Today I'€™m going to talk about illegal immigration, mainly but not limited to Latinos, mostly Mexican, looking to receive amnesty in the United States. The idea for this blog came from a video that I watched on MSNBC, Video: Bilingual signs spark controversy. The video talks about a town in New Hampshire where a city wide debate sprung up because Latinos were breaking park rules because the signs they said were not in Spanish. The reporter acknowledges that this may be a bogus excuse, but also recognizes that this does bring up a very profound issue in this country dealing with immigration.
Immigration has been a part of U.S. history since before the U.S. was a country. The first settlers from Europe for example were Puritans seeking religious freedom from the Church of England. It is written into our constitution, "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."€ Ever since then there has been a steady from off immigrants entering the country from all over the world.
But why are these immigrants doing it illegally where one hundred years ago there was Ellis Island and other such facilities that helped process immigrants and even gave them $10.00 to help them out in their new country. In 1924 with the passing of the National Origins Act, the only immigrants to pass through Ellis Island were displaced persons and war refugees. This act essentially closed America’s open door and set up the grounds for the immigration debates.
Most of the immigrants to pass through Ellis Island were European, mainly Irish, German, and Italian. These people were not received well, the Irish were treated lower than the newly freed black slaves and often had to resort to gangs to survive. Meanwhile on the other coast immigrants from China trying to escape England's national forced opium abuse settled in San Francisco and began working on the railroad, also treated worse than newly freed slaves.
More recently, in New York was the "White Flight"€ and in many American suburbs "€œBlockbusting."€ The two are very similar and are essentially whites moving out of neighborhoods in the city because of minorities moving in. It would be funny if this had any correlation with the fact that the majority if the population living in suburbs are white. For more information on race in suburbs check out this Chicago Sun-Times article, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20010408/ai_n13902748
All thought out American history a trend emerges, it seems that what ever minority is at the time moving into the country and getting adjust will be viewed as a scapegoat for most of America problems. Many minorities are blamed for violence and the slowing of the economy. If history does in fact repeat itself then you could predict that in fifty years the government will have moved on from Latino and found another minority to combat.
This debate does raise a profound moral issue though, should we let just anyone into our country. I believe that mainly because it is part of our cultural history, and also because we supposedly set examples for the rest of the world that we should let people into our country. We are no where near the most crowded country in the world (which is Bangladesh, they manage to fit over 150,000,000 people into 55,000 square miles), nor are we the poorest (Malawi with a GPD of $600, the US GPD is $13.13 trillion). There have been occurrences in the past of immigration ruining our country and culture, in fact both are built on the idea of our country being a place in the world that doest judge and will grant amnesty to those seeking it. I would like to finish this blog with a cartoon, this was a video submitted into a youtube contest entitled, "MPA/MPP You Tube Public Policy Challenge: Change the World in 1 Minute"€, I think it is worth watching, and don’t worry like the title says it'€™s only minute. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxhLjizL6qY (682).
4 comments:
This is a very current debate between everyone in our so-called free country. While some feel that America is the nation of freedom from oppression and a place for opportunity, others feel that this opportunity only applies to those already a part of our society. You bring up a great point about Ellis Island. Why is it that over one hundred years ago, when slavery had just been abolished, and tension between blacks and whites was high, that the US let immigrants from around the world enter freely to live with no repercussions. Yet now, immigrants must run across armed borders to live illegally in a country to have the same opportunity as others. This doesn’t make any sense to me. Like you said, it’s not like we are overly crowded, or that we are too poor to handle these extra individuals. So why is it such a big problem for others to enter the US? Well, there are a couple of ways to look at it. First, maybe the US and it civilians are racist and just plain don’t like the idea of Mexicans entering our country. Maybe it’s because people are truly scared that the entrance of these people will hurt our economy as well as Americans that already live here. There isn’t really a good answer for this question, but you make a lot of good points about what is going on in our society. (238)
I think the idea of having a problem with immigration is completely ludicrous because technically we are all immigrants to this country unless we are Native Americans. Although sometimes immigration can overload our society, it is still not ok to block people from coming to our free country, emphasis on FREE. It seems ironic that we would be against other peoples’ movement into our country if we are so big on being free. I like your point that we have no room to complain because we are not the most crowded or the most poor so we should allow people to do as they please. (105 WORDS)
Very good idea to put the utube video at the end! It makes the situation clear for those who believe our immigration laws should embrace immigrants, particularly Mexicans. While my liberal senses tell me that naturally we should accept all foreign immigrants, my conservative and worried about overpopulation senses nag at me and remind me that the language issue is a very real and important one in regards to education, following laws, and basic living in the US.
My initial reaction when hear about foreigner immigrants breaking laws in a park (or anywhere) because they cannot read the sign made out in English only, I get irritated and feel they should learn English if they choose to come into our country and live within our laws. However, on the other hand, I try to put myself in their position, and realize learning English is probably a costly thing to do, and most immigrants don’t have the money to take the classes. Yet then again, I get frustrated when thinking about all the money that goes to ESL classes in elementary and middle schools because several students cannot speak English. What is the right answer? It is a question I cannot answer one way or the other.
In our book, Power, Privilege, and Difference, these issues are dealt with in chapter 8 and are referred to as ignoring the problem because we are not directly effected by it every day. We also let ourselves off the hook from dealing with the privileges we are granted because of where we were born, and the color of our skin. If we really wanted to make a difference in inequality and/or immigration laws, people would take the necessary steps to do so. This includes myself, which instead of going out and rallying for equal rights or weaker immigration laws, I am just going to write about this assignment, and deal with the problems I am faced with in every day life; paying my bills, doing my homework, and going to work.
But I have been made aware of the ways within this realm of everyday life; I can still make little changes that will help to encourage change. Ad I because I am now aware of them, I will execute them when the opportunity arises. (381)
Very good idea to put the utube video at the end! It makes the situation clear for those who believe our immigration laws should embrace immigrants, particularly Mexicans. While my liberal senses tell me that naturally we should accept all foreign immigrants, my conservative and worried about overpopulation senses nag at me and remind me that the language issue is a very real and important one in regards to education, following laws, and basic living in the US.
My initial reaction when hear about foreigner immigrants breaking laws in a park (or anywhere) because they cannot read the sign made out in English only, I get irritated and feel they should learn English if they choose to come into our country and live within our laws. However, on the other hand, I try to put myself in their position, and realize learning English is probably a costly thing to do, and most immigrants don’t have the money to take the classes. Yet then again, I get frustrated when thinking about all the money that goes to ESL classes in elementary and middle schools because several students cannot speak English. What is the right answer? It is a question I cannot answer one way or the other.
In our book, Power, Privilege, and Difference, these issues are dealt with in chapter 8 and are referred to as ignoring the problem because we are not directly effected by it every day. We also let ourselves off the hook from dealing with the privileges we are granted because of where we were born, and the color of our skin. If we really wanted to make a difference in inequality and/or immigration laws, people would take the necessary steps to do so. This includes myself, which instead of going out and rallying for equal rights or weaker immigration laws, I am just going to write about this assignment, and deal with the problems I am faced with in every day life; paying my bills, doing my homework, and going to work.
But I have been made aware of the ways within this realm of everyday life; I can still make little changes that will help to encourage change. Ad I because I am now aware of them, I will execute them when the opportunity arises. (381)
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