The new presidential administration has stated its intentions around immigration, including mass deportations of undocumented and certain legal immigrants, ending birthright citizenship for children born in the US to undocumented immigrants, border and travel bans for certain groups of people, and the defunding of sanctuary cities. For some of us with immigration stories in our history, we do not currently feel a direct threat to our rights, freedom, or humanity. Yet, for so many of us—especially undocumented children and children from mixed status families—these are very, very real and terrifying threats to our existence.
Merna Ann Hecht worked with Seattle-based asylum-seeking high school students to create this beautiful book of self-portraits, art, and poetry. Each student artist in the book asks you to look past biases and stereotypes about asylum seekers to see their full humanity as they share who they are and their stories through their vibrant self-portraits, artist statements, and poetry. The poems were written in students’ native languages and translated into English to allow for each students’ full expression of themselves.
This book offers an important mirror for immigrant and refugee students to see themselves beautifully represented in printed media. It creates empathy and understanding for the immigrant/migrant experiences of global youth for non-immigrant/refugee children.
Ideas for bringing this book into the classroom:
Ask students to look at the self-portraits first and describe what they see. What do they notice? What are they curious about from the image? What does the portrait tell them about the artist? Then read the artist statement about the self-portrait and make connections between what students noticed and asked about and what the artist said about themselves.
Many of the artists reference specific places in their poems. Look up these places on a map and search for photographs of each place so students have visual references to each place. What is similar about this place to where you live? What are some differences?
After reading each poem, ask: How would you describe this artist based on their poem? (Or, what did you learn about this person from this poem?) How are you similar to them? If they were a new student in our classroom, how would you welcome them and help them feel safe and comfortable here?
Green Card Voices is a Minneapolis-based, nationally growing nonprofit that connects immigrants and their communities through multimedia storytelling. They record the first person narratives of immigrants, and publish them in books, online and in traveling exhibits. So far, they have recorded the stories of over 500 immigrants and refugees who are originally from over 140 countries and who now reside in Minnesota, New York, New Jersey, California, North Dakota, Georgia and Wisconsin.
Featured programs:
Story Stitch is a conversation card game with the goal of deepening connections between immigrants and their neighbors through story-telling.
Videos: GCV has collected stories from over 500 immigrants and refugees, many of which are recorded on video.
Books: GCV has several themed books that include the stories and perspectives of immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs, STEM workers, and youth from different cities and regions.
Our Stories Carried Us Here books
Anthology: a graphic novel anthology for teens with 11 stories of immigrant youth from all over the world
Graphic Novels: bilingual children’s graphic novels for ages 8-12 featuring authentic narratives of immigrant/refugee children who are Mexican, Vietnamese, Khmer, and Hmong.
What Anti-Bias Educators should do:
Acknowledge that almost all of us are immigrants residing on stolen Native land.
Educate yourself on the common myths and facts about immigrants and immigration, and be prepared to dispel these myths when you hear them in your classroom or school community.
Be aware of the acute anxiety and fear some of your students may be experiencing if they and/or their families are recent and/or undocumented immigrants. As enforcement of immigration policies have become more aggressive and U.S. ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids more common, students may worry about whether school is a safe place for them or worry about their families when they are apart.
Ensure that your school is a safe place for all immigrant students, regardless of status. The 1982 Supreme Court case Phlyer v. Doe ruled that undocumented children have a constitutional right to receive free, public K-12 education. You may have undocumented students in your class or school community, and they may not even know they are undocumented. You may also never know, but you must make sure the school is a safe community for them.
Provide a safe space for refugee students in your class as well. You may not know a student is a refugee, and families may not want to talk about it. The most important thing you can do is to provide students and families with a safe place.
Respect the experiences of your students when sharing books and stories with immigrants or refugees in them, and watch for any signs of stress. Don’t ever expect students to teach others and be a spokesperson about the immigrant or refugee experience.
Respect students’ home languages. You will likely have students in your classroom who speak a language other than English at home. It is also important to find ways to support your students’ home languages as an essential part of respecting their identities and integrating home culture into your classroom.
Consider how you will respond to your students’ questions and comments about immigration, especially if they come in the form of anti-immigrant microaggressions. Make sure that your responses send a message of safety and belonging to your immigrant and refugee students without shaming and blaming other students for their questions and comments.
Use books, videos, and stories to provide affirming counter narratives on immigration, immigrants, and refugees.
