Holy Double Standards Batman!

I happened to be perusing the Federation for American Immigration Reform's website when I came across this:

"America uses the term “illegal alien” to describe someone in our country in violation of our immigration laws not to demean someone, but rather because it is the correct, and legally recognized, term." (source)

OK, perhaps it's not simply a term used to make people think hardworking immigrants are really sneaky criminals intent on harming you.  (Though they do have sections on their website that will tell you just how those illegal aliens will harm you.)

The fear mongering gets a bit overwhelming...

But this story jumped up on CNN today: Arizona bill would deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants and it got me wondering how FAIR talks about this issue.

Lo and behold... they have a section called: Anchor Babies: Part of the Immigration-Related American Lexicon where they write: "The term 'anchor baby' may be unfamiliar to most Americans but it succinctly describes a troubling aspect of American immigration." (source)

Hey FAIR - I've got news for you... The legally recognized term for someone born in the United States is: U.S. Citizen.

Am I shocked that they would claim the 'legal term' when it scares the bejesus out of people, but ignore the 'legal term' when it suits their purpose?  No, but let's call hypocrisy when we see it.

Remember - FAIR isn't!

We have nothing to fear... well, except maybe fear.

Roger Ebert wrote a great post on the mural controversy down in AZ...   
(Photo courtesy of AP Photo/The Daily Courier, Matt Hinshaw)

The back story is that basically this mural (right) got painted on the side of a school.  It was a nice mural... the theme was "Go Green" and the goal was to promote "environmentally friendly transportation".  Four kids from the school were used as models for the figures depicted on the building.
 
Then, some City Councilman, a real winner of a human being named Steve Blair, complained that the brown looking kids in the mural didn't represent the community. Did I mention that four kids from the school were used as models for the figures depicted on the building? Yep. I did. But it's important enough to mention twice.

He had some things to say... like:

"I'm not a racist by any stretch of the imagination, but whenever people start talking about diversity, it's a word I  can't stand." Daily Courier 
                                                      
"I will tell you depicting a black guy in the middle of that mural, based upon who's President of the United States today ..." Daily Courier

"To depict the biggest picture on the building as a Black person, I would have to ask the question: Why?" AZCentral.com

"Personally, I think it's pathetic," he says. "You have changed the ambience of that building to excite some kind of diversity power struggle that doesn't exist in Prescott, Arizona. And I'm ashamed of that." - AZCentral.com

This councilman wasn't just a councilman, he had a day job as a DJ at KYCA (he's been fired over this...).  During his time on air he riled people up.  Did it work?

Well, the kids and the artists, painting it together, got to know if it worked...  "We consistently, for two months, had people shouting racial slander from their cars" Wall said. "We had children painting with us, and here come these yells of (epithet for Blacks) and (epithet for Hispanics)." (From the AZ Central story quoted above in the first line)

So, as I mentioned, Roger Ebert wrote a great piece... but it wasn't on the controversy per say. He wrote:

How would I feel if I were a brown student at Miller Valley Elementary School in Prescott, Arizona? A mural was created to depict some of the actual students in the school.

Let's say I was one of the lucky ones. The mural took shape, and as my face became recognizable, I took some kidding from my classmates and a smile from a pretty girl I liked. My parents even came over one day to have a look and take some photos to e-mail to the family. The mural was shown on TV, and everybody could see that it was me.

Then a City Councilman named Steve Blair went on his local radio talk show and made some comments about the mural. I didn't hear him, but I can guess what he said. My dad says it's open season on brown people in this state. Anyway, for two months white people drove past in their cars and screamed angry words out the window before hurrying away. And the artists got back up on their scaffold and started making my face whiter.

We went over to my grandparent's house, and my grandmother cried and told me, "I prayed that was ending in my lifetime." Then there was more news: The City Councilman was fired from his radio show, the Superintendent of Schools climbed up on the scaffold with a bullhorn and apologized for the bad decision, and I guess the artists went back up and started making my skin darker again, but I didn't go to see, because I never wanted to go near that bullshit mural again.

(Take the time to read his whole post here...)

What Roger is writing about isn't the mural or the controversy itself, but the people driving by in the cars yelling stuff...

