NYS Senator Alessandra Biaggi on her Italian immigrant roots & the underdog story to the NYS Senate!

02/10/19 • 43 min

Welcome newly elected New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi to the Immigration MIC podcast!

🔵Alessandra calls it the “honor of a lifetime” to represent New York’s District 34 and is looking to represent young women everywhere.

🔴Her Italian roots in the U.S. go back four generations, her great-grandparents coming through Ellis Island and her grandparents’ humble influences on her.

⚫️She tells us the story of the discrimination her great grandparents experienced at the Democratic club in East Harlem how she uses their story to connect with other people that experience racism/ discrimination.

🔵The ultimate underdog: Alessandra talks about all of the roadblocks she faced, from having ADHD, to transferring colleges, to being rejected from every law school to making $13 an hour as a legal fellow.

🔴 Her luck changing when she went to work for the Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery - reflecting on the importance of “failing up”, and being honest about her feelings of hopelessness through defeat, and how exercise and meditation helped her.

⚫️At 29 she was the Deputy National Operations Director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign; she tells us how she learned “grace under fire”, how it taught her about infrastructure for her own campaign, and wanting to break barriers for people to work in future campaigns.

🔵She talks about the “tragedy” that was the 2016 elections, she is known for releasing a toolkit for engagement to increase civic participation right after.

🔴Her decision to run for office; progressive legislation wasn’t being passed because of 8 senators (IDC), and called the campaign the “hardest experience of my entire life”, also being outspent by 11:1 by her opponent.

⚫️As a senator, she has used her vote this past month for voting reform, the Reproductive Health Act, the NY DREAM Act, and the Child Victims Act (which she shared her personal story being a survivor when voting)

Welcome newly elected New York State Senator Alessandra Biaggi to the Immigration MIC podcast!

🔵Alessandra calls it the “honor of a lifetime” to represent New York’s District 34 and is looking to represent young women everywhere.

🔴Her Italian roots in the U.S. go back four generations, her great-grandparents coming through Ellis Island and her grandparents’ humble influences on her.

🔵She talks about the “tragedy” that was the 2016 elections, she is known for releasing a toolkit for engagement to increase civic participation right after.

Previous Episode

Milly: A Conversation on Faith and Immigration with a future DACA Pastor In Residence

Welcome Miluska Aquije @heavenlyhope87 to Immigration MIC, who’s here to live out her passion for sharing her story as a DACA- recipient from Peru and theology in practice as a future pastor in residence!

🔵Milly introduces us to her world of loving books and anime, her passion for being a mentor, the role intervarsity at Hunter College has played in her life, and always looking to give back.

🔴Her parents immigration stories from Peru, beginning with her father’s journey to the US on a ship crammed with seven other migrants.

⚫️How she and her mother were stopped by agents at the border and were released because she was a child, and later were held “captive” at a house in California until the full amount of money owed was paid off.

🔵Growing up in Greenpoint, New York, and finding out that she was undocumented when she was filling out a CUNY application.

🔴In 2007, Milly went through an extremely difficult time in her life, almost taking her own life, and soon after receiving a personal message from God in a church, which led her to a personal commitment to her faith, and using her story to provide light to others.

⚫️The challenges she faced as an undocumented college student, and how the support from faith community at her college helped her to deal with and overcome many of those challenges.

🔵The DACA announcement in 2012 for her was “one of the greatest joys for me, one of the greatest victories”, which coincided with her graduation from Hunter College.

🔴How she initially wanted to be a psychologist, but couldn’t receive a license due to documentation, which led her to a career in working with students in Higher Ed.

⚫️Her reaction of the 2016 election, and provides a theological/ historical analysis of the rising anti-immigrant sentiment in the US, and the role she’s looking to play in the future.

Next Episode

Belén Sisa, and her powerful, accidental viral moment, on Immigration MIC!

Welcome Belén Sisa, immigration activist, Bernie 2016 campaign alum, and member of the #Dream7 to the Immigration MIC podcast!

Belen was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina - her family moved to the US right before the collapse of the Argentinean economy in 2001 to Arizona during the construction boom years.

Because she and her family were “white passing”, they fit in in their middle class white neighborhood and were able to keep their undocumented status hidden. She talks about how later on, her family buying a house in a different neighborhood near a detention center, and living in a conservative community exposed those differences.

She talks about living a double life - being the Homecoming Queen, a varsity cheerleader, and a bright student, while living in fear in the years of SB1070, her family nearly ending up homeless and how graduation felt like the end of her escape from those harsh realities.

She talks about her experiences in becoming involved and empowered in immigration activist with the Arizona Dream Act Coalition, and how her involvement led to longtime close friends separating themselves from her, but finding community in “belonging to her people”.

Her decision to be a part of the Dream 7 jail strike, and in depth describes the “traumatizing” experience, which involved cold temperatures, police brutality, inhumane conditions, and the faith they placed in everyone fighting for a Clean Dream Act, the psychological effects of the experience, and the inspiration that followed.

Her experience working with the Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign, a “life changing experience, working as a field organizer in Nevada, Arizona, Rhode Island, California, and later on becoming part of the Latino Outreach team. She talks about the skills and networks she gained, and the opportunity to be a page at the DNC as an undocumented woman.

We talk about the outcome of election night, her reaction, and how it led to her viral moment, taking a picture with her tax returns and tagging the president in it, because she wanted the real story to be told, which led to 1000’s of shares, a lot of hate mail, threats, but overall, the support she received, the national conversation it sparked, and how she became even more “unafraid”.

We end talking about the “unusual” political moment, her message of unity coming out of the 2016 elections, how she’s seeing the 2020 elections take shape, and the importance of mobilizing to win back the White House.

“Do the right thing and don’t be afraid to speak up”, — words of encouragement from Belen talking about her moments of personal growth, and how personal stories can move us forward, and her hopes that she can inspire others to have an impact.