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November 02, 2004
Ningun ser humano es ilegal: No human being is illegal
We feel a responsibility to respond to arguments made by Carly Schaps in her Oct. 12 Oracle letter entitled “Inflammatory immigration.” That letter perpetuated racist and historically inaccurate sentiments toward Latinos. Referring to someone as an “illegal immigrant” or as an “illegal” is dehumanizing, because it reduces one’s identity to U.S.-imposed values of economic and legal importance.
Schaps claimed that Esteban Renderos’s article was biased and therefore not newsworthy, but we ask this: What makes her perspective more objective? What makes her “American” family history more legitimate than that of Renderos? Is it because those in power “legally welcomed” her ancestors? History has shown that what is “legal” can also be racist, and immigration law is no exception.
Immigration law has always been economically and racially motivated. Immigration restrictions in the 1920s mandated that “No African country could send more than 100 people; 100 was the limit for China, for Bulgaria, for Palestine; 34,007 could come from England ... 51,227 from Germany, but only 124 from Lithuania.”
In addition, immigrants of color have faced the Chinese Exclusion Act, Japanese internment camps, and also the Bracero Program, which is similar to a current Bush proposal that prevents immigrant workers from becoming full citizens. Today, Latin Americans are losing jobs due to NAFTA and other exploitative free-trade agreements. The violence and injustice of U.S. capitalism forces the dispossessed to immigrate.
Latinos face widespread discrimination within the U.S. If Governor Pawlenty’s proposal passes and police are allowed to ask about immigration status and license display status, Latinos will inevitably be targeted and interrogated disproportionately. According to the Minnesota Institute on Race and Poverty’s statewide racial profiling research:
“The combined stop rate for Latinos was 170 percent greater than expected. In absolute terms, officers stopped 640 more Latinos than they would have if Latinos had been stopped at the same rate as all drivers.”
Schaps seems to place immigrants in two categories: 1) potential terrorist, or 2) economic “free-riders.”
These assumptions deny the contributions that immigrants make to culture, society, and economic sustainability. Hamline’s culture would suffer significantly without the contributions of students of color and international students. Our education, which has been based on white accounts of “truth,” systematically denies the experiences of people of color.
Lastly, we do not believe terrorism can be stopped by unjust immigration restrictions. It is incorrect to assume that because the Sept. 11 attackers were undocumented, only undocumented people are capable of terrorism. We don’t have to look far into U.S. history to find examples of terrorism by white, documented citizens: the shootings at Columbine High School and the bombings in Oklahoma City. We believe that security is fostered by creating justice, and the greatest threat to justice today is the U.S. legacy of racist policies.
To further your learning, Schaps, we recommend classes such as Nurith Zmora’s “Ethnicity, Class, and Gender” and Janet Carlson’s “The Asian-American Experience.”
Allies Against White Privilege: Katy Blank, Maria Bujold, Susan Erickson, Krystal Klein, Megan Kohls, Shannon Malone, Colin Schumacher, Matt Thiede, Laura Wilson
Posted by msveum at November 2, 2004 11:35 AM
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