There is a lineage. Let their names be sung and recited over and over again. Let the change they strived for be named. These change-makers were my sisters, my friends, my chosen family and my support system. We were responsible for changing the nation’s sentiments about undocumented migrant young people. We amplified our narratives and forever shifted migration discourse even if we weren’t held up publicly. We did the work to claim our lives.
Author: Sonia Guiñansaca
Sonia Guiñansaca is an internationally award winning queer migrant multi-disciplinary artist, poet, cultural organizer and social justice activist from Harlem by way of Ecuador. They co-founded and help build some of the largest undocumented organizations in the country, coordinating and participating in groundbreaking civil disobedience actions in the immigrant rights movement, and have also founded some of the first creative artistic projects by and for undocumented writers/artists. Sonia self published their first mini poetry chapbook, "Nostalgia and Borders," in 2016; in Spring 2020, they will release their second, "#PapiFemme" and launch Alegria Press, a publishing house for undocumented and formerly undocumented writers. Sonia is a VONA/Voices, Poetry Foundation and BOOAT Fellow; has performed at The Met, Brooklyn Museum, The Highline, Joe Pubs and Lehmann Maupin Gallery; and has been featured on NBC, PBS, Pen American, the Poetry Foundation, Interview Magazine and UK’s Diva Magazine. Find them on Twitter and Instagram @TheSoniaG.