I know I haven't blogged in the past few days. It's because I've been trying to get past this one post in my brain and until now, I've been unsuccessful. I'm not sure how it will turn out but if I don't start writing, we'll never eat again.
I've been wanting to write about immigration since the cross-burning in Kentucky last week. Then, in a fit of horrible timing, our Metro Council is considering an ordinance that would make English the official language of Davidson County and put all government communications in English, of course with "certain exceptions."
Let's be clear, peeps. All government communication is in English now, "with certain exceptions." Those being stuff like, if you call up 911 and are speaking Spanish, I think they're going to put on the Spanish-speaking operator. [Please, we all know better than to test the system.] If you come to court and don't speak English, no one will look at you like you're an idiot; they'll get you a translator. You can receive ballots and voting information in your own language -- that's federal law, by the way. Now, that federal law is the reason for the caveat in Council Member Eric Crafton's ordinance. The original ordinance provided no such wiggle room. But he's not really concerned about it one way or the other, I don't think. My guess is that the point is to stir up the issue here less than two months before the election.
If you're not interested in reading a rant, stop here and go clean your own kitchen.
Those who offer and support such proposals play to our basest instincts. They make it all too clear that many of us have not gotten beyond the color of our skin and moved on to the content of our character.
Please do not interrupt me to say, "This proposal will encourage immigrants to learn English."
Show me the immigrant who does not wish to learn English. No one prefers to be unable to communicate with those around him. No one wishes to ignore the tools that will allow success in life. That's just ludicrous. Immigrants are learning English already. It ain't an easy language, BTW.
Please do not say, "You must know English to participate in the American way of life."
Says who? For decades and decades, almost entire states of our country functioned largely in German, unofficially. In the Southwest and Florida and Texas, Spanish has been heavily spoken since before English was. While we have a current resurgence in Latino immigration -- thanks to U.S. immigration and trade policy -- the cultural situation is nothing new. And, let's not forget that the first English settlers were welcomed by people who, say it with me now, did not speak English.
Here's more that these English-only folks are ignoring:
* Until 1882, our national immigration policy was effectively written at the plaque on the Statue of Liberty, in Emma Lazarus' poem:
| Give me your tired, your poor, |
| Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, |
| The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. |
| Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: |
| I lift my lamp beside the golden door. |
We had no policy: all were welcome. Surprised?
* In 1882 we started excluding people from China. That ban was not totally lifted until 60 years later.
* Between then and now, we have enacted various immigration acts every few years, some broad and some very specific. In general, many of them seem highly motivated by racism or political gain or both.
* So, let's not wonder why the current system isn't working so well.
I'm all for excluding terrorists. Though we'll have to positively identify who they are, without catching the rest of us in the dragnet. I know too many people on the airline watch list -- no, they're not terrorists :) -- to be convinced that our current efforts are very effective. Beyond that, I don't buy the arguments about immigrants -- legal or illegal -- taking American jobs.
Let's see. Unemployment stands where? 5%? And it's been LOWER than that in the past couple of years?
Do you remember in the mid-90s when unemployment got down to 6 or 7%, and the government, and the media, and everyone, really, had this huge party, because this was considered "full employment"?
I can't find accurate stats on illegal immigration from the mid-90s, but the sources I've checked seem to agree that it has gone up quite a bit in the past five years in particular [among other factors, there are several reasons NAFTA encourages it, so it's really begun to pick up steam], so now we have around 12 million illegal immigrants and 5% unemployment.
Umm. Yes, that is a bad, bad problem. Terrible. Send. Them. Home. [That's sarcasm, people.]
Obviously immigration and unemployment aren't the only factors at work; a significant item up for consideration is how we calculate unemployment. [But that's another item for another day, and most likely for someone else's blog.]
My whole point is this: cross-burnings, illegal immigration, going after construction subcontractors to check employee paperwork, English-only ordinances -- they're all about Latinos. This is about the color of your skin. Do not let anyone tell you different.
And here's the part I cannot abide: there are a lot of people saying things like, "I'm OK with this ordinance if we're protecting the public health and safety."
If that's all we can hope for, our dreams are not very big. That's not the America I was raised to believe in, and that's not what I elect my representatives to do. [Kudos to Mike Jameson, Erik Cole and several others on the council who are standing up against this proposed ordinance.]
I was raised to believe that this is the land of the free and the home of the brave. In the America of my heart, we would welcome new immigrants as our ancestors were welcomed -- or as we wish they were -- whether that was 5 years ago, 50 or 400. We would not be selfish with the incredible potential of this great land and its singular people. Its promise is not limited and thus our arms must remain open. Only when we turn inward do we diminish our future.
If people are willing to starve in the cargo hold of a ship, suffocate in the trailer of a truck and crawl through the desert to get here, my God, we want to send them home? Bless those people, bless them every one. What a rotten, horrible inversion of their dreams to find that there are many who would turn them away. Despite all that has happened in the past five years -- no matter your political views, it's unfortunately clear that America is now a lightning rod on the world stage -- thousands and thousands of people still believe in the American dream. They just aren't all here yet.
None of us -- not Eric Crafton, not anyone -- has to be fearful of those who wish to share in America's bounty. There's no zero-sum game in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the almighty American marketplace. They're all big enough to go around.
Finally, I will add one last thought. I think there are probably a great many people who think this is probably a bad idea, but you know, it just doesn't apply to them. If they run into their Council member, they might mention it. Here's all I can tell you: today it's not you. But Niemoller says it best when it comes to doing the right thing.
First they came for the Communists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Communist;
Then they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak out for me.
Rev. Martin Niemoller, 1945
