Demanding Equality and Respect for Immigrants -- Daniella Magana, Guest MINDSETTER™

Demanding Equality and Respect for Immigrants -- Daniella Magana, Guest MINDSETTER™

Ever since the beginning of time, it seems as though discrimination and segregation have ruled how we as humans are able to live, our success and our level of education. Even the level of respect we receive seems to all be determined by the color of our skin.

I have lived in Central Falls, Rhode Island my whole life. Our streets are composed of authentic Latin restaurants and are adorned by different vibrantly colored flags during independence-day parades. Diversity and inclusion have been taught to me from a young age, yet the world I live in doesn’t seem to embody what I am learning. The diversity of Central Falls is what makes my city so special. The fact that we have Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Cape Verdean, Colombian, Portuguese, Salvadoran, and Mexican, only to name a few, cultures being represented in one square mile is beyond unique.

As the smallest city in the smallest state there is no need for a detainment center. Wyatt is an affront to what we as a city stand for. Wyatt represents inequality and inhumanity. But most importantly, Wyatt doesn’t belong in Central Falls. As a city mainly composed of immigrants, we need to show others how strong and successful immigrants can also be.

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

In the early 1990’s my parents both decided to leave El Salvador in attempt to escape the corrupt government and endless violence that took over their towns. I specifically remember my mom always telling me how she was the only woman on her trip to America. She was separated from her older sister, younger brother, and anyone that she knew. For two months she walked under the scorching sun, trying to make the little food in her backpack last her the whole trip. This story isn’t much different from the stories others are forced to experience.

Like my parents decades ago, the vast, majority of people crossing the border are attempting to find safety, opportunity, and jobs that lack in their country of origin. Seeking asylum is not illegal: America offers people from around the world opportunities that many other countries lack. Instead of treating those who honor the country with disrespect and discrimination, we as a country should feel pride. People from around the world desire the opportunity to live in our country. People from around the world lack what we citizens of America many times see as basic necessities.

Families are being split every day and that is something that is becoming “normal”. Racism and discrimination have split the country in the past, yet we seem to not have learned from the past.

We are all humans. We all deserve respect. The detainees, like all of us, deserve what the Constitution enumerates as our natural rights. The right to ”life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is enumerated in the U.S. Constitution, yet as a society, we are preventing thousands from enjoying their natural rights. Detainment overall is an affront to our American Values.

As an American, and the daughter of immigrant parents, who have always been law-abiding citizens, I join the chorus of so many demanding equality and respect for immigrants in our country. Detainment is a new version of profit. Although the country and president claim that immigrants are a harm to the country, specifically a harm to the economy, the country is benefitting from taking away the lives of innocent people. This is disgusting and must be stopped now.

Daniella Magana is a lifelong resident of Central Falls and a 12th grader at Blackstone Valley Prep.