On Friday, November 25^th, DREAMers lost a brother in the struggle, Joaquin Luna. Joaquin was a DREAMer from Mission, TX, a border town, where undocumented students are further imprisoned as the multiple checkpoints make it nearly impossible to even get out of the small confines of their town.

Joaquin was born in Miguel Aleman, Tamaulipas, and was brought to the United States at 6 months. He was adopted by his aunt and uncle because his birth mother was not in full capacity to properly take care of him. Unfortunately, they could not fix his legal status, and he was caught in limbo like the rest of us.

On Friday, Joaquin dressed up in a nice suit, kissed his mother and his father goodbye, and then headed straight for the restroom where he shot himself with a small handgun leaving behind his dreams, letting them evaporate into thin air. He wanted to become an engineer. He was going to graduate in May with honors. Just five more months. He had a full ride to many prestigious universities one of them being Texas A&M University, he could’ve been an Aggie, like me, like all my Aggie DREAMer brothers and sisters, and then, he would have found us, we would have found him. But there’s no sense in reminiscing on what could have been. The damage is done, and 2 million other DREAMers have lost a brother and are mourning, all around the country in solidarity with his friends and loved ones.

Maybe it is our fault, for not reaching out to the Valley sooner, for not expanding faster.

“Having a DREAM Act organization in place here in the Valley might’ve helped,” said Marie Mendoza, Joaquin’s cousin. “These kids need a support system, there’s so many of them here, so close to the border.”

Maybe it is the broken immigration system that’s really getting the best of all of us.

“There has to be one president that will do something for undocumented students,” said Mendoza. “One president that can pass the DREAM Act.”

We all feel the way Joaquin did at some point or another, but brothers and sisters in the struggle, this is not the answer. Life for us is pretty sad at times, pretty gray, and uncertain, but something will happen for us. Because no good people ever go unnoticed, because no good fight is ever lost.

Let’s not remember Joaquin for what happened on Friday, let’s remember him for the person he was and for the everlasting impact he has made on all of our lives. As DREAMers let’s remember that the DREAM Act does not define us, and that we are so many other things aside from DREAM. Joaquin was a good person, he was very involved in church, spent a lot of time there, and he was always very respectful. His teachers loved him, he was never any trouble in school or at home, and he was kind-hearted.

“He would take his shirt off his back just to give it to you if you needed it,” his cousin told me.

I didn’t know Joaquin, but I knew his heart, I knew his struggle, I knew his pain. They always tell us that things have to get worse before they get better, but for us, it seems to only get worse. Rest assured, things have to get better. And if this doesn’t soften some hardened hearts, then I don’t know what will. As I’m writing this, it is tough to write it without tearing up.

I didn’t know Joaquin, but I’ve had many late night calls from DREAMers, who are having a total breakdown because they’ve allowed themselves to process in their minds and hearts, what it means to be undocumented in this country. Sometimes, I’ve made those late night calls. As a DREAMer, you can’t let your thoughts wander past hope and belief; past that there’s only uncertainty and emptiness, it’ll drive you mad.

I didn’t know Joaquin, but I am Joaquin.

On Saturday, October 8th, Governor Brown signed the “California DREAM Act” into law. This was a great success for, not only California DREAMers, but for DREAMers all around the nation, for one success means we are one step closer to our ultimate goal which is the DREAM Act.

Is this confusing to anyone?

With elections around the corner, politicians are back on their toes, and trying all kinds of schemes to get the people’s votes. The Latino vote is a very important and crucial one for all politicians, especially those with big Latino populations such as Texas and California. This might be tough to believe, but we are not all undocumented which means that some of us (a lot of us) can vote. And those of us who can’t vote are working determinedly to register people to vote. Surprise!

The DREAM Act has had a hard time becoming a law, and it will continue to, but that is another story. Different state DREAM Act advocate groups have focused on making their specific state more immigrant friendly and more accepting of DREAMers specifically. With the DREAM Act being something far-fetched, politicians are seeking ways to win the Latino vote and what better way than passing state DREAM Acts?

