Yesterday I was illegal
Today I am essential

Yesterday I was a foreign invader
Today I am a savior

Yesterday I was the problem
Today I am the solution

Yesterday I was overlooked
Today I look over you

Yesterday you declined my call
Today I answer yours

Yesterday I was unwanted, denied and turned away
Today I am invited to the front lines

Yesterday you hated me
But today you need me
Today you see me
Today you are me
And I am you
Equalized by the same denominator

But tomorrow you'll divide
You'll distance yourself from me;
Not by a statewide decree
But by your fears of yesterday

Because yesterday I was illegal
Today I am essential
But tomorrow I'll be forgotten

By George Figueroa

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"non-essential" is a self-portrait and poem created in 2020 during some of the most uncertain times due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It's about yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

It's about essential humans, individually and collectively.

It's about all of us.

I am you and you are me.

I am all of us.

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According to the latest research report from The Immigrant Learning Center’s Public Education Institute, "Immigrant Essential Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic", An estimated 6.2 million essential workers were ineligible for relief payments under the CARES Act, either because they were one of the 5.5 million undocumented immigrant essential workers in the U.S. or in mixed-status families, many of whom had U.S. citizen children.

Unfortunately, the world is still undergoing a pandemic, and essential employees are not adequately taken care of or appreciated. Many names will be forgotten forever but their efforts to sustain our world will forever be remembered. This NFT edition is a small way to permanently commemorate those who put their lives on the line so that our economy and lungs wouldn't collapse.

10% of the proceeds will be donated to The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).