Agueda's Thoughts: Really Alabama?

Alabama Enacts Anti-Immigration Law Described As Nation's Strictest

The state of Alabama just passed a new anti-immigration law that entails the following: it requires law enforcement to “make a ‘reasonable attempt’ to determine a person's citizenship and immigration status, given a ‘reasonable suspicion’ that the person is an illegal immigrant — unless doing so would hinder an investigation.” Public elementary and secondary schools must now determine the immigration status of its students and must submit and annual report to the state board of education on the number of ‘presumed’ illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are cannot receive state or local public benefits, enroll or attend college and solicit or gain employment. It prohibits harboring or transporting illegal immigrants and knowingly employing them. The number of things it “prohibits” or “outlaws” continues.

After reading the details of this new law I want to propose a simple solution that will speed up the identification process of illegal immigrants: all illegal immigrants must walk around with a big bulls-eye on their back. Not only would that cut cost for the government, it would make the GOP happy, and give peace of mind to those who suffer from xenophobia.  I am sure that supporters of the new Alabama law would love such an idea and have probably already considered it.

Developing some sort of sarcastic solution to this problem of illegal immigration that seems to be on everyone’s radar was probably the only thing that kept me from writing a very undiplomatic response to how I feel about the new law in Alabama. In my opinion, it is repulsive, far-fetched, and extremely racist. It promotes racial profiling and discrimination just like SB1070 in Arizona, it criminalizes any behavior that should be and is constitutional like having a place to live and receiving medical attention, it targets youth who are merely going to school as the law requires, and it promotes a negative attitude and perspective on immigration. Not only does it perpetuate the fear of undocumented immigrants it also increases the fear in individuals who are merely in this country to pursue a better life. Undocumented immigrants already live in the shadows of this country and this law only tells them to remain in the dark and reminds them that they are unwanted.

Undocumented immigrants are a part of our communities and society. They are people’s friends, coworkers, brothers, sisters, or fathers. Because of that, undocumented immigrants are not the only ones who feel the repercussions of laws such as the one just passed in Alabama; everyone around them feels the weight of such laws and they are forced to live in fear. Undocumented immigrants will not disappear or just “go away” like many may wish, so how about the federal government really does what it keeps promising and works to develop a truly comprehensive immigration reform plan before more of this ridiculously racist and unreasonable laws pop up in more states?

Agueda

Thanksgiving - Gratitude for Corn, the cause of immigration problems

The Pilgrims were the first uninvited immigrants to the United States. Ironically, they were poor and starving, having exhausted the food supply brought with them.  The natural citizens of this land, the Wampanoag tribe witnessed their plight. What the Wampanoag didn't do was worry that there wasn't enough for everyone. They didn’t adopt immigration policies or exalt the settlers to go back to where they came from.  Instead they observed the old human practices of welcoming and compassion. They taught the Pilgrims to fish the local waters and hunt native game and wild fowl, including the turkey, which they called "earth eagle".

So, in the fall of 1621 the Pilgrims adopted the native custom of holding a Harvest Festival, a three-day feast to celebrate the bounty of spring and summer. The festival took on a double meaning of gratitude as they not only thanked Mother Earth for the bounty, but the indigenous peoples for welcoming and teaching them.

That first Thanksgiving Dinner did not have cranberry jam, sweet potatoes or pumpkin pie. However it did most likely have corn - a grass domesticated by the Aztecs and Mayans of Mezoamerica that they called "maize".  It eventually made its way up to North America and the Wampanoag natives taught the Pilgrims how to cultivate maize along with beans and squash.

Now, in a cruel twist of fate U.S. agricultural policy has destroyed the Mexican corn sector by subsidizing American grown corn to the tune of over $10 billion a year. U.S. corn is then sold back into Mexico reversing 10,000 years of historic flow in the other direction. Poor Mexican farmers cannot compete against US producers. They and their workers are thrown further into poverty and desperately attempt to sneak across the borders to harvest our crops.

So, when these people attempt to cross back over into the lands they originally owned, instead of adopting the compassion that the Pilgrims enjoyed from the Wampanoag, we adopt a scarcity mentality fueled by the politics of fear. Fear that they are going to get what’s ours (which was originally theirs).

This Thanksgiving let’s replace fear with abundance. Let’s begin again to understand that our fate is intertwined with that of every other human on the planet. George Kent, author of Freedom from Want: The Human Right to Adequate Food argues that:

“Human rights do not end at national borders, and neither do the corresponding obligations... A child may have the misfortune of being born into a poor country, but that child is not born in a poor world. The world as a whole has the capacity to sharply reduce global hunger and malnutrition. It is obligated to do that.”

We knew this once. After WWII 85% of Americans, responding to a plea from President Hoover, agreed to the reinstatement of wartime rationing so that we could share our abundance with the rest of the world.

Americans are, by nature, an optimistic and compassionate people. If we could only learn to reject the divisive fear tactics that keep us subservient to wealthy interests we might begin again to believe in abundance, to understand that the world doesn’t have to be divided into winners and losers. Then we might someday be able to partake in a global celebration of Thanksgiving.

yours in gratitude,

Tony

CEO/Founder
Youth Mentoring Connection