La Migra Loca
A friend of mine (well, more like local celebrity who knows of me) wrote this blog on his myspace the other day and well, it got me to thinking. I know most of you on here are pretty progressive people who aren't klansmen in Diesel clothing. When I read this, part of me starting thinking about things more and I want to learn more about the immigration problem in this country. Is it even really a problem? I watched this movie last night called La Misma Luna or Under the Same Moon in which this 9 year old boy leaves Mexico on his own to join his mother in the United States who hasn't seen him in four years. Its very scary and very sad at the same time. You should check it out because it'll have you in tears at the very end. Anyway, here is Todd's blog "The 'Illegal' Immigrants vs. the Homeless"
everyday i am blown away by human stupidity and ignornace. this morning i was driving a dear friend of mine home and we came to a red light at I59 and Fountainview. to my left was a young white guy, dishevelled and dirty, going car to car and looking for money. on the south side of I59 was about 12 mexican (perhaps central american, maybe south american, but probably mexican) guys standing on the grassy side of the road wearing their inexpensive, yet sturdy yellow-brownish work boots and mostly tidy apparel. it’s a long red light, so i look to my left at this white guy begging and then again ahead at the mexicans.
"wow," i said to my friend, who we’ll call ’hector’ (since we were listening to morrissey at the time) and i changed his name for reasons coming up... "wow, look guapo... a homeless white guy begging for money and a bunch of mexicans looking for WORK. what’s wrong with this country??"
"aaah mijo! that’s why i love you flaco, ’cause you understand the plight of the mexican worker!"
so we drive away and my mind is spinning. i ask hector, "hey, you ever see a homeless mexican?" and hector erupts in laughter, as do i.
you see, my friend hector was brought across the border as a very small child. i’ve known him for years and know the hell it has been for him running from immigration and trying to keep jobs and places to live. not once has he ever asked for anything. he works his butt off at whatever job he can get. some would say, well, why not go back to mexico? because he has NO PAPERS. no birth certificate that says he’s mexican, no papers that says he’s a united states citizen. he was brought over as a baby. so is his status his fault? hardly.
some of you would argue that there are many types of illegals. true. there’s middle eastern illegals coming through canada to blow up your children and irish immigrants that have opened their own pubs in new york with no hassle because of the color of their skin. (oh yes, those were stereotypes!) then there’s legal immigration. there’s so many faces to the coin. when i grew up in indiana we had migrant workers in the fields. they’d come to the states in the summer to work and go back to mexico in the winter. but that was way before september 11th. things aren’t so easy anymore.
and the root of all this goes deeper. i know. shouldn’t mexico fix it the problems that makes people have to come here and work? shouldn’t they wipe out the widespread corruption? sure we could argue all day about the root of the problem. but i’m talking about the flower right now.
so am i saying illegal immigration is ok? no. a law is a law. i understand that. just like i understand that’s gays have no equal rights to marriage and that oral sex is still outlawed and punishable by law in many states.
i’d not like to get into a big blogging debate on myspace about it, but if you read this i would like you to take a good look at who is keeping this country rotating. is it our friends in the kitchen at our favorite restaurants or is it the homeless guy on every freakin’ corner of houston looking for a handout and that has created tons of government organizations costing millions of dollars just to figure out how to get a lazy (yes, i know many homeless are mentally ill and cannot help it, i’m just ranting here) bum off the street? and to hear people complain, "they’re taking our jobs!" boo-hoo you shitheads. go to a meat-packing plant and work your ass off WITH NO RIGHTS. homeless people have more rights than our hard-working immigrants. what’s wrong here??
i think i’d rather pay $3.99 a pound for tomatoes than $8.99. who’s in our fields picking produce? put some white kids out there and check the price of produce at the supermarket. gasoline prices anyone??
ex-pres fox (that was the last mexican president, gringos) said once, "we’re doing the jobs in america that not even the blacks will do." oh my god if our touchy, racist-driven country didn’t fly off the hook with that one!
my point is, i guess, is that i’m angry at the treatment that, let’s face it here, mostly mexican immigrants receive. they’re everyone’s best friends if you have a ranch in crawford, texas and you need workers. but when it comes to appeasing mid-western and northern states who are so completely xenophobic and will vote for you, well, let’s build a wall!!!
