[La traducción Por el Centro Humanista de Culturas]
Hace solo dos años, miles de trabajadores inmigrantes, familias y personas que apoyaron la causa, llenaron calles, parques y auditorios a través de todos los Estados Unidos exigiendo una reforma migratoria justa y comprensiva. Fue una demostración histórica desde Los Angeles hasta New York, desde Chicago hasta Dallas, llena de multitudes de caras y creencias, una demostración de solidaridad y organización por parte de todos. Entre la extraordinaria diversidad de nacionalidades, idiomas y religiones, un sentido de unidad se infiltro en los métodos no violentos de las muchedumbres, y al mismo tiempo se sintió el deseo de pertenecer a una nación como los Estados Unidos y ser parte de la tierra de los inmigrantes.
A pesar de unas pocas diferencias, las demostraciones históricamente son similares entre si porque todas demandan derechos humanos, justicia económica y legal, y protección familiar y laboral, que nos hace recordar los movimientos de los años sesenta. Activistas políticos como nosotros llamamos este suceso “renacimiento del movimiento de derechos civiles’.
Sin embargo, dos años después, las demostraciones que despertaron la conciencia estadounidense desaparecieron, es como si todo hubiera pasado en un sueño. O, como si nuestros lideres políticos finalmente se hubieran unido y hubieran creado una reforma significativa, y la hubieran presentado al Congreso para crear otra ley estadounidense humanitaria. Desafortunadamente, esta ley que protegería los derechos del inmigrante no sucedió y esta sigue siendo una ilusión; un sueño que no se ha a sido realidad.
A donde se fueron todos los manifestantes?
Uno de los secretos que muchos de los espectadores quizás desconocen (aquellos que apoyan o difieren de la causa), era que las demostraciones del 2006 fueron en gran parte organizadas por grupos pequeños, desconocidos y sin muchos recursos; el rol de los “lobbyists” y otros grupos políticos fue solo de apoyo superficial.
La represiva legislación H.R 4437 , también conocida como la legislación de “Sensenbrenner-King”, del mismo nombre del congresista Republicano que la recomendó, esta basada en la detención y deportación de mas de 12 millones de inmigrantes indocumentados, y sus hijos nacidos en los Estados Unidos, sin posibilidad de utilizar recursos legales. En combinación con el acto “Real ID” que el Congreso presento secretamente en 1995, el H.R. 4437 también perjudicaría de la misma manera a millones de familias pobres y de clase obrera. La sublevación de las organizaciones comunitarias se llevo a cabo para desafiar estas medidas tan extremas; marchas a través de los Estados Unidos acabaron con Sensenbrenner-King y sus colaboradores. Con discusiones en mesas de cocinas, reuniones de esquina y llamados a conferencia, y con el apoyo entusiasta de programas de radio Hispanos, nació una resistencia pacifica. Millones de trabajadores y familias tuvieron coraje para salir unidos a pesar de los riesgos de deportación y detención anunciando: “Si se puede”.
Y que paso con el nuevo movimiento de liberación y emancipación?
Inspirado y al mismo tiempo con miedo de las demostraciones de inmigrantes sin poder, el Congreso trato de crear un trato entre Demócratas y Republicanos para presentarreformas, Sus esperanzas fueron vigorizadas con los resultados de la elecciones del 2006, donde una cantidad de políticos que apoyan los inmigrantes ganaron y anti-inmigrantes derechistas fueron derrotados. Políticos importantes pro-inmigrantes como Senador Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, John McCain y Richard Durbin y Representantes Luis Gutierrez y Sheila Jackson-Lee diseñaron varias propuestas legislativas. Sin embargo, ni los activistas inmigrantes, ni los políticos que estaban en contra de las mismas, estaban listos para aceptarlas.
Las legislaciones de compromiso fueron atacadas por la reforma derechista de la Federación por Inmigrantes Americanos, el medio neutral: Centro de Estudios de Inmigrantes, y vigilantes militantes llamados “Minuteman” con la ayuda de la xenofobia de Rush Limbaug, Bill O’Reilly y Lou Dobbs (el cual cito datos incorrectos que relacionaban la lepra con inmigrantes indocumentados ); y de otro lado, pro-inmigrantes como el “American Friends Service Committee” y la Unión de Libertades Civiles Americanas (American Civil Liberties Union) y la Asociación de Abogados Inmigrantes Americanos notaron la serias violaciones constitucionales de la legislación, particularmente en su falta de protección legal y profesional para los trabajadores “huéspedes” temporales.
