America, America

Okay well in yesterday's post I mentioned that my thoughts and feelings on the United States immigration issues would be a blog for another day. And so the day has come! But just so everyone knows, my opinions on this matter aren't meant to offend anyone, but rather to inform them. Some of my favorite people are from Canada. My dad's family came here from Poland. My great grandpa from my mom's side came from Scotland. My uncle married a woman from Czechoslovakia, and remember...I live in "Almost Mexico". So here goes...

People have been fired up about this SB 1070 law in Arizona. Now, from what I understand, most people haven't even read about this law. They immediately assume it's racial profiling and decide they are against it. I got this quote from http://www.azleg.gov: The purpose of the law is it: Requires officials and agencies of the state and political subdivisions to fully comply with and assist in the enforcement of federal immigration laws and gives county attorneys subpoena power in certain investigations of employers. Establishes crimes involving trespassing by illegal aliens, stopping to hire or soliciting work under specified circumstances, and transporting, harboring or concealing unlawful aliens, and their respective penalties."
Now, reading this statement I thought, "Who would want crime anyway?" and "These aren't even new laws being put into place, they are just fighting to enforce the laws that already exist". That was funny to me, because what is the point of a law if you don't enforce it?

I loved this quote from Theodore Roosevelt. He said, "In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room but for one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

I am a person who loves to know about other religions, cultures and lifestyles. There are 4 apartments on my particular floor. 3 of us are of different races, speaking different languages and living different cultures. I pass apartment 721 and I get a huge whiff of curry. There is a red dot on their door, I'm guessing to ward off evil spirits. They veil their heads, and wear dresses everyday. Candles are lit in front of their door and every now and then, they ring a loud bell for about 5 minutes straight. I am uncertain of the meaning behind all of these rituals, but is it not my culture. I respect them for keeping their culture alive. When needing to speak to her once, she spoke to Derek in broken English, but English nonetheless. I sit in my apartment and the people in apartment 723 slam their door shut. I hear loud voices, and the Spanish language being spoken. They leave their apartment to attend Quinceaneras and other Mexican events. I hear Regaton blasting through the apartment walls. But when I am struggling to head downstairs with my baby in his carseat, they ask me, in English, if I needed any help. And just as I hear them, I'm sure they hear me! Cranking Christmas music in the middle of May, laughing loud and playing the Wii with Derek and the smell of mashed potatoes and gravy seeping through the windows. We are all just 3 families living in the same country, trying to get by like everyone else. Did you get that last part? TRYING TO GET BY. We all have jobs, or we'd have no way to pay for the place in which we live. People have said that the immigrants here in the United States have the jobs that Americans wouldn't want. I'm here to say that is a lie. If our economy got bad enough, I'm convinced that any able man would scrub the floors at Mc Donalds just to support his family and put food on their plates at the end of the day. My husband put it well when he said, "If anyone thinks a job is below him, he deserves to be out of work." People are upset that this law is racial profiling, but I'm also convinced that if an illegal immigrant took their job from them, they'd be upset. Not because of the ethnicity of the individual, but because this is a person legally living in this country, paying taxes, and trying to do the right thing- yet having his job swept out from under him so someone can send US dollars back to their country; money that will never again circulate in ours.

I was discussing this topic with my dad and I agreed with him when he said that our country has programs that attract people here. They allow children to come to school not knowing English. They don't check to see where this child even came from. Fill out this form and let him in! He doesn't even need to learn our language! Employers don't do background checks. If the guy looks hard-working, bring him on! Well, did they stop to wonder if that child was just thrown over the barbed wire fence last week? Did they check to make sure the interviewee for the job has a legitimate social security number? Who are the people within our own walls allowing this to happen? We cripple ourselves. But this is why something has to be done. And Arizona is the only state so far to take action. These problems don't so much affect people from Kansas. Or Maine. We live in the Southwest, where the borders are sketchy. It's too easy to get here. I feel very privileged to have been born in the wealthiest country in the world. But because we ARE the wealthiest country in the world, everyone wants to come here. There is more opportunity. Therefore, it will probably be more difficult to get citizenship here than in another country. But no one is telling them they cannot come. A passport, some paperwork & some money will get you the papers you need to live here legally. Or work. Or be a student. These are people that deserve to be here! They have gone through the proper channels to get here, and that shows me they respect America. Others come here looking for a free ride. I cannot tell you how often I found illegal immigrants using Medicaid at my previous job. Mind you, many of them are girls my age. Often pregnant. Pregnancy is a fad to many of them. It's a social status and a game. I will never forget one in particular. She walks in with a beautiful red, long coat with big buttons down the middle. She sports tall black boots over her jeans and has her nails done. She's carrying a Louis Vuitton purse. She walks away after signing in for her appointment. I call her back and ask her for her insurance, please. She pulls out of her 300 + dollar purse, HER MEDICAID FORM. Now tell me how that works. Once again, people in our country are not paying close enough attention to who they give our tax dollars to. And once again, the reason for the SB 1070. If we're checking, we can clean out the system by giving jobs back to individuals who deserve them and spending our tax dollars on our own citizens.

