Bread and Roses: Immigrants

I don't really stand anywhere on this whole immigration debate. My stance, if you will, is semi-omnipresent. 'm over here on this part of the issue, over there on another part, off yonder on yet another part.

I feel a certain kind of way about immigrants. We know this. You know I have problems with El Salvodorians, simply because Salvos refuse to learn English and then wanna take my order. I have a problem with Mexicans because Xcans randomly turn up in Pizzerias and that's just not ethical. I also have problems Puerto Ricans (they're citizens, yes, but I figure I get this out while I'm on the subject of Spanics). I feel like Ricos should have never had the audacity to create reggaeton. That music will never be reputable or appropriate.

But when it comes to my Latin brothers trying to escape abject poverty that most Americans don't know and come Stateside to make a meager living and send some dough back to native family members flailing in ridiculous conditions...I gotta say that I'm pro-immigration. I'm a fan of the immis. I think what they do is really on some "testament to the human spirit" type ish.

Time magazine dropped an issue last month on the immigration debate. I guess it was informative, although it spent a whole lot of time dwelling on the Washington-jostling. But there were salient points brought out that chopped the issue down to a size that I could wrap my arms around.

I guess I'm a buppie (black yuppie) at this point. I say that because, immigrants ain't takin my job and I think that detaches me from this issue, somewhat..or at least I detach myself. But they may take someone else's. A common refrain I hear is that they perform the jobs that most Americans won't. I feel that to a degree. But I know some Americans that wouldn't mind helping out ona construction site. That's my word. They also say immigrants are a strain on the economy, that they tax my tax dollars with their kids in American schools, with teachers spending extra time to teach them English. They say their hospitable bills are charged to the game since they typically don't have insurance. I say that if America wants to prance and stomp around the globe as some harbinger of freedom and goodwill, that it should (as it has done throughout history) do so here and provide a haven for some of these people seeking a better life (and when we say better, know that this is a very relative term). I didn't check Dubya addressing the nation on immigration (but I was ridiculously upset that he pushed back 24 a good 30 minutes. couldn't they have done this on another day, like Friday?). But I read all the requisite analyses the next day. My hunch? Niggas'll figure somethin out. This is one issue with an accessible middle-ground...I feel strongly about that.

Oddly enough, all that rambling was actually just a horribly roundabout preface for me reccommending a movie: Bread and Roses. It dramatizes what were real life events -- mexican immigrants march to get their cleaning jobs unionized. But it touched on so much else. There was the immigrant trying to work to go to school. The immigrant that used to prostitute herself in Tijuana to provide for her fam before coming to LA. It depicted how immigrants deal with an almost "less than human" status sometimes. There was a point where one of the cleaners said that the buisiness workers walk by him like "he's invisible." And I can't say that I'm much different. My nigga Brody is up in that bish and I like how he does what he does. Check the movie out. Even though it's not neccessarily dealing specifically with an immigrants struggle toward citizenship, it does offer a candid and accesible look at the lives of some of these immigrants. I'm no Ebert&Ropert or Jeffrey Lyons or Howard Kurtz or NY Times film critic, but I doubt you'll be dissapointed.