A letter to my friend in Arizona (illegal Mexicans) (long)

[mimitabby]

This woman has been sending me all sorts of emails which describe the indolent greedy Mexicans who are taking all the resources that she believes are earmarked for citizens. Most of what she sends me is very inflammatory. I've asked her to stop but she says it's important to discuss things like that with friends. So this is what I wrote to her this morning:

Fine. here's what I know:
once upon a time the "border" was not a border. Then we slaughtered Indians and carved up territories. Once the Indians were reduced to small groups of drunk despondent people, rich Spaniards bought (took) up vast acreages of land and became wealthy cattle barons. In the 1850's most of your state and much of Texas WERE Mexico. We fought a war there and took that land away from them.

There were still rich Spanish speaking people on our side for a while, but the English speaking people didn't like that so they passed laws making it very difficult for the dark skinned people to own and sell property, and one by one busted them and took over their property. The once rich people were reduced to poverty by our laws and many of them moved south. Some people stayed. The town of Guadaloupe, for example, predates Arizona.

Then we needed cheap labor. We no longer had slaves, so we got the next best thing. Mexicans. They would work for almost nothing and they required almost nothing to induce them to come up here. Farms and factories begged for these people, because they could abuse them and let them go whenever they wanted.

For a while (from the 1960's until the 1990's) things got really comfortable. WE got lots of pay raises thanks to the unions, we had a lot of industry, so it didn't matter that we had aliens living here; all they did was pick lettuce. Our kids got good union jobs and prospered. Then the corporations got greedy and figured out it was cheaper to pay someone in another country to do our work. The big bosses got huge raises for this as they liquidated their American factories and shipped jobs overseas. At the same time, many small towns still had vibrant economies because lots of people had their own little businesses which hired locals to work for them.

Then came Walmart, like a fungus which spread to every single state. Everywhere Walmart went, dozens of little businesses just folded. Now look what's left: Those people who had good jobs or businesses now have a choice of working at WALMART. there's nothing left. That's not because of the Mexicans. that's because of corporate greed.

I believe immigration and naturalization laws/rules are very unfair. And I do believe we have a problem. There are too many people on our globe. The only way to fix this problem is to quit feeding the starving children and let them die.
Abortions should be more available. Birth control should be free EVERYWHERE. Every country in Europe is being overrun with people from Africa, Asia, eastern Europe. They are not bad people, they are desperate people.

The entire planet right now is in upheaval, with most species of animals endangered and people clearcutting, blasting, poisoning and burning every single acre to render from it what they can so that they can survive or profit. It's not going to work. The grand sum of people who are in serious trouble is going to get so big that we're going to quit sending missionaries everywhere to save them. and babies are going to die and mothers are going to die and no one's going to be able to save them all. I think your Mexicans are a very small part of this and i am sorry that you believe that they are the source of your problems.

I was taught the golden rule as a child and to me it is reprehensible to suggest that we do not help the weak, the sick and the hungry around us - no matter their color, creed or passport status. Once upon a time, that was considered the right thing to do. Now instead we want to kick them out of our way. I won't pretend that I am a mother Teresa type, I don't bring homeless people into my house and feed them; but 100 years ago, that's precisely what people did.

At least now you understand where I am coming from.

[barbtries]

1. that was a fine letter.

please report back on her response. if i had to lay odds i'd wager that she'll get one or two paragraphs in, stop reading, and best case is she'll stop spewing your way. but you never know. maybe she'll learn something.

[mimitabby]

3. I'll let you know

[panader0]

2. Where I live was definitely once part of Mexico

[Mira]

4. Oh Mimi, that took a lot out of you. And it is informative, easy to read, and

easy to shed some tears over. Really. Your friend, let her go where Jesus flung her, because that's what will happen.

People with her attitudes have one overwhelming characteristic: Learning the truth is not in their Universe.

I recommend this, and thank you for writing it and posting it for us.

[GoneOffShore]

5. I hope she reads it . . . but pretty sure she will rebut in predictable ways

Arizona is just the canary right now.

[mimitabby]

7. yes, I think you're right

wow, I've been unrec'ed! maybe hitting a nerve is actually a good thing
She'll read it. But like you said, it probably won't make a difference in the way she thinks (FEELS!)

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. Rec for the good outline of reality.

edited for my am spelling...lol.

[Mira]

6. I am watching the unrecommenders at work. You must be striking a nerve. More +s if I could

[kanrok]

8. Querey: what does this sentence mean?

"There are too many people on our globe. The only way to fix this problem is to quit feeding the starving children and let them die."

Huh?

[mimitabby]

10. Sadly it means what it says

you do the math. We can NOT save everyone. We as a population on this planet cannot continue to reproduce at the rates we are reproducing.
Where are birth rates high? Uganda, Mali, Afghanistan, Somalia, Ethiopia.. All the places where there is no way to sustain them.
And let's be honest with each other.
How many of those babies have you kept alive? or me? or 99.9% of the people in our country?

I wrote that sentence that way to get her attention.

I'm not saying it's right. I'm saying that we are getting boxed into a corner. and more and more people are being pushed into that corner.

[GoneOffShore]

9. Just feel like I need to kick this back up.

I don't mind the "unrec" feature, but to do that on a thread that should have some serious legs and invite legitimate discussion?

Of course, we have seen an enormous amount of anti-immigrant sentiment here.

[mimitabby]

11. I think I have pissed people off on both sides

We just can't stand here with our fingers in our ears .... this stuff is VERY painful for me and i'm sure many others here.

[GoneOffShore]

12. There was perhaps an injudicious sentence or two.

However - you expressed your view of the problem in a forthright way.

And remember - the Sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage and the Defenders of the League of Imaginary Friends along with their allies, The Think of the Children Brigade will always hop on something like this.

[mimitabby]

13. yes, you're right.

I'm not winning any population contests here.
Any of you guys read this fantastic book Jared Diamond wrote? "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed"
He deals with the collapse of several different island societies, talks about how they sometimes staved off the inevitable, what worked, what didn't.
The reason island societies now relate to our predicament is because the earth IS an island, there's no way to hop off and form a new colony somewhere else any more; we've used all the available space up.

[Mira]

15. Kick - this should not go away so quickly. I only now read all the responses

(was a bit busy before) and see the controversial phrase has been explained by the author.
Read this with your thinking caps on.