I once heard a professor say she was proud to give out so many failing grades in her class. She saw that as being tough and a gate keeper to some storehouse of knowledge, or something. As an educator I cringed and decided to ask, "Isn't your job to get the students to know the material? I mean if they don't know it isn't that your failure?" The conversation didn't go well but that is part of the vision of many in education, sadly. We also see that in many areas where people have power over others seeking something. Rejection is seen as more a value than it should be.
Recent events at the border have highlighted the terrible state of our immigration system in this country. We are the shining city on the hill and people want to come here. Why? Our entire history has shown that this is one of the places that you can come here with nothing and work hard and build a life within and apart from you ethnic community. Waves of immigration, celebrated by a statue in New York Harbor, made this country the strongest and most welcoming country in the world. Studies show that immigrants make for a better country and a stronger economy as well as enhancing the fabric of what it means to be American. Now we often hear about illegal immigration, crossing the border without the proper procedures and documentation. But there is a new voice in Washington working to limit legal immigration. Looking to limit people coming from countries the President himself referred to as "shit hole" countries. In fact the director of homeland security DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was supporting more immigration from Scandinavian countries. (She later said she didn't know that those countries were mostly white) So when we hear rhetoric about keeping people out as a measure of success we have to ask ourselves: Why? Perhaps this is about the changing demographics of the country.
Current trends show that be 2045 we will become a white minority country, meaning whites will no longer be a majority demographic group in the nation. I think that this may be a little too conservative and we may reach that (depending on how we define white) sooner. This idea scares some people who hold to the notion that this was a country built by and for people of European ancestry. While that has never been true it has been a theme over time that has led to some horrific events in our history. The notion has always bubbled below the surface and reared its ugly head during the Presidency of Barrack Obama, which included the anti-Muslim hate that was ginned up after 9-11. But in the last 3 years the worst of the worst of this has gained a more public voice with literal White Supremacy rallies like the one in Charlottesville, VA which apparently will be repeated in Washington DC this summer. It was this fear that helped Donald Trump become the President as he catered to the notion of a nostalgic America that was whiter and more homogeneous in thought or at least thought that was allowed.
People fight this growing diversification of our culture in many ways. One is the rise of backlash to many formerly ignored public practices causing consequences for people. Using racially charged language, treating women as objects, and certain jokes have caused people to lose their jobs, their public standing and even their freedom. Not that long ago they would simply be ignored or lauded. I remember when I first moved to Georgia I was in the library and I heard an older women tell the librarian when she was searching for a book, "I don't want to do the n-word work". That was 25 years ago. She was anachronistic at the time, but no one confronted her. I imagine today they would, it wouldn't be so common place that it is ignored. I know someone told me that is just "the old way of talking" when I asked about it. But there are some who would call anyone confronting her politically correct. In fact, I hear that all the time now. But I think it is better that we avoid language that dehumanizes and I think most people would agree. You have a right to think that way and we have a right to tell you that you shouldn't say such things around us. This mindset that there very act of promoting a language of inclusion and universal acceptance is some how destroying America has gotten new roots in a movement that if not led by the President, has his ear. I think that energy put into dehumanizing people crossing our southern border is a symptom. Remember they are coming for a piece of the American dream, they are bad. But the dozens the Trump company brings in for cheap labor to work in his hotels apparently are fine. The difference is that he can control the later.
Now I am not an open borders person. But in a world where borders seem to have less meaning I think the idea of being open to immigration under many circumstances is a good thing. I grew up in a border town. We were heavily influenced by the Canadian culture that was similar to our own but had some different quality. Growing up the border was more about crossing the bridge than going to another country. My mother shopped at a little market run by German/Canadians every couple of weeks. Friends parents would go to dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the other side of the river. Crossing the border was less of a hassle than a typical subway ride from Midtown to Brooklyn in NYC. Today it is different and I understand why. We need security. But I wonder how concerned we would be if a group of Scandinavian refugees were trying to seek asylum here. I don't think it would be so easy for these people who cheer and make fun of kids in cages would be quite so comfortable with blond haired blue eyed toddlers in virtual kennels. And that I think is the real problem.
