The Patriot Act and the Dream Act
We are high school students and during our summer internship with Radio Rootz at community radio station WBAI, we explored issues that affect us as immigrant youth and youth of color. So many of us are undocumented, yet we have been in this country for much of our lives and want to be a full part of society. We learned that the DREAM Act would lift a lot of limitations enforced upon immigrant youth who want a higher education. And in speaking with immigrant teenagers about this, we not only learned what additional struggles they have, but realized that many of us share the same concerns about our future in this country.
We also researched the Patriot Act and found out that a lot of the public, especially other young people, had never even heard of it. As youth, we think it’s important to talk about this and tell others because it might be the first step of many to erode our future rights. And now with President Bush in office for another four years, we all need to be informed about the things that go on but aren’t often talked about.