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31 de Mayo, 2007
Show Them the (Whitewashed) Liberty Door
Categorized under Cultura , Frontera , Migra | Tags: assimilation, Hope, migra, racism
A FANTASTIC POST from Laurafern, about her experience married to un migrante mexicano, and some realizations and fears and hopes she's having about life in America.
The sad truth is that Fermin’s attitude reflected on things I wouldn’t have believed, that my pro-immigrant views are not the mainstream, that most Americans want to see all illegal Mexican and other immigrants shown the door, or at the very least, converted into an acceptably assimilated “American.”Frankly, I underestimated the influence of racist, nativist thinking. I underestimated the degree to which Americans care about the ethnic make-up of this country. I overestimated Americans’ understanding of migration and global economics, never expecting the naive, ridiculous solution of “sealing the border” would become an acceptable substitute for real immigration reform.
And now, despite our personal journey taking an apparently happier turn, it’s hard to feel optimistic about our life in this country. If our future means politics dominated by hawkish national security measures and strict controls that monitor every employee in this country in order to keep “the illegals” out, will we stay? If the deportations increase in frequency with no hope for meaningful reform, will we remain in a partially abandoned city neighborhood? Will my husband, who speaks English with an obvious accent, be frowned upon for the rest of his life? Will people always wonder about him, about us?
—looking back and cautiously forward, laurafern.wordpress.com




Comentarios (6)
Rafael dijo:
And he is not alone....here is what our Dear Friend O'Reilly on last night show....
Palabras por Rafael spat forth on el 31 de Mayo, 2007 at 05:38 PM
Laura dijo:
Yikes! That's pretty rough, even for O'Reilly! (sigh)
Palabras por Laura spat forth on el 1 de Junio, 2007 at 08:55 AM
Pepperhead dijo:
Yes, but worse was that John McCain agreed with him - and he's a (debatable) contender to be the Republican nominee.
Palabras por Pepperhead spat forth on el 1 de Junio, 2007 at 09:36 AM
tizoc dijo:
hang in there Laura, the reality is that most americans don't relate to the issue of immigration on a personal level. Most of them do not and will not know what its like to live in cities or communities which are cut in half by thug-enforced immaginary boundaries. Where you can visit people from across the bridge, but don't fall in love with them and don't make families with them. Where governing agencies keep families apart and cheat them of their freedom to simply keep in touch. Where the government succeeeds in violating more and more of a families most intimate chances of survival. In our reality, the government is increasing the aggression of breaking down our most valuable resource, the family unit. By placing false value in race/creed, people like O'Reilly, and Buchanan will keep resisting the 'melting pot' ideal of this country and are actually challenging the decency of humanity. I'm hoping that the righteousness of human nuture will prevail. Till then, I and many more, like yourself, will become more 'activist' as our basic human right to keep our families united are being threatened.
Palabras por tizoc spat forth on el 1 de Junio, 2007 at 07:20 PM
Changeseeker dijo:
What fascinates me about all this is that "The Border" is like a socio-economic two-way mirror. In other words, while U.S. people and interests get to cross at will to spread all over Mexico, sucking the life out of poor Mexicans and their economy through a thousand tiny (and not so tiny) pin-pricks, Mexican workers are not allowed to come north. Those economic and political interests served by a continual and generalized U.S. access to all levels of Mexican existance would be horrified at losing that access. But back the other direction? Noooooo.
It's no surprise that the "Guest Worker" program would be set up to "let" Mexicans work in the U.S. -- without safety regulations, health coverage, standard minimum wage or other benefits -- of course. Just make money for the employer and leave. Can anyone say "Bracero"? And so history repeats itself, while planners purport to be seeking to "help" undocumented Mexican workers.
Palabras por Changeseeker spat forth on el 2 de Junio, 2007 at 12:09 PM
Laura dijo:
Thanks for the encouragement tizoc.
Changeseeker -- you make an excellent point. I started to comment further, but then it got ridiculously long, and now I'm just going to have to blog some thoughts, rather than post a lengthy comment.
Palabras por Laura spat forth on el 2 de Junio, 2007 at 08:40 PM