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<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> Maurya Simon
[mailto:maurya.simon@ucr.edu] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, March 29, 2006 9:02
AM<BR><B>To:</B> Amanda Labagnara<BR><B>Subject:</B> Fwd: Ky-Phong's op-ed on
immigration debate<BR><BR></FONT></DIV><BR>Dear Amanda,<BR><BR></I></B>Please
forward this article to everyone. Many thanks, Maurya<BR><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=cite cite="" type="cite">
<DL>
<DL>
<DD><FONT size=7>There is no “they”</FONT><BR>
<DD>Here are some thoughts to consider regarding immigration.<BR><BR>
<DD>By KY-PHONG TRAN<BR>
<DD> Over half a million people marched to downt! own
Los Angeles last Saturday. Forty thousand students walked out of school on
Monday. <BR>
<DD>All around the country, immigrant rights supporters are speaking out
against a House bill that seeks to criminalize the undocumented and those
who aide them and aims to build a 700 mile wall along the US-Mexico
border. <BR>
<DD> Friday is Cesar Chavez’s actual birthday, and I am
certain there will be more protests and demonstrations. But what
does it all mean? Is it just about immigrant reform? A debate only between
immigrants and businesses and social conservatives? Or could there be
more? <BR><BR>
<DD>There ! is no “they”<BR>
<DD> First of all, let me set the table. (A big thank
you to author George Lakoff and his book “Don’t Think of an
Elephant”).<BR>
<DD> There are undocumented immigrants in this country,
not “illegal aliens.” People cannot be illegal nor aliens and calling them
so is dehumanizing and wrong.<BR>
<DD> So in typical American fashion, who is to blame for
this immigration debate? Do we point our fingers at those who came to this
country without documents to seek employment? Or do we look a little
deeper and pull the curtain back and look for the wizard who is running
things behind the scenes? <BR>
<DD> And when we pull back that curtain, do we then point our
fingers at businesses in this country? You know, the agriculture industry,
the service industry, anyone who employs and profits heavily from
undocumented immigrants’ labor. <BR>
<DD> But how about this? What if we pull back the curtain and
see ourselves there? All of us, each and every American of every size and
color and creed. Well that’s how I see it. In this debate, we are all
involved, culpable and guilty. <BR>
<DD> Every single one of us benefits directly and
indirectly from undocumented immigrant labor. The food we eat, the clothes
we wear, our babies who are cared for, our homes that are built are all
touched by undocumented immigrant labor. That’s a fact.<BR>
<DD> And yes, it is our fault and our responsibility. We
all are looking for good deals, high quality at low prices, sales. In
other words, a bargain. In a market economy (short-term gains and little
long-term planning), everyone is looking for the best deal and that means
employing cheap labor, in this case, undocumented immigrants.<BR>
<DD> Who wants to pay $8 for an orange? Or $50 at
Denny’s? Who wants to pay for their gardener’s health care? Who
shops at Wal Mart? We’re all connected in this. The funny thing is, it
just depends on when and how we pay for it. Do we pay it up front for the
cost of the good, or later in our taxes for social services? Do we pay
employees more or just complain later about the immigration low incomes
create?<BR>
<DD> Unfortunately for xenophobes and those who ply
their trade in divisive politics, there is no “they” in this debate. Only
a big, fat, complicated “us.” <BR>
<DD> We. Us. They. Those people. <BR>
<DD>Any conversation that is framed around those words, freaks me out.<BR>
<DD>Every time I hear those words, I imagine the sounds of shiny black
Gestapo boots stomping. Or I think of Indian reservations and Japanese
internment camps. <BR><BR>
<DD>Labor history<BR>
<DD> This debate isn’t new. There’s a context to it.
This country was built on cheap labor. There is a long and brutal history
that goes with the greatest country in the world.<BR>
<DD> There was almost 400 years of slavery and when that
was outlawed, labor was imported from Eastern Europe, Ireland and
Asia.<BR>
<DD> For Asian Americans, the exploitation was blatant.