Being a Texan, I have had the luxury to attend college, and graduate from college, all paying in-state tuition. It was a bill that was signed into law before I graduated from high school, and that luckily, despite tireless efforts from my fellow Aggie conservatives, was not overturned before I graduated college. With that said, I never once called this bill the Texas DREAM Act, mainly because it is not!

During one of my many rants about what the DREAM Act is and what in-state tuition is to a new member of our organization, I was interrupted by an old member telling me that in-state tuition was NOT HB1403, SB1528, nor in-state tuition, but rather the Texas DREAM Act (this only after California passed their DREAM Act).

“Why doesn’t Texas pass its own DREAM Act like California did?” This new member asked. Well, simply because California didn’t pass a DREAM Act! And we all remember what happened in February when Utah attempted to give their undocumented population permits to work. It didn’t happen! Why? Because “this was something that should not be a state issue”.

I must add that I am not undermining all the hard work of my beloved Californian brothers and sisters in the struggle, simply that we should not call this a DREAM Act. As activists in the movement, we all know what we’re fighting for. In a nutshell, the DREAM Act is a bi-partisan piece of legislation that would allow the children of undocumented immigrants to succeed and fully become a part of this country by putting them on a path to legalization if they fill certain criteria. In simpler terms, the DREAM Act would allow us to finish school and not hit another wall; it would allow us to continue our lives and legally work in the country. The equivalent of the DREAM Act at a state level would be if the states passed some sort of legislation like the one Utah tried to pass, a piece of legislation that would allow these students to work legally (at least in their state) post graduation.

Although California has taken a milestone step by passing what is in-state tuition for them, it is important to let people know that Governor Brown has passed only a part of what is our full dream. The first part is called in-state tuition and the second part is called DREAM Act. Titles are important and can often be misleading; it might seem like we getting something done for the DREAM Act but the truth is, coming from a DREAMer who got the benefits of in-state tuition, we are still in limbo without the DREAM Act.

“We cannot be the anti-illegal immigration party. We have to be the pro-legal immigration party. We have to be a party that advocates for a legal immigration system that’s good for Americans, good for America and honors our tradition both as a nation of immigrants and as a nation of law.”

This warning comes as Mitt Romney ramps up his criticism of Rick Perry for having supported in state tuition for undocumented youth in Texas back in 2001. Romney has already come under criticism for his latest ad:

Do you think the current crop of GOP presidential contenders will heed Senator Rubio’s warnings?

By Thailandia Alaffita

Every morning, for fourteen years, I rose from my desk at school automatically, and pledged allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. I don’t remember how I learned it, much less how I learned it when my native language was Spanish. I suppose, that after hearing something over and over, and repeating it over and over, it becomes true, it becomes a part of you – whether it is or not.

Much like being American is a fact for Dreamers, not just a dream. We grow up hearing over and over that we are American, that we will all go to college, and have a career not just a job, and that we live in a country of freedom and justice. That we are just like everybody else. We hear it so much we believe it.

When I was younger, I was able to say the pledge with my right hand over my heart, my back straight, my voice steady and my eyes fixed on the prize. I never thought about what word came next, I just knew it. I had memorized it. In my years in college though, I learned that memorizing things doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve learned it.

It wasn’t until now, that I am back in the school setting, that I’ve been really listening to what I’m saying when I’m pledging allegiance to the flag. I enunciate each word perfectly and with such precision as if each word is crucial to the overall meaning of the pledge (as an English major I really believe this). I want so badly to be able to say that I am pledging allegiance to a flag of a country that is mine.

Now, however, my right hand struggles to find the heart it should go over, as we all know that home is where the heart is, and this country says I am not home. My voice quivers and breaks every time I say “liberty and justice for all” because for years I believed it true, and secretly I think I still do. And I close my eyes now, as I imagine a country that lives up to its promises. And the only thing that is still as it used to be is my perfect standing because no matter what I still love my flag, I still believe in my flag, and I still respect my flag. All I am asking is that the flag that I love so dearly loves, believes, and respects me too.

