For all my life I fought for control over myself and I thought the only way to do that was to fit a perfect mold of what society wanted. Many people of color will grow striving to be a model minority, to be the exception to the disrespectable. The crushing double standards that citizens had of immigrants, men had of women, white people had of people of color, and many others controlled me exactly the way I was fighting to not be. Respectability politics created a caste system I could never win against.
The standards that are set by society lead most people to live in a state of constant pretense. We have to live by the standards the privileged are not expected to hold. I would remain a virgin for life and pursue a career. This extended to my culture. I fought to eat, talk, and act American. Maya Moreno is an undocumented writer, podcast creator, pornography actress and most recently, a YouTuber.
She stands at roughly five and a half feet tall with a soft expression. Her dark curls bounce around her high cheekbones. Each syllable she enunciates sharply and with purpose. Her room is splattered with art. Despite being unable to attain a higher education, Moreno pushes herself to stay informed on issues that directly affect her, immigrant rights being one. As a vocal supporter for both sex worker rights and the rights of undocumented immigrants, Moreno arrived from Honduras at age five to escape violence.
She joined her parents who had previously immigrated without her in New York where she attended public school, leaving behind her grandparents in Honduras. While DACA allows a child arrival to stay in the United States with less fear of deportation, it does not offer a pathway to citizenship.
The application process is long, and requires finger-printings. DACA recipients must make sure they renew before their two-year deferral expires, otherwise they lose the right to work in the United States.
