Fue la noche, una noche muy oscura/It was night, a very dark night

by Patricia Morales/Voces de inmigrantes en resistencia

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Los periodicos, las noticias, y en general, todos los medios de comunicacion tratan de criminalizar a los adoloscentes Latinos indocumentados. Por ejemplo, los medios de comunicaciones nos hechan la culpa de la crisis economica que hay en los Estados Unidos, especialmente a los jovenes que estan en la carcel juvenil, que los periodicos se enfocan en los jovenes que salen de juvenil y siguen haciendo crimen para generalizar que todos nosotros somos asi. Esto es propaganda racista lo que los periodicos como es SF Chronicle estan diciendo. Al contrario, por cada adulto que este en la carcel, el estado hace dinero del trabajo de los presos y solo les paga 35 centavos a la hora, es una forma de esclavitud que la mayoria del publico no conoce.

Fue la noche, una noche muy oscura, una noche fria, fria como la primera lluvia del invierno; pero no estaba lloviendo esta noche, no mas una noche fria y nublada como siempre en Daly City. Yo caminaba con mis amigos difrutando nuestra adolescencia, y ni me di cuenta de que hora era. No andabamos haciendo dano a nadie, no mas platicando y diviertiendonos en el vescindario adonde vivimos. No sabia que es un crimen salir con tus amigos en la noche. Dos de la manana, y tratando de llegar a la casa, sin coche y sin ningun bus que pase a esa hora. Despidiendome de mis amigos estaba cuando me di cuenta de una patrulla que se nos asercaba. Aprendieron sus luces y la sirena y nos asustamos todos. Corrimos del temor. Ya sabiamos que solo eran dos policias y tres de nosotros. Al que tenga mala suerta que lo agaren. Fui yo. De repente se vinieron hacia mi y yo no supe que hacer y me agarraron y me preguntaron donde vivia y que andaba aciendo ahi a esas horas y yo no savia que contestar. Me senti como un pajarito que le cortaron sus alas y no pude volar, solo sentia miedo porque nunca me habian agarrado la policia. Se me vino a la mente mi mama, como se iba sentir cuando se enterara. Me llevaron a la estacion y le llamaron a mi mama. Los policias le hablaron con poco respeto. Mi mama no habla ingles, me pasaron el telefono y estaba llorando. Su voz llena de temor por que le habian dicho que me iban a pasar a el control de Inmigracion.

Esta es la historia de un adolesente que handa como cualquiera caminando en la calle. Casi lo deportaron por que era menor, estaba en la calle en la noche, y no tenia papeles. Por algo tan sencillo como estar afuera en la calle sin documentos migratorios y ser menor de edad la policia y las cortes sienten que es justo asustar a una familia con desplazamiento. Este es solo uno de los casos de abusos policiacos contra menores de edad Latinos que pasan todos los dias. Ahorra, si la policia y las cortes dicen que no son racistas, les pregunto si esto hubiera pasado si el menor de edad hubiera sido un guero de pelo rubio y ojos azules. Apuesto que si era un nino rico lo hubieran regresado a su casa sin problema.

Otro caso que me enoja mucho por que es obio la injusticia es el caso de los trabajadores de El Balazo. Esta gente fue arrestada solo por trabajar, y entonces fueron encarcelados y les pusieron grilletas en sus tobillos y la corte demandaron que ellos se reportaran al centro de inmigracion tres veces a la semana cuitandoles la oportunidad de trabajar para apoyar a sus familias. Estos trabajadores nunca le hicieron ninguna maldad a nadie y ahorra ellos estan voluntariamente regresando a sus paises y el la pinche migra ni les esta pagando el vuelo de regreso, ellos tienen que pagar con su propio dinero para ser separados de su familia. Que injusticia!

Asi que aqui esta el otra lado de el discurso sobre inmigrantes. Esta lado y estas historias nunca son representadas en los medios de comunicacion como el SF Chronicle. Por eso es importantisimo y verdaderamente revolucionario el trabajo que hace POOR Magazine. Si no fuera por POOR y organizaciones tratando de contar la verdad en los medios de comunicacion, como supiera la gente de que nos esta pasando a nuestra comunidad? Los ignorantes racistas de Norte America, que solo so un porcentaje pequeno pero controlan a los medios de comunicacion, solo ven que nosotros no tenemos documentos migratorios como ellos, pero nunca recuerdan que ellos mismos son inmigrantes tambien.

Engles Sigue

The newspapers, news, and in all the media general are trying to criminalize young undocumented Latinos. For example, the media blames us for the economic crisis that exists in the United States, especially the young people who are undocumented and are in juvenile jail, the newspaper focus on Latino teenagers that evade the law and try to generalize for an entire race. This is straight up racist propaganda that major media outlets like the SF Chronicle are perpetuating. On the contrary, for every adult who is in jail, the state makes money from the work of prisoners and the prisoners themselves only get paid 35 cents an hour, this a form of slavery that most of the public does not know about.

…It was night, a very dark night, a cold night, as cold as the first rains of winter, but it was not raining that night, just another cold and cloudy night as always in Daly City. I walked with my friends, enjoying our adolescence, and I hadn’t realized what time it was. We were doing no harm to anyone, just talking and having fun in the neighborhood where we live. I did not know that it is a crime to go out with friends at night. Two in the morning and trying to get to home, no car and no bus passing at that time. Saying farewell to my friends I was when I realized that a squad car approached. They turned their lights and siren on…we are all afraid. We ran out of fear. Already we knew that there were only two policemen and three of us. The one of us with bad luck would get caught… It was me. Suddenly they cornered me in and I could not figure out what to do. They grabbed me and asked me where I lived and what was I doing out at those hours, that I must be up to no good. I felt like bird who got his wings cut off and could not fly. I just never had felt this scared because I had never been arrested. My mom came into my mind, how she would feel when she found out. I was taken to the station and they called her. The police spoke to her with very little respect. My mom does not speak English. They passed the phone to me and she was crying. Her voice full of fear because she had been told that I would be handed over to the control of immigration to await my deportation…

This is the story of a young Latino arrested for a curfew ticket and threatened to be deported because of a misdemeanor that should only be punished with a ticket. This young man was almost deported because he was a minor, he was on the streets at night, and he had no documentation. For something as simple as being in the street after curfew without immigration documents and the police and the courts felt it was fair to scare a family with displacement. This is just one of the cases of police abuse against young Latinos that happens every day. If the police and courts say they are not racist, I wonder if this would have happened if the minor had been a Guero, blond hair and blue eyes, and from the right side of the tracks. I bet that if it was a rich boy the police would’ve gladly returned him to his home without problem.

Another case that upsets me very much because it is obvious injustice is the case of employees of the El Balazo Taquerias. These innocent people were arrested just for working, and then they were imprisoned and branded with tracking devices on their ankles and the court demanded that they report to the immigration center three times a week, thus denying them the opportunity to work to support their families. These workers never did anyone any harm and some of them are voluntarily returning to their countries. Since this is a deportation you would think that the state would pay to have them deported, guess again, the voluntary deportees will have to fund their own deportation, yes you read it right, they have to pay with their own money to be displaced from their families. What injustice!

So here's the other side of the argument on immigrants. This side and these stories are never represented in the media. This is why the work that POOR Magazine does is so important and truly revolutionary. Without POOR Magazine and organizations like POOR trying to spread truth through media, how would the public find out about what is happening to our community? The ignorant, racist “Born Americans’, who are a very small percentage of the population but control big corporate media, look at us migrant workers and can only see that we do not have immigration documents, like they do, but they never remember that they themselves are immigrants too.