Dude, where's my country?

I was going to begin writing about Asperger's Syndrome today, but something else has been on my mind and my conscience will not rest until I get it out. People who know me know that I am a news junkie with very strong opinions. These opinions are not always popular (and I think I might have lost some Facebook friends over them) but if I don't put my two cents in here, I won't be able to rest.

American politics have always been crazy, and this election year is no different. Ridiculous amounts of money are being spent to produce slick advertising campaigns while politicians from the left and the right accuse one another of various wrongdoings and drag each other through the mud. Both sides claim to speak for the American people and to have our best interests at heart yet they don't seem to actually listen to us. What's bothering me now is how the divisiveness and vitriol have been increasing exponentially. Rather than setting an example for constituents, many politicians seem to be stirring the shit because they know it will bring them more votes in November. The worst tactic by far is Lee Atwater's "Southern strategy", in which the subconscious fears of white voters are exploited for political gain (Willie Horton, anyone?). Before he died, Mr. Atwater expressed deep regret over having used this strategy because of the divisiveness and negativity caused by it. But what's done is done, and as long as people harbor fear and prejudice, the Southern strategy will work, again and again.

The first deployment of this tactic this season came with Arizona's SB1070. Yes, illegal immigration is a huge problem. Yes, Mexican drug cartels are ruthless and violent, and should be stopped (though really, have you ever met a drug cartel from any place that wasn't violent?). But is it really as bad as they're saying it is? Governor Brewer alluded to headless bodies being found in the desert, while Senators Kyl and McCain echoed her assertion that Phoenix is the number two kidnapping capital of the world. "Illegals" are said to be coming to the US in droves to take advantage of medical benefits and food stamps while they steal our jobs and drop anchor baby after anchor baby. Except they're not. Statistics from the FBI and the Arizona Department of Public Safety show crime in every category decreasing steadily for the last five years. Journalists contacted every department of law enforcement in Arizona that they could find but were unable to substantiate the governor's claim that headless bodies were being found in the Arizona desert on a regular basis (or even just one, really). As for Phoenix being the "number two kidnapping capital of the world", Politifact couldn't find anyone to validate this, though they did speak to a kidnapping expert who stated that kidnapping numbers were highest in Mexico, The Phillippines, Nigeria, Honduras, and Venezuela. And according to the Census Bureau, illegal immigrants tend to have babies after they've been here a few years, with birth rates similar to citizens. As a social worker, I can tell you personally that illegal immigrants do not have access to Medicaid, food stamps, or TANF (formerly AFDC) as Health and Human Services checks citizenship as part of their intake process (indeed, even legal immigrants are often denied benefits if they haven't been here very long, plus US Citizenship and Immigration Services makes their sponsor fill out an affidavit proclaiming financial responsibility for said legal immigrant, including a promise to pay back the government any benefits the immigrant does manage to get). As for jobs, illegal immigrants pretty much take jobs we don't want. Think about it-when was the last time a computer programmer or a nurse lost their job to an "illegal"? Even then, they are lucky if they get paid. If you don't believe me, talk to a volunteer or a member of the clergy who works with Interfaith Worker Justice. It happens all the time.

You would think the facts would be enough to quell the hysteria, but it's not, especially when politicians keep spouting out untruths and rhetoric. I've worked with a lot of illegal immigrants; most of them are just here for work because the situation in their homeland is so desperate. Wouldn't you do whatever it took to feed your kids? I'd like to mention a special subset of this population that hasn't gotten too much mention, and that's women and children who are living in a domestic violence situation. After undergrad, I took a job in a shelter for battered women and children. A lot of our clients were in the U.S. illegally, and not always by choice. There's enough awareness around domestic violence that you probably know that it cuts across all racial and socioeconomic classes. You also probably know that batterers try to separate their victim from her family and friends so that they can better control her. That's exactly what had happened to these women; they had either come here willingly because their partner promised things would be better once they moved somewhere different (another common line heard by batterers), or the women had been brought here against their will. Their batterer then used their illegal status as yet another method of control: "if you call the cops they'll send you back and I'll get the kids" or "if you don't do what I say, I'll report you to immigration". Their batterers would also tell them that the police would arrest them too (and thanks to language barriers and improperly trained law enforcement, that sometimes happened). You can imagine the various ways their status was used to control them, along with the other methods of control and abuse batterers use on their victims. I knew many, many women (both illegal and citizens) who were beaten severely when they were caught using birth control to avoid having children with their batterer (so much for the anchor baby).

