Xenophobia and Modern Immigration

(Originally published July 13, 2014) I finally got tired of seeing all the pictures and posts about Obama and the "immigration crisis". So I looked a little into it. The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, was a confutation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. So it was first signed under Clinton, the reauthorized by Bush and Obama. In '08, it passed with the unanimous consent of the Senate. Which included many of Obama's biggest opponents. 

Now before you go blaming the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act),let me remind you that the DREAM Act dates back to 2001. Xenophobia, fear of the stranger, is real, and you can build a successful career based on it. The ruling structure of our nation truly loves the “us against them” attitude. 

In the late 1800’s the Irish were the “them”, but they aren't the only ethnic group. The New York Times archives was full of “Irish Need Not Apply”, sometimes written “Help wanted- no Irish need apply” between the 1860’s and the 1920’s. Remember the Japanese Internment Camps during WW2? In fact many Irish didn’t believe they “made it” as equal American citizens until Kennedy was elected President. Sound familiar? 

Do you feel the same way about your fore-parents who walked across Europe at 13 to board a ship to the New World before the 1907 Immigration Act took effect requiring them to be at least 16? Or do you just want to stop the flood of children from our southern neighbors?

I look forward to the day when we get a president from Asian or Southern or even, dare I say it, GAY. 

With silent lips we still lift our lamps and cry out for those huddled masses. Black Americans I believe we already produced the soundtrack for these Trafficking Victims. “Wade in the Water, wade in the water children. Wade in the water. God’s gonna trouble the water.” The Rio Grande. 

“Steal away, steal away! Steal away to Jesus! Steal away, steal away home! I ain’t got long to stay here!” Keep it moving. 

“Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home.” Coyotes, well if we could remove the negative connotation associated with that term. No I am sure that if the term had existed in 1850, Harriet Tubman would have been a Coyote.  She escaped slavery herself and returned to rescue about 70 more people. 

Therefore friends please stop hating on immigration (legal or otherwise). You haven’t been here long enough.