Edwidge Danticat About Immigration

Edwidge Danticat About Immigration

Danticat wrote a modern-day story about a family separated by immigration. Mama’s Nightingale is set in the United States where her mother doesn’t have her citizenship papers. Saya longed for her mother to return home. She cried when she saw her mother at the prison knowing that her mother could not come home because her mother did not have the right citizenship papers. Saya’s parents remained strong for her, and they give her love and positive words to keep her strong. When Saya learns about the power of words, she used her writing to set her mother free. Immigration interrupts families’ lives daily. Danticat and illustrator Leslie Staub displays a story of hope and resilience. Throughout the story, Staub illustrates a nightingale, which reminds of the protection that it brings to Saya and her family. “I chose this story because it is real. Families are being separated because of immigration. When you look in the news and in the media, immigration happens quite a bit. Immigration separates many families. People want the same immigration reform because a lot of families have to choose to stay with their kids or get deported with them. It is a tough one it is a reality. This story is similar to my own because I was separated from my family. We did not have the right papers.” The character Saya was torn up about her family’s separation. She remembered her mother by from recordings such as “Yon istwa dodo pou Saya.” The recording kept her asleep at night because it was her spirit coming to her. The stories of her families native tounge draws Saya to fight for her mother. Danticat as a Haitian author writes books to educate children. She wrote this story from her own. “I used my own personal story because it rings true to Saya’s story. Children and parents who are separated from their family are torn a part. Particularly a lot of kids can see the truthfulness in this story. I would love for kids to learn non-tolerance. This story teaches about the power in words. In Mama’s Nightingale, her mother uses her words to keep her daughter inspired. The little girl uses her words to inspire change. For example, she writes to the newspapers. I think with immigration there are a lot of unwanted bodies. The more individual stories that we hear from, the better.” If you are a person of color, you are writing a story, you are writing a story about yourself, you are not saying “oh I’m not writing a book about diversity.” You take your own complexity humanity, and diversity for granted. I think what’s most important for people like us to tell your own stories. Whether it is school children or making opportunities for persons of color. As consumers of books, we have a responsibility to get those books into classrooms.  We should find their books and attend their events.  We have to find more diverse voices so that the landscape becomes that way. You can learn more about Edwidge Danticat and her story online.  

M.Evelina Galang Silenced Stories

 

In Angel De La Luna Evelina Galang weaves a narrative of an untold story about a 14 year old Filipino girl. Galang wrote this story because “I want them to see that for Angel, she is finding her voice and learning that her voice matters.  We don’t have to stay silent, we can make our thoughts known and in this way we can help create change, we can, as the great master Ghandi says, Be the change.”

Evelina Galang is an author, educator, and speaker. She wrote her young adult story Angel De La Luna and the 5th Glorious Mystery. She writes to “recognize the voices of the girls and women who have been traditionally silenced.” In Angel De La Luna, Angel is grieving for her father, and is working through her relationship with her mother. She is also discovering the history of her Filipino people, the colonization of the Spanish conquistadors, and discovering the meaning of the American dream. This story ties in profound messages for the reader to discover Angel’s personal story as well as Angel’s community.
Being silenced is a strong theme in Angel De La Luna. Galang wrote, “So I bang on the drums and the silences between them grow. First the silence comes from their bedroom. Then silence appears at the dinner table. And then in the car. Silence invades the house and quiets everything. The words have left the house. The voices go low.” Galang wrote Angel so more voices that have been silenced to be heard. She wants issues of love, hate, history, and justice to be heard.

Galang stated that, this particular story is about Angel and the relationship between her and her mother, and the silences between them. Mothers and daughters have a famous love-hate relationship going on until they work it out. You will find stories of people who were of Filipino ancestry, and about people who were born in the Philippines. But you did not get that story of the Filipino youth growing up here or the Filipino youth that were born in the United States. So stories of Filipinos youth growing up in the U.S. were missing, and those were the stories that I was looking for as a young reader.

It was important for Evelina to write these stories about the young woman so that stories from the present were represented and stories from the past were represented. One story that was important for Galang to share was the relationship between Angel and her mother. “When I began to write about Angel, I knew the beginning and I knew the end. I wanted to write about what it would take to get Angel and her mom back together again. She was really angry with her mom throughout the story. So that is one kind of silence I wanted to explore.”

“Another silence I wanted to explore were the female characters in the book. Such as I wrote stories about the comfort women. I did a lot of research, and I met women several women from WWII who were comfort women. They were silent for at least 50 years, and they never had a chance to tell their story. These women were exposed to being in slave camps when they were 14 years old or Angel’s age. For 50 years these women didn’t tell their stories because they were afraid of being ostracized from their families. So when those stories started to break, I was really committed to helping the women tell their stories, in an effort, for it to never happen again. That’s another aspect of stories of women who have been silenced.”

I come from a big family of storytellers and readers. I write stories that aren’t heard. People of color have been positioned to not be heard, to be raised up with a wall, and to be invisible. So I love language, I love stories.  It’s what I love to do, that’s why I write so stories of silenced women and so people of color can be heard.

The American Dream

The American Dream is taught to children all across the world. For some this dream is attainable and for others, it is not. For many immigrants the American Dream is just a dream and impossible to obtain. For Angel she has no desire to obtain the American Dream. She wants to fight for her people. The reason for Angel fighting for her own culture was because the story takes place in 2000 and 2002. “After the Spanish and the U.S. came and occupied the Philippines, the formal education in the Philippines was in English. So there you are, you can’t get to speak your native tongue, because it had to be in English. The girls in Angel were going to a progressive school where they were encouraged to speak Togalo, which is the national language. So Angel has this advantage that she is polygloattan. She can preserve her own culture and will not worry about speaking just American English.”

“This story is really about how Angel the personal choices that Angel’s mother made for her children. It’s important to recognize in this story that love motivates us to do things for one another and it’s not always apparent.  But once you hear one another’s stories, you start to see how strong love is, can be, can work in favor of family.  So maybe the message has to do with hearing one another, listening, and knowing our stories.  Once you know your family’s story, you can see how the choices are made out of love.”

Please click here to learn more about Evelina Galang