Size of L.A. March Surprises Authorities
Police said more than 500,000 people marched Saturday to protest a proposed federal crackdown on illegal immigration. Wearing white as a sign of peace, and waving flags from the U.S., Mexico, Guatemala and other countries, they came to show that illegal immigrants already are part of the American fabric, and want the chance to be legal, law-abiding citizens.
It must have been the stuff the keeps Minutemen up at night: 500,000 Mexicans and assorted other brown people parading through downtown Los Angeles. Instead of merely accepting the place in the “natural” order of things, brown folks from all over southern California (of undetermined immigration status) decided that the time had come to speak out. That they did so peacefully and forcefully is certainly to their credit, and we should all be applauding these folks for exercising that most basic and essential of American rights- the right to free speech and assembly.
Given that many Hispanics tend to be of indeterminate immigration status and/or lower socioeconomic status, it is all too easy for politicians and bigots to demonize brown people. When you get right down to it, they are guilty of only two things- they look different and they want a better life for themselves and their families. What, really, is so bad about that?
Here in southeast Texas, I see Hispanics everywhere. Not only do I interact with them on a daily basis (as do most Texans), but they mow our lawns, pick up our garbage, pave our roads, and just generally do the jobs that most good, God-fearing White folks wouldn’t touch if they were the last jobs on Earth. Without these hard-working brown people, Suburbia would be a mess. These people work hard in this brutal climate to make our lives easier and our homes prettier, and they generally don’t make much money for their trouble. Kinda sounds like the textbook definition of “exploitation”, doesn’t it?
The general attitude when it comes to these folks is that we want them to do our dirty work and then disappear. We don’t want to see them until it’s time to pick up our garbage or mow our lawn. We won’t come out and actually say that we want them to live in the shadows, but few of us would be upset if that were actually to be the case.
The demonstrators oppose legislation passed by the U.S. House that would make it a felony to be in the U.S. illegally. It also would impose new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants, require churches to check the legal status of parishioners before helping them and erect fences along one-third of the U.S.-Mexican border.
It’s patently absurd to even be considering walling off the US-Mexico border when the US-Canada border is the longest undefended border in the world. Can we just admit that this is really all about keeping out brown people? Honestly, what sort of threat do these people pose to us?
Many demonstrators said they had immigrant relatives or had crossed the border themselves.
“My mom came from Mexico. She had to cross the river, and thank God she did,” said David Gonzalez, 22, who held a sign saying, “I’m in my homeland.”’
Gonzalez rejected claims by advocates of the legislation that it would help protect the nation from terrorism, noting that it would hurt Hispanics the most.
“When did you ever see a Mexican blow up the World Trade Center?” he said. “Who do you think built the World Trade Center?”
Indeed, we hate and despise brown people, and yet without them our country would look much different. We can’t seem to live with them, and yet we certainly cannot live without them. Since most of them are either apolitical or vote Democratic, they’re even easier to for the well-fed White men who run Congress to demonize.
Just so no one faints from shock, I’m about to actually agree with something Our Glorious Leader said:
President Bush is pushing for a guest worker program that could provide temporary legal status for some of the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, but many of his fellow Republicans are taking a more restrictive stance.
“As we debate the immigration issue, we must remember there are hardworking individuals, doing jobs that Americans will not do, who are contributing to the economic vitality of our country,” Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address.
Indeed. As a former Governor of Texas (before his politics and sense of common decency were hijacked by the Religious Right), he’s well aware of the vital economic role performed by Hispanic immigrants (legal and otherwise) in many border states. Common decency and a sense of humanity demands that we find a way to welcome Hispanics and integrate them into American society. Instead of demonizing them even as we exploit them, shouldn’t we be figuring out how to make them full partners in the American dream?
Real security and safety from terrorism has nothing to do with building more and taller walls so that we may keep out brown people. It has nothing to do with keeping out those who simply seek a better life. Perhaps we should be remembering that this is a country whose greatness was created by immigrants. Ultimately, we’re all from somewhere else; isn’t it about time we recognized that?
