[Vision2020] Illegals

Tue Apr 11 08:30:04 PDT 2006

MekT7, your statements are simplistic and idiotic.
Although Keeley and I stand on opposite sides of the issue, at least she has
REASONS and VALID POINTS for her stand and I can respect her for that.

The following is an editorial written by a former teacher of mine in
Nogales, AZ.

Do students know why they marched?

By Kathy Scott

"F____ Y___," a Nogales High School boy snarled when a Nogales International
reporter tried to ask her a question during the walkout on Friday March 31.
This response, more than anything else about the haphazard march shows that
a whole lot of kids simply do not have a clue what a protest is all about.

Too bad they did not consult those of us who came of age during the 1960s.
Too bad they did not pay more attention to the HBO special titled "Walk Out"
about Hispanic students in East Los Angles in the 1970s who staged a series
of planned, organized walkouts to protest the substandard and unequal
conditions of their schools compared to those of more affluent students just
a few miles away. Too bad they missed a marvelous opportunity to have their
voices not only heard but also respected. See, kids, the whole point is to
get publicity and the issues brought to the attention of the general pubic.

Having gone to high school in the 1960s, experiencing up close the tumult of
race riots, assassinations, the divisiveness of the Vietnam War, Kent State
University, and a host of other social situations, I know the power of
walkouts, marching, and boycotting. These protests did indeed change the
very fabric of American society for the better, even though at the time a
majority of Americans were outraged and horrified by the protests. The
television and print media coverage were critical, and protesters welcomed,
not cussed, journalists trying to get the story out.

When I drove onto the NHS parking lot that Friday and was met by a laughing,
skipping horde of young students coming directly at the front of my car, my
first response was to laugh. The girl in front was holding a very small
Mexican flag, a few kids behind her were chanting "Viva, Mexico" but others
were simply following behind like lemmings, chatting conversationally like
the underclassmen they were. I joined a fellow educator at the pedestrian
gate and told a large group of students heading out to turn around and go
back to class; they did. The other educator and I also managed to entice
several students to come into campus through the gate. It is telling that
very few seniors participated deciding that it was better for them to march
later (at graduation) than to march now.

Obviously, very few of the younger students who started to walk out really
had any emotional connection to the cause of the walkout or they would have
defied those in authority who demanded they desist. Imagine Rosa Parks
moving to the back of the bus just because the bus driver told her to do so.
Imagine Martin Luther King Jr. disbanding any of his marches just because
one of his former teachers told him to go back to his church. Imagine if the
students in East Los Angeles had sat down when their teachers pleaded for
them to do so.

This in no way is intended to motivate students to ignore authority figures
who demand they go to class. What it proves is that in this case on this day
for the vast majority of these students the walkout was nothing more than an
excuse to ditch. Very few could even summarize the key aspects of the
immigration bills or do more than give a very shallow answer as to why
thousands had already protested in marches and walkouts in the previous
week.

One city leader asked why, if the students really wanted to make a point
about the contributions of immigrants, they were not holding pictures of
their brothers and cousins serving in the war in Iraq. Another questioned
why they were waving a Mexican and not an American flag. Another questioned
why some started throwing bottles at passing cars.

The answer is these kids were clueless and because they were, they harmed
rather than helped further the debate. If their point was to garner respect
for the immigration issue, they failed miserably, and that is a shame
because the issue deserves attention.

(Scott has been with the Nogales Unified School District No.1 for 29 years
and is an English teacher and free-lance writer. She can be contacted at
kathys at theriver.com)

-----Original Message-----
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com
[mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]On Behalf Of keely emerinemix
Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 4:58 AM
To: ophite at gmail.com; mekt7 at netscape.net
Cc: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Illegals

Thanks, Andreas.

I chose last night to deal with Mekt7's simplistisc take on the issue with
sarcasm for one reason and one reason only -- I was angry enough to do so as
a slightly more responsible alternative to just ripping the author to shreds
with an all-out assault of impassioned, angry prose.

Now that I've calmed down, I want to echo much of what Andreas says and add
some other points:

First of all, no one coming here from, say, Mexico would ever claim refugee
status.  Generations of entrenched poverty, with the corruption, lack of
education, and cyclical hopelessness it entails, is not the same as drought,
civil war, genocide or other catastrophes that rightly warrant refugee
status.  That doesn't mean that people aren't suffering.  It means their
suffering is largely, politically, unrecognized.

Second, the United States doesn't even guarantee safe haven -- permanent
legal status -- for underage girls seeking protection from societies that
carve up their genitals to keep them safe and pure, even when the certainty
of mutilation upon return can be proven.  A wave of people who are "only"
desperate and poor can hardly presume greater protection.

Third, the enormity of paperwork, court appearances, evidence, unclear laws,
unscrupulous immigration attorneys, financial cost and the sheer amount of
time -- time that could be spent working to send money home to wives and
children -- makes applying for asylum not just hopeless, but prohibitive in
virtually every way.  That's not  a lack of trust.  That's reality.

I regret if my previous sarcasm was unseemly, but perhaps a little serrated
edge of my own wielded against those who would scamper for cover with the
Pharisees is warranted.  Because the outcome of such thinking is virulently
anti-Christian, and you know how I get when that happens . . .

And yes, I consider tenants of illegal boarding houses to be undocumented,
although "illegals" would seem to fit here as well.

keely

From: "Andreas Schou" <ophite at gmail.com>
To: "mekt7 at netscape.net" <mekt7 at netscape.net>
CC: vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Illegals
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2006 21:23:58 -0800

Praise be to God, who in His infinite wisdom has begun to process
immigration paperwork Himself, at a pace that, perhaps, He finds more
suitable.

Have you ever worked with INS? How about Homeland Security, after INS
was folded into them? They move roughly as quickly as molasses in deep
space, and, while they move, you are incarcerated, separately from
your kids, in a holding facility. You then come before an
administrative law court where the burden of proof rests on you and
you are not guaranteed an attorney.

I have seldom seen a paragraph so fractally wrong.

-- ACS

On 4/10/06, mekt7 at netscape.net <mekt7 at netscape.net> wrote:
 >
 >
 >  I finally figured out what it was about illegals that bother me.
Regardless
 > of nationality, illegals don't trust God to provide them a lawful way to
 > enter the US legally. Real politcal refugees can request asylum. If they
 > come from countries with a serious track record for cruelty and there is
a
 > reasonable case, they usually will get asylum.
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