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COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
May 27, 2007 (MEDIA RELEASE
UPON RECEIPT)
By ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ
THEM VS US IN THE IMMIGRATION
DEBATE
SPECIAL LENGTH IMMIGRATION
COLUMN
Is anyone old enough to remember
the expression: "Go Back to Africa?"
Can anyone remember when
the lynchings of Blacks, Asians and the
hunting down of American
Indians and Mexicans were commonplace? Does
anyone remember when Jews
were turned away at this nation's borders?
How about the Chinese Exclusion
Act? Can anyone remember when the
Irish and Italians were
not welcome here?
This country has had a long
and sordid history of xenophobia and
scapegoat politics, which
brings us to the current immigration debate.
Prior to it, I had not been
aware that illegal aliens were the number
one threat to the security
of this nation and the cause of the
majority of the nation's
many problems.
It's amazing how we are all
easily corralled. All we seem to need is
for someone to whip up the
frenzy to permit the segregation of human
beings and to permit the
mass incarceration of Japanese American
citizens or to conduct an
Operation Wetback to send Mexican Americans
back to where they came
from. Not too long ago, it was George Wallace.
Yesterday it was Pat Buchanan.
Today it is the Three Amigos: CNN's Lou
Dobbs, and Republican presidential
hopefuls, Tom Tancredo and Duncan
Hunter.
And it is amazing the lengths
that people who have been formerly
targeted by demagogues will
go to, to prove their Americanism. They
seemingly scream the loudest
when a new group has been targeted. One
can hear the catharsis –
an incredible sigh of relief – when they are
able to point a finger at
another group.
This time around, illegal
aliens are the target. They can't fight back
or vote. And technically,
they don't have a face. All the vitriol can
be hurled against them without
feeling guilty… just don't say the word
Mexican and you can't be
accused of being a bigot… besides, you have
nothing against brown people,
as long as they're legal, educated,
employed and can speak English…
Perhaps this exam will help
us to determine the actual answer as to
who is the cause of this
nation's problems.
Who is responsible for U.S.
policies that permit: the spending of
close to $500 billion to
wage an illegal and immoral war? Torture and
the violation of the Geneva
War Conventions? The elimination of Habeas
Corpus? The illegal
wiretapping of its own citizens? War profiteering
by Haliburton and mercenary
armies (Blackwater) to flourish? The
dismantling of affirmative
action and the nation's civil rights laws?
A Tax system that favors
the super-rich?
Here are the choices: a)
illegal aliens b) Arabs & Moslems c) Blacks
d) Mexicans e) Jews f) Gays
& Lesbians g) liberals h) abortion-seeking
women i) American Indians
Today, it seems that most
Americans would choose option "a."
This means that if the United
States puts up a 2,000-mile wall along
the U.S.-Mexico border and
if the 12 million nannies, busboys,
gardeners and maids were
deported, the Iraqi war – which is expected
to skyrocket in costs to
another $1.5 trillion – would immediately
come to a halt. If deported,
the nation's skyrocketing gasoline prices
would begin to immediately
reverse. In fact, the nation's dropout
crisis would also end overnight,
enabling those who are remanded to
the worst jobs in society
to instead compete for the nation's best
jobs.
Once these 12 million law-breakers
are deported, no doubt this
administration would direct
the EPA, the USDA, the FDA, the Federal
Trade Commission and the
Labor Department to begin to enforce its
consumer protection and
food, drug and worker safety laws. (Why
enforce them now when illegal
aliens are making a mockery of our
nation's laws?)
While it's true that illegal
aliens are overworked, overexploited,
highly overtaxed – and generally
without human rights – we all know
that if deported, Congress
would pass Universal Health Care overnight.
While it's also true that
illegal aliens have for decades been pouring
billions of dollars into
Social Security and into Unemployment
Insurance and Medicare,
knowing full well they will never see a red
cent – their precipitous
departure, along with their windfall tax
revenues – would also no
doubt bring about their immediate solvency.
