A Day Without Immigrants. (Caution: Inflammatory Content.)
Okay, this officially scares/upsets me.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/30/MNG4SII44I1.DTL
Has the spirit of this country of immigrants really been brought so low? I must have missed the part in the Statue of Liberty poem where it said, "Bring me your tired, your poor...but only if they look white...and speak English...and do not insist on honoring the culture of their ancestors."
The worst part of this is that not only illegal immigrants, but also natural-born Americans of Latino heritage, are being targeted. This means that my children and I, not to mention my entire family in Texas, are potentially at risk for hate crimes.
I remember my mother saying that when she was growing up she and her family were often forced to drink out of "colored" drinking fountains in small Texas towns. Years later, I have to ask: how much has really changed? When I was in middle and high school, I remember some of the white students making snide comments about the "beaners" who tended the grounds and washed their lunch dishes, not caring that one of those "beaners" was in their midst, wearing the same school uniform as them--a uniform that was supposed to make us equal. It hurt then, and it still does today.
Tomorrow, May 1, has been declared "a day without immigrants," on which immigrants, legal or otherwise, are encouraged to boycott work and do no shopping. Some think they should miss school as well, but I'm not exactly down with that--lack of access to proper education helps keep our people down in the first place. I hope this will be a success in that I hope it makes people think about the strength that not only recent immigrants, but the sons and daughters and the great-great-great-grandchildren of immigrants of all races and colors, have brought to this country.
My mother thinks this has nothing to do with us because we were lucky enough to be born in this country, but she couldn't be more wrong. This is just the beginning of the race-and-culture wars that have the potential to separate America, to injure it right when it needs to be strong, to turn families against each other.
Today, my little family, built tenderly and with great care across racial, cultural, and class lines, feels more fragile than ever. Where I come from, a lot of people say that races shouldn't mix, and they don't mind saying it where everybody can hear. I pray that my children won't ever have to hear that here in California, the land that, more than anywhere else, has come to symbolize the American Dream.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/30/MNG4SII44I1.DTL
Has the spirit of this country of immigrants really been brought so low? I must have missed the part in the Statue of Liberty poem where it said, "Bring me your tired, your poor...but only if they look white...and speak English...and do not insist on honoring the culture of their ancestors."
The worst part of this is that not only illegal immigrants, but also natural-born Americans of Latino heritage, are being targeted. This means that my children and I, not to mention my entire family in Texas, are potentially at risk for hate crimes.
I remember my mother saying that when she was growing up she and her family were often forced to drink out of "colored" drinking fountains in small Texas towns. Years later, I have to ask: how much has really changed? When I was in middle and high school, I remember some of the white students making snide comments about the "beaners" who tended the grounds and washed their lunch dishes, not caring that one of those "beaners" was in their midst, wearing the same school uniform as them--a uniform that was supposed to make us equal. It hurt then, and it still does today.
Tomorrow, May 1, has been declared "a day without immigrants," on which immigrants, legal or otherwise, are encouraged to boycott work and do no shopping. Some think they should miss school as well, but I'm not exactly down with that--lack of access to proper education helps keep our people down in the first place. I hope this will be a success in that I hope it makes people think about the strength that not only recent immigrants, but the sons and daughters and the great-great-great-grandchildren of immigrants of all races and colors, have brought to this country.
My mother thinks this has nothing to do with us because we were lucky enough to be born in this country, but she couldn't be more wrong. This is just the beginning of the race-and-culture wars that have the potential to separate America, to injure it right when it needs to be strong, to turn families against each other.
Today, my little family, built tenderly and with great care across racial, cultural, and class lines, feels more fragile than ever. Where I come from, a lot of people say that races shouldn't mix, and they don't mind saying it where everybody can hear. I pray that my children won't ever have to hear that here in California, the land that, more than anywhere else, has come to symbolize the American Dream.