This story aired in the June 27, 2023 episode of Crosscurrents.
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Immigration can be stressful, and undocumented immigrants have the added stress of hiding their status. In Oakland, Teatro Jornalero works with day laborers to use theater as a way to express the loss and longing that comes with being undocumented. This is the story of one woman who is finding freedom and belonging by telling her story on stage.
Hermelinda and I meet in front of a white house, in the suburbs of Berkeley. She makes fun of herself for always running late, which doesn’t surprise me because she has this humble, light spirit to her that makes you feel comfortable right away. Hermelinda usually earns money as a domestic worker, but today she came to help her husband, Mario in a gardening job. She tells me it's been hard to get work because it’s very competitive. She sees about 200-day laborers waiting for work outside of a pharmacy in her neighborhood every morning.
Hermelinda and Mario mainly earn their living from the jobs they get through an organization called The Oakland Workers Collective. The Collective, or “La Collectiva,” was started to combat exploitation and wage theft for day laborers. She says she knows of many instances of injustices for fellow laborers: Wage theft, times when they were picked up and left in far places without a ride back. The Oakland Worker’s Collective not only helped Hermelinda financially but has also helped her tell her story by exposing her to creative opportunities.
I met up with Hermelinda in front of the historic Peralta Hacienda in Oakland. She quietly sits in front of the aged-white house swinging her feet back and forth, a sack of oranges and a big white trash bag, by her side. She offers me an orange and walks me over to an exhibit space in the park. In 2018, Hermalina and other day laborers were featured in a display here at Peralta Hacienda. The display was a collaborative art project between Peralta Hacienda and the Oakland Workers Collective at Street Level Health Project, called “Undocumented Heart.” It explored the lives of Oakland’s undocumented workers from Mexico and Central America through photos, text, fabrics, and mementos. Eventually, the workers featured in that exhibition formed an ongoing theater troupe called Teatro Jornalero or Workers Theater.
In 2022, the workers got on stage to tell their first-hand experiences about their migration to the U.S. On stage, Hermelinda shared stories about what she lost due to her decision to come to this country. She has not seen her three children for years, she missed her son’s graduation and has yet to meet her grandchildren. Today, Hermelinda leads me to a room upstairs at Peralta Hacienda, one of the quieter rooms in the house. She pulls out tons of colorful drawings and thick embroidered cloths from the white trash bag. She describes a picture she drew of her family next to a church, in Mexico — all things she used to create her performance in “Undocumented Heart.”
In the play, Hermelinda explains how her 16-year-old son wanted to be a graphic designer but that, in Mexico, the materials to study are super expensive. Her husband made the decision to migrate to the U.S. alone, to earn money for his children’s education. Three years later, Hermelinda followed him, in hopes of working towards financial stability together.
Hermelinda migrated from Chimalhuacan, Mexico, with her son who was 7.
She tells me that despite the beautiful stories people tell about the United States, when you finally make the journey you soon realize that it’s different. “You get here without anything, only the clothes on your back. Along the way, you get lied to and mugged by the same smugglers pretending to help you.”
After she was featured in that outdoor exhibit at the park at Peralta Hacienda, Hermelinda got involved in the theater. Executive Director Holly Alonso approached her about joining a new theater project. At the time, Hermelinda was going through a period of grieving, due to the loss of her mother. She mustered up the courage to go on stage and tell a story that is difficult for her to tell, the story of her mother’s passing, and in the telling, Hermelinda felt some relief. She tells me, “There are occasions that you do not want to remember, but it’s also beautiful because now I remember my mom, the way they used to laugh, and how she could be so motivating.” Hermelinda last saw her mother in 2004 before she migrated to the U.S. Because Hermelinda is undocumented when her mother passed she could not attend the funeral in Mexico. She recalls a devastating conversation with her daughter moments before her mother took her last breath. She says,” in that moment I regretted coming to this country, because even though there are good opportunities you never see your parents again or your family again.”
Hermelinda and other day laborers looked to experiences like these in their performances of Undocumented Heart. For Hermelinda, being on stage is a beautiful experience. Telling her story is intimate and performing gives her a chance to feel heard. When she workshopped the scene in rehearsals, her fellow performers gave her words of encouragement. Along with seeking formal therapy, telling her mother’s story on stage allowed her to heal.
Teatro Jornalero is currently fundraising to put on more performances for larger audiences. Hermelinda says, she and her fellow performers simply want people to learn from their stories. and hope they can inspire more people to share. She says, “Tell your story how it is, that is what will open doors for you. Not everyone will agree with you because not all stories are the same, but the people that want to listen to you will and the people that don’t agree with your lived experiences, well they are also free. That’s the most beautiful thing about life that you are free, you are free to turn off the radio if you don’t like listening to the story, of course not free to do anything you want but you are free to listen and it’s good to listen to people because that is where you will learn.”