Recent events at the border have highlighted the terrible state of our immigration system in this country. We are the shining city on the hill and people want to come here. Why? Our entire history has shown that this is one of the places that you can come here with nothing and work hard and build a life within and apart from you ethnic community. Waves of immigration, celebrated by a statue in New York Harbor, made this country the strongest and most welcoming country in the world. Studies show that immigrants make for a better country and a stronger economy as well as enhancing the fabric of what it means to be American. Now we often hear about illegal immigration, crossing the border without the proper procedures and documentation. But there is a new voice in Washington working to limit legal immigration. Looking to limit people coming from countries the President himself referred to as "shit hole" countries. In fact the director of homeland security DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was supporting more immigration from Scandinavian countries. (She later said she didn't know that those countries were mostly white) So when we hear rhetoric about keeping people out as a measure of success we have to ask ourselves: Why? Perhaps this is about the changing demographics of the country.
Current trends show that be 2045 we will become a white minority country, meaning whites will no longer be a majority demographic group in the nation. I think that this may be a little too conservative and we may reach that (depending on how we define white) sooner. This idea scares some people who hold to the notion that this was a country built by and for people of European ancestry. While that has never been true it has been a theme over time that has led to some horrific events in our history. The notion has always bubbled below the surface and reared its ugly head during the Presidency of Barrack Obama, which included the anti-Muslim hate that was ginned up after 9-11. But in the last 3 years the worst of the worst of this has gained a more public voice with literal White Supremacy rallies like the one in Charlottesville, VA which apparently will be repeated in Washington DC this summer. It was this fear that helped Donald Trump become the President as he catered to the notion of a nostalgic America that was whiter and more homogeneous in thought or at least thought that was allowed.
People fight this growing diversification of our culture in many ways. One is the rise of backlash to many formerly ignored public practices causing consequences for people. Using racially charged language, treating women as objects, and certain jokes have caused people to lose their jobs, their public standing and even their freedom. Not that long ago they would simply be ignored or lauded. I remember when I first moved to Georgia I was in the library and I heard an older women tell the librarian when she was searching for a book, "I don't want to do the n-word work". That was 25 years ago. She was anachronistic at the time, but no one confronted her. I imagine today they would, it wouldn't be so common place that it is ignored. I know someone told me that is just "the old way of talking" when I asked about it. But there are some who would call anyone confronting her politically correct. In fact, I hear that all the time now. But I think it is better that we avoid language that dehumanizes and I think most people would agree. You have a right to think that way and we have a right to tell you that you shouldn't say such things around us. This mindset that there very act of promoting a language of inclusion and universal acceptance is some how destroying America has gotten new roots in a movement that if not led by the President, has his ear. I think that energy put into dehumanizing people crossing our southern border is a symptom. Remember they are coming for a piece of the American dream, they are bad. But the dozens the Trump company brings in for cheap labor to work in his hotels apparently are fine. The difference is that he can control the later.
Now I am not an open borders person. But in a world where borders seem to have less meaning I think the idea of being open to immigration under many circumstances is a good thing. I grew up in a border town. We were heavily influenced by the Canadian culture that was similar to our own but had some different quality. Growing up the border was more about crossing the bridge than going to another country. My mother shopped at a little market run by German/Canadians every couple of weeks. Friends parents would go to dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the other side of the river. Crossing the border was less of a hassle than a typical subway ride from Midtown to Brooklyn in NYC. Today it is different and I understand why. We need security. But I wonder how concerned we would be if a group of Scandinavian refugees were trying to seek asylum here. I don't think it would be so easy for these people who cheer and make fun of kids in cages would be quite so comfortable with blond haired blue eyed toddlers in virtual kennels. And that I think is the real problem.
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