Immigration Reform Fearmongering

This is a true story of fear and trust. Many, many years ago, in a small frontier town, a wild group of Indians on the war path sent many settlers fleeing to a nearby fort for safety. Their tribal life ruined by the encroaching whites, the native people were desperate to reclaim their rightful homeland. Among to fearful settlers there was one man who, along with his family, decided to trust in a God who said “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” They did not have guns or other weapons, but just stayed in their little cabin.

In those days, the door was fastened by a heavy, wooden latch,
Raised from the outside by a thong of deerskin. This latchstring could be pulled in for no admittance. When the string was left out, all who came would be welcome. Trusting in the way of peace, this family left the latchstring out, day and night. One night though, the man began to fear for his wife and family. With a trembling hand, he drew in the latchstring. But, his wife could not sleep and she told her husband that she felt they were not truly trusting to the power of goodwill. The man sighed, knowing his wife was right. He put the latchstring out again. All who came would be welcomed.

Just then, they heard the cries of the Indian braves. Soon, the little cabin was surrounded. Suddenly, the latchstring snapped tight and the latch was raised by an Indian brave, pulling the string from outside. Astounded, the war party saw that the door had been left unlocked. The braves grew quiet. From their window, the family watched as they began to slip away into the woods. But, a tall chief held back and came strolling up to the cabin. He took a long, white feather and fastened it above the door.

There the feather hung, season after season, year after year and the family never again saw the warring Indians. One day, a friendly Indian who could speak English came by and he looked at the feather with a serious expression upon his face. Then, he told the family what it meant: this is the home of a man of peace. Do not harm him. Robs parents came to Michigan from the Ukraine in just after World War One. Refugees from Bolshevism, they settled in Hamtramck and raised five children in hard-working poverty. My own maternal family came from England in the mid-1800’s after migrating there first from Scotland. My father’s parents were migrant workers on farms throughout California. I’m sure most of you gathered here today could share similar stories. We have always prided ourselves on being a nation of immigrants. Regardless of whether we arrived here on the Mayflower, a World War Two coffin ship or through the harsh Arizona desert, the vast majority of our own families came here to escape poverty, oppression, famine or war. America is a country built on the hopes and dreams of far away peoples. This shared heritage is what makes the debate we are currently engaged in as a society at once both frustrating to me personally and vitally important to us all. Timely and vital issues have been raised, from National Security, to the rights of churches to offer humanitarian and charitable aid to anyone in need, but it seems that the basic struggle is with our own human struggle between extending a latch-string and building a wall. It comes down to a simple matter of trust.
But that’s an over-simplification, you say! In this post 9/11 world, trust is not something to be lightly given! We live in a time of imminent danger, war and fear. Let me come back to the story Stefani told earlier. During the mid to late 1800’s, the same could be said for the Settlers and the Native peoples. Both groups believed themselves to be under imminent danger at any moment from a terrifying and utterly foreign enemy. Both groups were mostly correct. Much like today, the Native peoples found themselves attacked by seemingly alien forces: utterly different from them in appearance, dress, and language. Much like today, the Native peoples were victims of Weapons of Mass Destruction- aircraft in our era, smallpox in theirs. Crazy Horse, the famous Sioux chief who defeated General George Custer at Little Big Horn explained their perspective by saying "I was hostile to the white man...We preferred hunting to a life of idleness on our reservations. At times we did not get enough to eat and we were not allowed to hunt. All we wanted was peace and to be let alone. Soldiers came...in the winter..and destroyed our villages. Then Long Hair (Custer) came...They said we massacred him, but he would have done the same to us. Our first impulse was to escape...but we were so hemmed in we had to fight. After that I lived in peace.”
The Settlers ironically felt much the same way. Many families came West seeking a new way out of poverty or a chance to own a parcel of land, something they would never be able to accomplish in the overcrowded, overburdened cities. Yes, they brought their prejudices and Manifest Destiny with them. We cannot forget and should not excuse the injustices the military and militias perpetrated on the Native populations. But we today, who are able to look back over the centuries with a more enlightened eye, cannot forget the cultural context of not just America at that time, but of the world as a whole. We must step outside our modern realities and consider the perspective of a settlement family in the Wild West. For the vast majority of pioneers, they too simply wanted, as Crazy Horse wanted, to live in peace.
