I need you to listen good and listen hard. I know that some of you are my friends and my neighbors, people I care about and people I have known a long time.
I don't understand how you could have done what you have done. You voted against everything I believe in. You voted against the inscription on the statue of liberty, which reads:
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuge of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Emma Lazarus
Last year, Donald Trump said of undocumented immigrants: "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."
The truth about undocumented immigrants and life in general is much more complicated. Undocumented immigrants do pay taxes. They pay into the system. They pay for benefits they may never see. See this article in The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/09/undocumented-immigrants-and-taxes/499604/
When you talk about undocumented immigrants and not wanting them to come here, is it really about jobs, or is it just racism? Does it make you uncomfortable to live among people who don't look like you? If so, what are you afraid of?
It's easy to talk about immigration reform in neat lines and cute slogans. But these are real people. Real people's lives. As a human being, I feel like it's my duty to stand up for what's right. And I will oppose your walls and your hate:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/i-dont-feel-safe-undocumented-immigrants-fear-what-trump-will-do-as-president/2016/11/09/0a2bfc36-a6cc-11e6-8042-f4d111c862d1_story.html
I'm taking a class right now in counseling the culturally diverse. Through this class and deep exploration of these topics, I'm seeing my own racist and sexist biases. At first it was terrifying for me, because racists were kkk members and trump supporters. But now I am able to occasionally see my own biases through all my privilege. And find some grace, humility, and levity even in having hard conversations about privilege and oppression. When I am focused on the extremes of oppression, it doesn't allow me to focus on my own part and my own relationships. This is one of my favorite Ted Talks. I want to be like Verna Myers. http://www.ted.com/talks/verna_myers_how_to_overcome_our_biases_walk_boldly_toward_them?language=en
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents were immigrants, and I try to never forget that. They came here on a boat, with a steam trunk, to make a better life for their family, which is exactly what the many people trying to come here from countries like Mexico and El Salvador are trying to do. Thanks for sharing the Ted Talk.
DeleteAt least here is something semi intellect about the other point of view to respond to.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_can_a_divided_america_heal?utm_source=newsletter_daily&utm_campaign=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_content=button__2016-11-08
This is Karen.
DeleteAnd also my mom's parents come over on boats to start a life too. I feel the way you do about imigrants. There's also an awesome Ted talk in how well massively accepting imigrants has helped Canada. I'd have to find it though. The argument in the one close at hand is that people trust more when they have a more closed off society. My comment to that would be I trust the people I let in *after NOT* prejudging them according to the superficial or unimportant.
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