I grew up hearing from all my teachers, like every other little boy and girl, that I was college material, that if I worked hard I would thrive, and that if I really wanted something I would get it, for I was in the country of opportunities and here, anything was possible. I believed that my hard work would pay off, and that in this country, we all had our personal fairy godmother and all we had to do was really want something.

I tell this to my students now too, and can’t help but wonder if as teachers we are just conditioned to tell this to all our students and just hope for the best, hope that they all make it, or at the very least that some do. But what happens to the students like me, and like all my Dreamer friends, who despite all odds are trying to make it, and believe that all their hard work will pay off, but then they finish college and realize that they have hit a road block that all the hope and want and need simply cannot move?

By Seneca

Frankly, President Obama does not seem like he was fully prepared to be President. His hubris may have gotten the best of him. He ignited real hope and became lucky: Hillary Clinton became overconfident, GWB became a bane as a lame duck, and John McCain self-destructed. Ergo Obama became the man. Like a true liberal, he relied on his brilliance and elite thinking with good intentions for being elected. This has now wrought him calamity. In politics, it can be most unforgiving.

Where is President Obama’s Carville or Rove or Atwater or kitchen cabinet like Reagan’s California friends and influential backers or even Carter’s Hamilton Jordan to be his path finder as the American political swamp begins to devour him? Obama, being a loner by nature, is now, as President, up against the forces of economic and political troubled waters. Who in his Cabinet or White House is taking hits for him?

The wrath and smite of an aggrieved people will shortly visit him unless Lady Luck returns. The sadness is his latent failure may beget or unleash the might of ugly extremists with all their mean-spiritedness, intolerance, bigotry, nativism, uncharitable attitude all wrapped around the flag and the visceral language of religious and patriotic righteousness. This is beginning to sweep aside even the responsible fiscal and security conservatives. Obama is no FDR, who was more a political animal of his day: a doer who surrounded himself with seminal thinkers at a time of dire crisis. Even President Lincoln, the self-educated loner at a horrific time, relied on his military chiefs to move forward to save the Union. His leadership flowed from the simplicity and genius of his words which reassured and guided his people. Whereas, President Obama sees himself as a true Athenian actor on a stage full of Wagnerian menaces and Cassandra-like shadows and at best some misguided Panglossian spirit.

Obama is not a disappointment. Perhaps he symbolizes a national frustration that the world is not an American ideal but a brutish reality. The Latino failure to understand the current national crisis will prevent us from being able to survive the impending vortex. Immigration as a litmus test and a primary political metric increasingly appears to be misplaced by many of our Latino leadership. For instance on Tuesday, Representative Gutierrez was arrested in front of the White House to protest the record number of deportations the Obama administration has executed. This kind of political statement in the middle of an economic meltdown may make it appear that we are singularly focused on immigration. Yet in this hour when the ship of state begins to list dangerously, where are the voices of our Hispanic chieftains on jobs, education and the general welfare? Their silence is impressive in opining on the national debt debate while the latest Pew Report alarmingly announces that Latinos have lost 66 percent of their wealth! This devastating statistic is clearly proof that our community is in a deep depression and not a recession. The hope can only be when and if our elected and non-elected leaders in fact open their mouths that they will readily improve the silence. The sound must be one of true LEADERSHIP not just cheering on the mismanagement of the nation.

Even Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) issued a statement following the President’s speech explaining that Obama does have the executive authority to act:

“I agree with the audience members who chanted “yes you can” in rebuttal to the President’s statement that his powers over immigration policy are limited.  The President does have the power to grant temporary immigration benefits to Dream Act students who have lived here since childhood and he should allow Americans who are sponsoring loved ones to complete the visa process within the United States, a change that would result in the reunification of family members who now face years of separation.”

More locally, one part of the California DREAM Act passed, but this isn’t the meatier version that activists would really like to see get through the state legislature and signed by Governor Brown. This bill would allow undocumented youth in California to apply for private scholarships (note: some already received similar private aid). The companion bill, AB 131, would grant eligible students access to public scholarships and grants, but this bill is still “locked up” in the legislature. DREAMActivist has some good information for those interested in keeping AB 131 (as they are calling it, “the real California DREAM Act”) on the legislative agenda.