What I cannot imagine is what it would be like to be one of those people driving past in their cars day after day and screaming hateful things out of the window. How do you get to that place in your life? Were you raised as a racist, or become one on your own? ...  But what about the people in those cars? ... They don't think of the feelings of the kids on the mural. They don't like those kids in the school. It's not as if they have reasons. They simply hate. Why would they do that? What have they shut down inside? Why do they resent the rights of others? Our rights must come first before our fears. And our rights are their rights, whoever "they" are. 

(I really encourage you to read is whole piece.... it's great.)

So who are they? I suspect they are the same sort of people as these:

These fine folks just took part in a rally to support the AZ law SB 1070 (which I wrote about here).

What strikes me is their fear.
What I don't understand is, well... their fear.

Yes, there is crazy mixed in there as well, and crazy and fear can be deadly.   I recently spoke with a family member who tends to the right politically. I asked him if all the language about government take over, and socialists, and blatant racial undertones bothered him.  He said "No, it's all just talk."

Later I'll post something on language being more than "just talk."

In the meantime, I encourage you to try to do both, put yourself in the shoes of the kids at that elementary school and imagine what it is like to have very angry grown-ups yelling very ugly stuff at you.  And then try to put yourself in the shoes of the very angry adults.


Now - which side are you on?


(As an aside: I have to wonder how many of them are Christian?  And by that I mean, people who believe that we are all brothers and sisters...I'm sure there is a caveat in the bible for not having to love people who aren't like you... isn't there?)

An example of the type of hate running loose in the country today

The Miami Herald ran a story about a Cuban trying to escape from Cuba. While trying to get into Gitmo (of all places) he stepped on a land mine, blowing his legs off. A medic saved him and he's gone onto become a radiologist - a fairly inspiring story of overcoming adversity etc.

I guess the problem was he was an immigrant. And in todays hostile climate around immigration, inspirational stories aren't enough.

The first comment following the article was:

FLA707 wrote on 04/04/2009 04:45:05 PM:

Perhaps land mine technology can be improved. Too bad it was not successful in this case. But, mine fields can be an effective anti-immigrant tool. We need mine fields along the mexican border. Stop the immigrant invasion by any means necessary. American jobs for American citizens.

(I reported it as hate speech so it may be taken down)

I just don't understand peoples total lack of humanity. What sick, perverted thinking we've come to...

Holy Crap. Please pray for Kevin ....

.... and the hundreds of other just like him.



Blessed are the children. Not in America apparently...


Pssst.. Wanna DO Something about this? You can!

Shameful!

A HIDDEN SYSTEM

Proud to be an American?

So I'm listening to NPR the other day. They're doing a series on immigration and they profiled a 40year old 'illegal immigrant' in Mexico who had just been deported. He was waiting to cross over again.

"HOW COULD HE?" I hear the anti-immigrants cry as they start talking about the horrible 'criminal behavior' he's planning. But then there is the story. He came to the states when he was 5. His folks brought him over - yes, 'illegally' - but here's the crazy thing, he's not a criminal. He's actually a home owner in southern California where, for the last 35 years of his life, he's lived and worked. He raised a family there. What kind of family? One where two of his sons (American because they were born here) are fighting in Iraq.

But fate was against this 40 year old man. He got picked up and it was discovered he didn't have the right papers. So his American wife and children watched him get deported. Two of his children hear about it while they are in a combat zone.

I have to wonder how that makes them feel.... Do they think:
a) Thank god SOMEONE is enforcing the very rule of law I'm risking my life for... or
b) How could my country, the country I'm risking my life for, deport my dad?

And then... 60 Minutes has done a nice piece on another aspect of our broken immigration system. Deporting widows. Yep, that's the rule of law for you. These women just didn't stay married long enough to clear the paperwork before their husbands died...

Watch the story and then tell me, does this make you proud to be an American?

Watch CBS Videos Online

Hard hitting immigration video

America's Voice has put out a hard hitting video on immigration.

Check it out.

Are African Americans Missing the Point on Immigration?

From Eric Ward at Imagine 2050

Eric has another well thought out take on the anti-immigrant groups.


