelos y tíos en la otra vida. Crecer en una familia muy

grande y en la mitad de los últimos cuatro varones es una pura aventura y con suerte sobreviví para contarla.

Mi papa trabajo con libros toda su vida, y aprendí que la educación es muy importante.

Mi madre fue una enfermera de la comunidad, y aprendí de ella a ayudar a los demás, siempre, a todas horas, con

compasión y sin discriminar, sin esperar nada a cambio, porque hacer lo correcto es la razón de existir.

En nuestra comunidad: Las cosas no son del dueño sino del que las necesita: compartan sus libros, sus ideas, sus sueños. La

pobreza es del espíritu no de las cosas: si tenemos familia, amigos, cariño, aspiraciones: no somos pobres. Muchos llegamos lejos

trabajando por nosotros mismos, sin esperar una herencia de los demás: si se puede llegar a las metas.

Mi mama fue la mayor de seis, una líder natural! mi papa fue el menor de seis pero como su madre murió cuando él era un

bebe, la vida lo marco cuando lo entregaron a un monasterio.

Aunque tengo muy buenos recuerdos también en mi familia de origen había muchos problemas conflictos, abandono,

separaciones y abuso de alcohol. En nuestro vecindario aparte de la violencia creada por los narcotraficantes, había delincuencia

común y familias cercanas con violencia domestica; eso también me afecto profundamente.

Quizá piensen otros que somos de la clase baja o pobre. Yo opino que en una casa donde hay amor, comida caliente y libros aunque

siempre toque esperar el turno no hay pobreza, pues por el contrario hay valores y progreso.

Aun cuando nuestras familias no son perfectas y tengamos recuerdos muy dolorosos, podemos llegar a hacer paz con nuestro

pasado y recordar lo bueno de la familia y de los amigos; muchas veces habrá al menos un familiar o un amigo que es un lindo

tesoro.

Yo me vine a los Estados Unidos de América después de ser una psicóloga en mi país, en busca (como todos) de un mejor

porvenir; le venía huyendo a la gran violencia de Colombia de los años 80 y 90 pues a mi ciudad le decían la gran piñata porque por

todas partes había bombas!

La verdad me ha costado mucho progresar pero lo he logrado. Me toco volver a empezar, pues la educación de mi país no

valía casi nada acá, sin embargo esto ha cambiado en los últimos 25 años. Al final logre hacer una maestría y terminar mi doctorado.

Se requiere mucho amor a la ciencia, mucho estudio y mucho esfuerzo económico pero llega el día cuando al fin una se siente

completamente realizada profesionalmente y eso es muy importante.

Yo soy como ustedes, compartimos parte de nuestras historias: traemos cicatrices de la violencia de nuestros países y

muchas veces pasamos por crisis. Yo por ejemplo en el principio en este país tuve hambre, en algún momento me faltaron los

documentos, estuve sin casa o viviendo en muchas casas, me han discriminado por ser mujer, o porque mi inglés no es

suficientemente bueno o porque no tengo “palanca”; o porque soy de color: pero eso no me hace menos: al contrario me hace más

fuerte.

América: es del norte, del centro y del sur: todos somos americanos!

Si te dicen que no eres lo mejor: no les creas: solo demuéstrales lo contrario, no por ellos pero por ti misma. Somos o

seremos bilingües, muchos por estos lares siguen creyendo que el inglés es la única lengua y la única puerta: pero eso no es cierto: la

diversidad es lo mejor.

Soy una madre orgullosa de tres adolescentes, mis gemelos (hija e hijo) tienen 19 años y mi hijo menor tiene 16 años: mis hijos me

dan la fuerza para trabajar con amor y hacer este mundo un mejor lugar para todos los jóvenes.

Los inmigrantes somos inteligentes, trabajadores, tenemos sueños y esperanzas, tenemos fé y creemos en el futuro y así

nadie nos puede parar.

Yo quiero que todos los estudiantes sepan que como yo he luchado para ser capaz, educada, trabajadora y un agente de

cambio hacia una sociedad más igualitaria y más justa; ustedes también pueden. Animo, mis estudiantes que al final del día todos

podemos salir adelante: solo tenemos que creer en nosotros mismos.

Me gustaría que el futuro de ustedes sea muy bueno: con sus propias familias, progresando, estables y exitosos. Yo les

aseguro que con ánimo, motivación, amor a aprender y amor al trabajo van a llegar donde quieran. Recuerden sus raíces porque sus

raíces los hacen fuertes y denle la bienvenida a lo mejor que este país ofrece, así van a poder crecer como adultos en paz y

saludables. SIEMPRE RECUERDA QUE TU ERES UNA PERSONA IMPORTANTE Y VALIOSA

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3 GUIDE