Photos: Mary Blum-Sullivan & Harvey Finkle
What’s needed is more than just a plea for mercy
What happened to the vibrant movement for immigrant rights of 8 years ago?
In 2006, millions of Latinos and Polish, Irish, FIlipino, Korean and other immigrants and their supporters took to the streets. People who had lived in the shadows came out chanting and marching. They showed the rest of us not to be afraid and gave us a peek at what is possible when we stand up together to fight for what is right. Immigrants and supporters in the streets marching and rallying were unacceptable to the corporate oligarchy, and their voices and demand for immigration reform shook the foundations of this country.
Amnesty and legalization for all was the plea of the movement at its inception. We all pray for the day when no one will be labelled illegal, and our communities will be able to aspire for a better and more secure tomorrow. Instead, with the constant threat of deportation and family separation, immigrant communities today face a less hopeful and more uncertain future than when the movement began.
Indeed, last year, when thousands rallied and marched on May Day, they did so in a desperate attempt to get some sort—almost any sort—of immigration-reform bill finally passed. While many of them were very skeptical, they supported a bill which would have given at least some undocumented immigrants legal status, while at the same time disqualifying more than five million.
But even that bill didn’t pass. And activists seem to have lost all hope in Congress’s interest or ability to get any kind of immigration bill passed. Now their fight has shifted to stopping the deportations that have continued and, in fact, have increased during Barack Obama’s presidency.
Many activists argue that the lack of immigration reform—and the lack of any real reforms in this country—is due to a two-party system in which it is no longer possible to distinguish one party from the other. Today, it appears that Republicans and Democrats alike share the philosophy and policies of the corporate oligarchy. Making false promises while terrorizing communities and pitting them against each other is just another form of assuring that the political representatives of the very rich get elected and stay in power. On TV, they put on a formidable show, trying to convince us that they care about immigration reform and that they care about the problems that we face in our communities.
Many people feel that in the U.S. today politics and elections have become just a spectacle—a “telenovela”—and that nothing good comes out of Washington and from an electoral process in which a Democrat or a Republican always gets elected. Both have a hand in making our communities suffer. And the issue of immigration reform like many other important domestic issues to them this is just part of the political game. Latinos are becoming more and more frustrated with the electoral process due to the lack of real progress, the political games played, and all the false promises made and dreams broken.
The fights for universal health care and immigrant rights are perfect examples of everything that is wrong with politics in this country. The great majority of people support universal health care—free health care for all. But due to pressure from the drug and insurance industries—backed by their millions of dollars in political contributions—the legislation approved by congress, the Affordable Health-Care Act, is not even close to the original demand.
The majority also support some sort of immigration reform. But right now, because of all the deportations, separation of families, and constant threat of ending up in jail due to the Secure Communities Program, the outcry of many immigrant communities is a plea for mercy and an appeal to the Obama Administration to stop torturing the immigrant community and just leave it alone.
As we face the cruel reality that 11 million people won’t get any sort legal immigration status, we must assess what to do next. We need to ask ourselves if we should trust the Democrats and Republicans again—or if the Green Party can be a real alternative. And if none of the above is the real way to defend our interests, how can we construct the needed new political organization with that vision and agenda.