La administración de Bush no ayudo a la situación al no haber invertido su poder y recursos para arreglar las diferencias ideológicas. De la misma manera que esta administracion manejo otras áreas importantes como la educción, el empleo, cuidado medico, el medio ambiente o la energía. La presidencia Republicana demostró su incompetencia en resolver el problema de la inmigración y lo dejo en el limbo. Hasta el “DREAM” act creado para inmigrantes que aspiraban atender a las Universidades, y “AgJobs” que fue diseñado para promover los derechos en el trabajo prácticamente desaparecieron.
La prensa nunca inicio discusiones importantes para intentar entender las razones de la crisis migratoria, la guerra, los problemas que sufren los refugiados, el impacto global de NAFTA y otros tratados económicos que el Banco Mundial y el Fondo Monetario Internacional crearon casi no fueron parte de la discusión, incluso en un año de elecciones.
La falta de revolución en Washington no ayudo a los trabajadores inmigrantes y a sus familias. Varios gobiernos de estados y ciudades se aprovecharon de la inacción del Congreso, y aprobaron leyes anti migratorias devastadoras; muchos vieron estas leyes como poderosos contragolpes a la revolución política inmigrante. Aprovechando la desinformación sobre inmigración que trajo las elecciones, y aun despues de que expertos declararon que el costo y posición legal prevendria que las legislaciónes terminaran convirtiendose en leyes los legisladores de estado alrededor del país en los primeros tres meses del 2008 propusieron legislaciones anti-inmigrantes, la mayoría con intenciones de ganar reconocimiento político.
Siguiendo el ejemplo de Oklahoma y Colorado, estados con las medidas anti-migratorias mas estrictas legisladores de varios estados apoyaron propuestas de ley que restringen drásticamente el acceso que tienen los inmigrantes indocumentados a licencias de conducir y otras identificaciones limitando los beneficios públicos, penalizandoa patrones que les dan empleo y creando lazos entre la policía local y autoridades federales de inmigración. En el 2007, más de 1,500 leyes anti-migratorias fueron propuestasen ciudades y estados de la nación.
La Federación para la Reforma de la Inmigración Americana dijo sobre estas nuevas iniciativas que tomaron los estados que: “Ellos sienten que tienen que solucionar las cosas por si mismos porque el gobierno federal no esta haciendo nada”, como si el rol del nuevo gobierno en este lío es asegurar el trato mas cruel para los inmigrantes explotados, sabiendo que sin su trabajo y lágrimas, la economía de los Estados Unidos prácticamente colapsaría. Irónicamente, aparte de los grupos por los derechos y justicia humana, la Cámara de Comercio, la Conferencia Nacional de las Legislaciones de Estados, y poderosos alcaldes como Bloomberg han expresado sus opiniones en contra de opresiones severas motivadas en los ámbitos políticos.
Para apoyar sus contrapartes locales con su ataque, ciertos políticos en Washington comenzaron nuevamente sus esfuerzos para presentar nuevas reformas anti-migratorias Imitando H.R. 4437, Demócrata Heath Schuler de North Carolina, con la ayuda de Tom Tancredo, un extremista anti-inmigrante, recientemente sugirieron una legislación llamada SAVE (Estados Unidos Seguros con Verificacion y Cumplimiento), la cual tiene ahora el apoyo de miembros del Congreso, cuarenta demócratas y mas del doble de Republicanos. En año de elecciones, John McCain y Hillary Clinton, han cambiado su posición en asuntos de deportaciones y licencias de conducir. Barack Obama continua siendo ambiguo en el tema.
Pero son las leyes inhumanas de los estados y las ciudades que han puesto trabajadores y familias inmigrantes a la defensiva. Incursiones a nivel nacional llevadas a cabo por Inmigración han creado histeria en la comunidad. Niños y bebes has sido separados de sus madres “ilegales” por Inmigración, madres han sido separadas de sus familias, esposadas, detenidas y deportadas. A través de los EU, estas incursiones continúan destruyendo los sueños y aspiraciones de familias y niños inmigrantes, y esto sucede en ciudades y pueblos de este país, un país que habla de su orgullo por su diversidad, su historia y su herencia inmigrante.
Miles de inmigrantes han sido encarcelados en prisiones privadas y desoladas, y ciertas ciudades cerca de la frontera son controladas por corporaciones de cárceles. Esos grupos que hace solo dos años ayudaron a millones de mujeres y hombres valientes ha salir a las calles y hacer una demostración de paz y fuerza, ahora están gastando toda su energía y recursos para pelear en contra de este ataque orwelliano.
A donde se han ido todos los grupos de personas influyentes (lobbyists), los guardianes y la prensa que apoyan los derechos de los inmigrantes?
