The word “illegal” can now be defined as a noun meaning a person of Hispanic origin who entered the United States without permission. It seems to be an update of the word “wetback” which referred to those who crossed the Rio Grande River to get into the U.S.
Mr. Frank Baldino of Hamden, CT writes in a letter to the editor of the New Haven Register,
“Most illegals don’t want to be immersed into the American culture, don’t want to learn English, don’t want to pledge loyalty to our flag. Most illegals want to take advantage of our work, schools, health care and welfare.
Immigrants coming to our shores legally strive to obey the law and want to be American in every respect.”
I note that those who come to our shore legally are immigrants, not “legals.” Well, Frank, forgive me for being blunt when I say I think you’re full of shit. You have been constipated by Fox News and/or Rush Limbaugh and should see about getting an enema or perhaps there is no cure for bigotry.
Frank unwittingly zeros in on the real cause of illegal immigration which is the Bush “prosperity” we are now enjoying.
“Mexico must be a very terrible place to live. President Bush must be doing something right as millions of people from all parts of the planet are sacrificing so much to come live under Bush policies, especially the economic policies that is (sic) providing a booming economy and also the safety of our country, which hasn’t been attacked by terrorists since Sept. 11.”
Excuse me but Sept. 11th was the only time we’ve been attacked by terrorists. Ironically, they all had valid visas and so were among the “immigrants coming to our shores legally.” The Oklahoma City bombing was done by a red blooded, white skinned American Army veteran named Timothy McVeigh so that wasn’t terrorism, was it? The Atlanta Olympic bomber was a white, anti-abortion nut case. Neither they nor their ancestors came from Mexico or points south.
As for the Bush economic policies - can you say $3,015,000,000,000 more in debt plus a $1,500,000,000,000 surplus pissed away in just five years? Or how about Bush has added $5,600 in debt for each person in America. The interest on the total debt is now closing on $1,000 per person per year. Or do numbers make you dizzy?
Frank is joined in the same issue of the Register by Matthew Erff, also of Hamden, CT who declares,
“There are over 11 million illegals, and no one knows how many are terrorists who just walked in. Illegal immigrants take jobs away from citizens, keep the minimum wage down and use public resources that belong to American citizens.
There is nothing wrong with legal immigration, in fact we are all descendants of immigrants. Our ancestors came here legally.”
Interesting that both writers make a point that their ancestors were “legals.” Matthew lists pretty much the same bigot talking points as Frank and makes one wonder if there’s something in the water in Hamden, CT. I want to point out that it is not illegal immigrants who keep the minimum wage down. It’s the Republican Party which has opposed every attempt to raise the national minimum wage since 1994.
Mr. Erff does the ‘dissing the flag shtick - “How disrespectful that during one protest someone hung an American flag upside down under a Mexican flag” - and closes with a solution that shows he’s not really paying attention to world affairs.
“The government needs to secure our borders and do it quickly. Send the military. They took an oath to defend America from threats both foreign and domestic. This is a true threat to America.”
Excuse me Matt but what military we have is currently busy in another part of the world trying to keep its members from being killed by warring factions of Iraqis. “The government” sent them there and now doesn’t know how to get them out. In fact, a third of the soldiers are National Guard which would otherwise have been available to help in Mississippi and Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina.
Perhaps you and Frank could get a militia together and go to Texas and shoot “illegals” crossing from Mexico. Just a thought.
War and murder are not likely topics for Easter Sunday but I assume the Sunday news shapers have spent the morning trying to establish a particular bias on the call for Donald Rumsfeld’s removal as Secretary of Defense. This time it isn’t anti-war ‘hippies’ calling for action but rather a half dozen retired generals who were actively involved in the planning and execution of the Iraq War. They characterize Rumsfeld as an arrogant micromanager who browbeats people into doing things his way. They say that he has no idea of what it takes to fight a war and does not listen to those who do.
Shrub issued a statement that “Don” is a great person and the bestest Secretary of Defense ever. Then the Pentagon sent an email “fact sheet” to former military commanders and civilian analysts stating that Rumsfeld meets four times a week with the Joint Chiefs and “meets approximately twice each year with individual service chiefs to review general/flag officer personnel assignments and planning to the two-star officer level.” Finally, Rumsfeld trundled out the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs to stand with him for a news conference. General Pace defended the Secretary. He is bound to do so by law and tradition.
Even a twelve year old can see that Shrub’s preemptive war to “get Saddam” has not turned out the way we were told it would. It is a murderous mess. Now we hear from some of the commanders who were directly involved and they say essentially the same thing. Shrub and his lackeys would have us deny reality and accept the claim that Rumsfeld is doing a great job.
