Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I feel like there's this misconception that immigrants come here and just don't care about the system and paying taxes, and that's not true.
I went through depression, which is something that we don't often talk about when we look at undocumented communities and deported families.
We need to be investing in resources, like Women Step Forward, to provide immigrants with trusted information about their rights and options.
Some people have issues in their past that might make them tweak out at certain moments, but it's possible to snap back and be a real human being.
All of the characters on 'Doom Patrol' explore traumatic pasts, how to deal with those pasts, and how that affects their present and their future.
I feel like you can't really be truthful as an artist and empathize with the human experience unless you know your truth, and you're not living a lie.
I've experienced colorism in that way: where if you're lighter, then you'll potentially be accepted into society better than if you were darker-skinned.
My parents instilled a lot of American values in me. They encouraged me to work hard and told me that anything was possible for me because I was a citizen.
We need comprehensive immigration reform so that we're not creating this cycle of poverty and depression and everything that comes with separating a family.
Even kids who haven't had firsthand experience with the immigration system, I want them to know how families are affected and what kind of system is in place.
I want to be viewed like a serious actress, and I'm afraid that people are just going to see me as the poor little girl whose parents were deported when she was 14.
In my opinion, we're here to be happy; we're here to work hard; we're here to do the right thing; and we're here to save our planet. And I think that we can achieve it.
I want us to all look at ourselves and look at our stories. It doesn't matter where you come from or what journeys you've taken. Your stories matter, and they're powerful.
I want immigration reform to come into fruition, and I want it to be comprehensive, and I want it to have a path to citizenship, and I want to be involved politically every day.
It's disheartening to see the hate speech and the divisive behavior. But at the same time, I have to believe that smart people and good people of this country don't give in to that.
If we value children and family, there's a great need for change, and we should try immigration reform - create a path for citizenship for people already here, update the visa system.
I loved to sing and dance and play-act, and I always believed that my dream to become an actor would come true because my immigrant parents had taught me to believe in the American dream.
We have to educate our communities about the immigration system and dispel the myths that have been fed to us. Immigration isn't going to go away. A wall isn't going to 'solve' the issue.
'Doom Patrol' is doing the most - and the wackiest - things, but when you've been alive in this time, you know it's actually not so wacky. Awful, strange, and inexplicable things do happen.
It's sometimes a little embarrassing to take selfies, but sometimes I want to take a selfie because I'm like, 'Oh I look cute. I like my hat. I like what I'm wearing, and I want to show it off.'
I am here, a citizen of this country, and I'm saying, 'Hey, the system failed me. I am a good citizen. I contribute to this country, and here I am sharing my story. What are you going to do now?'
I was voted Most Happy-Go-Lucky in high school. Can you believe that? I was crying every other day by myself, but I was voted Most Optimistic and Most Likely to Have Her Own Television Talk Show.
I remember when I was younger, older folks would say to me, 'There are three things you don't talk about at a dinner party: religion, politics, and money.' But I think the truth is quite the opposite.
I would have had a much different story to tell if I had been imprisoned after being separated from my family, without a warm bed and only the cold faces of ICE agents and the crinkly feeling of a Mylar blanket.
We have a lot of comments on the news, we have a lot of rhetoric over what an immigrant is and what a deportee is, but you don't hear any real stories. I don't think we ever had the chance to really tell our side.
I don't know why I was lucky enough to have people in my community take me in. To be able to continue school. Or why I was lucky enough to find work or go to college. I do know that kind of luck is one in a million.
If you have money, donate it. If you have time, donate that time. If you have a story to tell, share that story. There's a list of things you can do, and even educating yourself is a form of revolution in my opinion.
I feel like there's this misconception that immigrants come here and just don't care about the system and paying taxes, and that's not true. My father was desperately trying to be a legal contributor to this society.
Crazy Jane is a complex individual who always has a lot brewing. She tries to hold things together on the surface, which is something that we all try to do. She uses these different personalities to try to cope with life.
I worked a variety of jobs in retail and at coffee shops all through high school. And, though I was surrounded by people who cared about me, part of me ached with every accomplishment, because my parents weren't there to share my joy.
I think despite what we've seen on TV, people like seeing women and knowing about women's stories and their struggles and their truth. I think we've seen it in a lot of these shows - when there's a cast of all women, it does very well.
