The Weekly Undocument | You Gotta Move.

IT WOULD BE SUPER GROOVY if pressing problems in our society went away when the White House stopped talking about them, but life doesn’t work that way. And thus, the issues that entangle so much of their constituencies—the myriad challenges contained in what we casually call The Immigration Issue—only worsen in the chilly space that falls in the footsteps of an unfulfilled promise. From the children who suffer in the aftermath of Homeland Security raids to states that enact draconian and ineffective laws targeting the undocumented, a terrible terrain grows.

Welcome to Arizona, “The Police State!”

Arizona is the first place we look to see what happens in the absence of action from Washington. As I covered in my latest News With Nezua video, Arizona is moving “SB 1070 Immigration, Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods” through their legislative process without a hitch. La Frontera Times calls Arizona’s little petri dish of creeping persecution a “Carnival of Evil.” If you want a thorough and easy read on SB 1070 for insight on how the Arpaio-Napolitano thread weaves together Federal, State and Local police on the loom of oppression, I suggest Alfredo’s article.

A Recipe for Discontent

As Marcelo Ballve wrote Tuesday, this increase of enforcement concurrent with legislative action brings “a potent mix of frustration and disappointment” currently “percolating through immigrant communities nationwide.” In my experience, that emotional blend also moves through many advocates and activists, today. Ballve goes on to list many reactions and planned actions as a response.

In a recent Weekly Undocument, I covered the shutting down of the Varick Street detention center (see last graf). ICE is apparently doing this to move across the river from Manhattan to New Jersey for the obvious rea$on$…or if not obvious, because when it’s too expensive to operate in one place, you seek out an area that will help you better thrive. Yet what is coming to light as national attention falls on the Varick street facility are the repeatedly seen cruel results of having inadequate medical attention in ICE’s detention centers.

In this latest New York Times piece, we see those same horrifying glimpses of what people are so often made to suffer in these places: one man has an abscess spread through his mouth as care is coldly denied, until the infection has spread to seven teeth and the man has been put on a liquid diet because he cannot chew his food. And still, ICE remains stoic, unmoved, unrepentant, unchanged.

The criminal Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona is now facing yet another lawsuit. This one is from a woman who was attacked by two men in ski masks while at work and thrown face-first against the wall. The woman’s name is Celia Alejandra Alvarez and the men in masks were tax-funded goons employed by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department. Celia dealt with injuries to her teeth, jaw, and face from this assault while in detention, but in those months she was there, she received no medical attention.

These charges, as horrific they sound to most of us who would be somewhat miffed to receive such treatment at our own workplace, come to no surprise to those familiar with the accused: Arpaio is currently under a criminal grand jury investigation for abuse of power as it is. It is clear from the way he treats the those in his jails that the man has some real cognitive issues, if not purely ethical and moral ones. Perhaps that is why the yarn of Ole Joe is slowly but surely beginning to unravel.

A Fractured Party

I am a very selfish man to feel any schadenfreude at all over any aspect of this issue. This is far bigger than my feelings. Which is why I often make appeals (for what that’s worth) to the GOP to come at this issue right. Bring the help, I hardly care what brand gets credit, when it comes down to it.

And yet, I admit some faint stirrings of a dulled satisfaction to see the GOP further divide itself, further weaken itself, over the issue of immigration. Bereft of the slightest idea how to move forward as a party or a nation, they throw what might’ve been called a Stink-In back when I was a child.

On one hand, you have the reasonable Republicans, who see the future. They have read the stats, they know that the Latino voting bloc will continue to grow, independent of immigration numbers. They understand that the lines about the economy and job growth being weighed down by immigrants are patently false, and simply political fodder. These GOP members know they better drop the blatant hate.

And yet, they cannot purge the party of that solid bloc of racists who delight in using the ole slurs n tropes n dogwhistles, and also have worldviews that are served through that approach. And so, as the article (linked above) on Republican resistance to the Jobs Bill details, “the schism in the Republican Party over Latino outreach and immigration reform is beginning to widen.” You’d like to think this would translate to legislative action from the Right, but of course in most cases, it will bring nothing more than cosmetic adjustments.

Your Papers, Please.

In June of last year, I wrote on the case of Stephanie Jiménez, 16 at the time that ICE confronted her and her two teen siblings on their way to school at a San Diego trolley stop and sent them to México—by themselves—instead. Despite claiming they did everything “by the book” at the time, kbps.org reports that a judge has dismissed the immigration case against the teens. Of course, this does not prevent them from being picked up tomorrow.

Olympic Achievements

Once, Felipe Calderón said that the US would not have been able to advance as she has without Mexican labor. Yesterday,  Jerry Gonzalez, executive director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, was quoted by the Los Angeles times detailing some of that history.  Gonzales  talked of how immigrants “are vital to the economy in the Southeast, especially the agriculture, construction and service industries,” reports AP writer Kate Brumback.

“It started with the Olympics. Atlanta would not have been able to finish the construction in time for the Olympics without immigrant labor, and specifically Mexican immigrant labor,” he said. “After that, the housing boom that the Southeast experienced, and specifically Georgia, would not have been possible without immigrant labor.”