Can you imagine the courage it would take for both sides, to leave that latch-string out? The level of trust in the basic goodness of humanity to extend a hand of friendship and welcome even as you know that the night is filled with angry and hostile strangers is astounding even today. Perhaps, most especially today. Much like the family in the legend, we are faced with a choice about whether to leave out our latchstring and place our faith in mankind’s desire for peace; or else build walls both literal and figurative in anticipation of the “others” worst nature. We don’t have forts we can run to when confronted with someone strange and unfamiliar anymore. I believe most of us here would see that to be a good thing. Unitarian Universalists are by their very nature more inclined to embrace the unfamiliar and see what there is to learn from it. We are more accepting of diversity and difference and better able to see the positive contributions rather than focusing on the divisions between ourselves and the outsiders. So what is the role of our community in this age of fear and mistrust?
Our first and most basic course of action is that of changing the language of the debate. Regardless of where each of us falls on the spectrum of the debate, I am confident that we each strive to fulfill our commitment to the inherent worth and dignity of every person, as stated in our UU principles. This means that we strive to set ourselves as role models of peaceful language and discourse as the most direct form of action. When I turn on FOX News, CNN or most talk radio stations; I don’t get a sense of respect for the dignity of the undocumented residents. The term “alien” is most commonly used, a pejorative that most in the community of immigrants both legal and illegal, despise. America has a long history of xenophobia and prejudice, and the term “alien” stems out of these class and race biases. It dehumanizes the other, making them less-than ourselves and easier to view as hostile. Among the definitions of alien are someone who is “strange”, an “outsider”, and of course “from outer space”. The verb form is “to alienate”, which means “To cause to become unresponsive; isolate or dissociate emotionally” or “To cause to become unfriendly or hostile”. Our very language becomes a wall between ourselves and those in our community most affected by this debate. The question of how best to handle undocumented residents will never be settled without cooperation, dialogue and input from both sides. To cause a large segment of the population to be isolated, hostile and unresponsive is not an effective strategy in creating change. History has shown that people most respect laws and policies that they have had a hand in crafting. If we want to reform our immigration policies we must work hand-in-hand with the immigrants themselves, respecting their insights and taking their concerns into consideration. Failure to do so only creates policies that are disregarded and disobeyed. The first step in resolving this crisis is to reframe the dialogue. Words, as we all know, have great power. Rather than defining this debate as between “civilized, rational, human beings” and “uncooperative, strange, hostile aliens”, let us honor the dignity of those we seek discourse with and about and thus extend a hand of peace.
Our Second step as UU’s considering the immigration debate is to reaffirm our common heritage, rather than reinforcing superficial divides. A recent Slate.com article stated that if any individual on the planet were able to trace their genealogy back to the year 1000 B.C., they would discover that they were directly related to every single human being alive at that time. Now, 1000 B.C. is not such a long time ago. So, if you will allow me to get a bit New Agey for a moment, we really are, biologically and genetically, one large family, intermarried for millennia and united by a common ancestry. Not that this argument will carry much weight in the political and economic debate, but it’s important that we realize just how close we are to the Hmong cleaning lady at our office, or to the Columbian gentleman working at our corner store, or to the people sitting right next to us here today. When we can recognize that these people are not alien to us (in every sense of the word) but rather extended cousins; we can start to trust that their motives aren’t much different than ours- peace, security, love and community. When we can begin to trust our extended family in the same manner is which we trust our spouses, siblings and community here; we are then able to discuss solutions that don’t involve building a 700 mile long wall along our Southern border.
But genetics aren’t our only bond. America is a nation crafted out of strongly disparate backgrounds and cultures joined together to make something new and uniquely, well, American. Those of us who grew up with Schoolhouse Rock no doubt remember “lovely Lady Liberty and her book of recipes” and the message reinforced over and over that we are a melting pot of assimilation. Many today are questioning that analogy and comparing our society to tossed salad instead; made up of lots of different and distinct parts that do not blend into one another but rather join together to create something new. The tossed salad analogy has been used by Canadians politicians and by Jesse Jackson to describe North American society, although in some ways I still think that my mother in law has it right when she says America is most aptly described as a fruitcake! Joking aside, it is true that what we consider to be “American” is actually a unique blend of contributions from around the world. Halloween, a holiday considered a thoroughly American event by the world community, was brought here in the 1800’s by Irish and Scottish immigrants and enhanced by Mexican and Native American practices before evolving into its modern form. The more that we as a religious community can remind those around us that our way of life is not threatened by the presence of new voices; but rather enhanced by new perspectives and cultural realities, the more that we will continue to flourish both nationally and globally. When we honor and recognize the dignity and value of the other person, we create a relationship wherein trust can begin to grow.
