“Our Fight is Not Over.”
#O4All: The Fight Continues
Despite facing major setbacks within the University of California, students leading the Opportunity for All Campaign remain hopeful. After the UC Board of Regents voted to shelve the implementation of this historic initiative – which would pave a pathway for the lawful employment of undocumented individuals across California – students reiterated their powerful message: “Our Fight is Not Over.”
From rallies, petitions, and a hunger strike, the collective action of students across California has set the fight for equity in motion. Assembly Bill 2586- The Opportunity for All Act marks the latest win for the campaign promising equal access to campus employment opportunities for all students, regardless of their immigration status, at the University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges campuses if signed into law by California legislature.
This week, Carmen Avendano, a UCLA student involved in the Opportunity for All campaign, recounts her involvement in the hunger strike leading up to the UC Board of Regents’ rejection of the O4All initiative, the movement’s resilience, and her hopes for the future.
CARMEN AVENDANO: Leading up to the UC Regents meeting in January at UC San Francisco, where they would vote on the implementation of O4All, we decided to launch a hunger strike as a commitment to the campaign. At that time, many of us had not signed up for public comment. I didn't feel capable of writing a public comment and saying it to someone's face, especially these men in suits. I felt unworthy to stand and share my undocumented experience because that is how I had felt throughout my entire educational journey. Karely, a student organizer leading the movement, asked us if we had signed up for public comment: "Your voices need to be heard." Taking a few moments to think more deeply about the significance of our voices, I began to write my public comment and committed to the three days of hunger strike. How could I come so far and not show up for myself, my family, my community, and future generations?
The day to give our public comment came, it was very early. It was also the first day of the hunger strike, which was pretty difficult. I was good for two days and then on the third day when it was decision day— maybe the adrenaline was too hard on my body— I started feeling very nauseous and dizzy. What do you do? You just suck it up because this is important to you, other people started expressing, "I cannot feel my legs. They're tingling. We're going to pass out."
We were going through all of these emotions together. A lot of us hold a lot of our emotions back because we don't want our peers to worry or get discouraged. We keep each other motivated, essentially. I mean, we woke up at six and got home maybe at 10 PM, with nothing in our stomach, only some water, Gatorade, and a protein shake.
During the days of public comment, we would wake up as early as 5 AM to have a higher chance of sharing our public comments. The first day they had 30 public comments and about 28 were about Opportunity for All, so things were getting hopeful. But the next day, none of our names were called. I think maybe two of 30 public comments were calls for Opportunity for All, so that was discouraging.
I began to write my public comment and committed to the three days of hunger strike. How could I come so far and not show up for myself, my family, my community, and future generations?
After that, we organized a march at Berkeley followed by a candlelight vigil which I was able to facilitate. We wanted a space where we could share our experiences, the reasons that we decided to join the campaign, knowing that we are all fighting for something that we believe in, even though the reasons people joined were very different. It was a bonding experience because students from all the UC campuses attended, it was both empowering and heartwarming to know that you're not alone.
I think it brought up the hopes again. We brought up our energy, the last bit of energy we had for the last day of public comments. I feel like undocumented students are constantly looking at the bright side and redirection. We thought maybe they had already made up their mind, they didn't need to hear anymore because they already knew the decision they were going to make. The Regents continued to feed our hopes, they extended their meeting to make a decision, so we waited outside patiently and nervously.
On the day of the decision, student organizers decided to engage in an act of civil disobedience, which was writing a phrase on tape and putting it over their mouths. It was a symbolic act that alluded to the effort of 25 UC students who participated in the hunger strike. This would be a life-changing decision that would determine not only whether we would eat after three long days, but also provide us with an opportunity to feed ourselves and our families if O4All was implemented. We would be fed with opportunity and not just hope.
As mentioned by one of our student advocates: hunger is not new to the undocumented community. A lot of families go through hunger involuntarily, therefore choosing to engage in this was a way of gaining our power back. Many are unable to have any say on whether they are going to eat or not. But we were able to take back control and choose that we were not going to eat for something that we believed in.
Hunger is not new to the undocumented community.
Our initial plan was to sit through the whole meeting and take it all in. But of course, after they announced that they would not be implementing O4All, we were enraged. One of our student leaders stood up and spoke his mind, he was expressing a lot of his anger, his background, and how unworthy the UC regents are of sitting in a position of power and making decisions for vulnerable students without understanding the journey of undocumented students.
The decision was very heartbreaking after all the effort we had put into this campaign. I mean, I was exhausted and I had just entered this campaign. I can't imagine what other student organizers had to endure just to have their efforts crushed. Hearing the feedback of the UC Regents was also disheartening. One of them said, "I understand you're going through hunger and you're starving yourselves, but the decision is no."
As an organizer, you go through your whole life working for something that you believe in, and of course, there are always empty promises and false hopes, but this was a stab in the back after the initial decision to implement O4All in March 2023. We felt defeated, but again, as a community, we built each other up and decided there was more work to do.
This decision fueled a fire, we don't get this at the UC, but we can go bigger. After the decision was made, multiple state legislators in California reached out, showing their interest in implementing Opportunity for All and moving forward with the plan of equity for undocumented students at the state level, which would include UC, Cal State, and California Community Colleges. It's a developing story, but it's so great to hear that despite all these setbacks and frustrations, the fight continues.
Propina
If you missed the first part of our conversation about the Opportunity for All movement, take a look at it here:
The Opportunity For All Movement
And if you’re interested in getting involved, follow the Undocumented Student-Led Network for opportunities to support.
We’ll see you next week.