BLOWING IN THE WIND!
They risk their lives in the blazing sun and there are bodies strewn in the pathways. The landscape is barren, no water to be found, and yet they keep coming, determined to reach their goal. Those who don't make it are left behind to wither and rot in the sun, until there is nothing left but a pile of bones to indicate what was once a human being.
The problem of Illegal Immigrants has been left undetermined for so long that the stream of people crossing the border has become a way of life. Border guards do their best, but the border is so long that it is impossible to guard it. Even the National Guard has been unable to halt the flow. Some of those who come across are very unsavory people, drug lords, prostitutes, pimps, and children to be sold into sexual slavery. On the other hand, most of the immigrants are just ordinary people, desperate to escape the poverty and violence that go unchecked in Mexico.
It is an angry, violent land. In some spots, tourists enjoy the sights and sample the food, in other places entire families are shot and killed by invading drug lords. Some towns are so terrorized, the citizens live in fear. Calling the police or the military doesn't help, because so many of them are sympathetic to the outlaw groups who brandish guns and kill for no reason.
In this unhappy, violent land, who can blame these people for leaving? If Americans were in the same circumstances and a better life were available in Canada, we'd all start walking immediately, driven by desperation. We'd work at any jobs we could find, we'd work for lower wages. We'd thankfully send our paycheck home to help feed the children. We'd live twenty to a room and put up with inconveniences, happy to be in a land where violence didn't strike with every sunset.
How different things would have been had we welcomed these strangers! Suppose we had said to them, "We lift the lamp beside the Golden Door!" Instead of this, we watched this horde arrive with resentment and discrimination. We resented basic services they were given, lest babies be born on sidewalks or people die on the streets.
Along the way, Americans have developed a rosy picture of former immigrants, of those people who passed through Ellis Island and made their way in a new land. Hard-working, proud, wonderful people who left their sweat on the landscape, farming soil, chopping trees and carving out our country. This is only partially true, as with every human being, there were also those who weren't so savory, who were horsethieves, malingerers, bullies and criminals. As with every group of humans, some were good people, some not so good, but Americans seem to have canonized our settlers and compared them to Mexicans, whom they feel are primarily drug dealers and dealers in sexual slavery, theories promoted by people like Lou Dobbs and other Media fearmongers.
There are no people as generous as Americans. They extend a helpful hand to all who are in need of assistance. When Haiti suffered from the ruin of a violent earthquake, Americans reached in their pockets to donate millions of dollars. Other disasters have strummed the hearttrings of American donors. They give freely and generously, except to Mexicans.
Americans feel that Mexicans are taking American jobs and nothing irritates them more than to hear some politician talk about "jobs Americans won't do!" They also feel that Mexicans are draining the country of its resources and, with many Americans needing help themselves, they resent what is given to Mexicans. What is even more important is the attitude of the Illegals, who insist that portions of our country belong to them. Undoubtedly, one could counter this with the fact that, if we took the Southland from the Mexicans, they in turn took the territory from the Indians. There are stories of American flags being held upside down and replaced with Mexican flags and supposedly, children are being taught that several states really belong to Mexico.
This hasn't helped the situation at all and has helped lead to Arizona's Law, which gives the police the right to check Identification and citizenship. The person failing this test is then sent back to Mexico, without a thought as to what he or she is being returned to face. Let's admit it, Illegal Immigrants are refugees, fleeing from poverty, from near starvation, from lack of jobs and the murderous raids of drug lords. They live in a battered, shattered land with no hope for the future and want to live what is called the "American Dream." That this Dream is slightly askew these days is being truthful. It is worn by Recession, joblessness, homelessness and the bitter taste of financial failure in the mouths of most Americans.
Arizona is wrong to pass such a law, because this is the duty of the Federal Government. The Arizona Law is just plain unConstitutional. It isn't the Law itself that is the worry, it's the repercussions of such legislation. If we bend even one rule in the U.S. Constitition, then the rest of it is worthless. We must uphold that document in order to strengthen and abide by it. Failing this, we have nothing but a useless piece of paper. We would have no union, no United States of America. Any State who disagreed on any subject could then pass legislation to follow their own path. We fought that long and arduous battle once before in our tumultous history. There is no sense in fighting it again. The Constitution must remain like a companionpiece to the Holy Bible. We can't afford to allow one state to try to change the rules. It is the precedence of the Arizona Law that makes it so dangerous. It could lead to the loss of Civil Rights, our Freedoms and the equality of every human being.
In the meantime, let us insist that the government take action. Let us insist that politics and partisanship be set aside to solve this problem, a problem so raw and violent that it is bleeding harsh resentment and anger into the heart of America, an open sore that will not heal! Let us cover that wound and solve this problem before our Constitution is torn apart and shredded into bits of paper and tossed into the raging wind.
