More Los Angeles DREAMS: Exhibit at Chinese American Museum

The 111th Congress adjourns on December 17th. If the DREAM Act isn't passed by then, the fight to get it passed in the Republican-dominated 112th Congress will be all but impossible to win. AB540 here in California helps undocumented students get higher education, but without a path to citizenship and legal employment status, the future holds more struggle. Somehow, the DREAM Act and immigration reform must pass.

Read more:

• We Cannot Afford Not to Pass the DREAM Act: A Plea from Immigration Scholars [Huffington Post]
• Congress takes up DREAM Act [LA Times]
• For Proof the DREAM Act’s a Good Idea, Look at Cuban Americans [Colorlines]
• Democrats fight to save DREAM Act immigration bill [Politico]

On Thursday evening, I'm heading over the Chinese American Museum for the first time to see this new exhibit dealing with immigration:


DREAMS DEFERRED Exhibit at the Chinese American Museum
December 10, 2010 - May 22, 2011
Opening Reception | Thursday, December 9 | 6:00p - 8:30p

The Chinese American Museum (CAM) and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument is proud to present Dreams Deferred: Artists Respond to Immigration Reform opening on December 10, 2010. This exhibition will showcase local artists exploring the tensions, repercussions, hopes, and dreams of immigrant communities in the face of new immigration legislation, through a broad spectrum of art including street art, graffiti art, sculptures, painting and multimedia installations.

U.S. immigration laws have long reflected a lasting legacy of racial exclusion starting with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the first legislation to restrict immigration based on race and ethnicity. This legacy of immigration legislation targeting immigrant communities has since reemerged in the recent decades with California's Proposition 187,and Arizona's Senate Bill 1070, as attempts at inhibiting the livelihoods of undocumented immigrants. 

Dreams Deferred continues the current national dialogue about immigration, kicked-off by the recent opening of CAM's Remembering Angel Island, an exhibition commemorating the 100th year anniversary of the opening of the West Coast's first immigration station. Both exhibitions will serve to shed light on the parallels of past and current immigration policies and reform, and how Los Angeles' diverse immigrant communities collectively share not only their immigrant histories, but also many of the challenges facing new immigrant communities today.

• Read the Press Release for more.