Why I stand behind the “Deport Bieber” Petition

I am a deportable brown Latina living in Nashville, Tennessee and I stand behind this petition for the same reason I curse as a WOC getting a graduate degree at a prestigious university: Accountability.

I am a student at Vanderbilt University, and I curse – a lot. I didn’t grow up cursing, nor do my parents curse. As an academic, I curse as a political statement. Higher education places value on large vocabularies, eloquence, articulation, etc. as a means of determining how educated someone is, under the assumption that being educated makes you better than people who aren’t as educated. Higher academia is classist, and language is one of the many ways in which those with access separate themselves from the lowly uneducated people. Notice my sarcasm…? So I curse: in my papers, when I talk to my professors, when I ask questions in my discussion groups, when I talk about my projects to peers, I curse in all these classist settings to break the wall that separates higher education from la gente. When I curse, I think of my mother; when I curse, I think of my tatara abuelo who was sold into slavery and only got a 3^rdgrade education; when I curse, I think of the tortillera who didn’t attend school because she had to support her family; when I curse I think of the undocuqueer who is not given the opportunity to thrive. When I curse I think of the communities of Latin@s who are considered inferior due to the inaccessibility and classist framework of higher education. I curse because I am accountable to them, NOT to the pre-existing systems that are in place that keeps many of us from thriving.

I stand by the “Deport Bieber” petition because this will highlight the many flaws within the current immigration laws. As a brown Latina, I am deportable for that single aesthetic reason – what separates Bieber from Latin@s is that single detail. But that detail is keeping a young reckless [white] boy in the USA to party, while thousands of hard-working Latin@s are shoved out and kept from providing their families with a good meal, shelter, and the opportunity to dream of a better life. I stand by that petition because I am accountable to the communities of Latin@s who are told that their crimes are intolerable based solely on the pigment of their skin and the color of their hair.

So yes, in theory all immigrants should stand together and work to fix this country’s malditas leyes– but I’d rather work as a disruptive force that seeks to highlight a problem by bringing into the mainstream – because when that petition is looked at closely they will see thousands of Latin@ last names and the White House should listen and realize that this is a statement against NOT Bieber but a statement against the systems in place that prevent some of us from living full lives.

Priscila Dorcas Mojica

Priscila Dorcas Mojica Rodriguez is a chonga Mujerista from Managua, Nicaragua living in Nashville, TN. She is a full-time graduate student studying Liberation Ethics at Vanderbilt University. She is also the founder of Latina Rebels and works alongside the Latin@s in her community to combat racism and sexism as they manifest themselves in the daily struggle of the Latina embodiment. Priscila is a dancer and a photographer, and often looks for ways to incorporate those two elements of her identity in her work. Que viva la mujer!