I took 3 years of Spanish in high school. I took another 2 and a half years in college. In fact, Spanish was my minor. I've been to Mexico many times. I fell in love with the people there as I worked a project for Habitat for Humanity and visited people while on day trips for my Spanish class. But when I'm there, I speak their language. If I'm not good, oh well. I learn. I try. I ask questions to get it right next time. I DO NOT turn up my nose and wish these stupid people would speak ENGLISH. For Heaven's sake...I AM in THEIR country. Pssh. (Does this make any sense to you?) I welcome the opportunity to speak to these people in Spanish. And I feel like a million bucks when they have no idea I only learned Spanish in school several years ago. However, I don't feel it's right to walk up to a complete stranger, or a Target worker and ask them questions and favors in Spanish when I know English! I live in America. It is common sense and common courtesy to approach an individual in English first. Never would I expect to be spoken to in my native tongue while in Japan or China. And while I think this is obvious to all, people don't understand it!

I am embarrassed that our country hardly has a culture anymore. We are not allowed to be proud of America. It was recently spoken on the radio that 2 kids from Michigan were sent home on Cinco de Mayo for wearing American flags on their shirts. What??? Many kids today don't even know the Pledge of Allegiance and some aren't allowed to say it in their schools. They have tried to remove "In God we Trust" from our coins. Where has our pride gone? I drive around El Paso and see "Hecho in Mexico" stamped on the back of vehicles, bearing TEXAS license plates. People have tried to cut in front of my mom multiple times at the store because she is white. And people think that Anglos are racist? Hmmmm. Maybe those individuals just haven't lived a while in the Southwest or been in the line of fire. I have many many hispanic friends here in El Paso and most of my previous colleagues were of hispanic origin. Those people were very bothered by those coming across the Mexican border, driving like maniacs on our roads because they fail to pay attention to traffic signs. They flood our stores and make messes of everything they touch, only to be rung up at the counter and have their taxes refunded to them. They steal our jobs, our identity and our tax dollars. They use walkie talkie cell phones so everyone around them can hear their conversations. They stand so close to you in line that if you bend over to pick something up that you dropped, more than likely you're going to bump into them. Haha. Maybe that is their culture. But it isn't ours. And if you want to live in this amazing country, you need to show some respect. Same with Johnny Depp & Alicia Keys. They trash talk America. So...leave? You have your jobs and your wealth because WE, people of this country, gave that to you. I guess ungrateful people bother me.

Derek's aunt is a Sun's fan. However, she was upset that Steve Nash was against the 1070, being from Canada. She had this great analogy regarding the SB 1070 so I wanted to share it. She said, "Ok. I'm going to show up to a Sun's game and demand to be let it for free. And while I'm at it, I'd like a free drink. And popcorn." Well, isn't that about right with these illegals? I'm convinced the ticket-taker at the Sun's game (AFTER looking at you like you were from space) would either send you to the ticket counter to buy a ticket LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, or hand you over to security to be escorted out of there. If someone asked us all to raise our hands if we're AGAINST the 1070, I'm sure a lot of hands would be raised. However, if after they raised their hands, the person said, "Ok. We'll go ahead and take money only from the paychecks of the individuals who raised their hands so we can pay for our illegals. Many of them partake of these programs and since there are so many, we'll need all of your dollars we can get. Thank you for your support", I'm sure people would change their minds pretty quickly.
I was once stopped when coming home from across the Mexican border. I was in a car full of hispanics. I AM ANGLO. However, the border patrol agent asked the driver to please roll down all of the windows. He glanced around...pointed at me and said, "You. I need your ID". No one else's, just mine. I handed it over while we waited. I'm sure he did a background check and made sure I was legal. And guess what? That's fine with me. My great-aunt said, "If they have nothing to hide...just show your papers." And I did. And I'm glad they checked me. I am proud to be an American. But freedom is not free.