Los trabajadores inmigrantes y los grupos que los apoyan seguirán con sus cruzadas, desafiando una de las represiones más despiadadas por las que ha pasado este país. Estas personas que pelean por la justicia y los derechos humanos se pueden encontrar a través de todos los Estados Unidos, en Freehold, NJ; Tucson, Arizona; o en Jackson, Mississippi. Solo podemos esperar que su lucha sea justificada, como la victoria del movimiento de los derechos civiles en los años sesenta. Por lo menos, la historia esta de su lado.
Cuando será que la gente con poder aprenderá?
###
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Where Have All the Immigrants Gone?
Where Have All the Immigrants Gone?
By Partha Banerjee
Just two years ago, hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers, families and
their supporters flooded the streets, parks and city halls all across
America to demand a fair and comprehensive immigration reform. From Los
Angeles to New York, Dallas to Chicago, it was an historic show of faces,
faiths and festoons displaying enormous organizing skills and enviable
solidarity. In the mind-boggling diversity of human mass, a great sense of
unity percolated through the crowds’ remarkable non-violent means and strong
desire to belong to mainstream America, yearning to be accepted by this land
of free. The huge demonstrations and their many similarities to claim
equality, human rights and economic justice rekindled powerful memories of
the sixties. Grassroots activists called it a resurgent civil rights
movement.
Now two years later, however, the high tide of demonstrations that rocked
the American conscience ebbed – as if it had all happened in a fantasy. Or,
as if our political leaders finally came together and settled on a real and
meaningful reform, and pushed it in Congress to shape another landmark
American law of humanity along the line of the New Deal, Civil Rights Act or
Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, a desperately needed Immigrant Rights and
Justice Act is still very much an illusion -- an unrealized dream.
Where have all the street marchers gone?
One of the secrets many onlookers -- either on the supporting or opposing
side of the charged issue -- perhaps didn’t know was that the mass
demonstrations of 2006 were organized largely by precariously
underresourced, no-name, local groups; the role of the big policy and
lobbying groups was only supportive, ceremonial. The Kafkesque-repressive
legislation H. R. 4437, also known as the Sensenbrenner-King bill after the
Republican congressmen who’d floated it, called for mass detention and
deportation of the twelve million-plus undocumented immigrants and their
many U.S.-born children, with no possible legal recourse. In combination
with the sinister Real ID Act the Congress had underhandedly passed in late
1995, H. R. 4437 would cause havoc to millions of poor, working-class
families. The grassroots uprising took place to challenge such a draconian
measure; the million-strong, spontaneously building marches all across
America doomed Sensenbrenner-King and its connivers. A peaceful resistance
almost entirely conceived out of kitchen table discussions, implemented
through organically grown day labor streetcorner meetings and conference
calls, and cheerled by Spanish talk radios and pro-immigrant labor unions
was born. Then, millions of workers and families braved detention and
deportation, and came out in a phenomenal unison. “Si se puede” – Yes we
can – was their clarion call.
So, whatever happened to the new movement of emancipation?
Partly inspired and partly feared by the massive show of disempowered
immigrants, Congress tried in 2006 and 2007 to strike a deal between
Democrats and Republicans to pass reform measures. Their hopes were buoyed
by the results of the 2006 elections where a number of pro-immigrant
politicians had won and far-right anti-immigrant incumbents were defeated.
Key pro-immigrant politicians such as Senators Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, John
McCain and Richard Durbin and Representatives Louis Gutierrez and Sheila
Jackson-Lee came up with various legislative proposals. However, neither the
immigrant-bashing politicians and think tanks nor the immigrant activists
and support groups were ready to accept them. The compromise bills were
blasted as amnesty by right wing Federation for American Immigration Reform,
pseudo-neutral Center for Immigration Studies and vigilante-militant
Minuteman aided by foam-in-the-mouth xenophobia from Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly
and Lou Dobbs (the latter cited bogus data linking leprosy to undocumented
immigrants); on the other hand, pro-immigrant American Friends Service
Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, and American Immigration Lawyers’
Association raised alarm about the bills’ serious constitutional breaches,
particularly in their lack of legal and workplace protection for the
arbitrarily classified, temporary "guest" workers. The Bush administration
added to the woes by not investing its will, power and resources to mend the
ideological divides or legislative loopholes. Like with other important
areas such as education, employment, health care, energy or environment, the
war-focused Republican presidency showed its incompetence to resolve the
immigration issue, and left it in limbo. Even the once-plausible DREAM Act
drafted for college-aspiring immigrant children and AgJobs designed to
promote workplace rights for immigrant farmers were pushed back into
near-oblivion.
