Immigration
in America
Many times I
have been asked why I, a relatively left-leaning person,
seems to harbor such strong right-wing emotions regarding
the immigration debate. I have been asked to elaborate what
my beef is with spanish speakers in America. so I’d like to
do that now. Be aware, though, that although this post may
run long, it’s short on space to adequately explain such a
concept, so don’t think this is the full story, ok? There
you go.
Why is it that there’s no uproar in germany to be nicer to
arab speakers? How come canada isn’t hiring spanish
speakers? or, how’s this: How rude of me would it be to
move to a country with a different foreign language than my
own and expect them to accommodate me? If you travel to a
different nation, don’t you usually take at least a quickie
translation book to get you by?
That’s just not the case in America, though. There seems to
be some sort of expectation that we should allow spanish
into our hearts. Um, no, this is America, and we speak
english here, along with a good 75% of the world
population. people make the argument that mexicans are just
coming here to make a better life for themselves... Well ok
then, that’s fine and I have no issues with
that. But do it
legally, and then, accept that you’re trying to assimilate
to
our way of life, and
do what is
necessary to do that, such as speak
english.
I used to work in what would be considered a luxury field.
I sold performance products for sports cars. Daily, i
fielded calls from people who fully expected there to be
someone that spoke spanish on my end of the line, to the
point of becoming indignant if there wasn’t (which there
never was). Once, for instance, someone called and
eventually tried to stutter in english that they wanted a
supercharger for their Camaro. this is easily a $3,000
purchase. What’s the big deal, you say?
How the heck can you justify spending $3,000 on a
supercharger, yet balk at spending a few hundred to, i
dunno, take some community college courses and learn the
damn language of the country you live in?
There’s no push or desire in these people to actually
assimilate. They come illegally, and then expect that we
should cater to them. And the problem lies in the fact that
to some extent, we have. Rich white people have hired them
illegally so that they themselves may keep a larger profit.
Wal-mart puts up their advertisements in spanish to try and
wring every penny they can out of any possible customer
base. We give these people rights and preference they
simply have not earned.
I’m sorry, but if you don’t speak english, either learn or
get the fuck out. and iImean like learn it by tomorrow.
See, what happens is we end up selling ourselves down to
the lowest common denominator. I made the point once that
I’m not afraid of some spanish revolution that will see the
U.S. become Mexico; it won’t need to happen that way. it
will be a gradual slide, and it’s already started
happening. People in gov’t jobs get preference if they’re
bilingual. People who only speak english because they never
imagined they’d be pushed out of a job because they only
speak the national language take a back seat. Now, if they
want to move forward, it’s them that has to go to school
and learn spanish in order to take care of those that are
too indignant or too illegal to learn english.
In California, we’ve accepted spanish-only students into
our educational system. Now, instead of them just being
allowed to rot in 1st grade or whatever (I know that sounds
harsh, but read on), the system becomes overrun with them
to the point where we have to just “push them through” to
the next level, whether they are ready for it or not. now,
here’s the kicker: the school’s funding is determined by
test scores. so these non-english speaking dumbasses now
need to pass 12th
grade or
whatever it is so that the school can survive to next year.
Well, now we need bilingual teachers that can teach the
dumb well enough to get them a C- on the test. Bravo,
except this is done to the detriment of the rest of the
class...
Oh, and not to mention that now english-only speaking
teachers are not priority. Hell, the best english-speaking
teacher will lose a job to a mediocre bilingual educator,
because even though the native speaker can teach the native
children to better grades, it’s more beneficial to have the
whole of the class average a C- for funding purposes. So
the spanish students now take precedence in decision-making
because otherwise they drag the school off the charts. and
our education is so important, that this limiting is going
to hurt us in the long-run.
All this so we can understand the people in the welfare
line who are a) illegal in the first place, and/or b)
unable or unwilling to assimilate.
We need to come to grips with the fact that although our
country is not perfect, is is still America, and we have
come to expect a certain standard of living and a certain
way of life. My dislike of spanish in America is deeper
than a mere language issue; it has to do with the lowering
of our standards, especially our standards of living.
Illegal immigration of mexicans is a larger problem than is
being let on. And the issues that are spoken of in favor of
allowing it or being lax on it are bogus. I won’t get into
the figures as many are hard to come by and those that are
out there are far too challenged to be of much use, so i’ll
just go with common-sense illustrations and if you’re
curious, look up the figures yourself. But look up both
sides and see what ‘makes sense,’ OK?
1
- they help the economy more than they hurt it.
Hogwash.
Seriously, think about this: they come here and pick fruit.
They don’t perform complex math functions or invest in
stock. They pick fruit. OK, now here’s the rest of it: not
only do they pick fruit, but the money they do earn most
often goes back across the border to their families,
meaning it doesn’t get spent here in our economy. Now for
the kicker: they’re a drain on our social system. They
don’t pay in to social security or to health plans or
anything, but when they get sick or injured (which they
do), guess where they go? To our hospitals. On our dime. We
pay their bills, because they don’t and can’t have health
insurance. So we pay them $5 an hour to send $4 on hour to
mexico and give them the benefit of free health coverage.
