As per requested by Jixie.
There's a crisis? Could have fooled me. Next question?
Naw, seriously, we're a nation of immigrants. Pretty damned hypocritical, if you ask me. Also, we go into so many countries, tell 'em how to rule themselves, and when it all goes to pot, we won't let 'em in to a better world. Then, we tell 'em they need to make their own bloody lives better. But we screwed them up in the first place. It's a vicious cycle, near as I can tell.
As for immigrants "taking our jobs", that's the biggest crock I've ever heard. Last I checked, most took the jobs we see as "beneath" us. There was a student here who saw Leo (Mexican) speaking with Ruby and asked Ruby if she was "dating that maintenance guy." Leo is a veteran trail guide here, one of our best teachers. Funny how he was equated with the blue collar work. Seems to me that we want these immigrants to come to our country, if only to look down on them. As for our healthcare and education, well, it's not like it's that great to begin with, and at least with healthcare, most immigrants are too frightened to come forward when they are sick because they A) Can't afford it and B) when it's discovered they can't afford it, their records are searched and they are sent back to the country they tried to leave.
It seems to me that the most American thing, that we pride ourselves on, is this phantasmic "dream" in which you fight tooth and nail to create yourself and succeed. But we tend to see it as a strictly "AMERICAN" thing-- anyone else doesn't know how it's done or doesn't deserve it. But if we look at what makes us stand on the "dream", guess what, it's great great granddaddy Bob coming to the U.S. with nothing but the shirt on his back, earning all the money in the world, sticking it in his ears and going "Pbbbttth".
I overheard a coworker talking about the "crisis" which she fully believes exist. The words that stuck with me were, "...and then crime rates are going to skyrocket." I'm sorry-- most serial killers I know were white dudes that spent time in Seattle (not that I can blame them... I hear Washington is usually just cold, wet and dark most of the year). Let's talk about ghettos. Let's talk about how long they've been around. Let's talk about how they are always ethnically based. Let's talk about if, like the Jewish ghettos in New York, they become successful and move out of poverty, the government historically takes away whatever autonomy they had and shoots 'em back down the ladder, saying they're not "AMERICAN" enough. Midland Iowa, where my grandparents live, is mostly German, and we celebrate THAT. Is it because it's White? Because it was during the "acceptable" immigration time? Is it because, back then, they wanted a plot of land and now they want money? I don't understand.
I feel that we immediately criminalize our immigrants, and so they have little chance of moving beyond their "immigrant" status. They will always be looked down upon as interlopers, no matter when they came to this country. And as we treat them like criminals, we give them little chance to "adapt" and pooh-pooh the people who try to help as, "radical left-wingers with bleeding hearts and no solid mental grounding". So, social work is out because it's emotionally heart-wrenching and personal economic suicide. And, as we have so few people willing to help the immigrants "adapt", they don't, and retain quite a bit of themselves to themselves, and then we shake our fingers at them and say, "Well, if you REALLY wanted to be American, you'd at least learn the language." Right. Got it.
If you look at immigration policies in other nations, you'll find that those with very good policies (such as the Netherlands) has a very low immigrant crime rate. Yes, there are still ghettos, but I walked comfortably through the Turkish ghetto without the fear of being shot or stoned or mugged. You know, whichever. However, it's a very small country so it doesn't have to take a lot of immigrants (because it doesn't have the room) and it's a socialized system, so there's money there to help immigrants integrate. Our system, well, I dunno if we're just too big or with too little funding or with too big of egos, but it just doesn't work. And we continue to contradict our core "American values" whatever those might be, because we don't want/don't think that THEY can be JUST LIKE US.
This is my briefest possible, core emotional response. I could probably pull out research and shit and look all groovy and professional. But I'm lazy and sick and I wanna go to bed.
Um... *bows and takes the soapbox with her*
Naw, seriously, we're a nation of immigrants. Pretty damned hypocritical, if you ask me. Also, we go into so many countries, tell 'em how to rule themselves, and when it all goes to pot, we won't let 'em in to a better world. Then, we tell 'em they need to make their own bloody lives better. But we screwed them up in the first place. It's a vicious cycle, near as I can tell.
As for immigrants "taking our jobs", that's the biggest crock I've ever heard. Last I checked, most took the jobs we see as "beneath" us. There was a student here who saw Leo (Mexican) speaking with Ruby and asked Ruby if she was "dating that maintenance guy." Leo is a veteran trail guide here, one of our best teachers. Funny how he was equated with the blue collar work. Seems to me that we want these immigrants to come to our country, if only to look down on them. As for our healthcare and education, well, it's not like it's that great to begin with, and at least with healthcare, most immigrants are too frightened to come forward when they are sick because they A) Can't afford it and B) when it's discovered they can't afford it, their records are searched and they are sent back to the country they tried to leave.
It seems to me that the most American thing, that we pride ourselves on, is this phantasmic "dream" in which you fight tooth and nail to create yourself and succeed. But we tend to see it as a strictly "AMERICAN" thing-- anyone else doesn't know how it's done or doesn't deserve it. But if we look at what makes us stand on the "dream", guess what, it's great great granddaddy Bob coming to the U.S. with nothing but the shirt on his back, earning all the money in the world, sticking it in his ears and going "Pbbbttth".
I overheard a coworker talking about the "crisis" which she fully believes exist. The words that stuck with me were, "...and then crime rates are going to skyrocket." I'm sorry-- most serial killers I know were white dudes that spent time in Seattle (not that I can blame them... I hear Washington is usually just cold, wet and dark most of the year). Let's talk about ghettos. Let's talk about how long they've been around. Let's talk about how they are always ethnically based. Let's talk about if, like the Jewish ghettos in New York, they become successful and move out of poverty, the government historically takes away whatever autonomy they had and shoots 'em back down the ladder, saying they're not "AMERICAN" enough. Midland Iowa, where my grandparents live, is mostly German, and we celebrate THAT. Is it because it's White? Because it was during the "acceptable" immigration time? Is it because, back then, they wanted a plot of land and now they want money? I don't understand.
I feel that we immediately criminalize our immigrants, and so they have little chance of moving beyond their "immigrant" status. They will always be looked down upon as interlopers, no matter when they came to this country. And as we treat them like criminals, we give them little chance to "adapt" and pooh-pooh the people who try to help as, "radical left-wingers with bleeding hearts and no solid mental grounding". So, social work is out because it's emotionally heart-wrenching and personal economic suicide. And, as we have so few people willing to help the immigrants "adapt", they don't, and retain quite a bit of themselves to themselves, and then we shake our fingers at them and say, "Well, if you REALLY wanted to be American, you'd at least learn the language." Right. Got it.
If you look at immigration policies in other nations, you'll find that those with very good policies (such as the Netherlands) has a very low immigrant crime rate. Yes, there are still ghettos, but I walked comfortably through the Turkish ghetto without the fear of being shot or stoned or mugged. You know, whichever. However, it's a very small country so it doesn't have to take a lot of immigrants (because it doesn't have the room) and it's a socialized system, so there's money there to help immigrants integrate. Our system, well, I dunno if we're just too big or with too little funding or with too big of egos, but it just doesn't work. And we continue to contradict our core "American values" whatever those might be, because we don't want/don't think that THEY can be JUST LIKE US.
This is my briefest possible, core emotional response. I could probably pull out research and shit and look all groovy and professional. But I'm lazy and sick and I wanna go to bed.
Um... *bows and takes the soapbox with her*