Lena Dunham Pens Powerful Pro-Immigration Essay For International Women’s Day
“I encourage you to use International Women’s Day to consider acts of courage great and small by immigrant women, and to commit to fighting with and for them,” “Girls” star writes
Lena Dunham has penned an essay about immigrant women in honor of International Women’s Day, asking for her readers to fight “with and for them.”
“Someone I love is undocumented,” the actress began her essay, first posted on LinkedIn. “She is a personal hero of mine: She has cared for the dying, for the just-born, for people who can’t care for themselves. She has a vast and encompassing religious identity rooted only in love. She feeds people literally and figuratively. She is everything you could hope for from an American. But she has not been allowed to become one.”
Dunham wrote that her friend doesn’t travel much besides going to and from work and has her children (American-born citizens) do most of her communicating. That’s why she was shocked when her friend said she would be taking the day off to march for immigrants’ rights.
“What if she were arrested and detained or, worse yet, deported? Her native home is not a safe place for any woman, and her situation is particularly difficult. What would befall her if she made herself vulnerable in this way?” Dunham wrote. “But she didn’t seem worried. Maybe that’s because she’s endured so much worse at the hands of a paternalistic society both in her native country and her new home. Maybe it’s because of the unfathomable danger of her trip to America. Or maybe it’s because the stakes are just too high right now for her not to show up.”
The “Girls” creator and star said that the way that her friend showed up to march without question was a reminder that “feminists have always been emboldened by immigration women.”
Dunham consequently dug into her own personal history, telling readers about her great grandmother (who she is named after), who immigrated from Russia in 1900 and who gave birth to eight children in a one-room apartment in Brooklyn.
“I understand now that behind whatever sweetness described there must have been a steely, impossible-to-comprehend strength- what else drives a young woman away from everything and everyone she knows, carries her to a new land, allows her to bear the weight of life and death and endless Challah burns?” wrote Dunham.
During her teenage years, Dunham wrote, she didn’t really honor her great grandmother, but on International Women’s Day, she will try to.
“Not just in the small ways, like trying to channel Grandma Lena on that boat and not whine about motion sickness in the back of a Lyft,” she wrote. “But in big ways, too like bearing life’s trials and tribulations- physical and emotional- with as much elegance as I can muster. By taking action against silent injustice. By trying my darnedest to feed those I love- if not with my own hands the. with love, patience, compassion and takeout.”
At the end of her essay, Dunham encouraged readers to use today to “consider acts of courage great and small by immigrant women, and to commit to fighting with and for them.”
Lena Dunham, Katie Couric Join TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast NYC (Photos)
Lena Dunham and Katie Couric attended TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC on June 9.
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TheWrap's CEO Sharon Waxman and "Girls" actress Lena Dunham arrive at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast NYC.
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"Orange Is the New Black" actress Jackie Cruz arrives at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
"Becoming Mary Jane" actress Gabrielle Union arrives at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
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The crowd listens to the discussion at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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TheWrap CEO and editor-in-chief Sharon Waxman hugs Lena Dunham at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
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Katie Couric speaks to Sharon Waxman at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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Katie Couric speaks to Sharon Waxman at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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Katie Couric speaks to Sharon Waxman at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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Lena Dunham on stage at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast NYC on June 9.
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Katie Couric at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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The audience at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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The crowd at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
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Kathryn Finney, founder of The Budget Fashionista, speaks during a panel at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
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TheWrap's CEO Sharon Waxman introduces a panel at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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Rachel Sklar, founder of Change the Radio/Theli.st, speaks on stage at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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Rachel Sklar and Kathryn Finney arrive at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast on June 9.
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The audience at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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From left, "Eclipsed" director Liesl Tommy, "Eclipsed" actress Pascale Armand, "Orange Is the New Black" actress Jackie Cruz and "Eclipsed" actress Zainab Jah at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
The audience at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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President and Chief Executive Officer of A+E Networks Nancy Dubuc attends TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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"Eclipsed" Actress Zainab Jah arrives at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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TheWrap's CEO Sharon Waxman poses with Katie Couric and Lena Dunham at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
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Rachel Sklar, Kathryn Finney, founder of The Girls' Lounge Shelley Zalis, founder of The Pink Ceiling Cindy Whitehead and Sharon Waxman during a panel at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast.
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Gabrielle Union listens to a panel at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast
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Founder and CEO of The Girls' Lounge Shelley Zalis speaks during a panel at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast in NYC.
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The audience at TheWrap's Power Women Breakfast on June 9.