a wall between mexico and los estados unidos? estan loco?? guess who’s gonna build that wall!! not a whitey!
think about it. oh, and good luck finding a homeless mexican.
source: Todd's Myspace or Toddicus.com
Comments are welcome. :-)
and congratulations Andrew on your very first car! So proud!
everyday i am blown away by human stupidity and ignornace. this morning i was driving a dear friend of mine home and we came to a red light at I59 and Fountainview. to my left was a young white guy, dishevelled and dirty, going car to car and looking for money. on the south side of I59 was about 12 mexican (perhaps central american, maybe south american, but probably mexican) guys standing on the grassy side of the road wearing their inexpensive, yet sturdy yellow-brownish work boots and mostly tidy apparel. it’s a long red light, so i look to my left at this white guy begging and then again ahead at the mexicans.
"wow," i said to my friend, who we’ll call ’hector’ (since we were listening to morrissey at the time) and i changed his name for reasons coming up... "wow, look guapo... a homeless white guy begging for money and a bunch of mexicans looking for WORK. what’s wrong with this country??"
"aaah mijo! that’s why i love you flaco, ’cause you understand the plight of the mexican worker!"
so we drive away and my mind is spinning. i ask hector, "hey, you ever see a homeless mexican?" and hector erupts in laughter, as do i.
you see, my friend hector was brought across the border as a very small child. i’ve known him for years and know the hell it has been for him running from immigration and trying to keep jobs and places to live. not once has he ever asked for anything. he works his butt off at whatever job he can get. some would say, well, why not go back to mexico? because he has NO PAPERS. no birth certificate that says he’s mexican, no papers that says he’s a united states citizen. he was brought over as a baby. so is his status his fault? hardly.
some of you would argue that there are many types of illegals. true. there’s middle eastern illegals coming through canada to blow up your children and irish immigrants that have opened their own pubs in new york with no hassle because of the color of their skin. (oh yes, those were stereotypes!) then there’s legal immigration. there’s so many faces to the coin. when i grew up in indiana we had migrant workers in the fields. they’d come to the states in the summer to work and go back to mexico in the winter. but that was way before september 11th. things aren’t so easy anymore.
and the root of all this goes deeper. i know. shouldn’t mexico fix it the problems that makes people have to come here and work? shouldn’t they wipe out the widespread corruption? sure we could argue all day about the root of the problem. but i’m talking about the flower right now.
so am i saying illegal immigration is ok? no. a law is a law. i understand that. just like i understand that’s gays have no equal rights to marriage and that oral sex is still outlawed and punishable by law in many states.
i’d not like to get into a big blogging debate on myspace about it, but if you read this i would like you to take a good look at who is keeping this country rotating. is it our friends in the kitchen at our favorite restaurants or is it the homeless guy on every freakin’ corner of houston looking for a handout and that has created tons of government organizations costing millions of dollars just to figure out how to get a lazy (yes, i know many homeless are mentally ill and cannot help it, i’m just ranting here) bum off the street? and to hear people complain, "they’re taking our jobs!" boo-hoo you shitheads. go to a meat-packing plant and work your ass off WITH NO RIGHTS. homeless people have more rights than our hard-working immigrants. what’s wrong here??
i think i’d rather pay $3.99 a pound for tomatoes than $8.99. who’s in our fields picking produce? put some white kids out there and check the price of produce at the supermarket. gasoline prices anyone??
ex-pres fox (that was the last mexican president, gringos) said once, "we’re doing the jobs in america that not even the blacks will do." oh my god if our touchy, racist-driven country didn’t fly off the hook with that one!
my point is, i guess, is that i’m angry at the treatment that, let’s face it here, mostly mexican immigrants receive. they’re everyone’s best friends if you have a ranch in crawford, texas and you need workers. but when it comes to appeasing mid-western and northern states who are so completely xenophobic and will vote for you, well, let’s build a wall!!!
a wall between mexico and los estados unidos? estan loco?? guess who’s gonna build that wall!! not a whitey!
think about it. oh, and good luck finding a homeless mexican.
source: Todd's Myspace or Toddicus.com
Comments are welcome. :-)
and congratulations Andrew on your very first car! So proud!