The world is a scary place for undocumented immigrants right now as the U.S. government remains complicit in the separation of nearly 2,000 children from their parents at the border — but Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez is here to set an example of how we *should* be standing up for immigrants.
In a beautiful and inspiring move, the actress announced Tuesday that she’ll be using the entirety of her Jane the Virgin Emmys campaign money to create a scholarship to send an undocumented Latinx student to college for all four years.
Normally, most shows spend a pretty wild amount of money on “For Your Consideration,” or FYC, to fund campaigns, advertisements and parties in attempt to be nominated for an Emmy — and you may not have heard of this process because, well, showrunners kind of don’t want you to.
“FYC is a bizarre dance. Whatever you do requires an insane amount of money,” Gina told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s taboo to talk about the money being spent, but it’s the reality.”
So instead, Rodriguez approached Jane the Virgin‘s showrunner, Jennie Snyder Urman, about the possibility of putting the money to good use by forgoing any kind of Emmys campaigning in favor of a scholarship that would support Latinx college students. After getting the green light from Snyder Urman, Jane the Virgin worked with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles to search for a winner. While for obvious reasons, the winner’s name isn’t being shared publicly, according to THR, she’s an undocumented Latinx woman who will be attending Princeton University in the fall.
“I think sharing this might inspire other people to do something similar,” Rodriguez said on her decision to share the news. “You can desire recognition and, at the same time, decide to not play in the confines of the game as it’s set up.”
Considering the fact that it’s basically a travesty that Jane the Virgin has never won a single Emmy in its four seasons on air, this would be a really good time for Television Academy to take notice of the amazing on and off-screen things the show is doing for the Latinx community and offer it some recognition.