Some Sunday shapers certainly will tell us the “facts” that frequent meetings occur and then will do the dishonest thing and conclude that this shows Rumsfeld listens to what the Generals say. It seems more likely that an arrogant micromanager who browbeats subordinates into taking his line would use frequent meetings to do exactly that.
The epithet “long screwdriver” has been used for a couple of years now to describe how Rumsfeld and his neocon warlords butted into minor field decisions as the war progressed (or disintegrated). Now we’re told the “facts” that Don is a consulter not a martinet. I put that with Saddam’s biological weapons trailers and other weapons of mass hallucination promoted by Bush, Cheney and their band of liars.
The current struggle over the true American vision of immigration brought to mind something I taught to my Sophomore English classes at Holy Cross High School in Flushing, Queens, NY in the early nineties. The reading and writing exercises I assigned were based on the students’ own family and ethnic backgrounds of which there were many. When the standard “melting pot” metaphor came up I thought that it was at the least misleading. The image comes from steel making where the various components are melted together to form steel which has always stood for solidity and strength. Perhaps the characteristics of steel are what the metaphor is intended to convey but as the students shared their stories it was clear that the idea of becoming one substance is not what America is about.
The best image I could conjure up to describe the American experience was Noah’s Ark and the more I thought about it the more the metaphor seemed appropriate. We have not become one in terms of characteristics or beliefs or social practices. Each group maintains its identity while at the same time becoming American. In addition, the picture of noise and confusion that an ark loaded with animals brings to mind fits my experience of America. We’re all in the same boat but we are not all the same.
I told the students that if some superior power said the world was to be wiped out but that I could choose one place that would survive I would choose Queens, NY because of all the places on the planet it has the greatest variety of humankind. As Noah’s Ark was the means of saving living things so Queens is the ark that would save the human race from extinction. Like Noah’s Ark, Queens is a busy, noisy place which is home to hundreds of national and ethnic groups. It is not paradise but it is America where everyone has to learn to give and take, to preserve their culture and contribute to the building up of a common culture.
In the real America, as opposed to the Republican macho patriot redneck America, we have to learn not to let our differences keep us from working toward common goals. This is what I believe is being played out in the immigration debate and I am hopeful that the America I found in Queens, NY is our future.
It’s been a pleasure to read about the nationwide demonstrations against the mean-spirited immigration laws conceived by Republicans in Congress. It is noteworthy that news reports include the fact that local officials were surprised by the size of the crowds that gathered to express their feelings about being branded criminals by a political party that is becoming known as corrupt. It may show how out of touch the Republicans and their focus groups are or how they have become victims of their own macho patriot propaganda which I believe has its roots in redneck racism.
Los Angeles’ Roman Catholic archbishop, Cardinal Roger Mahony gave the country a perhaps unexpected message in his NY Times OpEd piece, “Called by God to Help” published on March 22, 2006.
The proposed Border Protection, Antiterrorism and Illegal Immigration Control bill, which was approved by the House of Representatives in December and is expected to be taken up by the Senate next week, would among other things subject to five years in prison anyone who “assists” an undocumented immigrant “to remain in the United States.”
Some supporters of the bill have even accused the church of encouraging illegal immigration and meddling in politics. But I stand by my statement. Part of the mission of the Roman Catholic Church is to help people in need. It is our Gospel mandate, in which Christ instructs us to clothe the naked, feed the poor and welcome the stranger.
Providing humanitarian assistance to those in need should not be made a crime, as the House bill decrees. As written, the proposed law is so broad that it would criminalize even minor acts of mercy like offering a meal or administering first aid.
The Republicans must have thought they’d put Mahony’s statement “behind them.” Otherwise, they would not have been surprised by the 500,000 citizens (and non-citizens) who demonstrated against their “damn foreigners” legislation just in Los Angeles. Tens of thousands more attended rallies in public squares and schoolyards to say that they and their parents are not criminals and that they will not stand to be treated as such.
The demonstrations continue as school children in Virginia and 100,000 people in New York City add their voices to the ingrained American sentiment that immigrants are not criminals and that helping the poor among them is not only a Christian imperative but a true American value.
Many flags were waved at the demonstrations and they were more than just red, white and blue. Still the Republicans in the House passed their “damn foreigner” bill and the Senate Republican “leadership” is opposed to the bipartisan bill that came out of the Judiciary Committee. Apparently, the America the right-wing Republican propaganda machine has created is the only one they’re willing to accept.