Engaging with migration and immigration in the context of Mexico has opened my eyes to many social issues. During a week in Mexico City, my class visited a migrant shelter (Tochan), a deportee shelter and the US Embassy. All three visits provided images that worked together to create a picture of immigration. Tochan consisted of mostly of people trying to migrate from Central America to the US, while the deportee shelter consisted of people who have been deported from the US. The US Embassy simply served as an extension of the current administration in the United States.

We listen to Tochan shelter’s migrants as we stood in front of one of their gorgeous murals

The most impactful part of both visits to shelters was hearing all of the very unique but similar stories. All the stories provide a different perspective on the policies about immigration that seem so removed from real life. We spoke with one young man who lost his whole family in Ecuador and is on the journey to reestablish his independence or freedom in Mexico City.  From the deportee shelter, we heard a story of a woman who lived the US for 16 years but she was undocumented. While trying to obtain legal status she was deported and told she could not return to the states for 25 years. Her whole life including her kids still live in the US and essentially have no way of seeing their mom.  As I experience more immigration stories the foundation of all of them are family separation. So the immigration stories juxtaposed with the policies enforced by the US government are very distant from each other. What I mean by that is the needs of the people are not being met while the governments insist they are enforcing policies to benefit the people. My understanding is either the governments involved don’t know or they don’t care, and in the meantime, families are being ripped apart and destroyed. 

The funniest part of my first week with my Mexican host family was the conversation about my type of vegetarianism. One day I came home and cooked broccoli and rice, but only under the supervision of my host grandmother. She made sure I used the right cup and kept checking to make sure I wasn’t burning the food. In the end, she watched how I set my plate with the rice and broccoli separate from each other and chiles on top. In unison, my host grandmother and mom said, “Awww,” acknowledging that they were starting to understanding how and what I eat. Food in my new home is a conversation starter that leads me and my host family towards learning new things about each other.

The biggest task I’ve had during my homestay is managing exception with reality. My host family is vegetarian for me, they love Louis Armstrong, and my host father likes rap music from Compton. My host family consists of my mom, dad, fifteen-year-old sister, two uncles, six cousins and spunky grandmother.

Before I arrived at their house they probably ate lots of meat but because of me, they are vegetarian for every meal I am a part of. They also go out of their way to make sure that I feel welcomed and involved in the family.  When my extended family is present, they also make an effort to make sure I understand the conversation and feel welcome to contribute. Going into the homestay I didn’t have any set expectations for my family, but I did anticipate that it would be very awkward for a long time. However the second day that I was there, my host cousins and father began to play me their favorite types of music. For the very little Spanish I knew, this type of show-and-tell relieved some pressure for me because I could contribute to the conversation. With all nerves aside, my homestay has been above and beyond anything I could have expected.

As I’ve gotten more comfortable in my homestay, all of our conversations lead to deeper topics.  The biggest task I’ve faced during this time is managing expectations with reality.  Recently my hair has been a big topic amongst my family because they feel it is ever changing. When I entered their home I had braid extensions. Part way through my stay I removed my extensions and revealed my dreads. The conversation about my hair led us to a conversation about political revolutions. I contributed to the conversation my knowledge about the ways black hair is often used as a form of resistance. Then my host mom began to talk about the different revolutions in Mexico and what people have been fighting for. Since my host mom likes documentaries and history as much as I do, we now have ‘documentary nights’.

The first documentary we watched was What Happened, Miss Simone? The film provided some context to Black resistances in the States. My host grandmother made the connection between how I identify and what I attribute to my blackness with the similar ways Miss Simone defines her identity, in the film. A conversation that started with my hair quickly turned into a discussion about how I identify. The main point of our conversation was me explaining that I don’t perceive my identity as a Black person to be negative. From my family’s perspective Black isn’t an identity, and people should be more than a color. However, for myself, I am just Black and everything negative and positive that it means. After we saw our movie and had our conversation, my family stopped correcting or trying to project their own perspective of identity onto me. We’ve created an understanding of how I identify, all with the help of movie night.