Museum exhibit tells stories of undocumented youth

ByJose Mayorquin KABC logo
Sunday, August 26, 2018
Museum exhibit tells stories of undocumented youth
The powerful stories of undocumented youth and the movement they've started are the subject of an interactive exhibit at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- The powerful stories of undocumented youth and the movement they've started are the subject of an interactive exhibit at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach.

"When visitors attend MOLAA to see our undocumented stories exhibit, they start off with a question 'what is your migration story?' It begins the conversation to be able to say we all come from somewhere," said Diego Sepulveda, director of the UCLA Dream Center.

The exhibit features stories of undocumented young people fighting for higher education, health care access and immigration reform.

"Right now, a lot of people criminalize and demonize immigrant communities and our Undocumented Stories exhibit is a counter narrative to that," said Sepulveda. "Immigrants are your classmates. Immigrants are your neighbors, and our immigrant communities, undocumented young people are not just Latino. They're also black, and they're Asian, and they're Pacific Islander, and then they're also white."

The Undocumented Stories exhibit also highlights the humanitarian crisis currently experienced by Central American unaccompanied minors.

"Young people are coming by themselves to America, risking their lives for opportunity and for safe haven. Who we are as a country is built with the idea that we all deserve liberty and justice and that extends to those seeking shelter at our borders as well," said Sepulveda.

To learn more about the exhibit, go to https://molaa.org/