Friday, April 28, 2006
Jose, Can You Si?
Yu've probably heard that there is a new rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" being released today in Spanish. It was put together by a British producer who wanted to honor the immigrants in America.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Has he put together a rendition of "God Save the Queen" in Arabic to honor the immigrants in his own country? And, if I understand it correctly, there are very few illegal immigrants in England.
Both my mother's parents immigrated here from Switzerland. I would never have been born if not for immigration, and I believe it has kept America vibrant and inventive. But the underpinnings of society, in fact of civilization, is a respect for the law. And our laws say that if you want to move to our country, there are certain procedures you must follow. Sneaking into the country is not one of those procedures.
I understand that some of these people are desperately poor, and want a better life. I hurt for them. But as long as they are allowed to come here illegally, there is no incentive for their country to demand change from their politicians. Of course it's not easy, and it's not accomplished overnight. But until the people demand more of their leaders, their society will not offer them the opportunities to move ahead in their lives. In a sense, America has become The Great Enabler. Our illegal immigrants don't have to do the tough work of acting to change their society. We will instead look the other way when they do something wrong (sneak into the US) and make excuses for their behavior.
The last time amnesty was granted, it encouraged an increased wave of illegal immigration. Are we going to do it again? ("Okay, honey, I'll forgive you, but this is the last time".... said for the 20th time.)
This is not a black and white issue. Things seldom are. There would be huge problems involved in sending all illegals back. Then there are the children who were born here, grew up here, but whose parents are illegal. We have some very difficult decisions to make about how to handle these shades of gray.
Two movie scenes keep going through my head when I think about this problem. First is the part in "Dances With Wolves" where the chief is finally told that more people will come to his country than he could ever imagine, and that they will change everything. The second might have been a made-for-tv movie, about a ship that sank. The captain refused to allow more people to board his lifeboat once it was at capacity. He literally threw people off, and held a gun on the ones left aboard to force them to row. All the other lifeboats were swamped as too many people tried to climb aboard. The only survivors of the shipwreck were the ones on the captain's lifeboat. At the end of the movie, the captain was tried, and convicted, of murder. Everyone on the boat testified against him except one woman who started to jump into the water after her husband and handicapped child were thrown overboard, but who eventually stayed on the lifeboat. When she chose life, she worked through her survivor's guilt.
Now I am the original bleeding heart, but I understand that we cannot save the whole world. There are people more desperately poor in Africa than there are in Central and South America. They just don't happen to have a rich country to sneak into. I don't say, gosh, I can't save the whole world so I won't do anything. I also don't give all my money and assets to charity, because then I would not be able to help anyone. I think this situation is the same. Perhaps we need to increase our legal quotas, while cracking down on illegal immigration. And somehow, we need to help and encourage Central and South American governments to give more opportunity to their own people.
And as for the Spanish version of our national anthem... my question is, why? Does the fact that some people refuse to learn English indicate that they are refusing to learn our customs, as well? Coming from countries in which governments are corrupt and bribing officials routine, will they continue to believe that is normal, and oh-so-slowly change our society to match the ones they came from?
None of this is easy, and we all need to realize that. Jumping to an extreme position: no more immigrants, send back everyone who's here or let them all stay, let more come, they just want a better life, poor babies, will get us nowhere. I understand that making criminals of poor people is a terrible thing, but I also understand that without severe penalties, we will never stop the problem.
I obviously have a lot more questions than answers. Do you have any ideas on how to solve this?
Are you thinking what I'm thinking? Has he put together a rendition of "God Save the Queen" in Arabic to honor the immigrants in his own country? And, if I understand it correctly, there are very few illegal immigrants in England.
Both my mother's parents immigrated here from Switzerland. I would never have been born if not for immigration, and I believe it has kept America vibrant and inventive. But the underpinnings of society, in fact of civilization, is a respect for the law. And our laws say that if you want to move to our country, there are certain procedures you must follow. Sneaking into the country is not one of those procedures.
I understand that some of these people are desperately poor, and want a better life. I hurt for them. But as long as they are allowed to come here illegally, there is no incentive for their country to demand change from their politicians. Of course it's not easy, and it's not accomplished overnight. But until the people demand more of their leaders, their society will not offer them the opportunities to move ahead in their lives. In a sense, America has become The Great Enabler. Our illegal immigrants don't have to do the tough work of acting to change their society. We will instead look the other way when they do something wrong (sneak into the US) and make excuses for their behavior.
The last time amnesty was granted, it encouraged an increased wave of illegal immigration. Are we going to do it again? ("Okay, honey, I'll forgive you, but this is the last time".... said for the 20th time.)
This is not a black and white issue. Things seldom are. There would be huge problems involved in sending all illegals back. Then there are the children who were born here, grew up here, but whose parents are illegal. We have some very difficult decisions to make about how to handle these shades of gray.