I don’t know about you, but one of the ways that a movie can become one of my all time favorites is by having a great line. The Usual Suspects is one of those movies. Most people like the film because of its incredible acting and one of the best plot twists of all time. I’m not one of those people; I love the film because of one simple line. That point in the film where Kevin Spacey who plays the role of Verbal Kent, who is read more

Another voice of reason...

Jill over at Imagine 2050 had a nice post today on Hometown Heros in Chicago. We forget how quickly immigrants can be integrated when we value what they do...

If they play baseball for our favorite team? LET THE HEROS IN! If they work 12+ hours a day picking fruit and vegetables? DEPORT THE CRIMINALS!?! (I admit don't get it...)

Let's not forget the millions of immigrants who are working hard every day to make this country better. I wonder how we'd categorize these immigrants?

Imagine 2050 is a great blog. You ought to check them out:

Speaking of immigration...

Stewart knocked it out of the park with this one....
Immigration bit begins at 6:10...

Guest Blogger - On neighbors and immigration

My brother Doug had an experience worth sharing....

I was an eyewitness this week to some of the worst aspects of humanity: fear, distrust, defensiveness. It was a single incident that happened behind my neighbor’s house. Running behind the houses on my street is a walking trail that weaves through some woods and along a creek and a small lake. Several children, including my 3 sons, were playing at the edge of those woods, checking out the creek, throwing rocks in the water – typical kid stuff. I was in the backyard when I heard my neighbor, let’s call her ‘Liz’, talking to someone, in a tone of voice that clearly suggested she was annoyed or angry:

“Hey you – can I help you?…………Hello? What are you doing?......Leave………excuse me...GO!”

As she was saying this I looked up to see who she was talking to and saw a landscape worker, dirty, sweaty, his weed-whacker resting over his shoulder, standing just on the other side of her fence. He was standing there looking at the children, just watching what they were doing. I could see he was Hispanic and he turned his head to acknowledge her but then just smiled and turned his head away, not moving on like she wanted. I think this clearly upset her all the more as she got louder with each new question or command she issued, thinking he was purposefully ignoring or disregarding her.

With a glance at the scene outside her fence, she had immediately turned to fear, distrust and defensiveness. Her words, tone and body language were conveying “You aren’t welcome here, I don’t trust you, what the heck do you think you are doing just standing there looking at the children?, and you better get out now.” Without a single word of dialog, the man was assumed to be, at best, an uninvited, unwanted person in the community and at worst, a dangerous threat. Because he was an immigrant, a laborer, he was most likely a criminal with ill intent. If he had been a white man dressed like an executive in a pressed business suit, I am certain he wouldn’t have received the same response – at the very least not in the same dismissive tone.

I can’t tell you how glad I am that I am somewhat conversational in Spanish. I could clearly see that he didn’t understand her so I walked over to help out. José Antonio Rio is part of the landscape crew that cuts the grass and does all the landscape work on the common areas in the neighborhood. He was easily 50-60 years old, had a warm, gentle smile and had been working a full day already, with dirt and bits of grass plastered to the front of his jeans. He’s from El Salvador and told me about how bad it had been there during the war, when so many women and children were slaughtered. He is a grandfather and was quick to point out that the grass around the rocks in the drain water ditch was getting too high and was dangerous for the little children who would trip if they couldn’t see where to step. He had been busting his tail keeping our community looking nice and was just taking a break before finishing his work (cutting the grass around those rocks) and meeting up with the rest of the crew. What a thank you.

To end the story, the three of us ended up having great conversation. When Liz found out he had a reason for being there and stopped assuming he was a threat to her property, herself or her child, you could tell she felt horrible at the way she had been talking to him. She even went up to the house and got José a cold cup of water and offered to do the same every time he came through.

Now, to her defense, Liz is a widowed single mom, new to the neighborhood, with a 9 year old son. I am sure her life experiences and circumstances have encouraged or taught her to be protective. I’m not trying to condemn her at all. I’ve seen prejudice in different forms in my own heart at times, as much as I hate to admit it. It just showed me a glimpse of how hateful or distrustful we can be toward others – particularly whole groups of people who are ‘different’ than us, whether in culture or class.