Advocacy isn't glamorous

Friendly (and cold) activists. 

Today my husband and I went downtown with a few members of IUYA to inform people passing by of instant action they could take (calling a specific Senator)  to help the Dream 30 by keeping two of the dreamers from being deported. (Deportation from the U.S. can mean a lot of danger back in Mexico. The students who would be deported have grown up in America (it is truly all they know) and because of all the media attention, would face severe violence by the carteles if they were to be deported.)

Current immigration reform policies, separate families for a long time. Like a really long time. Decades or for life in some cases. So we were also there to support reform for family reunification. My friend Lupe was brought to the United States when she was six years old. She hasn't been able to see her grandmother in 14 years. Her father was unable to return to Mexico to attend his own father's funeral. My brother-in-law hasn't seen his wife in a year and a half. My husband's immediate family was in one room together for the first time in 10 years at our wedding last December. Current immigration processes are lengthy and expensive and divisive. I just can't even begin to imagine. But it is real.

Lupe bracing herself from the cold and Chris dialing Senator Menendez's phone number

In driving to this event, I pictured 500 people rallying and yelling and singing on the monument. I imagined Bono showing up and offering to play for us. I pictured buttons and gung-ho legislators and drums. But it didn't look like that. I think that every day advocacy is much less glamorous. It was snowing. I was cold. (It the first REALLY cold day here in Indiana, so I'm sure a few passersby  looked at the ICE sign and thought we were protesting the cold- which isn't a bad idea, really.) I didn't always know if I was saying the right thing. There were five of us. I was kind of scared to talk to people. I couldn't get in touch with the Senator and left a bunch of voicemails.

But it was powerful. Energizing. People were responsive. People cared. It lit this fire in me that I can't explain. I truly believe that everyone is passionate about something. We can't choose everything (we shouldn't choose everything) But we can choose something and do small actions in concentrated ways to make a difference. If the Senator receives 300 calls today, what if the 6 calls that I made tipped him over the edge to stop the deportation? I had the power to change someone's life even though it is such a small thing for me to call. Those 6 calls totaled 4 minutes... maybe. Advocacy doesn't just have to look like picketing or rallying. It can be letter writing, educating, signing up voters, being kind, loving our neighbors and speaking truth. 

Small things add up. Small things matter. Small things make history.