Well... still having immigration heavy on my mind and in thinking about finding positive means to an end on this subject by researching things that are being done I found an amazing powerful video. There is a link below. I do apologize that it is twenty something minutes long. You definitely do not have to watch it all but if you are like me once you start you can't stop. I began by doing some research on the Minutemen that we mentioned in class. I found a blog written by a very popular Journalist, David Neiwert called Orcinus. It was very informative on the Minutemen militia and explained how they got their name.
It makes sense. They act as a militia like the Minutemen did during the American Revolution. They refer to themselves as Patriots and display a strong sense of American pride. The blog even refers to them as nazis. He makes some very good points. Feel free to read it. If you all want me to post a link to it I can. I did not because I would rather you watch this video. The beginning focuses on the calling of the Arizona "Minutemen" to patrol the Southern border as citizens. From there they involve U.S. Border Patrol and help them capture a large number of innocent people seeking a better life. It makes the point that Border Patrol is intended to prevent criminals, terrorists, and people trafficking drugs into the border. However, it has turned into capturing and arresting the vast majority of the millions trying to escape poverty- innocent people. If you guys think watching the Manassas idiot (sorry, but I do not think that will offend any of you) was irritating... the founder of the Minutemen movement, Chris Simcox, speaks in this one. This extremist has organized volunteers to stay working shifts sitting in lawn chairs on the border with binoculars. It makes Manassas look like a molehill.
The end of the video is what got me. I really encourage you all to watch at least the last quarter. It is a more personal look into the journey and struggle of what all goes into taking the risk and coming to America. I had absolutely no idea what all is available to 'help' people pull it off. It highlights a young family that like many others is about $3,000 in debt because they hired a Coyote to help them make it. It was enlightening though to hear the story of the man that helps people while they are in the desert. This is because hundreds of people do not even live past the journey. Ok I have said too much. Watch all or part of it and just say what you think about it. The narrator does such a good job. It really moved me. Do you all see a link between the Minutemen and the American Revolution? Or the Minutemen movement and Manassas?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkXjMvUy5ak&feature=related
I'm sorry. It wasn't actually a link. But copy that into the address window it will take you there.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, these men are nothing more than racist fools trying to handle something way out of league. There was a part in the video where a man said you have to confront racism to see it. Okay, one who is calling who a racist. Second, how is people trying to make a better life for their families racist? If anything you definitely saw the typical form of racism, White middle to upper class republican Americans doing nothing but showing how racist they really are. As far as the Manassas thing goes, this by far makes Manassas look like a warning slip. Although Manassas tried to “get rid of” immigration, the minutemen took it to the extreme. And for one thing, the minutemen? Please, a bunch of idiots is a better term, for me of course. Like one of the men said, you don’t know if some of these people are terrorist, or criminals. If the government say they are going to do something about it, then let them do it. If not, then you leave it alone until they can do something about it.
ReplyDeleteI must say @ Jamie, this was definitely a good piece of information. I wouldn’t say that they were like the Manassas, because these people in the video took it further than the Manassas people would have think of taking it. It is not that immigration is the problem, it the people who won’t leave the problem alone. Like I have stated before, all of our ancestors are immigrants. This is not our original homeland. All of us come from somewhere other than the United States. Everyone who is willing to make something better for their families should have a chance to be free, otherwise there is no need to sing o’er the land of the “free” and the home the brave if you cant share the freedom.
I think that this is ridiculous. First of all, their sheer name is terrible. Do these people need a history lesson? The original minute men and these men have nothing in common and I think that it is disgraceful that they would name themselves this. What's next a 'Lady Liberty' group of women that shoot at immigrants as they cross the border shouting racial slurs at them? It is just terrible.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is so sad. I think that if people like 'Help Save Manassas' and 'Minute Men' saw the struggles that these people go through just to make a better life for themselves. Isn't that what American touts as the American Dream, "Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor"? Do we really mean that? Or do we mean give us your rich, your white, and your protestant? I think that it is ridiculous because even the video points out that the United States industries, including farming, sanitation, construction, and more, would not survive without immigrant labor. These are jobs that no matter what, Americans will not take. Americans would rather be unemployed than take these jobs. At least immigrants are willing to work for a better life. Immigrants are NOT taking jobs from Americans. They are helping the economy. This movie taught me something incredibly interesting, President Bush and I agree on something??? WHAT?! I think what is important about this video and the last one that we watched is that it points out the political (and not rational) reasons behind these laws and Republican support. It is all political. As the Republicans lost support because of the lack of support for the Bush administration, they turned to immigration to stir up racist, divisive, and cruel support when they were lacking in a rallying cry. I really liked the cross border volley ball game and other attempts that human rights groups had throughout this video.
