Elmer Chavarria illegally entered the US from Guatemala almost 20 years in hopes of escaping the violence in his hometown. In 2007 he married a US citizen, Cyndi, and together had a daughter. Unexpectedly, Elmer was assaulted and injured by police during a routine call in his Grand Rapids, Michigan home. After his release Elmer was advised to pursue immediate surgery for two herniated disks pinching his spinal cord which caused him severe back pain and numbness on his lower body. Before his surgery, U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement intervened and placed him at the Calhoun County Correction Center despite his medical condition. Elmer now, “risks permanent nerve damage, chronic pain, and disability” but despite knowing this information ICE has denied him prescribed medication and access to a neurosurgeon. Through their work, the Not1More Organization and Cyndi hope that ICE will grant Elmer a humanitarian parole to receive the medical assistance he urgently needs. The Not1More Organization branched off as a project from the National Day Laborer Organization Network becoming its own campaign in 2015.
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They identify as, “individuals, organizations, artists, and allies working to expose, confront, and overcome unjust immigration laws.” Their mission is to exploit the injustices behind immigration by becoming the voice for communities of people. Although their establishment is recent, they aim towards, “… challenging unfair deportation and unjust polity through organizing art, legislation, and action…reverse criminalization, build migrant power, and create immigration policies based on principles of inclusion.”
A strategy the Not1More organization uses to promote awareness of immigration issues is the use of art and similar works. Although protest and public statements are effective and most common, art represents a nontraditional method for personal and creative responses to activism. In her poem I Fear But I Pray, Emily Hernandez describes the struggles immigrants experience when reaching US soil only to encounter deportation threats once arrived. She shares:
Swimming in waters Crossing barren land My struggles you don’t know My feet hurt, My heart hurts, My soul hurts My physical is strong It won’t be long Until they take me away Hope for life filled With love and kindness With humanity that’s endless I fear, but I pray, Please Don’t take me away one more day Emily’s poem reflects a prayer, in hopes that someone will hear her request. Because art is a universal tool its meaning can be understood throughout many regions and extending to broader audience. Like other traditional styles, the goal is to encourage and engage others in their movement. History has demonstrated that there is a perception that whiteness represents superiority and anyone non-white is beneath. The U.S specifically is blinded by its obsession of whiteness and wanting to become white that it fails to recognize that whiteness comes attached with privileges. Derald Wing Sue states that the privileges, “allow White people to accept the unearned advantages of their skin color while allowing them to deny responsibility for how it disadvantages other groups… (19). “Legally Mexican Americans were accorded the racial status of White people; socially, politically, and economically, however, they were treated as non-Whites” according to Neil Foley (87). The oppressions that Elmer and other individuals endure in correction centers are based on the unacceptance and disapproval the US society
They identify as, “individuals, organizations, artists, and allies working to expose, confront, and overcome unjust immigration laws.” Their mission is to exploit the injustices behind immigration by becoming the voice for communities of people. Although their establishment is recent, they aim towards, “… challenging unfair deportation and unjust polity through organizing art, legislation, and action…reverse criminalization, build migrant power, and create immigration policies based on principles of inclusion.”
A strategy the Not1More organization uses to promote awareness of immigration issues is the use of art and similar works. Although protest and public statements are effective and most common, art represents a nontraditional method for personal and creative responses to activism. In her poem I Fear But I Pray, Emily Hernandez describes the struggles immigrants experience when reaching US soil only to encounter deportation threats once arrived. She shares:
Swimming in waters Crossing barren land My struggles you don’t know My feet hurt, My heart hurts, My soul hurts My physical is strong It won’t be long Until they take me away Hope for life filled With love and kindness With humanity that’s endless I fear, but I pray, Please Don’t take me away one more day Emily’s poem reflects a prayer, in hopes that someone will hear her request. Because art is a universal tool its meaning can be understood throughout many regions and extending to broader audience. Like other traditional styles, the goal is to encourage and engage others in their movement. History has demonstrated that there is a perception that whiteness represents superiority and anyone non-white is beneath. The U.S specifically is blinded by its obsession of whiteness and wanting to become white that it fails to recognize that whiteness comes attached with privileges. Derald Wing Sue states that the privileges, “allow White people to accept the unearned advantages of their skin color while allowing them to deny responsibility for how it disadvantages other groups… (19). “Legally Mexican Americans were accorded the racial status of White people; socially, politically, and economically, however, they were treated as non-Whites” according to Neil Foley (87). The oppressions that Elmer and other individuals endure in correction centers are based on the unacceptance and disapproval the US society