How Does It Feel to Be Unwanted?, Eileen Truax
How Does It Feel to Be Unwanted?, Eileen Truax
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How Does It Feel to Be Unwanted?
Stories of Resistance and Resilience from Mexicans Living in the United States

Author: Eileen Truax, Diane Stockwell, Diane Stockwell

Narrator: Kyla Garcia

Unabridged: 7 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 09/11/2018


Synopsis

In an era of increasing anti-immigrant sentiment and bigotry, each of these 13 stories illuminates the issues affecting the Mexican community and shows the breadth of a frequently stereotyped population.

Dreamers and their allies, those who care about immigration justice, and anyone interested in the experience of Mexicans in the US will respond to these stories of Mexican immigrants (some documented, some not) illuminating their complex lives. Regardless of status, many are subjected to rights violations, inequality, and violence--all of which existed well before the Trump administration--and have profound feelings of being unwanted in the country they call home.

There's Monica Robles, the undocumented mother of three US citizens who is literally confined to a strip of territory between two checkpoints--one at the Mexico border and one twenty-seven miles north of the border. We meet Jeanette Vizguerra, who came to symbolize the sanctuary movement when she took shelter in a Denver church in February 2017 to avoid deportation. (Later that year, Time magazine named her one of the one hundred most influential people in the world.) There's Daniel Rodriguez, the first undocumented immigration lawyer in Arizona to successfully obtain a license to practice. Alberto Mendoza, who suffered persecution as a gay man for years, in 2013 founded Honor 41, a national Latina/o LGBTQ organization that promotes positive images of their community. After crossing the border illegally with his mother as a child, Al Labrada later joined the military to get on a path to citizenship; in March 2017, he was promoted to captain in the Los Angeles Police Department. These and eight other stories will broaden how you think about Mexicans in America.

About The Author

Eileen Truax is a Mexican journalist specializing in migration and politics. She contributes regularly to Al Día News and the Spanish-language versions of the New York Times, Newsweek, and Vice. Truax often speaks at colleges and universities about the Dreamer movement and immigration. Her current project explores the lives of immigrant youth in Spain. Truax is the author of Dreamers: An Immigrant Generation's Fight for Their American Dream and author of the forthcoming We Built the Wall, about how the US shuts down asylum seekers (2018). She lives in Los Angeles.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Ruby

Gives an inside look into the lives of so many who are vilified in the US media. Takes a look into how it truly feels for an outsider to attempt at a life of good.......more

Goodreads review by Suzanne

I think this book is a four out of five. Each chapter tells the story of a different Mexican living in the United States. This book reminds you that this issue of undocumented citizens and so on has been going on for decades. Most people in the book have been dealing with the same issues for decades......more

Goodreads review by Ed

As most books that decry the negative issues with deportation the author writes about some immigration laws incorrectly. For instance even though the consequences of most deportations are equal how aliens are deported can vary a lot. Barack O'Bama deported the most aliens than any other president bu......more


Quotes

“Clarifying and timely.”
Booklist

“An urgent book for our times. When immigrant voices are being silenced, when immigrant families are being torn apart, when immigrant youth are being denied their right to dream of a better future, this book inspires us to see, to listen, and to understand. Above all, it celebrates the tenacity and resilience of a community whose stories are, without any doubt, part of the American experience.”
—Reyna Grande, author of The Distance Between Us