“I knew that I wanted to be somebody, but I didn’t know what I wanted to be. Because I didn’t have the legal right, I feel, to be somebody” (Goodman, 2018, pg. 59).

Why do government systems deport people? Why is the process of becoming a US citizen so difficult and belabored? Why is asylum seeker status so difficult to receive? How could a law ever justify tearing people away from their families and children? What purpose does that serve beyond psychological torment? Would we ever separate asylum seeking families who were white? How did we get to a place where teachers and principals need to be well versed in immigration legalese? The only answer I can think of to these questions is white supremacy

The title of this chapter, The Legal Right to be Somebody, a direct quote from undocumented student, Licia, so simply addresses an archaic and dehumanizing concept still embedded in our legal and governing system: humans as property. Or perhaps more specifically, any person not white or male having less value, and therefore can be treated as object or commodity, having little to no say in decision making regarding their own being. This ideal is foundational to our governing body, a state created from a place of supremacy based upon skin color, which still infiltrates our entire legal and judicial system, bleeding over into infrastructure and social services. It is this system, this foundation, that leaves a young human full of potential to feel like they exist in the U.S. as some sort of invisible but conscious body, frozen in time afraid to exist beyond basic survival. When we create narratives that turn humans into ‘aliens’ or ‘illegals’ we erase humanity, and uphold supremacist values, saying just because we were born here, we deserve more, are more and will be more. As educators we can introduce new narratives, treat our students with compassion, get to know our community and ask our students to do the same — but the law is the law. And it is my opinion, the law should not have the right or the reach to decide who is human, and who is less than human.