The problem of Illegal Immigrants has been left undetermined for so long that the stream of people crossing the border has become a way of life. Border guards do their best, but the border is so long that it is impossible to guard it. Even the National Guard has been unable to halt the flow. Some of those who come across are very unsavory people, drug lords, prostitutes, pimps, and children to be sold into sexual slavery. On the other hand, most of the immigrants are just ordinary people, desperate to escape the poverty and violence that go unchecked in Mexico.
It is an angry, violent land. In some spots, tourists enjoy the sights and sample the food, in other places entire families are shot and killed by invading drug lords. Some towns are so terrorized, the citizens live in fear. Calling the police or the military doesn't help, because so many of them are sympathetic to the outlaw groups who brandish guns and kill for no reason.
In this unhappy, violent land, who can blame these people for leaving? If Americans were in the same circumstances and a better life were available in Canada, we'd all start walking immediately, driven by desperation. We'd work at any jobs we could find, we'd work for lower wages. We'd thankfully send our paycheck home to help feed the children. We'd live twenty to a room and put up with inconveniences, happy to be in a land where violence didn't strike with every sunset.
How different things would have been had we welcomed these strangers! Suppose we had said to them, "We lift the lamp beside the Golden Door!" Instead of this, we watched this horde arrive with resentment and discrimination. We resented basic services they were given, lest babies be born on sidewalks or people die on the streets.
Along the way, Americans have developed a rosy picture of former immigrants, of those people who passed through Ellis Island and made their way in a new land. Hard-working, proud, wonderful people who left their sweat on the landscape, farming soil, chopping trees and carving out our country. This is only partially true, as with every human being, there were also those who weren't so savory, who were horsethieves, malingerers, bullies and criminals. As with every group of humans, some were good people, some not so good, but Americans seem to have canonized our settlers and compared them to Mexicans, whom they feel are primarily drug dealers and dealers in sexual slavery, theories promoted by people like Lou Dobbs and other Media fearmongers.
There are no people as generous as Americans. They extend a helpful hand to all who are in need of assistance. When Haiti suffered from the ruin of a violent earthquake, Americans reached in their pockets to donate millions of dollars. Other disasters have strummed the hearttrings of American donors. They give freely and generously, except to Mexicans.
Americans feel that Mexicans are taking American jobs and nothing irritates them more than to hear some politician talk about "jobs Americans won't do!" They also feel that Mexicans are draining the country of its resources and, with many Americans needing help themselves, they resent what is given to Mexicans. What is even more important is the attitude of the Illegals, who insist that portions of our country belong to them. Undoubtedly, one could counter this with the fact that, if we took the Southland from the Mexicans, they in turn took the territory from the Indians. There are stories of American flags being held upside down and replaced with Mexican flags and supposedly, children are being taught that several states really belong to Mexico.
This hasn't helped the situation at all and has helped lead to Arizona's Law, which gives the police the right to check Identification and citizenship. The person failing this test is then sent back to Mexico, without a thought as to what he or she is being returned to face. Let's admit it, Illegal Immigrants are refugees, fleeing from poverty, from near starvation, from lack of jobs and the murderous raids of drug lords. They live in a battered, shattered land with no hope for the future and want to live what is called the "American Dream." That this Dream is slightly askew these days is being truthful. It is worn by Recession, joblessness, homelessness and the bitter taste of financial failure in the mouths of most Americans.
Arizona is wrong to pass such a law, because this is the duty of the Federal Government. The Arizona Law is just plain unConstitutional. It isn't the Law itself that is the worry, it's the repercussions of such legislation. If we bend even one rule in the U.S. Constitition, then the rest of it is worthless. We must uphold that document in order to strengthen and abide by it. Failing this, we have nothing but a useless piece of paper. We would have no union, no United States of America. Any State who disagreed on any subject could then pass legislation to follow their own path. We fought that long and arduous battle once before in our tumultous history. There is no sense in fighting it again. The Constitution must remain like a companionpiece to the Holy Bible. We can't afford to allow one state to try to change the rules. It is the precedence of the Arizona Law that makes it so dangerous. It could lead to the loss of Civil Rights, our Freedoms and the equality of every human being.
In the meantime, let us insist that the government take action. Let us insist that politics and partisanship be set aside to solve this problem, a problem so raw and violent that it is bleeding harsh resentment and anger into the heart of America, an open sore that will not heal! Let us cover that wound and solve this problem before our Constitution is torn apart and shredded into bits of paper and tossed into the raging wind.
posted by Herma Snider at 7/17/2010 01:53:00 PM
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