The System Failed Us
The system made us No. 1 Immigrant Daughters. The ones who had to translate for our parents and caregivers, who had to help them fill out forms, understand democracy, advocate for themselves.
We didn’t sign up for this. But we had to do it, because who else would? Who else felt the same love, the same anger at injustice, the same duty to our loved ones?
The system saw the hard-working immigrant, the person who could be trusted to get the job done. And it failed us again. Because it didn’t see the armor we were wearing, the way our mental health suffered, the heartbreak that comes from feeling invisible.
“I have healed through knowing, and by knowing I can move toward possible solutions.” ― Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez
Prisca’s book For Brown Girls with Sharp Edges and Tender Hearts: A Love Letter to Women of Color offered a framework for much of what I had experienced as an immigrant woman of color, and I recommend it highly!