Last night on the Colbert Report, my personal hero, Jose Antonio Vargas, the Pulitzer Prize winner who recently came out — as Colbert put it — a “border gay,” told America that he’s an undocumented immigrant, not an illegal one. As Colbert asks him if he’s an “illegal,” Vargas replies:
No, listen, this is actually an important point. I don’t want, like, you know, a 12 year old, sitting in a middle school somewhere — in America, right — thinking that he or she is illegal.
We’ve embedded the video of the clip for your viewing pleasure:
You should check out Jose’s original coming out story that he published nearly a month ago in the New York Times, “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.” His campaign, “Define American,” challenges others to ask themselves what they would do when it comes to undocumented immigrants – as teachers, as friends, as parents, and as Americans.
For more updates, follow the campaign on twitter @DefineAmerican, or help their cause by asking yourself and members of your community those few perhaps very difficult, but also very important questions.
