What Mexington has Taught me.

Before I took this class, I never thought of myself as a bad person. Sure I procrastinate and eat chocolate more than I probably should, but I never thought there was anything wrong with my life. No one in this class had to flat out tell me. But after a few classes I realized an aspect of myself I had never really considered before. That aspect is my skin color.

Of course, I’ve had a concept of race for years now, but it wasn’t until I took this class that I really started to understand the divide the folk taxonomy of race drives between people. Even though I had heard the term before at school, no one had ever explained the concept of “White privilege” to me before. Now, I understand more than before that I am different in a way that I never wanted to be.

Before I took this class, I never thought of myself as white before I thought as myself as a person.

And Although, all of that is important it is still not the most interesting thing I learned this semester.

A Few Important Things I learned this semester:

There is no magical line to become a citizen.
There are roughly 9.3 million undocumented immigrants in the country.
40% of “Illegal Immigrants” overstayed Visas.
This is pretty hard to “jump”.

In this class I learned Undocumented Immigrants went through hell and back to come into a country, to get jobs and provide better lives for their families and our government in return for their sacrifice is a one way ticket back to where they came from; most of the time being forcibly separated from their families in the process. Children who were brought into the US at 2, or three years of age, who have spent there whole lives here and know nothing else, are at risk for deportation.

“I am an immigrant, but a Kentuckian at heart. I feel at home here, and I am giving back to my community by bettering myself.

My family left our country to survive economically. These children left, or were sent, just to survive. I believe they deserve an opportunity to live, to dream, find safety, love and a better future.”

-Alexis Meza