The Need to Stand in Solidarity

In reflection I can see the many ways in which power structures have shaped my life and the lives of my family. I was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and lived there for the first nine years of my life. The fact that I was born there (and not in Guatemala as the rest of my family was) means that I am the only US citizen in my family. At the time, my father was completing a degree and later working at Louisiana State University. Since my parents and older brother were not citizens they were only “allowed” to live in the US under my father’s exchange visitor visa. We lived in Baton Rouge and were all building our futures there. Even though I felt strong connections to Guatemala and visited occasionally, the US was the only home me and my brother knew. However, shortly after September 11th in 2001, as part of the xenophobia and fear that emerged, immigration regulations changed for exchange visitor visas and my family was suddenly forced by migration laws to leave the country and move back to Guatemala.

As I grew up in Guatemala, I came to understand the complexities in my identities as a Guatemalan-American with dual citizenship. With time I understood how colonialism was at the heart of all the problems, inequality and ideologies of Guatemala. As a mestizo (mixed Spanish and indigenous ancestry) I realized how much privilege I held relative to most of the population which is overwhelmingly indigenous, and most of whom live in extreme poverty. I learned Guatemala’s true history and how much of its present conditions were a result of imperialism. I learned how the US had intervened and destabilized Guatemala, leading to a bloody civil war. I learned how my parents grew up in the midst of a culture of repression because of this civil war. This was especially conflicting as someone (the only person in my family) who had the privilege of living and moving freely in both countries, simply because I was born in the US.

Since moving back to the US at eighteen I have been questioning the system around me and my role within it. I have reflected on how even though my family was forced to leave the country as a result of ignorance and bigotry, I must also recognize that my experience as an upper-middle class Guatemalan is drastically different than that of most people who are forced to leave this country often after fleeing violence or extreme poverty. I often feel conflicted about having the privilege of American citizenship, but I also take this privilege seriously because I recognize how many people around the world are affected by this country. This country as an institution of power has historically set aside and repressed people from countries like Guatemala, yet by matter of chance, I have citizenship and the ability to speak up as an American.

For the past several years I have been learning about Palestine and how the US has enabled Israel’s human rights violations. Similarly, I have seen Guatemala’s foreign policy has provided widespread diplomatic support for Israel’s crimes. I have come to understand that as an American, as a Guatemalan and as a human being I need to find more ways to help support Palestinian resistance. I realize that the Palestinian people need us to stand in solidarity just like my family in Guatemala needed people in the US to stand against its intervention and destabilization in Guatemala.