So there seems to be a buzz in the air lately about immigration, or at least in my ear. Yesterday I decided to listen to some am radio while I made dinner. When I turned on the radio the first thing I heard was Mike Savage from The Savage Nation ranting about how today's immigrants don't know how to use a toothbrush or know what toilet paper is for. Apprently Laura Bush's speech on World Refugee Day set him off. He went on to say that his grandfather was an immigrant, but his grandfather came here to work and started a business, instead of raising the next generation of gangbangers. Excuse me? Besides being offensive and racist, he is also ignorant to think that none of the immigrants of earlier generations ended up in a life of crime. Hasn't he ever heard of the Italian mafia?
Mondays are also the day that Time Magazine arrives in my mailbox and the cover story this week also happens to be about immigration, more specifically the very costly fence that is going up along the US/Mexican border. I had to laugh because the Time reporters were able to easily find people simply climbing over the fence, including a 10-year-old boy and a senior citizen. Seriously though, the fence has cut down on the number of illegal crossings in many areas, but only causes them to go up in areas where there is no fence. It makes me wonder though, why are we spending billions of dollars creating a fence that is not even impermeable, not to mention the cost of all the man-power needed to patrol it, when we could use that money to better the lives of our Mexican neighbors, thereby making it less appealing for them to try and cross the border in the first place. Another alternative would be to spend that money on our education and health care systems that illegal immigrants are supposedly overtaxing.
Then this morning I remembered a documentary I saw awhile back called A Day Without a Mexican. What I got from the film was that our country couldn't operate the way it does without Mexican Americans, legal or otherwise, and that many of them are filling jobs that others simply won't do. But to me, the issue of whether immigrants drive down wages or create challenges in our health care or education systems are really moot. This country was created by immigrants, it's who we are--a nation of immigrants and their decendants. So, who are we to say that our gates our now closed? I once heard that America is not so much a melting pot, but a tossed salad--so what's wrong with a few more tomatoes anyway?
3 comments:
Hey there... I teach 4th - 7th grade math and science.
Hey Girl! I have been out of pocket a bit here lately.
You know, with the immigration thing, I think our government needs monitor our borders for national security purposes.
But I don't blame the illegals that come to our country because it is the best place in the world. Why WOULDN'T they want to live here?
Take care.
Jen
Hello! I found your blog when I was searching for information on the book The Hurried Child. I have to say I respect your response to immigration. I myself am a first generation Mexican American. I was born in California but my parents where born in Mexico. However they have been here since their youth and are educated individuals who are here legally. Therefore its upsets me when I hear horrible and insulting comments about my culture and immigrants who work hard to get by. So I want to say thank you for comment. I wish more people could be as respectful as you were. We don’t always have to agree on the same issues and I respect individual beliefs and voices but it still hurts when we are looked down upon. As an American citizen, Latina, child development student, and daughter I thank you.
Best wishes!
-Vanessa
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