Hello, my name is Preciosa Rios. I’m a MFA student at DePaul studying animation. In early Sept. of 2024, I was coming back to the United States from Canada after a weekend trip. At the Canadian Border, I experience a blatant example of racial profiling due to my Spanish last name. Here is my story:

“Border” is a poetic and significant story to me in many ways. It flipped the normal narrative of racism, showcased baseless persecution, racial profiling, and lastly upturned the idea of minorities being unable to turn on one another. I mainly shared this story to unveil the reality that we are being persecuted, not because of illegal status, but because we are not “white” and will never be “white enough”. And I say this as a white passing US citizen who has lived this truth since my existence. To those who have been led to believe that they are “different” than our brothers and sisters, because of their citizenship status, wealth, or authority positions; I want to say that you can show your innocence, documents, career and wealth, but they will not care for those things when time comes. And you will be lumped with us, your people over and over again. Now more than ever we must know our rights to advocate for ourselves and others. We must be united. And we must show that our heritage, culture, and history should not be tied to fear. Keep talking, keep listening, and most importantly, do not be silent.