Bill MacKenty

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Stand for sensible Immigration Reform

Hey gang.

I generally stay away from personal, and politcial issues, but this one hits close to home. 

I just wanted to take a minute and ask you to think about the immigration reform day today.  As you may know, there is a general strike planned to support sensible immigration reform.

Dagmara (my wife) is Polish.  Many of her friends and their friends come to the states during the summer to make some extra money and support our seasonal economy. 

I respectfully ask that you show solidarity today by refraining from buying anything.  I know it’s kind of a big thing to ask, but putting a bunch of cops and sending all the illegal immigrants home isn’t going to fix anything - we need sensible immigration reform, so these people can come to America and work, make a better life for themselves, and help our economy.  It truly is a win-win situation. 

If the Republican Right get’s their way, we won’t enjoy these seasonal workers.  We won’t be able to help people make a truly better life for themselves.  We won’t be able to support our seasonal economy. 

Aren’t we more than this reasonless, reactionary,fear-based thinking?  Isn’t the United States better than this?

Thanks.

Bill

On 01 May 2006, Elaine Witkowski inscribed the following thoughts about this post:

Hi Bill,
I think you may not be seeing all sides of this issue. I feel that we have immigration rules to be fair to everyone in the world who wishes to live in our country. I can’t help but feel sorry for the Sudan citizens who are facing genocide and were denied entry into the US because of the large number of illegal immigrants already in the country. I have a friend from Pakistan who because their family had a certain political slant her Uncle and cousins were murdered in their home and she and her family had to wait in fear until their applications for entry into the US for political asylum were approved. They have other family members still over there, waiting to come to the US. Shouln’t we as a country have the right to fairly review everyone’s request to come to our country?

On 01 May 2006, Bill inscribed the following thoughts about this post:

Hey Brian!

No offense taken, ever. I certainly appreciate your comments!!

I’m very careful about how I share political and religious stuff with my students; In fact I rarely talk about such things with them

Now - Here’s the thing.  If I offended you, I certainly apologize.  Perhaps the “republican right” is a bit to broad and generalized. 

One problem for me is asking people with little to no power to effect change in their country.  “Why can’t you just fix your country instead of coming here” strikes me as rather simple. I don’t think people WANT to leave their homes, families and friends, to work low-wage, dangerous jobs, with no recourse for poor treatment.  But by coming here, they can build themselves homes, educate their kids, and increase their quality of life.

I think the intent and purpose of my post was to encourage solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who are working hard to make a better life for themselves here in the states. I certainly didn’t intend to offend you.

Hey Brian, thank you for your comment. Really.

On 02 May 2006, Raj inscribed the following thoughts about this post:

I saw that on the news last night before the hockey game.  It always strikes me how much angst there is about the American identity.  Without many of these seasonal “illegals” there would not be much of the Americana that you see now. 

When I travel to the States, I am always sure to tip the servers and other staff because I have a reasonable suspicion that they are not really getting paid enough because they are doing jobs that others would not want.

I think what the protesters are wanting is to be given the right of civil treatment as a “reward” for enabling civil living.  These people are not harming anyone and for the most part they are helping (I can’t imagine the US crop being harvested by people willing to work for dollars a day).  If they get into trouble, then sure, throw the book at them, but otherwise why not accept the people from around the world as the Statue of Liberty emplores you?

I know that there is likely a similar issue in Canada, but the socialized system and generally left orientation compared to the US seems to mitigate many of the issues that seem to be popping up in the US.  Large Canadian cities are run on the backs of new immigrants/refuges/work tourists, and it seems that we are more tolerant.  Even though there are those who are complaining about these people “stealing healthcare” and the like. To that I ask - is a $200 medical bill paid by 2 million a better deal than the price of everything in your typical day costing a dollar or two more?