Critically important discussions to understand the reasons behind
immigration and the present crises never took place in mass media: war and
refugee issues, global impact of NAFTA and other economic treaties the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund orchestrated rarely came up even in an
election-year discourse.
The lack of resolve in Washington did not help the immigrant workers and
families. Various state and city governments took advantage of Congress’
inaction, and passed some of the most hideous anti-immigrant laws; many saw
these laws as the powerful’s backlash against the immigrants’ political
uprising. In the first three months of 2008, state lawmakers around the
country proposed hundreds of anti-immigrant bills – mostly to gain political
mileage out of election-year sentiments and ignorance about immigrants’
rights and plights – even though experts said the cost and legal opposition
would keep many bills from becoming law.
Following Oklahoma and Colorado, two places with some of the harshest
anti-immigrant measures, lawmakers in scores of states recently sponsored
legislations that would drastically restrict undocumented immigrants’ access
to driver’s licenses and other IDs, limit public benefits, penalize
employers who employed them, and boost ties between local police departments
and federal immigration authorities. In 2007, more than 1,500 anti-immigrant
laws were proposed at state or city levels nationwide.
Federation for American Immigration Reform said about the states’ new
initiatives, “they feel like they have to take it into their own hands
because the federal government is doing nothing” -- as if the federal
government’s only role in this mess is to ensure the cruelest punitive
measures for the underprivileged and routinely exploited immigrant workers,
without whose toil and tears (and taxes too), the American economic
juggernaut would practically idle. Ironically, other than the rights and
justice groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Conference of State
Legislatures, and powerful mayors such as New York’s Bloomberg have
expressed their strong reservations against such severe as well as
cost-ineffective and politically motivated oppressions.
To support their local counterparts in their relentless onslaught, some
Washington insiders have also reenergized their efforts to pass new
anti-immigrant bills. Emulating H. R. 4437, North Carolina Democrat Rep.
Heath Schuler, with aid from extremist-anti-immigrant Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
has recently floated the Secure America with Verification and Enforcement
(SAVE) legislation – a bill that now has co-sponsorship of nearly forty
Democrat and twice as many Republican Congress members. Talk about
election-year politics: even yesterday's "immigrant-friendly" John McCain
and Hillary Clinton have now switched their positions on key driver’s
license and detention-deportation issues. Barack Obama has remained
ambivalent.
But it is the inhumane state and city laws that have put immigrant workers
and families on the defensive: nationwide workplace raids by Immigration and
Customs Enforcement of undocumented immigrants and certain employers have
created hysteria in the community. Infants and toddlers have been forcibly
separated by ICE from their “illegal alien” mothers; mothers have been
forcibly removed from the family, and handcuffed, detained and deported. A
silent and nearly invisible, fascistic sweep is continuing all across
America destroying dreams and aspirations of immigrant families and
children, and it’s happening in cities and towns of this country that boasts
its history and heritage of immigration and diversity. Thousands of ordinary
immigrants are being put in privately owned, dark and desolate prisons; some
border towns are now almost entirely run by prison corporations. Those
grassroots groups that just two years ago helped millions of brave men and
women to come out on the streets to show a massive strength of peace and
togetherness are now busy spending all their over-extended energy and
shoestring resources to fight back against the Orwellian onslaught.
Where have all the big-name lobbying groups -- the self-styled custodians
and media-mouthpieces for immigrant rights -- gone?
The immigrant workers and their shoestring-resourced, on-the-ground support
groups keep carrying on the crusade, challenging some of the most ruthless
repressions this country has ever seen. These “no-name” torchbearers of
human rights and justice can be found across the U.S. – in Freehold, New
Jersey; Tucson, Arizona; or Jackson, Mississippi. We can only hope their
struggle will be vindicated, just like the civil rights movement was
victorious in the sixties. At least, history is on their side.
When will the mighty people in power ever learn?
###
______________
Dr. Partha Banerjee is a New York City-based immigrant rights and peace activist.
By Partha Banerjee
Just two years ago, hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers, families and
their supporters flooded the streets, parks and city halls all across
America to demand a fair and comprehensive immigration reform. From Los
Angeles to New York, Dallas to Chicago, it was an historic show of faces,
faiths and festoons displaying enormous organizing skills and enviable
solidarity. In the mind-boggling diversity of human mass, a great sense of
unity percolated through the crowds’ remarkable non-violent means and strong
desire to belong to mainstream America, yearning to be accepted by this land
of free. The huge demonstrations and their many similarities to claim
equality, human rights and economic justice rekindled powerful memories of
the sixties. Grassroots activists called it a resurgent civil rights
movement.
