Jose Antonio Vargas
Define American
Los Angeles, California USA
"Once I start being afraid, then I’ve lost whatever power I had."
Career Roadmap
Jose Antonio's work combines: Journalism, Non-Profit Organizations, and Communicating / Sharing Stories
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Since I am so open about being an undocumented immigrant, the discouragement I receive tends to be more personal and hurtful. I decided to declare my independence from the expectations that people had about me and stop being afraid of them. I had to stop being afraid in order to regain my own power.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Political Science and Government, General
San Francisco State University
Bachelor's Degree
African-American/Black Studies
San Francisco State University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Immigrated to America from the Philippines at the age of 12; his parents sent him on a plane with a coyote (or, illegal smuggler); to go live with his grandparents in Northern California.
2.
He didn’t realize he was in the country illegally until he attempted to get a driver’s license at age 16 and realized he didn’t have the correct paperwork.
3.
One of his teachers introduced him to journalism and he began interning at a local paper called the Mountain View Voice; after that, he got an entry-level job at the San Francisco Chronicle.
4.
Despite his lack of papers, he managed to get through college at San Francisco State University, majoring in political science and Black Studies.
5.
His contributions to the Washington Post’s coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting won him and his colleagues the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News Reporting.
6.
But as he rose through the ranks of the world of journalism, he always felt like he was running from something; he ultimately decided to pen a piece called “My Life as an Undocumented Immigrant.”
7.
His story was widely covered by national news outlets, as he was one of the most high-profile people ever to publicly come out as an undocumented citizen.
8.
Decided to found Define American—a nonprofit built around sharing immigrant stories—so he could “take immigration out the box people put it in, make it accessible, and make it human.”
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
How dare you?! Get out of here you illegal person you don't belong.
How I responded:
Since I am so open about being an undocumented immigrant, the discouragement I receive tends to be more personal and hurtful. I decided to declare my independence from the expectations that people had about me and stop being afraid of them. I had to stop being afraid in order to regain my own power.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
Immigrated to America from the Philippines at the age of 12; my parents sent me on a plane with a coyote to go live with my grandparents in Northern California. I came out as an undocumented immigrant in the New York Times.
I get a lot of hate mail for being outspoken about my immigration status. People tend to judge you without really knowing you. It is hurtful and can get really personal.
Growing up, there was no outlet for sharing as we have now with social media. I had internalized a kind of self-loathing about being gay. I was so concerned with being an undocumented immigrant that it took a long time to liberate myself from shame.