If these 12 million varmints
(as John McCain refers to them) were
deported, it would solve
the U.S. prison crisis overnight. A recent
study, by the Washington-based
Immigration Policy Center, has found
that immigrants are much
less likely to be imprisoned than U.S. born
residents of the same ethnicity.
Another study, by the Public Policy
Institute of California,
has shown that immigrants are more likely to
push up wages than depress
them. Regardless, the departure of 12
million would no doubt make
space for our own home-grown criminals,
and it would also no doubt
compel U.S. corporations to immediately
institute a living wage
for all workers. Right?
Truthfully, the primary party
responsible for all of the above
problems is the Bush-Cheney
administration. All else is diversion and
division. The urge to blame
illegal aliens or anyone else for the
nation's problems is but
the result of the administration's politics
of fear, hate and blame.
They've unleashed that dynamic and now,
Americans have come to believe
that their rights, livelihood and
happiness are dependant
upon the dehumanization of their fellow human
beings.
Perhaps the demagoguery is
limited to a loud and rancorous minority
because it's hard to believe
that a majority of Americans actually are
satisfied with a society
that continues to divide up human beings into
legal and illegal categories.
It doesn't have to be this way; a simple
transnational labor agreement
can change all this, though the drawback
is that workers and their
families would not lose their human rights,
dignity or citizenship in
the process. Who would we then blame for the
nation's problems?
(c) Column of the Americas
2007
Rodriguez can be reached
at: XColumn@gmail.com and at 608-238-3161 or
PO BOX 5093, Madison, WI
53705.
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Education News
Dear Friend:
While most of us have a general
understanding that earning
power increases with the
amount of education a person attains,
there is clear empirical
evidence for this. U.S. Census data
demonstrates that a person
can expect to earn almost twice as
much in his or her lifetime
with a college degree over what
they would earn with a high
school diploma. And this same
person could earn almost
a third again as much with an advanced
graduate degree. Thus,
in 2004, someone with a high school
degree would have had an
average earning of about $29,000 per
year, while the average
person with a college degree would have
earned $52,000 per year
and someone with an advanced degree
would have earned $78,000
per year. Clearly, more education
leads to greater earning
power.
Because this data is so compelling,
I think it is important
that we do all we can to
get students into college, make sure
they get a degree, and assist
them in getting an advanced
degree. That is one
reason why I strongly support the Next
Generation Hispanic Serving
Institutions Act, S.565, authored
by Senator Jeff Bingaman
(D-NM). Congress established the
designation of “Hispanic
Serving Institutions” in the Higher
Education Act of 1992, defining
these institutions as those
with at least a 25 percent
enrollment of Hispanic students.
Since then, Hispanic-Serving
Institutions, including 70
colleges and universities
in California, have helped to boost
the number of Latino students
enrolling in and graduating from
college. And while
the 270 Hispanic Serving Institutions
account for only 5 percent
of all colleges and universities in
the nation, they enroll
more than half of all Latino students.
Since the 1992 legislation,
the number of Latinos going on to
college after high school
has increased. However, Latinos
still lag behind other groups
in college enrollment and the
differences increase with
higher graduate degrees. S.565 aims
to change this by establishing
a competitive grant program for
graduate education.
Under the current law, student
support is provided only to
two-year and four-year students
at Hispanic Serving
Institutions. This new legislation
would support graduate
fellowships and support
services for graduate students. It
would also allow Hispanic
Serving Institutions to provide
facilities improvement,
faculty development, technology and
distance education, and
collaborative arrangements with other
institutions to improve
graduate education.
Latinos make up the fastest
growing sector of our workforce.
This legislation will help
to provide better resources for a
better trained and more
able workforce with the inclusion of a
new graduate education component,
and it will help to eradicate
the chronic shortage of
Latino professionals with advanced
degrees. I am pleased
to support this legislation.
Sincerely,
Barbara Boxer
United States Senator
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