Brandy Harvey

They tell me I’m so lucky. So lucky to be at UCSD. So lucky to be employed. So lucky. I don’t
feel so lucky.
The two countries that make up who I am are in an ever growing fight. The US either claims I am stealing jobs, only achieving from affirmative action, and a symbol of sexual desire which can not be harassed; or I am a criminal, a drug dealer, and an illegal looking to do bad things for the sake of being a bad person. Mexico can not claim me as they call me no sabo and say I have fallen into American ways - working and studying instead of submitting to the machismo standards of living to raise kids, and goals of a perfect family life.

The election has only made things harder. Where do I stand besides the wall between the US and Mexico? I am a citizen of both yet accepted in neither. I protest for my people but get demeaned for not speaking a language they don’t even own. I protest for my people then get threatened to get sent “back” to a country I did not grow up in. It all feels so confusing.

Thankfully there are so many just like me, and I am so lucky to have finally met them. The hardest fight isn’t the one against others, it’s the one against ourselves.