Q: Depending on what happens on Nov. 7, what do you think is going to happen with the immigration debate, the whole spring mobilization?
A: At the very least, what we saw in the spring was a unification of the Mexican migrant family. My worry has been that children born in the United States of parents who are illegally here end up with a confusion of identities. Their parents are not settled in the United States, they do not vote here, they do not participate in a full way in the United States. Their children are born here but they hear about their parents every sort of negative chorus -- that their parents are freeloaders, that their parents are indeed illegal. No other children in America hear about their parents what the children of illegal immigrants hear.
One of the darkest conclusions I have is that we may be creating the very thing we say we are afraid of. We may be Arabizing the Latin American children of illegal immigrants in the United States, making them rather like the Arab children of France, that while they may have citizenship in the United States, they are not part of the United States. And within that anger we may be creating the very violence that we built a fence to forestall.
http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=d805301961d45e05793090f785f74e5b&from=rss
Monday, November 06, 2006
The Not-So-Great Wall
The Not-So-Great Wall (2 Letters) - New York Times
"So now we will have the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor and a fence along the border with Mexico."
"Which best represents the United States?"
...
"Mr. Bush, tear down this fence."
"So now we will have the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor and a fence along the border with Mexico."
"Which best represents the United States?"
...
"Mr. Bush, tear down this fence."
Friday, November 03, 2006
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
A growing number of depressed and downtrodden? No.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102001660.html?referrer=emailarticle
"So at the end of the day what do we have? A growing number of immigrant poor? Well, yes. A growing number of depressed and downtrodden? No. Hispanic immigrants, like their immigrant predecessors, are optimists."
More...
"So at the end of the day what do we have? A growing number of immigrant poor? Well, yes. A growing number of depressed and downtrodden? No. Hispanic immigrants, like their immigrant predecessors, are optimists."
More...
Trying to speak someone's language is a sign of respect
http://elderj.wordpress.com/2006/10/22/ahn-nyung-ha-se-yo/
"To greet Koreans in Korean as a non-Korean is always a sure fire way to elicit surprise and a bit of cultural cool points. It doesn't matter how much I mangle the pronunciation or use the improper honorific or fail to conjugate the verb, it never fails to please at some level. Trying to speak someone's language is a sign of respect, especially for people whose chief aim is to assimilate as much and as quickly as possible to the dominant culture. It indicates that you value them, or at least care enough to recognize that they are not altogether like you, and that this is a good thing. As a Christian, trying to speak another language is a discipline of humility since it reduces my normally fluid command of language to sounding like a
stammering two year old..."
More
"To greet Koreans in Korean as a non-Korean is always a sure fire way to elicit surprise and a bit of cultural cool points. It doesn't matter how much I mangle the pronunciation or use the improper honorific or fail to conjugate the verb, it never fails to please at some level. Trying to speak someone's language is a sign of respect, especially for people whose chief aim is to assimilate as much and as quickly as possible to the dominant culture. It indicates that you value them, or at least care enough to recognize that they are not altogether like you, and that this is a good thing. As a Christian, trying to speak another language is a discipline of humility since it reduces my normally fluid command of language to sounding like a
stammering two year old..."
More
Republicans losing Latinos
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-outreach24oct24,1,5976766.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage&ctrack=1&cset=true
"Bush won an estimated 44% of the Latino vote in 2004. While polling numbers vary, many analysts said that represented about a 9-percentage-point improvement from 2000, suggesting that Latinos might become a substantial pillar upholding a durable Republican majority."
"But in recent months, Democratic activists watched with amazement as Republicans pushed into law a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border and tried to make it a felony to migrate illegally or to help undocumented immigrants. The latter provision did not become law, but it especially angered some church leaders, who said it would have criminalized their religious duty to help the least privileged in society."
"Despite Bush's lobbying for an immigrant guest-worker program, favored by many Latinos, conservative lawmakers in the House refused to bend, forcing Bush to endorse the fence legislation and dimming his popularity among Latinos."
"A survey released this month by the Latino Coalition found Latino registered voters supporting Democrats over Republicans 56% to 19% in congressional elections. "If Republicans nationally get 25% of the Hispanic vote, it would be a miracle," said Robert de Posada, the coalition president."
"Bush won an estimated 44% of the Latino vote in 2004. While polling numbers vary, many analysts said that represented about a 9-percentage-point improvement from 2000, suggesting that Latinos might become a substantial pillar upholding a durable Republican majority."
"But in recent months, Democratic activists watched with amazement as Republicans pushed into law a 700-mile fence along the Mexican border and tried to make it a felony to migrate illegally or to help undocumented immigrants. The latter provision did not become law, but it especially angered some church leaders, who said it would have criminalized their religious duty to help the least privileged in society."
"Despite Bush's lobbying for an immigrant guest-worker program, favored by many Latinos, conservative lawmakers in the House refused to bend, forcing Bush to endorse the fence legislation and dimming his popularity among Latinos."
"A survey released this month by the Latino Coalition found Latino registered voters supporting Democrats over Republicans 56% to 19% in congressional elections. "If Republicans nationally get 25% of the Hispanic vote, it would be a miracle," said Robert de Posada, the coalition president."
Monday, October 30, 2006
Anti-a**hole immigration
Guy Kawasaki has this early review of Robert Sutton's book, The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t. U.S. immigration policy is sorely in need of some of Sutton's anti-a**hole principles:
Do not make people feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled.
Do not mistreat people who are less powerful than you.
Focus on win-win.
Focus on ways you are no better or even worse than others.
Focus on ways you are similar to people, not different.
Tell yourself, “I have enough stuff (money, toys, friends, cars, whatever).”
Do not make people feel oppressed, humiliated, de-energized, or belittled.
Do not mistreat people who are less powerful than you.
Focus on win-win.
Focus on ways you are no better or even worse than others.
Focus on ways you are similar to people, not different.
Tell yourself, “I have enough stuff (money, toys, friends, cars, whatever).”
Friday, October 20, 2006
Thursday, October 19, 2006
Illegal immigrants used as pawns in heated campaign rhetoric
By Mark Brown
The Senate's immigration plan, the one favored by Duckworth and McCain (and yes, Kennedy), also calls for tougher border measures, but would allow those 12 million illegal immigrants to stay in the country. It would require them to register with the government and earn their legalized status by paying a fine, paying their taxes and learning English, among other requirements. It would take 11 years to clear all the hurdles.
You may consider that a form of amnesty. A lot of people who have studied this issue, though, think that eventually Congress will adopt some version of the Senate approach, because it will have a much better chance to work in the long run than just cracking down.
It just wouldn't have made so divisive a campaign issue for the midterm elections.
The Senate's immigration plan, the one favored by Duckworth and McCain (and yes, Kennedy), also calls for tougher border measures, but would allow those 12 million illegal immigrants to stay in the country. It would require them to register with the government and earn their legalized status by paying a fine, paying their taxes and learning English, among other requirements. It would take 11 years to clear all the hurdles.
You may consider that a form of amnesty. A lot of people who have studied this issue, though, think that eventually Congress will adopt some version of the Senate approach, because it will have a much better chance to work in the long run than just cracking down.
It just wouldn't have made so divisive a campaign issue for the midterm elections.
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