Speaking out against America's undocumented community seems fashionable these days. Many have taken to the airwaves, the streets and even schoolyards to get in on the action.
I believe that the numbers we saw by the immigrant, and Hispanic, community in marches throughout America were partly a reaction to the ungrateful Americans who continue to argue that the undocumented community should leave our country; the same Americans who believe fruits and vegetables will pick themselves, that hotel rooms will be cleaned by fairies and their yards will be mowed by their teenage sons. Yeah right.
It boggles my mind how it is that some Americans have not learned to address the issue of immigration in a more civil tone given our vast history of constant immigration. And are we not creating a fracture in our society by heaping so much indignation on an elemental sector of our society, the undocumented community?
I submit that we are, and the consequences could be far reaching.
First, let's travel back in time while allowing me to get personal. My grandfather came to America long ago as part of the Bracero program of the 1940's and 50's. It was a time when America desperately needed the extra help to win the war abroad. And although the braceros entered the country legally and quickly converted the agricultural fields of America into the most productive worldwide, the treatment they received was not what they deserved. As Pauline R. Kibbe, of the University of New Mexico Press wrote in 1948:
"Generally speaking, the Latin American migratory worker... is regarded as a necessary evil_ nothing more nor less than an unavoidable adjunct to the harvest season, Judging by the treatment that has been accorded him, one might assume that he is not a human being at all, and needs no protection from the elements, and when the crop has been harvested, vanishes into the limbo of forgotten things - until the next harvest season rolls around. He has no past, no future, only a brief and anonymous present."
Today, it is not a stretch to say that undocumented workers, and those who work in the service sector, could be taken back in time and not notice a difference in attitudes. They continue to be treated with just as much indifference, and I would argue, given even less gratitude for the hard labor they endure because of their social and economic status.
Migrant workers, specifically the parents, get dismissed as role models because of their social and economic status; they are denied dignity and social standing. We cast blame at them when the economy goes bad; blame them for loss of jobs, bloated welfare rolls, runaway medical costs; and we have even voted in state referendums and initiatives to deny their children citizenship even when they are born on American soil to their undocumented parents.
If we travel even further back in time, history tells us that when the war between the United States and Mexico ended in 1848 there were close to 75,000 Mexicans living in what was formerly Mexican territory, from Texas to California. They were given a choice: return to Mexico or begin a newly defined life in the United States. If they didn't declare their choice after a year, they would automatically become citizens of the United States.
By the time California became a state in 1850, it has been well documented that there were already over 10,000 Mexicans living in California alone. Agriculture was already one of the main sources of income for the state thanks to the Mexican labor community, a group which was also responsible for the construction and maintenance of railroads, mines and ranchos during this period of transition. And yet, after the Treaty of Guadalupe had been ratified and put into effect, the California gold rush soon created conflicts between Yankees and the so-called Californios on issues of land. The state constitutional convention agreed that the remaining California Mexicans were not American citizens, and now required some further action by Congress to make them United States citizens.
The Mexican Embassy protested the treatment of California's Mexican miners-whose civil and property rights were violated-by invoking the protection of the treaty. You may have already guessed it: there would be no justice for many of those who chose to stay as United States citizens to this day.
By a twist of historical fate and geographical coincidence, my ancestral hometown lies about 60 miles from the southern tip of Texas, past the Rio Grande and into the Mexican border. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and ancestors 400 years back were all born in their homes at or near the small provincial township of Garza Gonzalez, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.
My father looked to the fields and the orchards of "El Norte" certain that if he worked hard, he would fulfill the American dream as many immigrants had before him. He crossed the Rio Grande River on the shoulders of his uncle, yes, undocumented. He would later be sponsored by a ranch boss and eventually become naturalized.
He looked to the United States in much the same way that Woodie Guthrie described in a song he wrote about John Steinbeck's novel - "The Grapes of Wrath" - A book written about the travails and hardships of a migrant family from Oklahoma fleeing the dustbowl and the ravages of the depression. One of the verses of the song reads:
"They stood on a Mountain and they looked to the West, and it looked like the promisedland. That bright green valley with a river running through, there was work for every single hand, they thought, there was work for every single hand."
