Jonathan Freedman and Steven Mayers - Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees from Central America

This eBook is licensed to Will Yang, williamyang1997@hotmail.com on 09/23/2019

Praise for Solito, Solita

Intense testimonies that leave one shivering, astonished at the bravery of the human spirit. Mayers and Freedman have done a magnanimous job collecting these histories. America, are you listening? Sandra Cisneros, author of Puro Amor and The House on Mango Street

Solito, Solita gives readers the rare chance to hear directly from young migrants who have risked everything for a better life on our side of the border. With unflinching clarity, they detail the violence they left behind, the fear and difficulties they face after arrival, and the hope and resiliency that carries them through it all. They have courageously shared these experiences with the idea that people like us might read their stories and be moved to action, and we owe it to them to do so. Francisco Cant, author of The Line Becomes a River

This book fills a crucial missing piece in todays immigration debate. Everyone who cares about immigrationand about migrantsshould read it. The searing, heart-wrenching firsthand accounts in this book bring to life the experiences of Central Americans before they reach the United States: the tragic experiences of poverty, violence, and abuse that push individuals to flee their homes, the agonizing and perilous journeys across Mexico and Central America, and the baffling bureaucracy and abuse they find upon arriving in the United States. Aviva Chomsky, professor at Salem State University and author of Undocumented

Stories of war and exile, of migrations and survivala most pertinent collection for our times, one that puts a human face on the greatest tragedy and humanitarian crisis of our generation. This collection is a must-read for politicians who demonize refugees and a call to action for everyone else. Alejandro Murgua, San Francisco poet laureate emeritus and professor of Latina/Latino Studies at San Francisco State University

Immigration narratives are too often reduced to tropes, to statistics and numbers, to binary politics and manipulative rhetoric, but not so in this volume of stories. Solito, Solita reaches beyond and beneath the headlines, clearing the mess and the noise so that we can hear the voices that matter most in contemporary migration: those of young migrants themselves. Lauren Markham, author of The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life

These raw voices pulse with heartbreak, resilience, hope, and even joy, shining a light on the forces that compel young people to flee their homes in the Northern Triangle in search of safety and solace in the United States. A must-read for todays immigration debate. Sara Campos, codirector of the New American Story Project

This is a thorough, compassionate, and necessary book that allows a unique set of voiceschild refugeesto be heard. The framing of the narratives and the introduction offer important information about the US role in the proliferation of violence and corruption, but the work remains focused on the crucial individual voices. Ariana Vigil, professor at University of North CarolinaChapel Hill

This eBook is licensed to Will Yang, williamyang1997@hotmail.com on 09/23/2019

Additional Interviewers

Oscar Garcia, Alberto Reyes Morgan

Transcribers and Translators

Anna Aleshire, Siuzanna Arutiunova, Ara Avedian, Mauro Javier Cardenas, Ruthie Cartwright, Katie Fiegenbaum, Jimmy Gonzalez, Lisa Hoffman, Gina Krawiec, Ana Claudia Lopes, Maria Maione, Cindie Meyer, Alberto Reyes Morgan, Marisela Musgrove, Kevin Ramirez, Laura Schroeder, Janey Skinner, Morena Urutia, Miguel Wise

Research Assistance

Maria Maione, Cindie Meyer, Miguel Wise

Fact-Checking

Reading List Editorial, readinglisteditorial.com

Copyeditor

Brian Baughan

This eBook is licensed to Will Yang, williamyang1997@hotmail.com on 09/23/2019

Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees
from Central America

EDITED BY STEVEN MAYERS
AND JONATHAN FREEDMAN

WITH A FOREWORD BY JAVIER ZAMORA

This eBook is licensed to Will Yang, williamyang1997@hotmail.com on 09/23/2019

2019 Voice of Witness

Published in 2019 by

Haymarket Books

P.O. Box 180165

Chicago, IL 60618

773-583-7884

www.haymarketbooks.org

ISBN: 978-1-60846-620-7

Distributed to the trade in the US through Consortium Book Sales and Distribution (www.cbsd.com) and internationally through Ingram Publisher Services International (www.ingramcontent.com).

This book was published with the generous support of Lannan Foundation and Wallace Action Fund.

Special discounts are available for bulk purchases by organizations and institutions. Please call 773-583-7884 or email for more information.

Cover design by Michel Vrana. Cover photograph by Dominic Bracco. Narrator portrait illustrations by Christine Shields.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available.

This eBook is licensed to Will Yang, williamyang1997@hotmail.com on 09/23/2019

Soledad Castillo, Honduras
Nobody wanted me.

Josu Nieves, El Salvador
One day, I want to be like my father.

Gabriel Mndez, Honduras
I was made to do things I didnt want to do.

Jhony Chuc, Guatemala
You ride on top of the Beast and are totally exposed.

Noemi Tun, Guatemala
People fought over land and water.

Isabel Vsquez, El Salvador
Before, a village like ours was so beautiful, and suddenly things were ruined.

Danelia Silva, El Salvador
Hed break down doors and come through the windows, or, if not, from the roof, up the fire escape.

Adrin Cruz, Guatemala
I was solito, solito. I decided to cross by myself.

Pedro Hernandez, Guatemala
The US immigration police herded us into cars and drove us to la hielera, the freezer.

Cristhian Molina, Honduras
For eighteen years Ive wandered from the bottom to the top of North America, trying to change my life.

Rosa Cuevas, El Salvador
We walked for days, through the jungle, risking our lives, not meeting anyone.

Ernesto Gonzlez, Honduras
Im the only one still alive.

Julio Zavala, Honduras
When I slept, there were cameras on four sides.

Ismael Xol, Guatemala
Maybe Ill transfer to the university next year as planned, or maybe Ill be deported back to Guatemala.

Itzel Tzab, Guatemala
Only by leaving my studies could I work to pay him back.

This eBook is licensed to Will Yang, williamyang1997@hotmail.com on 09/23/2019

I struggled many times to begin this essay. How do I speak before voices as strong and as necessary as the ones in the following pages? It was difficult reading these testimonies. It was difficult finding details and images too similar to those of the lives of my relatives, of my friends, of my very own life. I tried reading Edwidge Danticats Create Dangerously