On May, 28th of 2010 the Defending Rights and Equality Activist Movement by Students (DREAMS) Network kicked off the "Senator Hagan Co-Sponsor My Dream" campaign. The goal of this Campaign is to is to make sure that Senator Hagan becomes a Co-Sponsor of the DREAM Act, a piece of legislation that would allow certain undocumented youth to obtain a path to citizenship if they complete certain requirements.

On this same day, the DREAMS Network started the "1.5 Million Seconds Fast for 1.5 Million Dreams". If the DREAM Act becomes a law, about 1.5 million undocumented students would benefit from it. Monsserratt Alvarez, incoming Freshman at Meredith College, and Joanna Banegas, incoming Sophomore at NCSU, are launching this Campaign by fasting for 65 hours starting on May 28th at 9:00 PM and ending at 2 PM on Monday, May 31st.

Fasting is not only an act of religious faith, but it can be implemented to bring public attention to an issue at hand. Hunger strikes have been used as powerful political tools by figures such as Mahatma Gandhi in the early twentieth century, and by a thousand students in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Chicano Rights Movement leader Cesar Chavez used fasting to promote non-violence in 1968. On one level, fasting represented Chavez’s spiritual values: his willingness to sacrifice and do penance. At the same time, he and his lieutenants were extremely aware of the political impact of his actions, using the fast as a way of both publicizing and organizing for the movement.

The DREAMS Network will be hosting a Prayer Vigil on May 31st at 2 PM (location to be announced) to celebrate the ending of their fasting and the beginning of the fast of other students and community members. Those fasting will be using this blog to share with us the reason for which they have decided to fast and  their experience as they fast.

The DREAMS Network invites you to follow those fasting through this blog and to join us as we fast for the 1.5 million dreams that would be achieved if the DREAM Act becomes a law.

The DREAMS Network