Shifting Focus
Flash forward to 1998, the fifteenth issue of PAPA Noticiero. There are some clear elements from both the 1989 and 1991 publications. First, the title has abandoned the circle logo in favor of a logo that is more descriptive; a simple line-art image of what appears to be a man huddled with his knees drawn up to his chest sits against one side of the title. The other side has a mirror image of what appears to be a woman in the same position. There are multiple articles with different topics presented on the first page. There is even a picture of PAPA employees.
The first thing one’s eyes are drawn to when comparing the fifteenth and ninth issues is the difference in the logo. The individuals depicted are a call to the audience’s sympathy, as the images invoke the desperate feeling of hopelessness as these people draw their own bodies closer in on themselves. Directly contrasting this grim picture is the generally upbeat and positive message the text delivers; there is an article by an unnamed PAPA client who details their experience in receiving help with their asylum case from Sri Lanka. There is a welcome article written by Nidia Salamanca— perhaps the very same Nidia from the 1989 issue— that names new employees to PAPA. The audience is, once again, the central focus throughout this publication.
Within the pages of PAPA Noticiero No. 15 lies a surprising find. Page 8 contains the article “From Shamrock to Sombrero” written by Karen Lalley. This article describes the dehumanizing rhetoric applied to immigrants and then reveals that these were the phrases and perceptions about Irish immigrants. However, this language is in a similar strand to what immigrants from Latin American countries suffer today. Yet Lalley quickly points out that no one refers to Irish immigrants in this way anymore. The reason? Organizing the community to leverage political, social, and economic power. The article ends by stating that naturalization is key to wielding this power, and one day PAPA hopes that this rhetoric is never again applied to any immigrant.
Karen Lalley may have ended their article with high hopes of the abandonment of this language, but this dream has, unfortunately, not yet been realized. Miriam Sobre and Emily Ehmer found that “migrants are purposefully dehumanized through linguistic strategies” through political institutions of power. This has a powerful impact on the host societies’ perspective on immigrants, which can be detrimental to the experience immigrants undergo when transitioning into the new sociocultural setting (“The Double-Edged Sword of Empathy: Two Migrant-Serving Organizations in South Texas”).
However, what’s surprising in this article is the powerful tool that Lalley uses in their article. Although they identify naturalization as key to accessing this power, which is definitively true, the fact of the matter is that Lalley composed a meta-narrative about the Irish immigrant experience to make a point about self-creating the immigrant narrative at large. This is a crucial part of the refugee and asylum-seeker experience today. As Sarah Bishop grimly comments, “for asylum seekers, the ability to harness the power of storytelling may be the difference between life and death.” (10) Especially considering the innate obstacle of a language barrier as well as the traumatic process of retelling— and therefore, reliving— the threats that forced these migrants to flee, the ability to tell your story is powerful and necessary to build your communal identity. Above all else, storytelling as a socio-political tool is crucial in establishing the foundations for the community’s new home.