Chapter 13: Rafael’s Story: A Portrait of a Latinx School Leader in Georgia

There was just a fence. On the other side of it, life would change. Months after telling his kindergarten classmates, “My mom lives in the United States She’s going to come and pick us up. She’s coming for us,” Rafael, his mother, four siblings, and other Mexican immigrants were on the threshold of a new life. The coyotes had warned the group to wear black because of U.S. Border Patrol helicopters monitoring the border. Rafael, at six years old, was in black, but the pregnant lady beside him wore a white dress. As the whir of helicopters approached, exhilaration quickly turned to panic. While he could hide under the cover of night, this lady was luminescent. Although six, Rafael knew he had to protect the woman, for her own good, and for the good of the group. “I grabbed a bunch of grass and put it on top of her. I also gently laid on top of her because I had nothing but black clothes on. I had to think of something quickly. Solve a problem that came up. After an eternity, the helicopter passed over without noticing them, and they stepped through the fence and into the United States.