Cristal

“voters who switched parties to vote for Trump were motivated by the possibility of a fall in social status: “In short, they feared that they were in the process of losing their previously privileged positions.” Instead of taking rising college enrollment rates by marginalized people as a sign that they would need to improve their own skills, they voted based on a fear they were losing their privilege and thus their positions.”
― Mikki Kendall, Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

“Six years later, the welfare reform bill reminded Muñoz of what had first pushed her into organizing. Millions of legal immigrants spent years of their lives paying taxes and starting families, only to see the political debate suddenly shift.”
― Jonathan Blitzer, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis

“On August 22, 1996, Clinton signed the bill into law, but at a press conference several days earlier he had promised to find some way to eventually undo the damage. “I am deeply disappointed that the congressional leadership insisted on attaching to this extraordinarily important bill a provision that will hurt legal immigrants in America,” he had said from a dais at the White House. “This provision has nothing to do with welfare reform; it is simply a budget-saving measure, and it is not right.”
― Jonathan Blitzer, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis

“To Muñoz’s mind, it was as though Congress were telling them, “You’re not us yet.” Muñoz’s parents were already citizens, but when she heard Republicans talk about how noncitizens didn’t “deserve” these protections, she nevertheless thought of her own family. She was reminded of a story her parents had told her about having once been threatened with eviction from an apartment for being overheard “speaking Mexican.”
― Jonathan Blitzer, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis