Where do you come from.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
These are the words written on a plaque next to the Statue of Liberty, these words were meant to symbolize what our country stands for. We’re the melting pot, the land of opportunity. In fact, most of us have family members who immigrated here within a generation or so. Such a high number of us even have relatives who read the words on that plaque as they got off of a boat coming to this country. Yet, in the last week alone I’ve heard comments about “building walls” instituting laws removing the rights of a child who was born in this country (and therefore a citizen) from receiving basic health care benefits because their parents are immigrants. I hear comments about how they don’t contribute, how they do nothing but take.
As of 2003 the unemployment rate for Whites over 20 was 5 percent, African African Americans at 10.3% and Hispanics (at whom the majority of immigration complaints are directed) were at 6.4 percent. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Web: data.bls.gov .) Think about that for a minute. African Americans are 3.9 percent higher, and Whites are 1.4 percent less. This doesn’t indicate to me that Hispanics are any more likely to be unemployed, and when it’s taken into consideration that their median income is dramatically less than that of whites, it would actually indicate that ::gasp:: they are less of a drain on the economy.
Granted, the statistics I’ve mentioned are for legal citizens, but bear in mind that most illegal citizens would be more than happy to be legal citizens, but we do not allow it. Why not? We don’t want them stealing our jobs is the general response I hear, but answer this for me. If you increase the population, that would indicate that the service industry would need to grow to support that right? More retailers? More teachers? More doctors? More nurses? More janitors, more of most jobs. Not to mention, they’ll need to eat, they’ll need clothes, they’ll need entertainment, which means billions of additional dollars flowing into our economy. In addition increases in payroll taxes would result in even more money flowing into our economy. Will the number of people requiring public assistance increase? Yes. However, will that cancel out the boost our economy will receive as a result? I don’t see how.
I know that not all immigrants are Hispanics, however, this is the main group people complain about, why is this? Well, I think you’ll find there a couple of reasons. First of all, they’re coming, and they’re coming fast. Secondly, they’re hanging on to their own culture to a degree, sure they’re assimilating, but they hold on to their identity, and we don’t like that. I’ve heard the argument “They’re in our country, why don’t they know our language? if I went to their country I’d learn their language” What is the national language of the United States? Is it American? (I’ve heard this stated emphatically on more than one occasion) Is it English? Or did our founding fathers not provide us with one. Maybe because of what our country was built on? We were an escape, we hear stories of religious freedom sure, but in addition, we were a haven for those seeking political asylum, or just a better life in a far away land. Our ancestors were afforded a right that we are willing to take away from others, why? The second reason I feel is simply that we don’t know what to do with another culture, and that scares us, this one is aimed at more than Hispanics, it’s aimed at Arabs who must all hate women, america, overall western ideology, and are most likely terrorists. Or, what about the Hispanics, they’re here trafficing in humans, and drugs, they’re starting gangs. I could keep going, but it’s not worth it, we can all run off a hundred stereotypes about a hundred different races. I’d rather spend my last few sentences saying this. If you look back in history, horrible things have occurred due to fear, we all know the huge one, but they’re continuing to this day. Martin Luther King Jr. said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” we’re closer, hell, we’ve even elected a black man as president. We’re making huge strides in the right direction, but at the same time we’re taking giant leaps backwards when it comes to immigration.
I know I’m not going to change a lot of minds. This is a subject most of us feel very passionate about one way or the other, but I hope I can make at least a couple of people think about it at the very least.
For the Record, I’m half Lebanese, my father was born in Lebanon, and was a muslim. My mother is Irish and Italian, her parents were both born here in the US, and I was raised as first a Roman Catholic, and then a Unitarian. I was born in a small city in Western Massachusetts and identify myself above all else as an American, and I’m very proud of that fact.
I’m not going to suggest a book, or a cd, or a movie today, instead I am just going to suggest that you take a second to remember it’s easier to love your neighbor than to hold them in fear.
Did you hear what the mayor of my town did? he petitioned to be accepted into a federal program which allows the police to act as immigration officials.
Legal citizens are going to avoid calling the police for help, because they have friends or family who are here illegally. Or hell, even because they may be questioned on their legal status. who wants to have to prove they have a right to police assistance when they are a victim of a crime.
http://www.nj.com/morristown/index.ssf/2009/07/morristown_immigrants_fearful.html
Your Mayor isn’t the only one. In fact this has been pretty widely attempted, and to be frank it’s embarrassing. I just don’t see any positive as a result of these types of actions. Or look at it this way since everyone is concerned with the drain on the economy. There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the united states today. If everyone just turned themselves in today, taking into account the trial, and transportation costs, it would cost 92 billion dollars to deport them all. This is according to the bureau of immigration and customs enforcement head Julie L. Myers. So let’s add onto that the cost of ‘hunting down the immigrants?’ What do you figure at least another 100 million I’m sure. So we’re looking at 200 billion. Not to mention that whether they’re citizens or not they spend money which brings in tax revenue which means additional money lost.
Great post, man.
Racism is so deeply built in to mainstream American culture that people most often don’t even see it. Especially when we carry it around in ourselves in the form of ignorance of our own privilege, defensiveness when called to look at it (and the comparing of oppressions that gets going which blocks all clarity of communication) complicity with a social infrastructure that keeps the fear you mention afloat, etc. Systemic racism relies on fear, scarcity, divisiveness and ignorance to keep going. And many people, unfortunately, who do not feel the direct impact of immigration law are intimidated by all they don’t know, so they just block it out. That’s one of the insidious ways that social privilege works. People aren’t directly impacted by something so they decide – consciously or unconsciously – that it’s not their problem.
The more people speak up, though, the more you blaze paths for people to figure out what they don’t know.
Thanks for this post.