I think people want immigration reform. I think people want to see a path for citizenship. I don't think we as a country want to discuss this in the way we do. I don't think we want to separate families. I don't think that's part of our values.
My parents came here from Colombia during a time of great instability there. Escaping a dire economic situation at home, they moved to New Jersey, where they had friends and family, seeking a better life, and then moved to Boston after I was born.
This is the kind of stuff me and my friends talk about. We sit around and drink coffee, and we're really angry: We're like, 'Where's the Latino Museum?' Where can we go with our families, where can we go with our friends to learn about our history?
It's interesting when people access their inner little girl or little boy. I remember doing tons of those exercises when I was in school, where you're trying to dig into your vulnerability. There's no mask for a child, so all those feelings are real.
There are some days that I have to remind myself, and I have to give myself affirmations, and I have to go to yoga or do something nice for myself. I get nervous about putting myself out there, but I want to encourage others to use their voices, too.
Throughout my childhood, I watched my parents try to become legal but to no avail. They lost their money to people they believed to be attorneys but who ultimately never helped. That meant my childhood was haunted by the fear that they would be deported.
I feel like you can't really be truthful as an artist and empathize with the human experience, unless you know your truth and you're not living a lie. So I'm learning through it, and it's making me a better person, and it's making me a better artist, I think.
When you watch 'Doom Patrol,' you'll see most of the characters are trying to run away from their feelings and their emotions, and the minute they take a second and look at themselves face to face, that's when things can actually get resolved and get one step closer to peace.
It's important that we vote, because this is how we can bring about change and bring about reform, and, honestly, I don't see Donald Trump, anything that he's saying to be effective or comprehensive. Instead of really uniting our country - we are the United States of America - he is dividing us.
While awaiting deportation proceedings, my parents remained in detention near Boston, so I could visit them. They would have liked to fight deportation, but without a lawyer and an immigration system that rarely gives judges the discretion to allow families to stay together, they never had a chance.
I spent a long time in the shadows. I always had this feeling that I was the only one going through stuff, because I kept it a secret. Once I decided to use my voice in a way that could potentially help others, I found there were a lot of people like me - a lot of kids left behind. So, I wanted to call attention to the issue.
I so desperately wanted to fit in. There was a trajectory, and obviously, our society tells us that you go to high school, you graduate, and then you go to college, and from there, you get an internship, you get a job, and some people study abroad, and there are so many things you see that you desperately want to be a part of.
I broke down. I hid under the bed because I was afraid that somebody was going to come for me. I don’t know who that someone was but I was just so scared. Not a single person at any level of government took any note of me. No one checked to see if I had a place to live or food to eat, and at 14, I found myself basically on my own.
My parents' deportation gave me so much strength to keep on moving forward, because any type of failure - whether in school or with jobs or rejection from a casting office - nothing could be as bad as what I had already gone through. Nothing could be worse than coming home expecting to see your loving parents and them not being there.
Before I cook, I always have to put on music that parents listened to while cooking. I remember waking up in the morning and seeing my dad making breakfast with music and cutting up the tomato and singing to it and just handling food with such care. So when I cook, I put on salsa, vallenato, cumbia, or anything that reminds me of Colombia.
After a while, you're growing up so quickly and you begin to not know your parents anymore. You're left with the memories you had as a kid, but you're not a kid anymore and your experiences are separate. We are now much closer and communicate almost every day. It's a lot of work, but what holds us together is the hope that we will one day be together again.
When there are deportations, you better believe there are families involved - there are parents being separated from their children. It doesn't reflect our values as Americans, and I don't think it fixes the issue. I think there would be a lot of advantages to creating paths to citizenship for people who are already working here so they are contributing to our economy.
Since I went public with my story, I've never experienced such hate. I sometimes want to crawl under my blanket and hide forever and say, "No, that's some other girl who had an opinion." My blood has boiled a few times, but I just have to come back to earth and say people are entitled to their own opinions and I'm entitled to share my story the way I want. And that's exactly what I'm doing.
We have a broken system, and we need politicians who are going to fix it. We need someone who's going to govern on behalf of everyone in this country, including immigrants. The fact of the matter is, the candidates need the Latino vote to win. If we feel we're not being represented and if we feel like the candidate is insulting us, ignoring us, and is not leading with fairness and empathy, I think that's going to be reflected in turnout.