Just a Few More Days

Posted on April 22, 2010 by felipe
Trail of Draems

Tonight, I’m writing from a dome in the woods of Spotsylvania, VA. The place we are staying at today is a house in a small secluded place only 65 miles from our final destination- Washington, DC. It’s a peculiar feeling to be so close after having walked through so many places. As I am getting ready for our big day, the only thing I have in mind is our desire to create a moment that will empower millions to take their place in the struggle. I am extremely anxious; feeling as if my wedding day is approaching and I am running around to make the last arrangements.



I am tired and I wonder how much more my body can take before exhaustion catches up to me. My feet are calloused and my soul mourns the failures of our immigration system that deny my humanity. I think of this Trail and the impact that it has had on those around me. Everywhere we have gone, we have treated everyone, including those whom oppose our views and opinions, as a full human. Our strenuous efforts led us to stand by love and created bonds that transcend legislation or ethnicity. We created an alternative way of discussing immigration issues in many of the places we had the fortune of walking through –a way that truly highlights the human cost of our administration’s inaction on this vital issue.



As I lay beneath this dome, lit by a dim, solar-powered light, I am thinking retrospectively to January 1st. I have witnessed beauty beyond anyone’s wildest imagination but also great pain and despair. Like Dante’s Inferno, we had to go deep into the hell of our broken system to find a way to salvation. Although the walk is not over and the dream has not yet been achieved; I can’t forget every tear I shed and shared with people as they told their stories. I wish I could have held Oscar, an 11 year-old boy, as he pleaded for his family to not get deported, and could have told him he had nothing to be afraid of. I yearned to tell Nancy, a DREAM Act student, to stop crying because we could find a way for her to go to college and stop fearing deportation. I wished we hadn’t lost Jose, Cameron’s partner, to senseless deportations and an even deeper root of racism and white supremacy. Each one of these stories has become part of me and I have become part of them. Just like the Zen saying, “How can the drops of water know themselves to be a river?” When we embarked in this journey I had not completely comprehended how connected we all are and the power we can have through unity. Our communities are bleeding and waiting is not an option that we can explore. We cannot allow for a whole generation to be wasted!



From our first steps in Miami, Carlos would continuously proclaim: “One step closer to DC, one step closer to DC….” After a few minutes his statement would become ridiculously annoying but now when I look back I see that he was right. Every step we took, it moved us forward towards our objective. The question that remains unanswered is whether our leaders in DC will have the same courage we had when we departed. Will they shy away from their responsibility or face this challenge? While many walk half way, we walked the whole way.



Before the walk many questioned whether America would be prepared for what we were about to do and others feared the consequences of our action. However, we remained resolute to the lesson that history had already taught us – “freedom will never be given by the oppressor but must instead be demanded by the oppressed.” MLK. May 1st is only the beginning of a new era in the immigrant rights movement. To even conceptualize returning to Miami to continue living the unbearable life of an undocumented student is too painful. We will not give up until change is realized!
link to http://www.trail2010.org/blog/2010/apr/22/just_a_few_more_day/