And finally, in what may be a key turning point in the undocumented youth activist movement, Andy Mathe has been deported despite an aggressive campaign to stop ICE from sending him back to South Africa. Mathe’s family had fled their country because of death threats. Look for more protests and actions in the near future because of this latest action by the administration.

According to wise Latino elder Cisneros:

“Today’s mobile technology allows teachers to teach their children about the Seven Wonders of the World in a way never before experienced by kids who came before. Learning comes to life with the Internet; it allows kids to experience almost firsthand what the teacher is teaching. This added dimension in the classroom backed up by access at home or on a teenager’s smartphone will add to the sentiment that nothing is out of reach for this child.

The importance of high-speed Internet service can be seen everywhere these days. Not just in classrooms as mentioned, but also in the entrepreneurial world as small businesses continue to fuel the engine of growth and job creation. Any new business today needs instant access to customers and suppliers. President Obama has been a leader on this, calling for all Americans to have high-speed Internet access and setting a goal of covering 98 percent of Americans by 2016. The proposed ATT/T-Mobile transaction is purported to cover 97.3 percent of Americans, giving them the ability to access 4G LTE mobile technology. This is the fastest wireless Internet access available, and it’s the kind you need to take full advantage of new online opportunities in areas such as business and education. In pure numbers, the merger has the potential to bring high-speed service to an additional 55 million Americans.”

That is why I urge federal officials to approve the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger. The company has committed to spend an additional $8 billion to expand next-generation wireless Internet service if the deal is approved. Wireless service offers the best, fastest hope to reach President Obama’s dream of universal Internet access. This is quite literally an investment in our future competitiveness. It means more students will graduate prepared for college. It means more businessmen and women will open more businesses in their communities which will in turn create jobs. And so forth.”

Plainly, this opinion piece by Cisneros was written to push the momentum that many Latino organizations have helped propel in support of this planned merger. Improving educational outcomes has more to do with promoting literacy, persistence, creating better learning environments at home and in our communities. While I love the internet and online learning, it is only one piece of the pie or rather one tool to help a student achieve success. Some may even argue that the internet creates distractions for students (time spent on social media, online games, and other time sink activities that are now online or available via cell phone).

According to CBS/AP:

“An alleged multistate online prostitution ring authorities say was run by a New Jersey physics professor has led to another arrest in academia. Former University of New Mexico President F. Chris Garcia was jailed Thursday, booked for investigation of promoting prostitution, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, Metropolitan Detention Center records show.

Detectives served search warrants Thursday at Garcia’s home and at his university office. He is now a professor at the school. Garcia, 71, was being held on a $35,000 cash or surety bond.

The Albuquerque Journal reported Garcia’s detention was connected to the arrest earlier this week of David Flory, a 68-year-old Fairleigh Dickinson University professor with homes in New York City and Santa Fe.”

If Garcia is in fact guilty of what he’s being investigated for, it’s very disappointing for the Latino academic community. This man should be considered an elder statesman of his discipline and of our community. If he blew it all to be involved in an online prostitution ring, then he’s certainly revealed to the public some troubling priorities. And if Garcia really wanted to be involved with prostitutes, it’s only about a three to four hour drive from Albuquerque to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico where prostitution is legal. It’s amazing that he would risk his nice life as a university professor for this kind of extracurricular activity.

The Illinois DREAM Act does three big things:

1. Creates a commission to raise private scholarships for undocumented Illinois youth,

2. Allows immigrant students and their parents to invest in their education in the state’s college savings plans (using their own funds), and

3. Trains HS counselors on higher education options for undocumented youth.

Lawrence Benito of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights stated, “Today’s bipartisan vote in the Illinois House is truly historic. This vote is a victory for our state and an important step forward in recognizing the contributions of immigrants.”

A few weeks ago, the Obama administration outlined its “steps” for improving Latino education, including: $4 billion school improvement grants; a request for additional Head Start and Early Head Start funding; and a program to train more Latino teachers. Most importantly, “mechanisms” are being put in place to significantly boost the college degree attainment of Latinos by 2020. While these initiatives are sure to make inroads for some, Latino students are so far behind the 8-ball that we can’t afford to continually see band-aids applied to wounds needing stitches. Obviously, reform is needed. In that light, it’s time for the Obama administration to do what no other administration has ever done: get a constitutional amendment passed that establishes equal education as a fundamental right.

