Hina Naveed ’21, Student Address
Hina Naveed was elected by the Evening Class of 2021 to serve as its student speaker.
Hina is a product of the CUNY system. She attended the College of Staten Island for her BS in Nursing, prior to matriculating at the CUNY School of Law for her JD. She is a Registered Nurse and a DACA-recipient.
Hina’s family arrived in the U.S. 20 years ago, seeking life-saving medical treatment for her older sister during the course of which her family’s legal status was compromised.
Her parents decided to over-stay and continue to fight for her sister’s life, a decision that resulted in her sister still being alive 21 years after doctors in Dubai informed her parents she didn’t have much longer to live, thereby changing the trajectory of Hina’s life.
Inspired by her sister’s experience with medical professionals, Hina decided to become a Registered Nurse, a goal she would not be able to realize immediately, despite her academic successes due to her status as an undocumented immigrant. Hina has been at the forefront of the immigrant rights movement advocating for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants for nearly a decade, most notably speaking at the Women’s March on Washington.
Hina firmly believes healthcare is a human right and wants to work to correct systemic inequities. While working full-time as a Medical Director in a foster care agency and attending CUNY Law at night, Hina volunteered on the front lines during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as a NYC Medical Reserve Corps member. Her experiences within the child welfare and hospital systems further fuel her desire to fight for health justice for all.
Currently, Hina is dedicating her time to get Cesar Vargas ’11 elected as the Staten Island Borough President and is looking forward to starting at Human Rights Watch in the fall as an Aryeh Neier Fellow, a fellowship created jointly with the American Civil Liberties Union where she will work on initiatives to strengthen respect for human rights in the United States.
Remarks
Thank you so much for that introduction Cesar. It is my honor and privilege to have been selected as the evening speaker and be here with all of you today.
My name is Hina Naveed, I am a Registered Nurse, a DACA recipient, and now a law grad.
I came to the U.S. when I was just 10 years old. My family came here seeking medical treatment for my older sister Aleeza who was born with a brain condition called Arteriovenous Malformation, which affects the veins and arteries in her brain. By the time she was 11, she had 3 brain surgeries and a pronouncement by doctors in Dubai that she didn’t have much longer to live. My parents refused to take that as an answer and their quest for treatment lead us to Boston and then to New York. During the course of our stay here, due to an error with our immigration application, we fell out of status. My parents had to make the decision to overstay and continue fighting for Aleeza’s life, or leave and risk her rapid deterioration. They made the decision any parent would and chose to overstay, as a result, Aleeza is still alive, 20 years longer than they expected, and is with us in the audience today.
My sister’s medical journey inspired me to pursue a career as a Registered Nurse because I wanted to make other families feel the sense of comfort we felt during the darkest hours of Aleeza’s treatment and I’m grateful to have been able to do that as a Registered Nurse. Most notably, early last year during the height of the pandemic when there was a severe nursing and PPE shortage, I was able to volunteer as a Medical Reserve Corp Nurse and provide comfort and medical care to COVID-suspected or positive patients in various medical settings, and sometimes that looked like holding the hand of a nursing home resident gasping for air but whose family was unable to be there due to the COVID restrictions on visitors. It was a humbling experience, and one that reinforced why I went to law school in the first place.
Early in my nursing education career during clinical rotations, I realized that the issues that plagued black and brown communities were systemic, and system issues needed systemic solutions. It wasn’t the absence of good nurses that was killing our families, but the absence of good policy.
This led me to law school. I remember studying for the LSAT, like many of my fellow evening students, juggling a full-time job and family responsibilities while making time to practice LSAT questions wherever I could. I remember getting accepted to CUNY Law, an experience we all share whether it was an email or a green envelope that came first, and the feeling of excitement and trepidation that came with that.
The past 3, 3.5, 4 years have been challenging for all of us, and for evening students who have been balancing full-time jobs with part-time law education, it has been a testament to our grit, our determination, and the commitment of our loved ones for putting up with all of that.
We’ve had some fun memories too- trips to the Shannon Pot, running to Starbucks or Subway for a quick bite to eat during breaks, looking out for the food emails, and scavenging the leftover Indian food from events. Samosas are life! We got through all of it together, and it has been incredible to have been part of a class that has become like family. I used to think that CUNITY was cheesy as hell, but let me tell you it’s real. The Heekyong outlines turned into the Watson outlines, the stress about finals and assignments became opportunities to spend all night in the library working together and supporting each other, and when one of us lost a loved one, it became a loss for all of us.
This last year, those losses have compounded. Today is bittersweet not just because we can’t have our ceremony in-person, but also because many of us lost loved ones or know someone who did, and all of us feel a sense of collective grief and loss for all that has transpired over the last year.
Despite that, we persevered, and for many of us, it renewed our commitment to fighting for justice and dignity and health for all of our neighbors.
As evening students, we’ve got this! We’ve been master jugglers and time managers, we took on second, third, or fourth careers because we aren’t afraid of hard work and will do what it takes to get the job done, and with the support of our families and our communities, we are going to change the world. I know it.
As we all celebrate today and honor our loved ones for their support, and hold space and honor those who aren’t here today, let’s all renew our commitment to practicing law in the service of human needs. Let’s commit to dismantling systems of oppression and commit to opening doors for those who come after us. We’ve come this far, there is no stopping us now.
I wish all those taking the bar exam this summer the best of luck. It will be over before you know it, you can do this because you’ve already done it. I encourage everyone to shout out their loved ones in the comments, this moment wouldn’t have been possible without their support.
Thank you for your trust in me as the speaker today, and I’ll now hand it off to the full-time speaker, Elisabeth.