Chinese and Filipino laborers were welcomed to work but could not bring
their wives, an effort to stop permanent settlement. After much of the
American West was linked by Chinese laborers building the railroad
infrastructure, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), the
first law to ever target a specific ethnic group.<BR>
<DD> In these cases, it seems that the American Dream —
that one can come and work hard and make a decent life in an open,
democratic society — was not for people of color. That it was reserved for
those of European ancestry as if freedom and merit and happiness had a
face or a race. <BR>
<DD> Seems to me, someone hit the repeat button and the
hypocrisy is happening all over again.<BR><BR>
<DD>Student power<BR>
<DD> To the students that walked out of school to
exercise their voice and their human rights, I say, “Bravo!” <BR>
<DD> And to the knuckleheads who walked on the freeway
and acted rowdy: Get off the freeway before you get killed. <BR>
<DD> The students who marched peacefully should not be
lumped together with the knuckleheads. How unfair is that? <BR>
<DD> I admire them for taking a stand and speaking
up for their rights and the rights of their families and communities. Too
often, young people are chided for not caring or being apathetic, but I
guess Monday proved us wrong.<BR>
<DD> I watched the student march with delight. Young
people, student power has done great things for social movements. Think of
Tiananmen Square or the Free! dom Riders. Does anybody remember that they
were ditching school? <BR>
<DD> As someone who has worked with young people for
more than 17 years, I saw them learning in the best possible way, in the
real world, with experiential learning. <BR>
<DD> Teachers and administrators who chided them
should be ashamed of themselves. Monday was a civics lesson, a history
lesson, a lesson in democracy that no textbook could teach. <BR>
<DD> All that hogwash about staying in school is
just talking around the loss of funding they suffered for the day. For the
number crunchers and bean counters, Monday was tough. But for the
students, it was a priceless lesson on the Bill of Rights, ! the freedom
to assemble and the freedom of speech. <BR><BR><BR>
<DD>My angle<BR>
<DD> I believe good policy comes from an open discussion
between legislators and their informed constituents, where all
perspectives are heard from. Where facts are acknowledged as facts and
opinions as opinions. The discussion happens, and then everyone
compromises. <BR>
<DD> Democracy is not about everyone being
happy, it’s about everyone being equally unhappy. <BR>
<DD> And in a democracy, the legislators li!
sten to their constituents. The last time anti-immigrant legislation like
this occurred in California (Proposition 187), the face of the whole
Assembly changed. The bill that has everyone out protesting was proposed
in Wisconsin, which cannot suffer such a backlash. <BR>
<DD> I also believe this bill and debate is
a tried-and-true game in politics. The first is Smokescreen. There really
are a ton of other issues to think about. The constant war on terror.
Questionable eavesdropping. The fumbled war in Iraq. Human-rights
violations. Rising interest rates. Unaffordable housing. Unemployment.
Inflation. Debt. A loss of prestige in world affairs.<BR>
<DD> It’s 2006, an even-numbered year, an election
year. Could all this just be a distraction from what’s really going
on?<BR>
<DD> The second game is Immigrant Bashing.
When the economy is tanking and you’re losing a war, what else is there to
do but pick on the most vulnerable people in our society? Those who have
no rights but who wash your car and watch your kids. In grade school, I
was jumped and robbed by bigger kids, and I have never liked bullies.
That’s what I see, a bunch of bullies picking on the little guy. <BR>
<DD> So where do I stand? As an immigrant, a
refugee and exile from an imperial war, the son of a nail-salon worker and
a furniture salesman, someone that grew up without health insurance, a
person of color, an artist, I support the real American Dream. <BR>
<DD> Thirty years ago, Vietnamese people
came to this country--without documents either--looking for the very same
things as those out in the streets: a chance at a stable job, education
for their children, an opportunity. <BR>
<DD> In their struggle, I see my
struggle and I cannot turn my back to it nor close the gate behind me.<BR>
<DD> I cannot speak for all of us, but I can
for myself.<BR>
<DD> I support the rights of undocumented
immigrants. And I chide the hypocritical alliance between big business and
its lust for cheap labor and social conservatives and their racist vision
of America. And for those who want to
play the blame game and point fingers, here’s one of my favorite sayings:
Be careful what you point at, because there’s three fingers pointing right
back at you. <BR><BR>
<DD>Ky-Phong Tran is a graduate student in UC Riverside’s MFA Creative
Writing Program and the winner of a 2005 New America Media Award. He can
be reached at ky@frequentwind.com<BR><BR><BR><BR>
<DD>"Our strategy should not only be to confront Empire, but to lay siege
to it...With our art, our music, our literature...our joy...our
brilliance...our sheer relentlessness--and our ability to tell ! our own
stories."</I>
--Arundhati Roy<BR>
<DD><BR>
<DD><A href="http://www.frequentwind.com/"
eudora="autourl">www.frequentwind.com</A> (**newly updated for
2006**)<BR><BR>
<DD><A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/postman3/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=39666/*http://beta.messenger.yahoo.com">Yahoo!
Messenger with Voice.</A> PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low
rates.<BR><BR></DD></DL><BR></DL><BR><BR><BR>"Our strategy should not only be
to confront Empire, but to lay siege to it...With our art, our music, our
literature...our joy...our brilliance...our sheer relentlessness--and our
ability to tell our own
stories."</I>
--Arundhati Ro! y<BR> <BR><A href="http://www.frequentwind.com/"
eudora="autourl">www.frequentwind.com</A> (**newly updated for
2006**)<BR><BR><BR><A
href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/mail_us/taglines/postman3/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=39666/*http://beta.messenger.yahoo.com">Yahoo!
Messenger with Voice.</A> PC-to-Phone calls for ridiculously low rates.
</BLOCKQUOTE><X-SIGSEP>
<P></X-SIGSEP>Maurya Simon<BR><BR>Professor <BR>Department of Creative
Writing<BR>University of California Riverside<BR>900 University
Avenue<BR>Riverside, CA 92521-0318<BR><BR>TEL. (951) 827-2006
(office)<BR><BR>FAX: (951) 827-3619 <BR></P></BODY></HTML>