The main thing that really drew my attention in this video is the parallel Chris (the co-founder of the Minutemen Project) draws between the Sept. 11th terrorist attacks and U.S.-Mexico border patrol. He says at the very beginning and throughout, something to the effect of, "three years after 9/11 and the U.S. is still allowing illegal immigrants to cross the border from Mexico into the U.S."...Really? There is literally NO connection between Latino immigrants and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. None whatsoever. The real terrorists are domestic militarized vigilante groups across our history that single out groups based on their race or ethnic status in order to discriminate them and harm them-- exactly what the KKK does, exactly what the Minutemen Project does.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the racism deeply rooted in Chris and in the Minutemen Project is similar to that we saw from the leader of Help Save Manassass and the supporters of the county's anti-immigration resolution. Chris (of the MP) says we need a "moratorium of two years on all immigration from Mexico." He blatantly admits that he only wants to stop immigration from Mexico, intentionally not including any other country or group of people. Chris bought into and perpetuated the Latino Threat Narrative, as did the leader of Help Save Manassass. This outright targeting of people of Latino/a origin IS racism based on false assumptions about the status, nature, and intent of people from Latino countries that come to the United States.
As Carley mentioned in her comment, throughout this whole immigration debate I continue to ask myself the following question: If we advertise America as a place to achieve "the American dream" of success, then why do we get so upset when people come here to try to make a better life for themselves and their families? Americans that are anti-immigration and call immigrants "illegal" are hypocrites. There is no way around it. Being anti-immigrant is the least "American" stance an American citizen can take, in my opinion.
There is definitely a connection between the Minutemen and the movement in Manasses; both groups seem to be trying to deal with something that is out of both their power and control. This movie clip really helps the viewer see the more personal stories of the immigrants as opposed to the generalized, racialized stereotype that is placed upon most Mexican immigrants. Even so, the fact still cannot be ignored that immigrants are crossing the border illegally. With this in mind, I do not think it is fair to say that immigrants work jobs that absolutely no Americans will take. I think it is more plausible to say that American employers would rather hire immigrant worker because their labor is cheaper, disposable, and readily available. This should be taken into consideration that since they are helping the economy, the only way to effectively solve the problem is to let the federal government deal with the issue. But there is so much more going on right now: poverty, economic downturn, and unemployment. With issues like these preoccupying the federal government, it makes sense that so many "grassroots" anti-immigration movements have sprung up in places like Manasses and Tombstone. Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Tombstone Minutemen Project, said himself that his motivation for forming the coalition came from his belief that the Bush Administration was not providing enough funding to secure the border and keep out "millions of illegal immigrants" (Chavez 133). His claim, both exaggerated and racist, reveals the nature of the true motivation behind many groups like those in Manasses and Tombstone.
ReplyDeleteI also would be more motivated to say that companies would rather hire immigrant workers and that's why American workers stay unemployed and don't do the jobs that Latino immigrants typically do, however, what happened to the Alabama economy in the first few months after HB 56 proves that Jamie's comment about Americans prefering unemployment over doing these jobs is true. When Latino workers left their farming jobs in central Alabama out of fear of being deported, crops LITERALLY rotted on the vine. Farmers went on the news (local and national) to oppose the law after they, too, were negatively affected by it-- it's keeping them from making a living, too, because no one took the job openings they advertised. I wish it were a simpler issue, and I'm sure there are more complications as far as the job concerns go, but all I know is that there was a dramatic economic and product loss when HB 56 went into effect and there were no "real" Alabamians coming in to pick the plants.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/14/alabama-immigration-law-workers Here is a link to show some evidence about the worker comment above. :)
ReplyDelete