‘Trail of Dreams’ in Georgia: Four Youth Face the KKK on “Latino Invasion”

America's Voice Blog

Posted 02/26/10 at 10:17am

‘Trail of Dreams’ in Georgia: Four Youth Face the KKK on “Latino Invasion”

This week I was struck all over again by the power and courage of a very simple act: four young people who decided to take matters into their own hands and make an epic journey from Florida to Washington DC, on foot. Their goal? To raise awareness about the Dream Act and show the urgency of real immigration reform for youth who were brought to the U.S. at a young age.

Gaby, Carlos, Felipe, and Juan are the four bold young people who make up the "Trail of Dreams," but they are also facing challenges along the way. An email I got from their website yesterday suggests that they are entering hostile anti-immigrant territory as we speak. Just last weekend, they came head to head with the KKK in Georgia. The assembeled clansmen were protesting what they call the "Latino invasion" of the United States.

In a post called "Contradictions," Juan writes about the jarring encounter:

Ultimately, the success of today was to be able to stand hand in hand with our friends from the NAACP; singing liberation songs together and acknowledging our united struggle for racial justice. We ALL deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. We all deserve to be acknowledged for our humanity.

Tweeting from the rally, the marchers commented about how sad it was to see young kids wearing the KKK robes. These children were already being taught to fear and hate.

What struck me all over again, listening to the Trail of Dreams students' account of their run-in with the KKK, is that intolerance and hatred that are ultimately rooted in fear. For some, a changing, diverse America is a sign of peril. It is something to be feared and opposed at all costs. Perhaps it is due to my multicultural upbringing (my parents' ancestry spans three continents), but to me, this unrivalled diversity is part of what makes me so proud to be American. From many peoples, we are one. Sure we have our problems, but we work to overcome them.

We forge ahead, and we become more than what we once were.

As we continue the fight for real immigration reform, and as we encounter the many political challenges that lie ahead, I hope we can keep the spirit of these four young people and our shared vision for America at the forefront of what it is we hope to achieve.