At this point you’re probably wondering when I’m going to talk about the elephant in the corner. You’re saying “cute story Rob and I agree with you in theory, but we live in a different world now!” and it part, you’re correct. We do have to acknowledge that we live in a time where jobs are scarce and fear is high. We are at war, confronting a faceless enemy in a battle without clear rules. Believe me; I know that better than most. But I have to ask, as a veteran and as a Unitarian; at what point do we acknowledge that we can’t stop the fighting until we stop the hate? Our borders are not secure, that has been proven through government testing and by the sheer number of people entering the U.S. every day. We would be wrong not to ask ourselves “what if?” There comes a point at which we have to acknowledge that we can never do enough to minimize the risk completely. It’s boxing at shadows to think that we will every make our borders completely secure and if and when we do, rest assured, those who truly mean us harm will find another way.
The issue of jobs is an important concern as well, especially in an economy such as Michigan’s. There has been a great deal of talk about “jobs Americans won’t do”. Usually, this is because the wages are below subsistence level, the task is especially dangerous or demeaning, or because the average American is overqualified for the position. US News and World Reports ran an editorial recently stating that the job crisis is not a result of immigration so much as it is an issue of education. Most Americans have at least a Bachelors degree, whereas 50 years ago, the majority of American males completed their education at the High School level. This has caused a crisis in qualifications, where many Americans are overqualified for menial jobs such as housekeeping, dishwashing or fieldwork and yet under qualified for many professional fields such as engineering and medicine. By producing so many bachelors’ level graduates, we have effectively created a nation of middle-managers. The answer, the writer said, was not to limit immigration, or to define jobs as being “beneath” an American worker, but rather to rethink how we educate our population. In the meantime, we must actively work to promote fair labor practices among these low-esteem professions. We must call not for immigration reform, but for better regulation and enforcement of labor laws, especially as they relate to hourly wages and worker protections. Once again, we are re-framing the debate, restoring the dignity of low-esteem workers and promoting change that creates equitable change without isolating populations.
So the question then, becomes one of social justice. Are we really protecting ourselves from terrorism when we suggest making it a felony for churches and charities to leave water in the desert, or offer food and housing to a hungry migrant family? Is it truly a benefit to our economy to have millions of undocumented workers wages that don’t allow them to be self-sufficient? At what point does the balance shift from protecting ourselves to harming others? And is that harm ever justified? Albert Einstein said “In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same.” There is no issue that better defines this than that of immigration, a debate as large as our economy and as small as one child crossing the Rio Grande on his mothers back. But in these times when many options seem right, often for very different reasons, Einstein had the best barometer: how does the issue concern the treatment of people? Are we placing the abstracts of fear, pride and mistrust over the cold reality of people’s lives? Are our actions as a nation in keeping with the principles we espouse, those of dignity, justice, compassion and equality? When we enact policy at the national level through legal reforms or take action at the local level through groups such as La Raza Unida and the Minute Men, are we keeping the greater interdependence of humanity in mind?
In closing, let us stand together as liberal people of conscious, committing ourselves to working for peaceful reform that preserves the dignity of our family worldwide and protects the values of inclusiveness and equality that America was founded upon. Let us act as role models in our community, re-framing the language of the debate and calling others on their own use of slander and slang. Let us actively strive for social justice and policy that acts not to isolate and persecute an already minimized population, but rather positive change that benefits everyone, regardless of their class, background or status. Let us work to resolve these difficult issues not by isolating ourselves in fear, bolting our door with heavy wooden beams, but by leaving out our latchstrings and hang the peace feather, trusting in the goodwill of mankind and the rational logic of those most affected to resolve these issues collectively and with respect.