Now two years later, however, the high tide of demonstrations that rocked
the American conscience ebbed – as if it had all happened in a fantasy. Or,
as if our political leaders finally came together and settled on a real and
meaningful reform, and pushed it in Congress to shape another landmark
American law of humanity along the line of the New Deal, Civil Rights Act or
Roe v. Wade. Unfortunately, a desperately needed Immigrant Rights and
Justice Act is still very much an illusion -- an unrealized dream.
Where have all the street marchers gone?
One of the secrets many onlookers -- either on the supporting or opposing
side of the charged issue -- perhaps didn’t know was that the mass
demonstrations of 2006 were organized largely by precariously
underresourced, no-name, local groups; the role of the big policy and
lobbying groups was only supportive, ceremonial. The Kafkesque-repressive
legislation H. R. 4437, also known as the Sensenbrenner-King bill after the
Republican congressmen who’d floated it, called for mass detention and
deportation of the twelve million-plus undocumented immigrants and their
many U.S.-born children, with no possible legal recourse. In combination
with the sinister Real ID Act the Congress had underhandedly passed in late
1995, H. R. 4437 would cause havoc to millions of poor, working-class
families. The grassroots uprising took place to challenge such a draconian
measure; the million-strong, spontaneously building marches all across
America doomed Sensenbrenner-King and its connivers. A peaceful resistance
almost entirely conceived out of kitchen table discussions, implemented
through organically grown day labor streetcorner meetings and conference
calls, and cheerled by Spanish talk radios and pro-immigrant labor unions
was born. Then, millions of workers and families braved detention and
deportation, and came out in a phenomenal unison. “Si se puede” – Yes we
can – was their clarion call.
So, whatever happened to the new movement of emancipation?
Partly inspired and partly feared by the massive show of disempowered
immigrants, Congress tried in 2006 and 2007 to strike a deal between
Democrats and Republicans to pass reform measures. Their hopes were buoyed
by the results of the 2006 elections where a number of pro-immigrant
politicians had won and far-right anti-immigrant incumbents were defeated.
Key pro-immigrant politicians such as Senators Ted Kennedy, Harry Reid, John
McCain and Richard Durbin and Representatives Louis Gutierrez and Sheila
Jackson-Lee came up with various legislative proposals. However, neither the
immigrant-bashing politicians and think tanks nor the immigrant activists
and support groups were ready to accept them. The compromise bills were
blasted as amnesty by right wing Federation for American Immigration Reform,
pseudo-neutral Center for Immigration Studies and vigilante-militant
Minuteman aided by foam-in-the-mouth xenophobia from Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly
and Lou Dobbs (the latter cited bogus data linking leprosy to undocumented
immigrants); on the other hand, pro-immigrant American Friends Service
Committee, American Civil Liberties Union, and American Immigration Lawyers’
Association raised alarm about the bills’ serious constitutional breaches,
particularly in their lack of legal and workplace protection for the
arbitrarily classified, temporary "guest" workers. The Bush administration
added to the woes by not investing its will, power and resources to mend the
ideological divides or legislative loopholes. Like with other important
areas such as education, employment, health care, energy or environment, the
war-focused Republican presidency showed its incompetence to resolve the
immigration issue, and left it in limbo. Even the once-plausible DREAM Act
drafted for college-aspiring immigrant children and AgJobs designed to
promote workplace rights for immigrant farmers were pushed back into
near-oblivion.
Critically important discussions to understand the reasons behind
immigration and the present crises never took place in mass media: war and
refugee issues, global impact of NAFTA and other economic treaties the World
Bank and International Monetary Fund orchestrated rarely came up even in an
election-year discourse.
The lack of resolve in Washington did not help the immigrant workers and
families. Various state and city governments took advantage of Congress’
inaction, and passed some of the most hideous anti-immigrant laws; many saw
these laws as the powerful’s backlash against the immigrants’ political
uprising. In the first three months of 2008, state lawmakers around the
country proposed hundreds of anti-immigrant bills – mostly to gain political
mileage out of election-year sentiments and ignorance about immigrants’
rights and plights – even though experts said the cost and legal opposition
would keep many bills from becoming law.
Following Oklahoma and Colorado, two places with some of the harshest
anti-immigrant measures, lawmakers in scores of states recently sponsored
legislations that would drastically restrict undocumented immigrants’ access
to driver’s licenses and other IDs, limit public benefits, penalize
employers who employed them, and boost ties between local police departments
and federal immigration authorities. In 2007, more than 1,500 anti-immigrant
laws were proposed at state or city levels nationwide.
