Habla y Vota
I watched a show with this name last night on HBO. Definitely worth watching - stories of people born in the U.S. and immigrants who are undocumented. Very hopeful story of Trump awakening a sleeping giant - Hispanic voters.
The woman I remember most from the video talked about her mother growing up in hard, hard poverty in Mexico. Her parents came to the states before she was born and her mother felt like she was in heaven because... running water. When the woman speaking was a child her family lived on the streets, as squatters. They had a shopping cart with all their belongings. As she grew up, she was very close with her mother - so close that when her mother was diagnosed with a received a terminal diagnosis she cared for her until the end. At times in her childhood when the family learned about resources that could help them, her mother tended not to connect with them - she was so grateful to be in the U.S. - and didn't want to be a burden, didn't want to take too much. Her fatal diagnosis wouldn't have been fatal if she had seen a doctor earlier, but she didn't want to be a burden. The rage and pain the woman feels when she hears people say that immigrants come to get free stuff, that they just take and take - are intense as she thinks of her mother, dying much too young, because she didn't want to take too much.
My parents grew up in poverty, too. I recognize this story. The poor are used to having little and often terribly reluctant to ask for anything because they expect they will be denied or have swallowed the societal message that they are at fault for being poor, that they don't deserve better.
We have such a long way to go...
I am greatly encouraged by the stories of the diverse individuals in the video.