By Dylan Hart
Art might be the weapon to shut down injustices from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, says USF St. Petersburg student Jenna Sierra.
Sierra, a political science major and the secretary for the League of Women Voters’ St. Petersburg chapter, said she’s looking for art from students to represent the experiences of undocumented immigrants to be displayed at USF St. Petersburg in April.
“I’m trying to get as many artists — locally and within the school — as possible,” she said. “I would really like it to be in solidarity with Central and Mexican-Americans because those are the people most hurt by ICE in the detention centers and by rapid deportations.”
The deadline for the show, titled “migration is beautiful,” is April 5. It will be hosted by the League of Women Voters.
Although the League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan organization, it does have a set stance on immigration, among other issues. On the League of Women Voters website, president Chris Carson said that the organization “is opposed to deportation of non-criminal undocumented immigrants.”
Furthermore, Chief Executive Officer Virginia Kase called ICE’s detention and deportation policies “inhumane” and “an insult to our democracy.”
Sierra says that her personal interest in the issue came from her childhood in Dover, about 7 miles southwest of Plant City.
“It’s a migrant community,” she said. “It’s a very big area for strawberries with a lot of migrants. I’ve seen firsthand what ICE can do to a community. These people are law-abiding and they’re just living their life participating in their economy.”
The plan, therefore, is to abolish ICE by raising awareness of migrants’ experiences.
“Sometimes, people don’t want to care about politics,” she said. “But sometimes you can see something that will really move you and help you empathize and understand other people. At the end of the day, that’s what this is about.
“I think art is a beautiful way of conveying that.”
If you would like to submit art, contact Sierra at jennasierra@mail.usf.edu.
