Thread: Immigration and America’s bad Karma

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/com ... cleID=4732

MARGARET KIMBERLEY: Immigration and America’s bad Karma
by Margaret Kimberley
April 7, 2006

Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly and other cable television blowhards have appointed themselves crusaders against illegal immigration to the United States. If tempted to succumb to their awful siren song, just think of the Wampanoag Indians.

In 1621 the Wampanoags watched as the Pilgrims landed at what is now known as Plymouth Rock. You know the rest of the story. The Indians were killed by warfare and disease. Treaties were broken and land was stolen. The horrific scenario played out across the rest of the nation for almost 300 years. The Iroquois, Seminoles, Choctaws, Lakotas, and Apaches all got the same treatment.

You reap what you sow. What goes around comes around. Payback is a bitch. All of those colorful expressions are apropos when the issue of immigration arises and especially when Dobbs, O'Reilly, and Congressional Neanderthals foam at the mouth.

The British, the French, the Spanish and the Dutch didn't get green cards when they showed up on Indian lands. O'Reilly's and Dobbs' ancestors didn't either. This nation was built by people who took what they wanted, land that belonged to someone else. The people who followed them accepted the terms of the original deal with the devil.

Before complaining about immigrants, compare yourself to a Wampanoag. Are Mexicans giving you small pox? Are they attacking your neighborhood and slitting your throat? Have they claimed your town as a colony for Mexico? Present day Americans are getting a much better deal from newcomers than the original Americans ever had.

Speaking of Mexico, a good chunk of the United States west of the Mississippi originally was part of Mexico. From 1846 to 1848 the United States government made its awful vision of Manifest Destiny a reality when it fought a war to steal half of Mexico's territory. Present day Texas, California, Utah, Nevada, parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Wyoming were all Mexican territory.

New immigrants from Mexico to the American west are just going back to their old neighborhood. What goes around does quite literally come around. Of course, Mexico was Indian territory stolen originally by the Spanish. So much bad karma, so little time.

America cannot have an honest discussion about immigration without revisiting its sordid past. Indians must be laughing as the descendants of their oppressors stay in a snit because newcomers arrive without permission.

Like the Indians, African Americans have a singular experience and therefore a unique view on immigration. Poor, uneducated immigrants compete most directly with low wage Americans for jobs. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, European immigrants were directly recruited to take jobs that could have easily been given to black Americans. That history and our perpetually precarious economic condition create a justifiable wariness.

Yet the answer to black Americans economic oppression is not to join with the likes of right wing Republicans. These hypocrites act only to improve the economic well being of the haves and the have mores. If they truly cared about the American worker they wouldn't cut taxes for the wealthy, try to end Social Security, and create a Medicare drug plan that is nothing but a windfall for pharmaceutical companies.

Instead of whining that some illegal immigrants use Medicaid, they should advocate for national health insurance. If Americans had this and other benefits that citizens of the rest of the world have, resentment against immigrants would diminish.

Are immigrant day laborers in Home Depot parking lots causing the worst problems for American workers? The wholesale disappearance of high paying blue collar jobs is the real problem. Images of Mexicans sneaking across the border make for a great distraction when the plight of union workers at Delphi and GM ought to be addressed.

Once again the supposedly generous nation brings out the worst in its citizens because it isn't generous at all. Americans live a dog eat dog existence, watching as corporate interests plot to destroy what little is left of the safety net. Because there is never a serious discussion about the economic system in this country, phony debates are deliberately created to keep the public from thinking about the issues that really cause their problems.

Of course, racism is at the heart of the anti-immigrant backlash and will be at the heart of any so-called solutions. Republican Congressperson Dana Rohrabacher (CA) had an answer to the argument that immigrants take jobs that Americans won't:

"We do not need more people from foreign countries coming in and taking American jobs - even jobs in the fields. I say, let prisoners pick the fruits. [Emphasis added] Let's not bid down the wages of American workers."

America has a greater percentage of its population under lock and key than any other country on earth. Now we have a new justification for mass incarceration. Prisoners can be used for free labor. The bad karma list is already too long.

