<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">You Know Me</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;"> </span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Dear President,</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I’m a Hispanic immigrant</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">You know me</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">You’ve heard me.</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">But you don’t</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">You know my story</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">You know where I’m from</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">You know what I look for</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">You know what I want.</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">But you don’t</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Like thousands of people</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Like thousands of stories</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I’m a Hispanic immigrant</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">But you don’t know me.</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I left pinolillo y cacao helado</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Fritangas los viernes en la noche</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Nacatamal los fines de semana</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">A mi abuela en la casa</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Al perrito que quedó solo y llorando</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">A mi Nicaragua</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Mi Nicaragua y su rica cultura</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Sus hermosas playas y volcanes ardientes</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Su gente amorosa y hermosa</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I left my Nicaragua hoping</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">That my future would look brighter here</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I left hoping</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Y todo por el</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">“American Dream”</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">El American Dream que se va desvaneciendo</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">The longer I stay</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Because the longer I stay</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I realize</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I am not heard</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I am not seen</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">And I am not wanted here</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">“Permanent residency or citizenship”</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Is the first requisite for any scholarship</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Because I have to be one of them</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I have to be an American</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">I have to speak English</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">In order to have real opportunities</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Because while I’m still Hispanic</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">While I’m still an immigrant</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">There’s no American Dream</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">¿Y el sueño americano?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">With no scholarships</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">How do I pay ten thousand dollars per year?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">How can my immigrant parents with immigrants’ jobs pay ten thousand dollars per year for each of their children? Or even one?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Where’s the American Dream for them?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">There isn’t one</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Cause they can’t speak English</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">And they have to be American</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">The American Dream</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">That promised we could study, work, live</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Fades away</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">And if there are so many stories like mine?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If there are so many people like me</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If they decide to take away my identity and label me as just another immigrant</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If presidents, Americans, put all of us into one group</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If they assume that they know each one of our stories and each one of our needs</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If they think their system is fair</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If they think that they’re helping us</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If they think they know what’s best for us</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">If they know immigrants so well</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Then how are we still not seen?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">How are we still so overlooked?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">How are we still so overworked?</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">Working for a government that does not want us in their country</span><br style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap; font-size: 22px;">That is the American Dream.</span><div style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br></span></div><div style="font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Valeria Ruiz</span></div></div></body></html>