For years he traveled to California, Washington, Florida and would return to Mexico for the winter and spring months.
Many from Garza Gonzalez also heard about the endless opportunities En los Estados Unidos and soon cast their fortunes to the north finding work as immigrant farm workers. They would talk of the inequality they encountered in the United States, and the mistreatment they received because of their social and cultural status. But they would also talk of the opportunities given to them by kind neighbors, new friendships they established with ranch-owners and farm bosses, how in America hope and opportunity abounded. How they would cross the border penniless and return with the hefty earnings they made during the summer and fall months "en los Estados Unidos".
As a migrant farm worker until I was 19, I can identify with those Mexican natives who were caught between two countries after the Mexican-American War. But it is not because of what you might be thinking; it was mainly because I felt a sense of privilege.
Privileged that I was fortunate to have lived half of my youth in Mexico and experienced the depth of its culture, its cities and its stunning landscapes; privileged to have been taught the beautiful Spanish language, and fortunate to learn of its history and world class golden age of cinema featuring of course, its most archetypal singer, Pedro Infante.
But I am also privileged to have been born in the United States and to have spent the other half of my youth here. I was fortunate to inherit America's richness of values, opportunity, and its spirit of justice. Privileged to grow up in a nation where freedom and responsibility have equal weight, and where the son of a farm working family can grow up to work for the President of the United States (I served in the Bush Administration as Associate Director for the Office of Public Liaison at the White House from March 2004 to January 2006).
I would not trade my dual-national experience for anything in the world. And maybe that is why the first wave of marchers was proud to raise the United States and Mexican flags. Pride. Maybe Manifest Destiny meant the expansion of the young and brash American Nation, or maybe it meant that the destiny of the Mexican people and the people of the United States would be eternally joined and appreciated by its peoples, brought together to help each other, to develop trade, increase commerce and create a mutual vision of a better world for generations to come.
Times have changed in America. Many lessons have been learned and many people have paid a heavy price in the civil rights struggles of the not to distant past. As Americans, we should be able to better understand each other. As children of two nations tempered by a one-time costly and bitter war, we were brought together by a shared history and a geography marked by God's hand. Hispanics who call the United States their home have experienced the loss of their children in the battlefields of foreign lands in defense of our common values and shared patronage. No one can say we don't belong, and that we do not love our country when we have died to defend it.
Unquestionably, America's rich diversity has played an integral part in its development, and it continues to shape our future. The stories and traditions from our past have much to tell us about our future. We must avoid angry and hurtful rhetoric; immigrants from every part of this world have earned their stake to this great country. They are those hard working, honest people who send their sons to protect this nation, who pay their taxes and give compassionately when someone is in need.
I was thought to be mindful that just because you have been at the wrong end of an injustice, that doesn't make you a better human being; of course, it certainly doesn't make you a lesser human being either. What makes you a better human being is how you react to the treatment you have experienced; what you do to make things better for others so that they don't get the same treatment. The humility borne from constant indignations and condescension can allow a person to bear for so long.
When it comes to addressing unjust and impractical laws; waiting does not solve a thing. Now is time for all Americans, including common-law Americans to make their voices heard loud and clear.
Martin Luther King once wrote "When you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading white and colored (...) When you are forever fighting a sense of nobodiness, then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait."
It is true that in many places the contributions of Hispanics and other groups were not appreciated anywhere near the level they rightfully deserve to be. It is true that many opportunities were kept from Hispanics and other groups in the past- in spite of their abilities, their skills and their talents (and it continues today).
But our grandfathers, fathers, and other fellow Hispanics believed in the vision of a great country, a compassionate country. They paid the highest price by giving their lives in fighting battlefields abroad so that others like them could take full advantage of opportunities available to other Americans today.
In short, they gave too much for us to lose hope and not continue on their aspirations and their vision for a more just and equal America. U.S. immigration policy can be a comprehensive and humane expression of law. Let's come together and call on Senators Frist and Reid to come together now and find a solution to their disagreements, there is no better time than the present.
Daniel Garza is President Hispanic, Hispanic Trends & PODER magazines
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