Federation for American Immigration Reform said about the states’ new
initiatives, “they feel like they have to take it into their own hands
because the federal government is doing nothing” -- as if the federal
government’s only role in this mess is to ensure the cruelest punitive
measures for the underprivileged and routinely exploited immigrant workers,
without whose toil and tears (and taxes too), the American economic
juggernaut would practically idle. Ironically, other than the rights and
justice groups, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Conference of State
Legislatures, and powerful mayors such as New York’s Bloomberg have
expressed their strong reservations against such severe as well as
cost-ineffective and politically motivated oppressions.
To support their local counterparts in their relentless onslaught, some
Washington insiders have also reenergized their efforts to pass new
anti-immigrant bills. Emulating H. R. 4437, North Carolina Democrat Rep.
Heath Schuler, with aid from extremist-anti-immigrant Tom Tancredo (R-CO)
has recently floated the Secure America with Verification and Enforcement
(SAVE) legislation – a bill that now has co-sponsorship of nearly forty
Democrat and twice as many Republican Congress members. Talk about
election-year politics: even yesterday's "immigrant-friendly" John McCain
and Hillary Clinton have now switched their positions on key driver’s
license and detention-deportation issues. Barack Obama has remained
ambivalent.
But it is the inhumane state and city laws that have put immigrant workers
and families on the defensive: nationwide workplace raids by Immigration and
Customs Enforcement of undocumented immigrants and certain employers have
created hysteria in the community. Infants and toddlers have been forcibly
separated by ICE from their “illegal alien” mothers; mothers have been
forcibly removed from the family, and handcuffed, detained and deported. A
silent and nearly invisible, fascistic sweep is continuing all across
America destroying dreams and aspirations of immigrant families and
children, and it’s happening in cities and towns of this country that boasts
its history and heritage of immigration and diversity. Thousands of ordinary
immigrants are being put in privately owned, dark and desolate prisons; some
border towns are now almost entirely run by prison corporations. Those
grassroots groups that just two years ago helped millions of brave men and
women to come out on the streets to show a massive strength of peace and
togetherness are now busy spending all their over-extended energy and
shoestring resources to fight back against the Orwellian onslaught.
Where have all the big-name lobbying groups -- the self-styled custodians
and media-mouthpieces for immigrant rights -- gone?
The immigrant workers and their shoestring-resourced, on-the-ground support
groups keep carrying on the crusade, challenging some of the most ruthless
repressions this country has ever seen. These “no-name” torchbearers of
human rights and justice can be found across the U.S. – in Freehold, New
Jersey; Tucson, Arizona; or Jackson, Mississippi. We can only hope their
struggle will be vindicated, just like the civil rights movement was
victorious in the sixties. At least, history is on their side.
When will the mighty people in power ever learn?
###
______________
Dr. Partha Banerjee is a New York City-based immigrant rights and peace activist.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
A New Immigrant Civil Rights Movement Sweeps America
A New Immigrant Civil Rights Movement Sweeps America
By Partha Banerjee, Ph.D.
Homepage http://www.geocities.com/chokmoki
The nationwide protests for rights and respect for millions of immigrants in U.S. are generating heated public debate on one hand, and angry backlash from restrictionists on the other. The heart of the debate, however, is whether undocumented immigrant workers deserve equality, fairness and civil rights the American way, or be criminalized and punished for their 'crime' to be here without papers.
Little is mentioned about the enormous economic contributions undocumented immigrants make to America. Even less is mentioned about the immigrants' social and spiritual contributions, and their incredible struggle, against all odds, for survival and dignity.
Undocumented laborers are an important part of the U.S. market enterprise. A substantial portion of their earning is spent on goods, services, and taxes (such as income- and property taxes, and excise items such as gas and cigarette taxes). There's more. A national report puts the U.S. social security taxes these workers contribute to the system at $8 -10 billion, annually, none of which can be recovered by them for any benefits. That is an enormous surplus that helps keep the country's social security system happy. No wonder we don't hear Social Security administration -- as opposed to Homeland Security - talking about rounding them up, or deporting them.
Anti-immigrant groups and politicians often exaggerate the costs of providing public services to undocumented workers and their families. Fact is, most undocumented immigrants in U.S. do not even use medical facilities unless it's an emergency, like a serious injury or the birth of a child. They just try to stay healthy, like the millions of ordinary Americans - Black, White, Yellow or Brown - with no health insurance. Critics might object that this is the most expensive kind of care (even though in many cases, hospitals carry a special charity fund to pay for such expenses under “Emergency Medicaid”). But with a humane health care policy for immigrant or non-immigrant alike, where people without papers or “valid” jobs can still obtain a basic medical care without being fearful of going bankrupt or being deported, U.S. economy can save up billions of dollars. Most undocumented teenagers don't attend college because they can't afford the high, out-of-state tuition, or are not allowed to enroll. Forcing 10-12 million people to live in U.S. without health or education is bound to cause serious problems in the future. Think France.
