Noemí, Blog 6, July 26 (Chapel Service Reflection)

 As I finish my last days of this internship, I am fully realizing how this is not only a time for professional growth but also spiritual growth. The past two months I spent with RESULTS taught me a lot about how political advocacy works with the goal of persuading congress to pass legislation that will mitigate poverty domestically and globally. I completed different tasks like updating a large stat sheet for the international conference that would prepare RESULTS’ volunteers to continue forward in their advocacy. I summarized bills to be uploaded to the website so constituents could easily understand the jargon that is legislation. I co-wrote a blog post about poverty assistance programs and how non-citizens use them or oftentimes, don’t. The most exciting part of my work was scheduling and conducting lobbying meetings with congressional offices. I met with Representative Danny Davis’s office and Senator Dick Durbin’s office both two times. 

I’ll be honest, which is not something I usually struggle with, but while these meetings sometimes made me hopeful that good change would come, partly from my advocacy, a lot of times I felt hopeless, too. This sentiment doesn’t come from the specific members I met with, more from the fact that they work for an institution that continues to fail us as their people, especially the most vulnerable communities. More often than not I am disappointed with their actions and decisions instead of satisfied and proud. 

Karen Gonzalez helps me feel not so alone or even crazy for feeling this way in her book The God Who Sees. I found a lot of comfort in reading this book with Leslie, Quincy and Katie these last few weeks. She’s a Guatemalan immigrant and in her first few chapters describing life in Guatemala, I thought a lot about my mother who is also a Guatemalan immigrant and could clearly visualize where she was because all the places she mentioned are beautiful places I’ve been able to visit. Whether she brought up points I have thought about a lot already or shed light on new stories and perspectives, her perspective is one I value and can relate to a lot. 

She validates my frustration when she brings up scripture from after Jesus was born about King Herod. *Read Matthew 2:13-15 on page 151* Herod’s inability to find and get rid of Jesus frustrates him and he reacts by killing the children of his own people. This reminds Gonzalez of immigrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border who are not fleeing King Herod but rather their own repressive governments, gangs, war, and the impoverished conditions of their home countries. When they arrive, like Gonzalez says, “there are corrupt police and border and military officers who persecute rather than protect them” (pg 152). This is just one example of how authorities that are supposed to protect do quite the opposite which leaves me disappointed and much more. Gonzalez points out that this is when the magi, the three kings, are introduced as foreigners, astronomers who come to worship Jesus as opposed to trying to destroy him. Gonzales says it best when she writes “It is an irony that is repeated throughout the book of Matthew. Leaders of the Jews - Herod, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the chief priests - reject Jesus. Those on the outside, like the magi, receive him.” (pg. 153). 

In my advocacy work, I think of my mother and her personal stories. She is “lucky” and “blessed” to not have been persecuted by border patrol or other state authorities on her journey to Chicago but, she should not have had to feel lucky because she was fleeing poor life conditions and wasn’t punished on her way up. My mother was safe but that does not exempt me from fighting for all the other immigrant mothers out there trying to make their lives and their children’s lives better because my mom’s migration story could have very, very easily taken a dangerous turn. She was one wrong move, one turn away from being in a more dangerous situation that no human should have to endure. The story of King Herod’s attempt to persecute Jesus and the magi seeking to worship him story affirms to me the importance of people of lived experience in positions of power. I have always been and will continue to be skeptical of those who are in power who do not represent those who struggle, although I know there are many in these positions with good intentions. However, I also know that those with lived experiences will advocate in a different way because their willpower comes from a place that is intimate and personal to their life. 

Although I am not an immigrant myself, I have lived through other struggles growing up in Chicago that I see advocates trying to change in RESULTS like better education systems and affordable housing. This summer has reminded me to continue to share stories of where I come from because they are valuable and although I am just one person, my story is not unique when it comes to the stories of others in my community. But what is a bit unique about me is that I have worked to get to where I am today, more importantly my mother has sacrificed so much to get me to where I am today so now it is my responsibility to share her story, my story not only to feel comforted by others who may have experienced the same struggles, but to provoke and demand change happens for my community.