Yes, I’m proposing the radical notion that we make equal education a right just like bearing arms is. It may come as a surprise to some that ‘education’ is not listed anywhere in the US constitution, or in any amendment we have passed since the constitution’s ratification. Arguably a byproduct of decentralized government and a time when any form of schooling was truly a privilege, the founding fathers (surprise, surprise) failed to foresee what education would be like today. However, this doesn’t mean the topic has never been broached. In the early 1970s, a group of low-income Latino parents sued their school district because of the inequitable education their children received compared to affluent students. The case, San Antonio Independent School District v. Rodriguez, went all the way to the Supreme Court with the legal team for Rodriguez crafting a simple, and fairly intuitive strategy: education should be a fundamental right. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court disagreed, and ruled that current school financing systems, (i.e. the ones where poor kids of color receive subpar education because of where they live) are in fact constitutional.

The case should have been a slam dunk for education advocates, but instead we were told education is a privilege, not a right. The fallout: legalization of all of the inequity that we see today. Had the case been decided differently, it’s conceivable there would be no achievement gap because states and districts would have a constitutional obligation to provide equal education. It’s almost impossible to picture a world in which the courts tell school boards “I don’t care if you have to sell naming rights to your highways, find a way to equitably fund your schools!” Failure to do so would result in courts taking over schools much like they did after desegregation was ordered, and students would not be disadvantaged upon entering a classroom based on where they live.

But in America, we get to plunge forward in the 21^st century knowing that our education system is inadequate. We move forward knowing that schools are approaching segregation levels that mirror the Brown v. Board of Education era, with Latinos being the most segregated student demographic in the country. And we move forward enduring a harsh reality that more and more of our citizenry is unemployable, with Latinos leading the way in dropouts resulting in the increased likelihood of ending up on welfare or in prison. Consequently, all people can seem to agree on in the face of this injustice is that the system is broken. After that, there’s no consensus on how to fix the problem, or where the burden to do so lies.

We’ll always have those who think throwing money at the problem will work. Or those who say improve teacher education but aren’t willing to pay a higher salary for teachers. Or those who debate curricula, and whether education needs to be nationalized much like it is in ALL of the developed countries ahead of us. Further complicating these debates are the power of teacher unions, decentralization of education provision, wealth inequity, mediocre teacher preparation in colleges, and apathy, all of which wouldn’t matter if education were a fundamental right. In that world, the mantra would be simple: get the job done! Instead, the absence of a fundamental right to equal education leaves most people, when given the chance, avoiding the debate altogether. They send their children to the best private schools if they can, and leave public education problems to those who don’t have such luxury. I don’t blame them, because all parents really want is the best for their children. But for those sentenced to public schools, a constitutional amendment to education might be their only hope in the wake of all of our education disagreements today.

In closing, no matter what people disagree on when it comes to education, what they can’t say is that it’s unimportant. It is directly tied to the economic viability of this nation, and for Latinos it is directly tied to where we as a people are going. Furthermore, we must remind ourselves that the debate needs to be about the students. Thus, if the Obama administration really wants to make a difference in education, it should start with making equality of education a constitutional amendment. Such a move would be more than symbolic because it would outlaw the inequity that we see today, and could let litigation begin that would allow us get to the heart of the problem. Now, it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Obama only now decides to address Latino education after recently wining and dining the cast of “Latino Celebrity Apprentice” for immigration reform. The 2012 election is right around the corner, and Obama needs his votes. If this prioritization is indicative of his true feelings towards Latino issues, then it might be better to start lobbying Congress for this amendment, because his timing is unacceptable.

Matthew Stieglitz received his BA in Communication from the University of Delaware and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Cornell University. He is currently a 2014 Juris Doctor candidate at Northeastern University School of Law and his main areas of interest include education policy and US-Cuba relations.