Two movie scenes keep going through my head when I think about this problem. First is the part in "Dances With Wolves" where the chief is finally told that more people will come to his country than he could ever imagine, and that they will change everything. The second might have been a made-for-tv movie, about a ship that sank. The captain refused to allow more people to board his lifeboat once it was at capacity. He literally threw people off, and held a gun on the ones left aboard to force them to row. All the other lifeboats were swamped as too many people tried to climb aboard. The only survivors of the shipwreck were the ones on the captain's lifeboat. At the end of the movie, the captain was tried, and convicted, of murder. Everyone on the boat testified against him except one woman who started to jump into the water after her husband and handicapped child were thrown overboard, but who eventually stayed on the lifeboat. When she chose life, she worked through her survivor's guilt.
Now I am the original bleeding heart, but I understand that we cannot save the whole world. There are people more desperately poor in Africa than there are in Central and South America. They just don't happen to have a rich country to sneak into. I don't say, gosh, I can't save the whole world so I won't do anything. I also don't give all my money and assets to charity, because then I would not be able to help anyone. I think this situation is the same. Perhaps we need to increase our legal quotas, while cracking down on illegal immigration. And somehow, we need to help and encourage Central and South American governments to give more opportunity to their own people.
And as for the Spanish version of our national anthem... my question is, why? Does the fact that some people refuse to learn English indicate that they are refusing to learn our customs, as well? Coming from countries in which governments are corrupt and bribing officials routine, will they continue to believe that is normal, and oh-so-slowly change our society to match the ones they came from?
None of this is easy, and we all need to realize that. Jumping to an extreme position: no more immigrants, send back everyone who's here or let them all stay, let more come, they just want a better life, poor babies, will get us nowhere. I understand that making criminals of poor people is a terrible thing, but I also understand that without severe penalties, we will never stop the problem.
I obviously have a lot more questions than answers. Do you have any ideas on how to solve this?
8 Comments:
I hate hearing that....
"making criminals out of poor people"
Didn't they do that to themselves the moment they stepped across the border illegally?
Anyway.... No... It's not easy to deport 12 million people... but if we do em one at a time... I think we can get the job done.
Children born here can either be left here for somebody to adopt or taken home with their parents while they get deported.
It's strange to see we actually agree to a certain extent on such a huge issue....
Hmmm. I don't have any answers; don't really know enough about the issue, only what I've read via other bloggers. I though that Imperatrix had a couple of interesting posts on this a few days ago. A slightly different take on it to you, interesting to me to contrast the two slightly different perspectives.
Re the national anthem and language thing, I think you're right - one of the unifying things about a culture and country is a common language. However, perhaps translations allow people to understand what they are singing properly instead of just mouthing sounds they don't understand? And I don't think people in the UK feel as strongly about God Save the Queen as the US does about the Star Spangled Banner.
Have you come across the news article re the murder in Germany of a girl who left her forced marriage and got a job/started to wear western clothes and was shot by her brother as a matter of honour? I read a piece somewhere today that was commenting on how unshocked Germany seemed to be by that. Apparently there has been one such killing a month in Berlin for the last six months.
No easy answers, as you say. As individuals, in groups small enough to integrate, and being *prepared* to integrate, I firmly believe that migrant communities bring a healthy diversity to the cultures that they join. But if they join a community they should expect to join it fully - they can't just accept the parts they perceive as good and reject the parts they perceive as bad. I am thinking freedom of speech/healthcare/schooling on the one hand and freedom for women and taxation on the other, for example.
Taken up far too much of your comments; maybe I need to write about this myself. Thanks for making me think! It's nearly 1am, here :).
I know you couldn't see me. but I was nodding in agreement with much of what you said. It's a very complex issue and I think the solution will be along time in coming. As far as the Latin version of the National anthem, they even changed the words so it rhymes in Spanish. Effectively making it NOT the National Anthem. It should just be considered a lovely patriotic song sung in Spanish.
I agree with you. My great grandparent's immigrated from Italy, they worked and struggled, and learned the language.
One thing I did notice. My home town has been inundated with immigrants, just to give you an idea, the schools are 70% Hispanic now. When I was growing up, the town consisted of Italians, Poles, Irish and German. All of these different nationalities of people worked together, there was no separation due to nationality. Poles lived next door to Italians, And Germans next to Irish. The Hispanics however keep themselves separated, they form their own little communities and refuse to be blended in with the rest of us. But isn't that what the USA is all about? A blending of people, of different nationalities so that the whole can work together for the common good?
This is such a sticky issue, but one thing is for sure, illegal means just that illegal.
Hi from Michele's. I agree completely. *nods head*. A nice concept, unification.. but one that probably will never work as long as pride and human nature fall into it. Love your blog.. colours are great. Also, your orchid.. my goodness!! :)
Wow, what a thought-provoking post. I'm in the position you mention in your closing - I have more questions than answers.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
We have lots of immigrants where I live. Mexicans. They can't read or speak English. What's funny is their kids do their talking for them. They don't cause much trouble so they don't bother me. As long as they are legal. But it makes me wonder, if they are illegal, what made them come into this country that way? I don't know...I figure the country is big enough for everyone.
Very interesting post! And thought-provoking.
Canada is an Official Bilingual country, so our nat'l anthem, of course, can be sung in English, or French. I'm sure I once even learned the french words.
Chinese is Canada's most common mother-tongue...that would be an interesting song.
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