[Cwgrad-announcements] FW: Ky-Phong's op-ed on immigration debate

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-----Original Message-----
From: Maurya Simon [mailto:maurya.simon at ucr.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 29, 2006 9:02 AM
To: Amanda Labagnara
Subject: Fwd: Ky-Phong's op-ed on immigration debate



Dear Amanda,

Please forward this article to everyone.  Many thanks, Maurya



There is no "they"


Here are some thoughts to consider regarding immigration.



By KY-PHONG TRAN


    Over half a million people marched to downt! own Los Angeles last
Saturday. Forty thousand students walked out of school on Monday.  


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.  


   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? 



There ! is no "they"


    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").


    There are undocumented immigrants in this country, not "illegal
aliens." People cannot be illegal nor aliens and calling them so is
dehumanizing and wrong.


    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? 


   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. 


   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. 


    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.


    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.


    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?


    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." 


    We.  Us.  They.  Those people. 


Any conversation that is framed around those words, freaks me out.


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. 



Labor history


    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.


    There was almost 400 years of slavery and when that was outlawed,
labor was imported from Eastern Europe, Ireland and Asia.


    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.


    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. 


    Seems to me, someone hit the repeat button and the hypocrisy is
happening all over again.



Student power


    To the students that walked out of school to exercise their voice
and their human rights, I say, "Bravo!" 


    And to the knuckleheads who walked on the freeway and acted rowdy:
Get off the freeway before you get killed. 


    The students who marched peacefully should not be lumped together
with the knuckleheads. How unfair is that? 


     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.


    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? 


    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. 


     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. 


     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. 




My angle


    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. 


      Democracy is not about everyone being happy, it's about everyone
being equally unhappy. 


      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. 


      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.


     It's 2006, an even-numbered year, an election year. Could all this
just be a distraction from what's really going on?


      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. 


     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. 


      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. 


       In their struggle, I see my struggle and I cannot turn my back to
it nor close the gate behind me.


      I cannot speak for all of us, but I can for myself.


      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. 



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 at frequentwind.com





"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."                   --Arundhati Roy



  

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"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."                   --Arundhati Ro! y
 
www.frequentwind.com <http://www.frequentwind.com/>  (**newly updated
for 2006**)


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Maurya Simon

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