MayDay
Today tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the street to rally for immigration reform. My parents immigrated here in the 70's, and from my point of view I find the people who weren't born here to be the ones that appreciate and defend this country the most.
Which is why it makes me ill to hear this:
"Already, right-wing radio jocks have been lashing out at the "communist" rallies planned around the country. "To the Wal-Mart, comrades," quipped one conservative pundit on the Human Events website, urging red-blooded Americans to redouble their spending on May 1." (Village Voice)
And who exactly is staffing those Wal-Marts??
Or this:
"Right-wing radio host Brian James of KFYI in Arizona recently advocated murder as a way of dealing with undocumented immigrants. An excerpt:
What we’ll do is randomly pick one night - every week - where we will kill whoever crosses the border. Step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it’s your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun…[I’d be] happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope.
The remarks prompted Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard and U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton to send a complaint to the FCC." (Think Progress)
People who come here without knowing the language, without the benefit of going through the U.S. education system (which, at least tends to feed you into some kind of job) have their work cut out for them. It takes guts to leave everything you know in search of something better, and anyone who follows that path, from the undocumented folks working the fields to the American Dream poster child millionaires, whatever you think about immigration, these people have earned some basic respect.
3 Comments:
the way i see it is we are all immigrants, unless you happen to be a native american indian( and i must say we did a fine job of putting them in there rightful place to, but thats another gripe for another time ). Now the question is if your here
legally or not. All i know is if i went to another country with out the right documents id be asked to leave, and they wouldn't be all that friendly about it either.
I agree with u that immigrants cherish what america has to offer more so then the people who have been born and raised here. WE walk around with are heads held up so high in the air that we dont even realize what it is we have. And can't imagine that the rest of the world isn't just like us. Americans need to step out of the shells and see how the rest of the world views us from there perspective not ours.
It might just help us come to an understanding on this whole immigration issue.
Hi Michael,
Well said, and I think we have multiple issues colliding right now on
the streets and in the media.
One is how America treats its *legal* immigrants - how they are
assimilated (or not) into the culture - this is a problem in a lot of
countries, usually the people most recently off the boat so to speak get
the short end of the stick in many ways.
The other is how America treats its *illegal* immigrants - they've
become a necessary and entrenched part of the economy though we hate to
admit it. Is it fair to let people pick lettuce or sew clothes or clean
houses at far below minimum wage, then tell them they're a drain on our
country? There is no easy answer, but if we want to stem illegal
immigration, we have to address our addiction to cheap goods and labor
first.
My $.02 - thanks for letting me share it with you =)
It is just a crazy world out there. Glad U took time to share your story & allow 4 comments!
Smooch,
The Tart
; )
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