As Republicans fight over whether they ought to be overtly racist or keep commerce and cheap labor flowing through the border, don't fall for the hype. Think about how life for American working people could be improved if cynical politicians weren't indulging in cheap theatrics. Then imagine being a Wampanoag in the 17th century.

Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly in BC. Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City. She can be reached via e-Mail at margaret.kimberley@blackcommentator.com. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley's writings at freedomrider.blogspot.com.
A Media Titan - John H. Johnson: 1918-2005
The Chicago Defender's continuing coverage of the life and legacy of John H. Johnson, founder of Ebony and Jet magazines. This tribute will remain here until Aug. 8, 2006.

The British, the French, the Spanish and the Dutch didn't get green cards when they showed up on Indian lands

evidently she doesn't know there were no green cards . . .

Are Mexicans giving you small pox?

The persistent influx of "illegal aliens" into these states, has exposed the American people to communicable diseases that have no cure – a strain of tuberculosis that is lethal for about 60% of those infected. Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever – called "the most important mosquito-transmitted viral disease in terms of morbidity and mortality." Polio, Malaria, Leprosy -- in 3 years, there were more than 7,000 cases have been diagnosed, Kawasaki Disease, Hepatitis A -- over 100,000 cases, Hepatitis B, and C and Chagas Disease can be transmitted by contaminated blood transfusions or by organ transplants – blood is not screened for Chagas

Chagas Disease is caused by a parasite, these blood sucking bugs are primarily found in Central and South America and Mexico, and causes "neurological disorders including dementia, obstruction of the colon and esophagus, and damage to the heart muscle. There is no effective cure, and up to 40% die when their hearts or intestines explode."

Alabama Coalition for State's Rights'

Are they attacking your neighborhood and slitting your throat? Have they claimed your town as a colony for Mexico?

Evidently she has seen the billboard "Los Angeles, Mx" or watched the protesters in the streets

I hope you sent her your thoughts....I did!

Hi all, this is my very first time posting here, though I have been reading here for some time.

What a bitter article! I e-mailed the writer, as courteously as I could, and gave her the perspective of an American Indian. I am an enrolled member of a tribe and I am also 100% American. Obviously I disagree with the perspective of the article.
I am really indignant at how Indians have been 'used' by the pro-illegal side to push their cause. Many American supporters of the illegals say that this land was 'stolen' from the Indians and that American citizens have no right to restrict entry to anyone else. And the illegals themselves, in their recent demonstrations, were carrying all those signs saying they are the indigenous people of this continent, and that they are the real owners of America.
I have had some illegals taunt me in a very arrogant way because they seem to think American Indians are phony. Some have said that they intend to claim aid from the American government as Indians, under the BIA. Others say that when they dominate America they will stop all aid to Indians. (Some think Indians get a 'free ride' on everything; this is not true, but they are envious of what they think we get).
Whether it's the illegals claiming to be the 'real' Indians who 'own' our country, or the liberals who say that America was stolen from Indians, it all exasperates me.
I doubt that my e-mail to the writer will do any good; I half expect to get a snarky reply back, but at least I tried to give her my perspective. These biased 'journalists' need reminding that there's a whole country of people who don't see things their way.

Hi Cactusflower. Welcome to ALIPAC.

WELCOME Cactusflower! I also e-mailed the writer and make a few "choice" points about her PC diatribe!

http://Before complaining about immi...cans ever had.

In answer to her questions--
re smallprox--probably, TB, definitely, drug resistant strains of multiple diseases, you betcha

re attacking neighborhood and violence--yep. MS-13 has that under control

re claiming town as colony for Mexico--why, yes they pretty much have decided to annex the entire US southwest so I think I can safely say that they think my town in theirs, too.

as to the better deal--i don't think so. we are paying to the tune of billions of dollars a year in actual expenditures and additional billions in depressed wages, so don't sing it to me, sister!

Geesh! Where do they get these people! She is soooo out of touch with reality!