Even some conservatives acknowledge that the work most undocumented immigrants do is vital. As Ken Connor, the past president of the Family Research Council, said, "Our economy depends on illegal immigrants. Every day, many of these hard working laborers perform tasks that few Americans want to perform ". Doing dishes in the back of a plush restaurant, cutting meat and scaling fish at a grocery chain, cleaning supermarket floors, sewers and bathrooms in the middle of the night, picking apples, oranges, grapes and strawberries in pesticide-laden farm fields, and doing high-risk construction work at American homes and gardens which can cause injury are examples of the type of work that Connor may be referencing. And remember, the work, often done by Latino day laborers standing up on our street corners is back-breaking. Most are round the clock, with sub-minimum wages, no benefits, little respect, and near-absent lunch- or weekend breaks. It's widely known that many workers are even deprived of their pay.
Is this what U.S. stands for? The last time I checked, America had a civil rights movement decades ago that precisely talked about such discrimination, abuse, pain and sufferings. The glorious struggle of Black Americans also whipped up zealots' angry reactions. History repeats itself.
America is on the brink of "a new awakening" in political consciousness, Harry Belafonte said, not unlike the struggles of the '60s. But, we still have "miles to go before we sleep." It seems, the gains and pains of those days are now forgotten.
Some people argue that because the newest wave of pro-immigrant demonstrations are so spontaneous and new that they can't be compared to a much more politically organized civil rights movement of the '60s. But they fail to recognize that the street marches and rallies we're seeing now in America are the product of years of mass mobilizations by immigrant activists around the country -- especially against the post-9/11 atrocities against poor immigrants -- who organized countless jail protests, town halls, basement meetings, and kitchen-table discussions before they came to the point where it's been possible to rally millions around a xenophobic, cruel piece of legislation passed in December, 2005 -- the bill criminalizes the 10-12 million undocumented immigrants and their supporters as felons). Grassroots immigrant leaders worked shoulder-to-shoulder with peace, liberties and justice groups to galvanize strength. It's also strikingly similar to 60's with its various factions, doctrines, plans of action, even some conflicting leadership. Today's new struggle, even though led by immigrant activists, are not about immigrants only, it's really about rights and justice for all the marginalized, unprivileged people of America.
Undocumented immigrant workers across U.S. are people that we should be proud of and not scornful about. They work hard, raise their families, and carry strong moral values. Many of them tried, and failed, to get some kind of immigration document, because the system is so broken, cumbersome and expensive. They are here to stay, and we must give them their long-overdue civil and human rights. Immigration violation is not a criminal offense. A humane, non-criminalizing, comprehensive immigration reform with a clear path to earned citizenship is the only pragmatic solution. Anything else falls short. This is not amnesty, unlike what anti-immigrant groups such as FAIR or Minuteman and their supporters in the media and political parties are accusing. In fact, the bipartisan Senate bill (in spite of its many serious flaws especially on the issues of civil liberties, detentions, border militarization, and due process rights) proposes a citizenship path for the undocumented, which, if implemented, would take an individual and his family at least eleven to twelve years to become a citizen, and that too, after paying heavy penalties and back taxes for many years. Most of these people have already waited for many years, in poverty, exploitation and despair.
The civil rights movement in the sixties under the leadership of MLK called for emancipation from the shackles of poverty and despair. The new leadership of today’s immigrant rights movement is repeating the call. It's time we embrace the new civil rights movement.
###
By Partha Banerjee, Ph.D.
Homepage http://www.geocities.com/chokmoki
The nationwide protests for rights and respect for millions of immigrants in U.S. are generating heated public debate on one hand, and angry backlash from restrictionists on the other. The heart of the debate, however, is whether undocumented immigrant workers deserve equality, fairness and civil rights the American way, or be criminalized and punished for their 'crime' to be here without papers.
Little is mentioned about the enormous economic contributions undocumented immigrants make to America. Even less is mentioned about the immigrants' social and spiritual contributions, and their incredible struggle, against all odds, for survival and dignity.
