What do you do when you learn you are less than legal? Suddenly, that illegal alien was Leezia Dhalla. Living in fear is the price undocumented workers pay for the American Dream. Where is that line for immigrants to stand in?
Leezia is a journalist, news junkie and first generation American who immigrated to Texas from Canada with her family in 1996. She is of African and Indian descent and speaks three languages proficiently. Leezia’s love of the media emerged in the second grade, when she was recruited to join her school’s Newspaper Club. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from Northwestern University. Follow Leezia on Twitter: @AskLeez
Leezia wants us to go beyond politics to look at the root cause of polarizing language about immigrants in America. Discussing the immigrant experience is critical now more than ever before as we see unparalleled changes in migration patterns around the world. Become more aware of the words used to discuss (and thereby understand) the immigrant
As a news reporter, Leezia’s work has been published in the The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, the San Antonio Express-News, Boulder Daily Camera, The Denver Post, The Daily Northwestern.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
