Story of A Desperate Musician

[This week’s guest Dream Act guest post is written by Raul Chavez, an undocumented youth with aspirations in the music business. Visit Dreamactivist.org to find out how you can help pass the Dream Act and give students like Raul an opportunity to contribute to this country].

My name is Raul Chavez. I’m 24 years old and due to the current “economy,” I unfortunately cannot even be a student. I was forced to live in this country since the age of three, but my plight is not that of a student who longs to earn a doctorate, degree or what have you. It is of a young man who has had to bear the brunt of the ignorance and emotional abuse and manipulation at the hands of an alcoholic/drug addicted mother.

I am the oldest of four children (the ONLY one who is here illegally), and because of this, I have had to take on an overwhelming amount of ill-bestowed responsibility that has forced me to sacrifice what little I have to aid my siblings. Childhood and teenage trauma aside, I will relate that I was once a community college student, but was forced to leave school and work for what I thought was the benefit of my family. Little did I know that the money I earned was being used to pay for my mother’s vices.

My greatest ambition is to break into the music business: as a performer, producer, engineer, writer, and to eventually establish a label that would not discriminate on the basis of style, genre, or language. Due to my lack of resources, I have not even begun to get any of my projects off the ground. MySpace music profiles just dont cut it.

The only school I have ever wished to attend is the Los Angeles Recording School, but not only can I not afford to attend due to financial obstacles, but because I am ineligible to get ANY kind of help they offer. I cannot even enroll because of my undocumented status due to their policy.

I am currently in danger of becoming homeless because my mother refuses to accept the fact that it is HER fault that I cannot work, and further wishes to punish ME for her mistakes. She simply wants me out because she can no longer bleed me dry, and I have nowhere else to turn.

I have as much right to earn a decent living as much as anyone else. Why am I being barred from living the so called “American Dream”? Why in God’s name is this taking so long to grant a simple opportunity to those who suffer because of their parent’s IGNORANCE? WHY?

(Photo Credit:whipthegoat’s photostream)