PASADENA, CA − Cristina Jiménez, an author and co-founder of United We Dream, the largest immigration youth-led organization in the U.S., did not expect her memoir to be published under the Trump administration.
"I didn't plan for the book to be released under these conditions," the award-winning community organizer said during a sold-out book signing event June 2 at Pasadena's historic Vroman's Bookstore.
"Dreaming of Home: How We Turn Fear into Pride, Power, and Real Change" (St. Martin's Press, pp. 320, out now) is more than a memoir, "it's about the story of many undocumented and courageous people," Jiménez said, and an invitation for readers to organize and dream of a more just place for all.
"I had dreamed of a better world and for this book to be in a different context, but here we are," Jiménez said, sounding determined. "I think about this book as an organizing tool, as a story and as a way for us to come together to remember that we do have power."
Jiménez's parents brought her to New York from Ecuador when she was 13, she said. When she was in the 11th grade in New York City's Queens borough and ready to apply for college, she found out that due to her undocumented status, the road to higher education would look different than that of her peers.
