Stop Blaming Undocumented Workers for Every Ill We Suffer!
The avalanche of anti-immigrant sentiment, mostly originated on the Republican side, seems to be growing the closer we get to a decision to elect the next president. Not only the Congress has been ineffective in dealing with the problem but also now we have to ad many States such as Colorado where local proposals are being tossed around like confetti in a party.
The majority of those in every State with similar proposals are appealing to the basic instincts of the residents and mostly their pocketbook to justify measures in order to eradicate every one of the 12 million people living in this country without having proper documents by measures so restrictive that, according the proponents, will be conducive to self-deportation.
As convincing tools - however misleading - could be effective. Who doesn’t understand having to pay for other people’s services out of their own pocket? Unfortunately, the studies they present to back up their claims are generally poor or not quite clear.
More than that, since there is no practical way to poll those who are attacked, for the obvious reasons, nobody really knows what services they use, how much money they spend and on what, whether they are homeowners or renters, how long have they been in this country and how much they have paid in income taxes, many times without filing for a just return because of fear or intimidation.
It becomes very easy to take a whole group of people - without a voice - and blame them for anything and everything bad in our society. Too easy.
Since this furious trend is a sore point among voters I think it’s time for those who want a more compassionate and humane way to deal with the problem to unite and create a common front to resolve the issue before we move into such an antagonistic position that could bring back the days of hate, persecution and total discrimination most of us remember from the not-so-distant past.
To compound the problem, self-appointed pro-immigrant leaders, from politicians to small newspaper editors, seem unwilling to unite with a national voice and are mostly satisfied to pander to their surrounding crowd, probably because they enjoy the rush of feeling appreciated by some as opposed to be a not so visible part of the total picture.
Being that the immigrants from Mexico comprise the majority of undocumented workers, another situation, not too pleasant, is that many Mexican-American citizens, feeling the pinch of discrimination, are curiously taking the extreme position of distancing themselves from their own roots, hoping to gain the respect and approval of the ones who spouse extreme views.
It’s a messy picture without a doubt.
Finally, we all agree that our country, like any other nation on earth, has the right to either accept or reject potential foreign residents in their soil. There is no question on this. The problem however is much more complicated than a simple statement or enacting laws which are difficult to enforce.
In our case, especially in the Southwest, we have a history of Hispanic residents that goes way back and beyond the pioneer’s arrival. All we have to do is take a look at the names of hundreds of cities and sites, including States. That should make very obvious that there were other races, mostly Indian, Spanish or Mestizo here, which in turn were displaced of course, but at the same time they grew and spread around the general area.
That however and in itself is no justification for a modern Hispanic to claim the right to be here and not have proper documents issued by the U.S. Borders were created to establish limits between countries.
On the other hand, decades of not-so-restricted transit between the U.S. and Mexico established a pattern and habit in many of those looking for a better chance to make a living.
The main contributors to that pattern are not the workers but the citizens of this country, from regular folks happily hiring a guy to take care of their lawn to growers providing jobs to lift their crops and factories with very unpleasant jobs, such as meat processing, in need of people with low expectations and easily managed.
It has been an unfair exchange for sure, since everyone who did the hiring got a nice break in the cost of labor and also all of us as consumers when we could go the supermarket and find food for a not too expensive price.
Today there is no difference. So, what’s changed? Our economy, our state of anxiety because of the war in Iraq and the terrible situation with education, health care and to top it all the sliding value of properties due to the enormous amount of foreclosures.
Incompetence comes from the top, not the bottom tier. This administration has sunk our country with fervor while favoring big corporations and outsourcing. Of course Republicans and the kind of government they supported have to find something to focus on and distract the public from the real issues.
Enter the undocumented workers.
Who speaks for them? Nobody really. Some, because they agree blindly with the tenets offered and others simply because they don’t really believe they can make a difference.
Well I care! I think it’s high time for a frank discussion on reaching a solution for these people instead of making them responsible for our own failures and sins.
Just the numbers speak for themselves. If it’s true we have about 12 million people living here without documents, and I believe it, are we going to also believe that nobody noticed before the constant growth of this population? Either we are talking through both sides of our mouth or we, as a society, are stupid.
I want to believe we are not stupid and I also believe that for a long time most citizens were purposely ignoring the issue because they didn’t feel affected by it. More than that, many, as those mentioned who did the hiring, have been benefiting from this situation. In other words, as long as we benefited from them, it was all right to ignore the problem but now that we have problems, not precisely related to undocumented workers, we can start screaming and direct our anger toward them.
We should instead focus on why we are in the mess we’re in.
Have you lost your job because of downsizing or your position being exported to another country?
Are you loosing your home because of a decrease in your income or perhaps a lousy loan originated by greedy lenders?
Are you unsatisfied with the education of your children because too much talk at the top levels and very little results in the classroom?
Are you dissatisfied with the billions of dollar being spent in foreign lands instead of investing it in our own country?
Are you upset about the economy in general while Wall Street keeps on shuffling money to increase profits for the more powerful?
Those, at least to me, are some of the real issues. Why there is not a public outcry about any of these?
I’m sure you can offer other issues pertinent to your local scenario.
Make your point, answer, debate, get out and find others who can place the focus on the problems we have.
I do the best I can, through this Blog and sending letters to editors, radio show hosts, and television personalities. What are you doing?
posted by frustimista @ 10:40 a. m.
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