As much as I like Colbert, I still feel that when talking immigration laws you need to address global economy in relation to the US corporations that are shifting their work production abroad.
It is interesting to notice how the migration debate, only focuses on our national agenda. As a migrant myself, most people leave their homeland not because they want to, but because they are forced too. And trust me it is cold and hard up north.
During my college years I used to clean houses while attending Cooper Union, that in the first year alone, had me doing 21 credits per semester while other more pricelly institutions were requiring only twelve. My first semester, I was put on academic probation. When I mentioned to the panel that I was working and going to school, they all agreed that that was impossible. I love Cooper; they gave me a chance to advance. They raised my scholarship so that I did not have to work while going to school. I ended up with an award upon graduation.
And this is my point, while we can all blame the immigrants, why not focus that energy on the multi billionaire companies that are getting the tax brakes while shifting their production to Latin America, in where a 18,000 dollars a year job renders them middle class; forcing many other lives to leave their country. Forcing them to come north to farm work! You and me are not winning. Yet we pay a price and they leave their homes, while corporations here, with their trickle down mentality are only getting fatter and fatter.
Is that going to be the landscape of third world America; where Americans are going to be force to migrate while targeted because doing the menial jobs that the hosting nation does not want to perform?
The repugs argument is that we need to address salary scales for native workers, yet I do not see an agenda from their platform addressing this concern. I see more and more Sarah Palins look alike claiming they stand for regular moms, while they have shit to offer.
This is not that I am going against immigrants. I can't. But how in hell are you going to help other nations while the fat cats here are eating the mice?
Keep benefiting the rich; say good-bye to your home!
things need to change and fast
ReplyDeleteI love the title of this post and its content.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. I think the reason that they don't tie different issues together, or show us the global connections is because they want to keep everyone divided and angry about different things. It's a distraction away from what's really going on, which is far more global that we would like to believe, I fear.
ReplyDeleteIt's all about keeping the hate going, against immigrants, against gays, against Muslims, against blacks. We have to focus on the group, so we can hate it. If you put it together into a coherent picture, you lose the group focus and see a bigger picture with not a single group to hate (other than the Repub masterminds who are working this scheme).
We do need a reality and a intelligence check and soon!
I am reminded of a documentary I saw years ago about the lives of migrant workers' children. Often these children are moving around with their family, and as a result, missed weeks of school. Therefore, many of the children don't acquire an education that will enable them to increase their options in terms of employment, because they don't have solid basic academic skills. So, the cycle of poverty continues.
ReplyDeleteAlso, migrant worker communities are very nomadic, and it is often hard for them to mobilize in order to secure their rights and fight being exploited.
At the end of the day, many of these hard working families become stuck.
The same sort of thing is happening to many other folks that are scraping the bottom of the pot in order to make ends meet. The difference is that they may have more rights and political power they can leverage to enact change.
If we see more and more that we are the migrant workers, and the migrant workers are us, maybe then we can take this discucssion in the right direction.
It is the culture war thing...they have used it before every election and this one is no different.
ReplyDeleteYou noticed...Repugs are happy as long as we were cleaning their floors and waiting on their tables...once we got those college degrees; you and I met the glass ceilings. Now it is just inconvenient for them because the decimated middle class needs even those jobs they were unwilling to do before.
great post
saludos,
raulito
Excellent post! Wow! Cooper Union! Impressive! I'm glad they worked out your scholarship for you. The son of one of my friends goes there now on scholarship, too.
ReplyDeleteMarcos, I I agree with my husband most of the lack of/misdirected coverage is intentional. Corporate interests love for all of us to hate each other. It wastes our energy and personal power and keeps people under their thumb. As long as we remain divide and unequal we can't have the nation everyone dreams about.
ReplyDelete