The United States has been a go-to place for different people from different parts of the world who seek refuge, jobs, and change in their lives in general. However, as the government changes through the times, their laws tend to value immigrants’ rights less. Fatema Jaffer uses her voice to raise these concerns and enlightens people through her podcast, Sunday Stories @ Six.
It has been years since people from different countries come to the United States to get that American Dream, a measure of success for some, but little did they know that they need to get through a needle hole to experience the same rights as the citizens. From all the paperwork and the fees they have to pay for submitting the requirements, which does not ensure them of having citizenship, up to the low pay for immigrants, it is eminent that there is a bias on how laws are being put into use and how inactive the rules that supposedly protect immigrants are. Usually, the process for how can an illegal immigrant become legal is a tiresome, and long-lasting legal battle that not many can afford to attend.
Fatema Jaffer is a daughter of immigrants and is a first-generation United States Citizen, and she has witnessed and experienced the ill-treatment of the past administration to immigrants. Having seen, heard, and felt the stress and pain this brings to any immigrant, Fatema decided to use her wits and voice to enlighten immigrants of what is happening and how they can deal with it and hold the government accountable.
In her first episode, a special guest, Gabby, and Fatema provided updates on immigrants’ status and the struggles they have to go through to be a US citizen by giving statistics and in-depth research. Indeed, this podcast is not like any other podcast. People keep on blabbing about things they barely know about to garner listeners and be presented as socially aware. In partnership with Friends Committee on National Legislation, wherein Fatema is an Advocacy Corps member, listeners are given reliable information and fruitful conversations.
Recently, the first 100 days after President-Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration was pledged to be used in prioritizing multiple issues, including immigration reform. For a community to work, those who govern must take care of their people, and those who are governed must hold the people in charge accountable.
Sunday Stories @ Six is in partnership with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a faith-based, Quaker, non-partisan organization that pushes for immigration reform, beginning with the H.R.6 Dream and Promise Act. Fatema aims to use this platform as a vehicle that could bring community members to the pathway of citizenship, which they highly deserve.
For future episodes, they will be inviting more guests, such as community members and advocates, to share stories, experiences, and learnings they’ve gathered that would help shed light on the topics at hand. The guests may or may not be named for security reasons, but the team promised to do fact-checking to keep in line with their plan to educate.
Fatema Jaffer started releasing episodes in September of this year and is continuously growing. Visit her Anchor account, wherein the different platforms people could listen to Sunday Stories @ Six are placed.
