Spring 2011 Issue - Lehman College

Shadows
Center for Human Rights
and Peace Studies
Rooted in the History of
The Campus
Hear the Voices of
Lehman Students
“This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do
in my life. On the outside, you would see a
strong, hard-working, dedicated, and caring
person, but on the inside I have a secret that’s
been tearing me apart every day of my life. Like
many of my fellow Dreamers, I found out at an
early age that I was undocumented and since
then, I’ve always felt like a second-class citizen,
stuck in limbo, without a future and unable to make my dreams come true. But I’ve discovered that I
don’t need a piece of paper to tell me I’m an American. I’m just as American as anyone else.” — Victor
“All my relatives instilled this intense sense of ambition in me to strive for the best. School was the
single most important priority. I was always the smartest boy in class, the golden boy back home despite
the 50 million other cousins I have. And I was expected to do great things with this opportunity.
My mom worked double jobs, my dad worked from 9:00 in the morning to midnight. They brought
me here so I could do what I wanted with my life, without being limited like I probably would have
been back in my country. It wasn’t until high school that I realized, once I was done, I couldn’t really
live up to anyone’s expectations. I couldn’t live up to my own expectations. I just simply couldn’t live.
Where did all my dreams go? Oh, that’s right, they were blocked by a piece of paper, a nine-digit
number.”
— Michael
“We are the students sitting in your classes, the ones you might never suspect, some with thick
accents, others already Americanized. The ones they stamp ‘illegal, banana boats, alien, unwanted,
unneeded, undocumented,’ as if we are not people with the same red hearts and blue veins, as if we,
too, aren’t dreamers. As if we brought ourselves here.
You tell us, ‘Go back to where you come from.’ If only you knew. You aren’t native to this land,
either. Ask for an America without immigrants, and you will have none. No schools. No government.
No buildings. No people. No white men writing declarations because they, too, are immigrants. What
will you do then? With no bricks supporting this nation, your foundation will easily crumble.
We are here studying to make your country a better place as we always have. America, don’t
fool yourself. Don’t break the same backs and bite the same hands that feed you. It isn’t wise. They
stamp us ‘alien, wetback, banana boat, unwanted, unneeded.’
We are undocumented, but we are stepping out of the shadows freely and fearlessly, dreamers
and supporters. Stepping out from the dark, no longer letting our silence and your ignorance be
our defi nitions. Fearlessly and proud, we are telling our stories. This time, you will hear. Listen to our
voices, America—there’s a lot we’ve been wanting to say. We will say it this time.” — Ronesha
In 1946, when the United Nations was
housed on the Lehman (Hunter) campus,
Eleanor Roosevelt and her staff
began work on the document that later
would become the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights. Herbert H. Lehman,
for whom the College is named, was a
prominent internationalist of his day and,
as the fi rst director of UNRRA (U.N.
Relief and Rehabilitation Administration),
led the effort to feed and clothe millions
of refugees after WWII. This legacy has
inspired Lehman College to maintain an
ongoing connection with the U.N. and
with the issues of both human rights
and peace.
This January, the CUNY Board of
Trustees authorized the establishment
of a new Center for Human Rights and
Peace Studies at the College—an idea
that originated in 2006, when Lehman
cosponsored a global peace conference
in Hiroshima, Japan, where Lehman had
operated a campus for several years.
Since then, the Center has held two conferences.
The fi rst, on immigration reform
and immigrants’ rights, identifi ed ways
in which advocacy, coalition-building,
and community outreach can advance
equitable immigration reform and justice
for immigrants. The other conference,
which drew international support and
participation, identifi ed remedies to address
violence against women in Central
America, including feminicide (the killing
of women) at the local and regional level.
Information about the Center’s projects
and events can be found at www.lehman.
edu/human-rights-peace-studies.
Lehman Today/Spring 2011 13