René Mendoza Jiménez spent much of his time in school as a member of undocumented student organizations, but he is a U.S. citizen. Even now that he is in the working world, he works closely with students who don’t have status, because he believes he can be a true ally to them.
“My mom raised us to be generous and grateful for our opportunities and no to take things for granted,” says this son of Mexican immigrants. “As I grew older, I understood my privilege and the need to advocate for those who don’t have the same opportunities, because they are afraid of getting involved and be susceptible to discrimination.”
So René, 30, now works for the San Gabriel Valley Conservation Corps, helping disadvantaged young people who are returning to school to finish their high school diploma and need job training. The group harnesses the desire of these young people to learn job skills to conduct environmental rebuilding projects.
Before he attended Mount San Antonio College in pursuit of a political science degree, René joined the Marine Corps, so he had an early perspective on the meaning of service. Then in college, he joined the undocumented students’ organization and then volunteered with CHIRLA through the California Dream Network, organizing protests and knocking on doors to get people civically engaged. Being an ally comes naturally to him.
“There is always a great need for allies, because, let’s say we were going to go to a protest, block a freeway, or do something that might lead us to be arrested,” he said. “Me getting arrested is not the same as someone documented being arrested.”
Although René feels like going to rallies can open people’s eyes, he wishes people would do more than just that, because, in a sense, it’s the safest kind of action.
“Those are not the people we need to convince,” he said. “It is the people that are not there that we need to convince.”
René tried to convince his U.S.-born friends to become allies, but it was a real struggle because they couldn’t really relate to the issues. He tried to show them that being born in the United States is not something to take for granted, because no one can control where they are born.
There is one other thing that René doesn’t take for granted as a U.S. citizen — voting. He did so by mail, weeks ago, and his choices were guided by the issues he cares about: immigration reform, climate change, and rethinking public safety.
“Voting is the basis, that is what we all should be doing if we have the privilege to do so,” he said. “And from there, we can start having a real conversation about what we can do more of, because hope is more valuable than gold.”