Sounds to me like we’re losing our shirts on this one,
Columbo. And let’s not get into the court system bog-down,
just because there’s not enough space on the internet.
2
- “they take jobs no one else will do”
Again, hogwash.
I say the only way you can say this with a straight face is
to qualify it with “at the price we’re currently paying
them.” I love to trash this particular one, because it’s so
widespread but few actually care to think this through. OK,
anyone want to guess what the trashman makes? Guess. nope,
it’s higher. For instance, around Southern California, they
make upwards of $80K a year. Yeah. Because they need
someone to do the job, and to do such a job you need
certification and whatnot that pretty much rules out any
illegal immigrants. Because the owners/operators have to go
with real people who pay taxes and have to earn a living
wage, they have to offer a job salary that those types of
people would be willing to consider.
The jobs that illegals hold could be done by tax-paying
citizens, no doubt. But they pay taxes, have to feed a
family, and earn a living wage. Thing is, we allow the
owners/operators of these trades to get away with selling
out to lower rungs, which translates into higher margin
returns for them! Which is, of course, why they do it – a
buck they don’t pay john doe is a buck they get to keep. So
you see, greed is what brings the system down.
So what if they were forced to pay john doe a living wage
and pay his taxes? Well, they argue that prices would go up
on things like... fruit. Well, raise the prices too much
and see what happens -- people won’t buy as much fruit,
which really really hurts the greedy asshole’s bottom line.
So price increases would be minimal at best. Then what’s
the real deal? Look, these people make lots of money, OK?
What it would amount to is lower returns for the rich
people in charge of the operation. And they’d rather keep
the returns they’re used to keeping. So on with the
misdirection, on dancer, on prancer, on dancer and vixen!
3
- other ‘costs’
Another cost
that I hadn’t considered until recently was the population
itself. Here in southern California, space is at a premium;
our living and working spaces are compact, and our freeways
are crowded. Early in 2005, when the illegal immigration
issue came to the forefront, the illegals and others in
their support rallied to give us “a day without Mexicans.”
It was supposed to show us how much we needed them, how
much we relied on them.
Thing was, it showed us how much they truly suck us dry. No
one I knew was adversely affected by this action, and most
benefited. Traffic? 100% better by our standards, with a 26
mile jaunt into Anaheim taking a mere half-hour, instead of
the standard hour or more. Things flowed much more smoothly
in general all around southern California!
But on the news, they showed people upset, saying they had
lost some 30% of their daily business or some jazz like
that. But they were businesses that catered to illegal
immigrants! It wasn’t sav-on or Stater Brothers; it wasn’t
aaron brothers, it wasn’t JC penny! It was Lola’s fruit
stand and Henrieto’s Bean shop!
Let me get this straight: I don’t freaking care if a
business that caters to something that is illegal goes
under. As far as I’m concerned: good riddance. I’m sorry if
some of this comes off harsh, but this is my country! We
speak English! We have a minimum wage! We have a minimum
standard of living! And we are having trouble abiding by
that! And for me, it is more important to fix ourselves
before we worry about what we can do for others.
If we continue to do this song and dance, what will happen
is a fleecing of America, as the middle class is further
degraded. Less and less people will be able to make a
living due to joblessness, and the rest of us will have to
support them of social services. Meanwhile, the rich owners
will become more rich due to the skimming off the top of
cheaper and cheaper labor, which will only serve to
continue to disparity between rich and poor in America. And
I guess the real issue for me is just that. I feel that is
as major concern here in the USA, and around the globe.
Greed has gotten the best of us and has served to bring the
level of the majority way way down in the last 40-50 years;
a majority I’m a part of, and more than likely a majority
you’re a part of.
Let us not forget the working conditions of our forefathers
before workers’ unions and workers’ rights; let us not
forget what those institutions were created for and whom
they benefit!
My disgust in these matters stems not from race, not from
hatred of a people of themselves. If you’re Mexican, I want
you to speak as much Spanish as you can, south of my
border. If you’re Canadian, I want you to speak as much
French as you can, north of my border. But here? Here, I’m
trying to take care of my people. We’re being beaten from
both ends, are the rich sell us out to you, outside our
borders. Our jobs, our livelihoods are being outsourced.
the rich sell you our jobs; you take our livelihoods. We’re
kept around merely to be a customer base for the products
the bourgeoisie want to sell us for profit. And we’re
powerless in the middle, unless we can realize these truths
about what’s happening and band together to do something
about it. and i’m determined to tell the story.
There are ways, and I’ll be honest, little has to do with
any Mexicans – most has to do with people that are already
here in the US. But trust that I’m not racist, only a
person trying to make sure things stay as square as they
can be. More later, perhaps.
Peace out.