Dear White Forest,

Halfway through finishing off this piece and submitting it, I decided to delete my article yet again and instead allow it to be a letter to “White” Forest. When I say “White” Forest, I am talking to those students who come from privileged identities such as high socioeconomic status, white, cisgender, heterosexual, Christian etc.

I am talking to those people who are apathetic towards minorities at Wake, but specifically, those people who time and time again see protests, walkouts, and speak outs happening on campus and choose to walk away, and did the same for the walkout that took place on November 9th.

As I stood outside Wait Chapel with a poster in my hand that said “Fuck your American Exceptionalism,” yelled chants with my fellow activists, and asked people crossing to join, I was surprised by the number of you who looked at us, but chose to strut away to the Pit. I took a moment to breathe and look around me, while you decided to walk away from people of color and marginalized individuals who stood there and resisted.

This wasn’t something new; we see this happen at every protest, every speakout that ever happens at Wake Forest. Yet, all of our voices continued to rise in unison as we yelled and demanded a clean Dream Act.

With unity and resistance in the air, tears in our eyes, and our fists up, we stood outside your beloved chapel and continued to let the university know that we were here and we were together. But where were you? Where the f*ck was your “Pro Humanitate”?

For those of you who are (hopefully) reading this letter/article and do not know what a clean Dream Act is, allow me to tell you. The Dream Act is, it is an act that has been in place since the 2000s as a way to provide citizenship to immigrants who arrived in the United States as children.

These individuals grew up here and call America their home. In the December of 2010, five senators decided to not vote for this act and it fell through. Since then, the dreamers' movement has been actively demanding protection for these youth from being subject to deportation.

After a two year campaign, Obama announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACĂ). Not surprisingly, your president, Donald Trump, rescinded DACA on September 5th and gave Congress only a six month period to do something.

The walkout was a part of a national movement by United We Dream that asked communities to walkout on November 9th to demand a clean Dream Act which, among many other things, does not pit certain groups of immigrants against others and allows a clear pathway to citizenship.

Apart from those of you who chose to be apathetic, walk away, and be unaffected by this speak out, and the turmoil that people of color have to go through to resist and let their voices be heard, I also want to address those individuals who contest the Dream Act and justify themselves by arguing that allowing immigrants to enter and live in the United States allows drugs and criminals to enter.

Further numerous individuals also often contend that allowing immigrants to enter the United States would hinder the American LGBTQ and feminist movements. What these people often forget is that it is immigrants who are leading and upholding the economy despite the fact that the law makes them ineligible to receive welfare.

A study from the Institute of Taxation and Economic Policy showed that undocumented immigrants paid 3.2 billion in taxes in California as of 2013. It is these same immigrants who are also leading your LGBTQ or feminist movements and making them more intersectional. What you all forget is that these immigrants exist and thrive right here at Wake Forest, and make our campus what it is today. You would know this if you bothered to enter spaces of activism where numerous marginalized identities support and resist with each other.

So, I ask you again. Where are you? Why do you not care? Don’t mistake this letter as guided by mere anger towards one speak out. This letter stems from being an activist on this campus for almost three years now and seeing the same people show up to support each other. This walkout served as just one example where you showed your apathy again. Immigration is just one issue where you show your apathy yet again.

Are we not a part of the campus you so pride yourself on? Are issues on this campus too much for you that you decide to raise money for water in Africa (which by the way is a freaking continent), but not look at your fellow students who are fighting here to be heard and to be given respect? Why would you rather run a 5k for children in India than look around you and see the brown/black/queer and other marginalized folks being murdered and imprisoned? Where the f*ck is your “Pro Humanitate”?

Yours Truly,

Angry Brown Intersectional Feminist.