Culture of Hate

There are a few issues that I try to avoid with the handful of my dog friends who lean in different political directions than I do, and two of them are abortion rights and immigrant rights. While you have to search high and low to find a Bush supporter these days, even in the dog world, I frequently find myself spending time with people whose support of the right of a woman to a safe and legal abortion, or of fair treatment and respect for immigrants, can't be assumed. Not that that ever really shuts me up, but it does temper the words I use. But not tonight.

All day I've been following coverage of the marches all over the US, of immigrants and their supporters, holding American flags and carrying signs laying claim to their place in this nation.

I was born in California, in a part of the United States that was once Mexico. I live in an agricultural area, and have lived in one now for 16 years. For my entire life, I have known, and had as members of my family, people who came here from Latin America .... with government permission, and without. And I. Don't. Care. Which.  I really don't. I suppose someone will hurl 9/11 at me, but given the pathetic nature of our national security in every way that matters, I'm not going to lose any additional sleep over the permeability of our southern border.

The security argument aside, I don't care about immigrants getting services they aren't "entitled" to, using up spaces in school or not paying their taxes or whatever paranoid nonsense is spouted by people who don't agree with me. Immigrants pay more in taxes than they get in services, and the day I object to kids, any kids anywhere, learning to read and getting medical care on my nickle is the day I hope someone shoots me in the head. This is another thing about which I. Don't. Care. They're my tax dollars, I'd sure rather spend them on hot meals for poor kids than send them to Iraq. I'm just saying.

But not everyone just gets white-lipped and parsimonious when they contemplate immigrants from Latin America. Some people get so ugly it makes my skin crawl. I read this over on ThinkProgress, quoting Arizona radio host Brian James:

What we’ll do is randomly pick one night - every week - where we will kill whoever crosses the border. Step over there and you die. You get to decide whether it’s your lucky night or not. I think that would be more fun…[I’d be] happy to sit there with my high-powered rifle and my night scope.

I thought: A border, no matter how strongly you might feel about it, is an imaginary line on a map. Those are actual living, breathing human beings, with families and sore feet and lives.

And then I thought: These are the same giants of moral integrity who say "no" to abortion rights, who fight so hard to preserve the life of a bit of protoplasm a few cells big, but not only support the death penalty AND war, but now want to sit on the border with a high powered rifle and a night scope, picking off human beings trying to come into the country to work take advantage of our world-renowned generous health and social welfare benefits.

I was raised Roman Catholic, and I will say this about Catholics who oppose abortion: By and large, they also oppose the death penalty, torture, and most war. With all its faults, and they are legion, the Catholic church does at least have some degree of moral consistency, a tradition of liberation theology, some kind of actual commitment to something you could describe as a "culture of life." I don't agree with them on this, but I understand it and have some amount of respect for people who simply do not believe that it's right to take a life, any life, at any stage of development including in what I would call simply potential, and up to and including hardened, unrepentant murderers, soldiers of enemy nations, and people from, you know .... Mexico.

But people like this don't oppose abortion rights because they care about life. They oppose abortion rights because they're vindictive controlling assholes, who think that having an unwanted child is the price you should pay for being careless or a whore, who believe that if you commit a crime the state should have the right to kill you, who feel that any action taken by this country against people designated our "enemies" is justified, who chortle with joy at treating human beings like ducks in a cartoon shooting gallery.

That's not a culture of life, it's a culture of hate.

Comments

[SUZANNE]

I am a Catholic, albeit Canadian, like the one you describe, and I oppose most war, I am in favour of fetal rights, etc.

However, I do think a government has every right to control who goes in a country. Considering the fact that criminals DO come across a border, that's a valid point. Yes, there are good people who just want to make a living and feel forced to do this, but then there are drug dealers and smugglers and other lowlifes who get across too. I don't think the US is doing itself any favours by renouncing its right to control its borders and check up on who is in and out. This is basic common sense. I don't just let anyone in my house, even poor and desperate people. I let them in I have a sense that they are not going to be a threat. I think that's only normal.

[Christie Keith]

You're just saying that because you don't want US coming up THERE.

And who could blame you?

[Leigh-Ann]

I was an illegal alien in this country for over 15 years. I am Canadian, a lesbian, and in love with an American, but the American government would not allow me to immigrate. I have a college degree, speak two languages, and have won awards for my work on Canadian television, but the US department of immigration looked at my application and said, "Naw, you aren't special enough for us to let you in." During the time I was illegal I never, ever used any public services, and when I needed medical attention, including surgery, I paid cash. I didn't work illegally, either -- my partner supported both of us. Still, I had to remain invisible... I couldn't have a bank account or own property, and I couldn't leave the US in case the border agents refused to allow me back in. All my grandparents died, my sister got married and had two kids, and my father was in intensive care, but I had to choose between a visit back to Canada or my family here in the US.

After 15 years, because of a totally unforeseen event, my father was given a Green card, tranferred to his company in the US, and was given citizenship (he has dual citizenship now). When he became a citizen he was finally able to sponsor me, and in another 6 years or so I too will hopefully be able to qualify for citizenship. In the interim, I have a Green card but am here at the whims of the US government -- if I leave the country, they have no obligation to let me enter again (although I'd at least be entitled to a hearing about it). My immigration experience, including a lawyer to represent me at my Green card interview, cost about $10000.

I'm writing this for three reasons:

1. There are very few paths to legal immigration, and the ones that exist can take years. If you are a US citizen born in the Philippines, and you want to sponsor your sister to immigrate to the US, her application can take up to 20 YEARS to process. If you don't have a relative who's a citizen, and you don't have special job skills, you probably have no legal means to apply to immigrate at all. The days of Ellis Island are long gone... it's not just a matter of filling out paperwork, as so many Americans seem to think.

2. Immigration is expensive. The government routinely rejects applications filled out by people who don't pay for legal representation, and application fees can be many hundreds of dollars. The road to legal immigration is severely limited if you're a person living in Mexico and earning $10 per day.

3. While the Hispanic immigrants are the most visible, there are others, too. There's a huge gay/lesbian population of illegal immigrants from all over the world, who are just trying to make a life with the person they love.