Undocumented laborers are an important part of the U.S. market enterprise. A substantial portion of their earning is spent on goods, services, and taxes (such as income- and property taxes, and excise items such as gas and cigarette taxes). There's more. A national report puts the U.S. social security taxes these workers contribute to the system at $8 -10 billion, annually, none of which can be recovered by them for any benefits. That is an enormous surplus that helps keep the country's social security system happy. No wonder we don't hear Social Security administration -- as opposed to Homeland Security - talking about rounding them up, or deporting them.
Anti-immigrant groups and politicians often exaggerate the costs of providing public services to undocumented workers and their families. Fact is, most undocumented immigrants in U.S. do not even use medical facilities unless it's an emergency, like a serious injury or the birth of a child. They just try to stay healthy, like the millions of ordinary Americans - Black, White, Yellow or Brown - with no health insurance. Critics might object that this is the most expensive kind of care (even though in many cases, hospitals carry a special charity fund to pay for such expenses under “Emergency Medicaid”). But with a humane health care policy for immigrant or non-immigrant alike, where people without papers or “valid” jobs can still obtain a basic medical care without being fearful of going bankrupt or being deported, U.S. economy can save up billions of dollars. Most undocumented teenagers don't attend college because they can't afford the high, out-of-state tuition, or are not allowed to enroll. Forcing 10-12 million people to live in U.S. without health or education is bound to cause serious problems in the future. Think France.
Even some conservatives acknowledge that the work most undocumented immigrants do is vital. As Ken Connor, the past president of the Family Research Council, said, "Our economy depends on illegal immigrants. Every day, many of these hard working laborers perform tasks that few Americans want to perform ". Doing dishes in the back of a plush restaurant, cutting meat and scaling fish at a grocery chain, cleaning supermarket floors, sewers and bathrooms in the middle of the night, picking apples, oranges, grapes and strawberries in pesticide-laden farm fields, and doing high-risk construction work at American homes and gardens which can cause injury are examples of the type of work that Connor may be referencing. And remember, the work, often done by Latino day laborers standing up on our street corners is back-breaking. Most are round the clock, with sub-minimum wages, no benefits, little respect, and near-absent lunch- or weekend breaks. It's widely known that many workers are even deprived of their pay.
Is this what U.S. stands for? The last time I checked, America had a civil rights movement decades ago that precisely talked about such discrimination, abuse, pain and sufferings. The glorious struggle of Black Americans also whipped up zealots' angry reactions. History repeats itself.
America is on the brink of "a new awakening" in political consciousness, Harry Belafonte said, not unlike the struggles of the '60s. But, we still have "miles to go before we sleep." It seems, the gains and pains of those days are now forgotten.
Some people argue that because the newest wave of pro-immigrant demonstrations are so spontaneous and new that they can't be compared to a much more politically organized civil rights movement of the '60s. But they fail to recognize that the street marches and rallies we're seeing now in America are the product of years of mass mobilizations by immigrant activists around the country -- especially against the post-9/11 atrocities against poor immigrants -- who organized countless jail protests, town halls, basement meetings, and kitchen-table discussions before they came to the point where it's been possible to rally millions around a xenophobic, cruel piece of legislation passed in December, 2005 -- the bill criminalizes the 10-12 million undocumented immigrants and their supporters as felons). Grassroots immigrant leaders worked shoulder-to-shoulder with peace, liberties and justice groups to galvanize strength. It's also strikingly similar to 60's with its various factions, doctrines, plans of action, even some conflicting leadership. Today's new struggle, even though led by immigrant activists, are not about immigrants only, it's really about rights and justice for all the marginalized, unprivileged people of America.
Undocumented immigrant workers across U.S. are people that we should be proud of and not scornful about. They work hard, raise their families, and carry strong moral values. Many of them tried, and failed, to get some kind of immigration document, because the system is so broken, cumbersome and expensive. They are here to stay, and we must give them their long-overdue civil and human rights. Immigration violation is not a criminal offense. A humane, non-criminalizing, comprehensive immigration reform with a clear path to earned citizenship is the only pragmatic solution. Anything else falls short. This is not amnesty, unlike what anti-immigrant groups such as FAIR or Minuteman and their supporters in the media and political parties are accusing. In fact, the bipartisan Senate bill (in spite of its many serious flaws especially on the issues of civil liberties, detentions, border militarization, and due process rights) proposes a citizenship path for the undocumented, which, if implemented, would take an individual and his family at least eleven to twelve years to become a citizen, and that too, after paying heavy penalties and back taxes for many years. Most of these people have already waited for many years, in poverty, exploitation and despair.
The civil rights movement in the sixties under the leadership of MLK called for emancipation from the shackles of poverty and despair. The new leadership of today’s immigrant rights movement is repeating the call. It's time we embrace the new civil rights movement.
###
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