Dear Mexican: The tragedy currently playing out on the U.S. southern border has reminded me to once again ask my three-years-ago-posed and perhaps-more-relevant-than-ever question (slightly tweaked): If the U.S. had sponsored and funded infrastructural, educational, social and economic development in Mexico and Central America during the 1950s to the 1980s in the way the more prosperous countries of Europe helped the less prosperous nations of their region to prepare them for membership in the future European Union, would not Mexico and Central America today be considerably more prosperous, healthy and sustainable, and better and safer places to live than they are, with less immigration into the U.S. and immigration therefore a much less contentious issue? Could this be a topic deserving of book-length treatment?
Esperando sin Esperanza
Dear Waiting without Hope: Book length? Try light-year length. A massive Marshall plan has been the dream of neoliberals in el gabacho and Latin America since the days of James Monroe, and while it makes sense—better for the U.S. to invest in nation-building in, say, Quintana Roo, than Iraq or Afghanistan, you know?—it’ll never happen. Primeramente, there would be an uproar across Latin America, as inhabitants will always reject overt acts of gabacho government charity in the (understandable) fear that Americans are trying to create a puppet state (see: Nicaragua under Somoza, Cuba under Batista, Mexico under everyone except Lázaro Cárdenas). But even if Mexicans wanted that help, another group of people would be even more opposed: gabachos, who see any act of kindness towards Latinos as weak and sowing the seed for Reconquista.
Witness the current tragedy at the U.S.-Mexico border, where thousands of Central American and Mexican kids are trying to cross to flee ultraviolence at home. America’s reaction? Outrage that those chiquitos are looking for refuge, and outright assholery from residents in Escondido, California, where residents protested long and loud over a proposal to turn a vacant viejitos home into a temporary housing facility for refugee kids. Compare that with the 1960s, when the U.S. government and public openly welcomed tens of thousands of Cuban kids with Operation Peter Pan. Difference between then and now? In the American psyche, those kids were cute, light-skinned Cubans and useful Cold War pawns; on the other hands, the current niños are dirty Salvadorans, and Guatemalans, and Mexicans who deserve misery and death back home.
I continue to find that Mexican immigrants know they are not white, but refuse to identify or accept the fact that they come from indigenous people (even partly). Nowhere is this more apparent than in the way we fill out applications asking about race. Although we are free to identify as Hispanic/Latino (an ethnicity) we are also free to mark any/ALL races that apply. More often than not we leave this blank or mark off “white.” Why is it that some Mexicans (like me) born on this side are more accepting of Amerindian ancestry and Mexicans born over there wouldn’t dare? My best guess is education?
Xicana Xingona
Dear Badass Chicana:. What Mexican in their right mind would want to be anything other than gabacho in this country? There’s been much made recently of stats that supposedly show over a million Latinos checked off the gaba box in the 2010 Census, with academic yaktivists claiming the U.S. government duped dumb Mexicans into going white—but please. Being considered white gives you a muy grande advantage in this country, a secret known by everyone from negritos to Irish to chinitos to, increasingly, Mexicans. Indian? In the average mexicano mind, good for pyramids, funny movies and casinos where they can see Pepe Aguilar; otherwise, a vergüenza.
This article appears in Jul 3-9, 2014.
This is one gabacho who’d favor nation building to slow immigration. But don’t stop stereotyping or there wouldn’t be an articls.
The difference between then and now is 30 years of uncontrolled immigration from Latin America and a bunch of Americans saying at 320 million, no mas. Besides, they keep saying it’s all children, but I haven’t seen any pictures of “women and children”. Just more of the same 18-20 year old up here illegally looking for work like we’ve seen in the last 30 years.
Couple things…
“Outrage that those chiquitos are looking for refuge, and outright assholery from residents in Escondido, California, where residents protested long and loud over a proposal to turn a vacant viejitos home into a temporary housing facility for refugee kids.”
It does not make these residents “assholes” because they are concerned with the Federal Government renting space for unaccompanied alien children. With how the Federal Government is handling this crisis, I would be pretty wary about what they exactly want to use the facility for.
“the current niños are dirty Salvadorans, and Guatemalans, and Mexicans who deserve misery and death back home.”
Actually Mexican unaccompanied alien children and handed over to the Mexican consulate at the Port. It seems you might not understand the entire situation with this crisis along the border.
Here is the elephant in the room. This main reason why people are resistant to this huge influx of immigrants into the country. The US does not have enough unskilled or quickly learned middle class labor jobs to handle these new immigrants. Most of these new immigrants will have to go onto a social programs to survive, which are already broken systems. When we allowed influx of immigrants in the early 20th Century, we had a HUGE manufacturing base that allowed immigrants to get jobs. Seasonal jobs like in agriculture and the service industry can not absorb the thousands of illegal aliens pouring into our country.
Now legal residents in this country are fighting over low skilled service jobs. We have huge under-employment rate and millions that have given up looking for work. More and more people are turning to social welfare programs to get by in this nation. Our Middle Class is not growing like it was during the 20 Century. The Middle Class is shrinking. We do not have the jobs that provide good wages and benefits to absorb these people.
I do not blame illegal aliens for anything wrong in our country. They are just trying to have a better life. I blame the corporations that send millions of good paying jobs overseas to increase the bottom line. I blame our tax system that burdens small business while large corporations use tax loopholes their lobbyists pushed in Washington. I blame Wall Street instigating the idea of profit above all costs, including the welfare of our country. I blame the American People that rather get a cheap toaster made by slave wages in foreign country from big box store that does not even provide basic benefits to their workers than buy a American Made product that was produced by a American worker that received a middle class wage and benefits. We sold out our Middle Class for a cheap Chinese made toaster, a Honduran Made Shirt, a foreign built car, etc.
Before we allow millions of low skilled immigrants into our country. We need to fix our country and bring it back to having a strong Middle Class and job market we had before Washington sold out Main Street.
BUY LOCAL. BUY AMERICAN. I do not just these slogans. I live by them. The majority of my purchases are Made in the USA. I wish more people did the same. Maybe then we would have enough unskilled or labor jobs that we would need a increase demand for workers in this country.