Emily Cunningham

I love my immigrant community and as an immigrant myself I've had to go through a process of everyday reflection on what it means to live in occupied Indian land. I want to share with my community some thoughts:

earlier today, I saw an article that talked about "the nation of immigrants," & one that uplifted the messaging of "#HereToStay" and as someone who is also Indigenous, I have sometimes failed to show up for Indigenous folk in what is now the "US" by signing off on these messages

talking about "the nation of immigrants" centers a nation that is by default committed to further kill Indigenous communities because this messaging assumes that they are dead. The nation of immigrants" is also anti-black. Black folk arrived to this land on chattel slavery

when we use frameworks of "nationhood" to advocate for immigrant rights, we are directly uplifting the projects of settler-colonialism and trans*atlantic slavery.

"the nation of immigrants" also normalizes documented & undocumented migration. TBQH: my family never wanted to migrate. We come from Zapotec land where we don't own our water, food plantations, and sometimes, our own homes. We migrated b/c of settler-colonialism.

Talking about "the nation of immigrants" downplays our experiences as displaced people and as Black people who never had to choice of where to go because our bodies/ our ancestors were kidnapped, transported, enslaved and thus, arrived to this land via shipment on boats.

As immigrants, we need to learn how to build, fight alongside with and uplift those who are Indigenous to what is now the "U.S." and to Black folk whose ancestors were enslaved in what is now the "U.S."

I share this publicly, and I also risk having gaps in my analysis because we need to do better. We cannot afford to be reactionary anymore. As a Black and Indigenous person, this is an analysis that has come to me out of necessity to continue to survive.