The context of the story is that Georgia’s immigrant population has doubled in the years since the Atlanta Olympic games of 1996. It is a population that came for the opportunities opened up by the need for labor, met the grueling challenges, and helped the nation thrive. Just as they do now with our entire agricultural economy.

Would the GOP prefer such an event as the Olympics not come to a US city? Would the Democrats who neglect this issue want the food on their table disrupted?

To call yourself “American” and yet systematically act and speak as if the myriad contributions that immigrants make to every facet of our nation’s health can be replaced with an image of deviance and parasitism is to be sociopathically dishonest about your history and politics. If life were truly fair, those dissembling politicians would be slaving in a dark, stinking meatpacking plant for 16 hour days under threat of deportation if they complained…at least for a month.

Not because I want to see them suffer, per se. But because then they might try to make the world a better place.

Our Ongoing Fight, Our Unfolding Victories

My Latino Voice has an article reminding us that amazingly, it has been fifteen years since Selena died. The piece goes on to talk about the conflict that faces so many with roots in Latin America and families in the US; those whose cultures straddle both worlds, and what its like for Latino youth to deal with this. Reyes speaks of that question—in one form or another—that follows many of us…Where are you from? Or as the author puts it, What Are You? It is a question that we ask ourselves. A question that sometimes collapses into gangs and teenage pregnancy and poverty—all specters that haunt Latino youth, as statistics show.

The article also speaks of Latino youth, ultimately, as an “unabashedly contradictory and unbelievably resilient” population. And I believe that is true. I wanted to post this here to say that if you are young, and you understand those feelings of being torn between two worlds, remember…you are not alone in that. Find other posts and sites that speak to your feelings, and give those feelings room to exist. You will come through whole.

Standing in Truth, Speaking Your Peace

Colorlines features an inspiring article written by Alberto Ledesma, who spent many years as living sin papeles—without papers. It’s a simple narrative recounting  his attendance at a writers convention…but he communicates so well that feeling that happens when you think you are Part Of, and are suddenly Othered.

In the case he is talking about, by another “Latino” and at a “Latino” authors event! In the article he comes to a realization about his story, and about his role in telling it. His shame, his barely-contained passion, his bubbling over with realization and decision is moving. I’m glad he is out there taking the road he is, telling us about his experience.

“Don’t get me started with these damned illegals,” he said with a giggle. “I just think we ought to deport them all.”

The rest of us froze, then gazed at each other, as if each of us was waiting for the other to say something. Even the bartender stopped the flurry of his towel.

That pause, that moment while we waited to continue the conversation seemed to last forever. Now, the fatigue our eyes had betrayed just seconds before transformed to something different: anger, confusion, fascination.

Bulletin Board

• Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island is the latest forward thinking politicians to endorse the DREAM Act.

• Voto Latino begins a push to educate and prepare gente for the Census. Let them know you are here and breathing, people! Speaking to assert that we remain on this land is far different than planting a flag. It is simply telling a story, and a truth of today’s world. And as the article above by Alberto Ledesma makes clear, we must all tell our stories, add our truth to the conversation unfolding.

• Reform Immigration for America is organizing a march on Washington…in March!

On March 21st, we will march on Washington, DC to demand immigration reform. Our vision of reform includes immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens working shoulder to shoulder to achieve better wages, working conditions, and labor protections.

People from all across America will lend their voice in the fight for reform. We will come together as one voice on the National Mall for a strong America – for families, for workers, for businesses, and for security.

Join thousands from across the country in the March For America in DC on March 21st, and demand Congress act NOW to pass immigration reform and move quickly to put all Americans back to work

Where: Lincoln Memorial, Washington DC
When: March 21st, 2010 – Interfaith Service at 1:00 pm, March at 2:00 pm

• You can sign up to march here.

• You can read of three good reasons to march—none of which are to bring about “comprehensive immigration reform”—at La Frontera Times.

• Regarding Arizona’s SB1070, an amigo Carlos E. Galindo fills in some important info:

There is a “Mirror bill” to SB1070 in the Arizona House of Representatives that was heard today at 9 am: B2632 immigration; law enforcement; safe neighborhoods, House Military Affairs and Public Safety Committee

SB1070 will not need to go through the Arizona House of Representatives (that’s why it’s not assigned to committee) if the mirror house bill is already moving forward. That is why they do this as a short cut in order to avoid the bill going through the other chamber as normal process.

Once the mirror bill passes the house it won’t have to go through the Arizona State Senate. That means both bills will be consolidated and fast tracked to the Arizona Governor Jan Brewer. That is  why we know it’s going to the governor for possible signature.  That’s also why contacting the Governor of Arizona is crucial to stopping this detrimental and offensive set of bills. We  know that the AZ House of Representatives will pass it very quickly so we must start the calls to the Governor of Arizona NOW!!!

Please call the Honorable Jan Brewer and tell her NO signature (veto) on SB1070 and NO signature (veto) on HB2632.

Honorable Jan Brewer
(602)542-4331

So there! You feel frustration? Anxiety over where this will go? Anger at the big talk and tiny movements? I don’t blame you. Let’s do our best to channel it positively. And again, if you need a break, or to let others pick up the slack for a while, that’s totally cool and often tactically smart. After all, this is not about any one voice, one website or one org; not even for a minute.

Keep the heart and mind healthy, and follow your bliss. And keep on, keep on. Keep fighting for what is right.