I could go on here about the myriad of ways illegal women face exploitation and abuse from their partners and in the workplace, but I think you get the idea. I refuse to include these women and children, or any honest illegal immigrant in the same category as Mexican drug cartels. Yes, we need a solution to illegal immigration, but the answer does not lie in demonizing innocent people who are just trying to make a better life. I know, you know someone who knows someone who knows someone that is here illegally and gets thousands of dollars in food stamps or whatever. I will admit there are always exceptions, but I would also like to invite you to consider that the story you heard about your friend of a friend might be exaggerated of erroneous after going though so many people. I would also invite you to consider that the time and money it takes to legally immigrate (one example would be my husband-he came here on a fiance visa and all in all, it took two years and thousands of dollars to accomplish) are irrelevant when you are starving and desperate. Police have already predicted that SB1070 will make their jobs more difficult, not just because they will be required to do immigration's job, but because any cooperation they may have gotten from illegal immigrants in solving crimes will all but disappear. I know this: the people who will suffer the most are immigrant women and children living in domestic violence. They were already scared to call for help; now they really won't reach out. Their blood is on Governor Brewer's hands, and everyone else who worked to pass SB1070.

"Illegals" aren't the only victims of this year's Southern strategy. What would a real Southern strategy be without African-Americans? Maybe the New Black Panther Party? I admit I hadn't even heard of that whole thing until a faithful Fox News watcher informed me. I found it intriguing that no one else had mentioned until I learned the facts and saw the video. Two African-American men standing around a polling place with nightsticks on voting day. Pretty intimidating, yes? As it turns out, not really. The neighborhood the polling place was located in was primarily African-American and the two men are well known in that neighborhood as jackasses. If you watch the video, you see people coming and going into the building and not even giving the two men a second glance. The Department of Justice (President Bush's DOJ at that) found there wasn't enough evidence to pursue a case yet somehow this is President Obama's fault. And then there's the whole Shirley Sherrod debacle, in which conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart allegedly received edited video of Ms. Sherrod addressing the NAACP and admitting to bias against a white farmer she was supposed to help as part of her current post at the USDA. Watching the entire video would've revealed that Ms. Sherrod was referencing an event from 24 years ago when she worked at Rural Development and that in the end, she helped the farmer, became friends with him and his family, and learned a valuable lesson about race relations (which was extremely relevant because, oh yeah, by the way, her father was killed by a white man who was never brought to justice). But rather than do further investigation, like watching the whole tape or interviewing Ms. Sherrod or the farmer, Breitbart gave the edited tape to Fox, who also failed in their journalistic duties to find the truth. Why would they? It confirmed "reverse racism". It didn't matter what the truth was, or that an innocent and principled woman's reputation was drug through the mud. No one questioned the source. (Breitbart, incidentally, is the mastermind behind ACORN's downfall. ACORN did good work and genuinely helped people who had no other advocates, and even though they were cleared of any wrongdoing, they didn't survive Breitbart's slander.) Not long after the Sherrod incident came the news that Charles Rangel and Maxine Waters were under investigation for ethics violations. I am never surprised when a politician is revealed to be unethical, but the first thought I had upon hearing about the charges against Rangel and Waters was "hmmm, and they both happen to be high-ranking black officials". I will suspend judgement until all the facts are out because that is the prudent thing to do, but it seems suspicious given the current political climate.

Last, but definitely not least, is the hysteria around the "Ground Zero mosque". It's not surprising that people are reacting before they get the facts; 9/11 is still a relatively fresh wound on the American psyche. Once you actually get the facts though, it seems like a non-issue. Fact: the "Ground Zero mosque" is not a mosque, but a community center with a mosque inside, which is no different than the 92nd St. Community Center that happens to have a synagogue in it, or any other community center that contains prayer space. Fact: it's not actually at Ground Zero, it's a few blocks away and can't even be seen from Ground Zero. Fact: there is another mosque nearby that has been there for almost 40 years; if they can peacefully co-exist in that location by the other churches and synagogues, why can't the new mosque? Fact: the Imam of the new mosque has close ties to President Bush, has done work with the FBI to assist them in investigations, and has even been sent by the US government (again, under Bush) as a peacekeeping liaison to Muslim communities around the world. Fact: the Imam has already changed the name of the mosque to Park 51 to emphasize the community aspect of it, and there will be an interfaith board of directors. But once again, the facts don't matter, not when American's pain and fear can be exploited for votes.

The xenophobia doesn't end there. Residents of Murfeesboro, TN are trying to block a Muslim community center/mosque from being built. The lieutenant governor of Tennessee ignorantly and maliciously called Islam a "cult". The head of the American Family Association boldly stated that no more mosques should be built in the U.S., period. And now innocent people are starting to get hurt-in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a Muslim man and his mother (who moved here from Iran to escape the violence and terror) were assaulted at a softball game after a player from the other team began yelling derogatory terms like "towel headed terrorist" and "camel jockey" at the man. Then there was the bomb placed in a mosque in Jacksonville, Florida; no one was injured, only because the bomber didn't place the bomb near enough the prayer space. Remind you of anything? Maybe the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963 that killed four African-American children?

They say terrorists hate us because of our freedoms. They want to destroy our way of life. Well, guess what? It's working. The very cornerstone of our society, religious freedom, is slipping away. Our Constitution guarantees the freedom to worship who we choose, when we choose, however we choose, or not to worship at all, if we choose, NO EXCEPTIONS. Our founders knew all too well the dangers of mixing government and religion. There are revisionists who claim we are a Christian nation. They pick and choose and edit the words of our Founders to fit their agenda, but the truth is our Founders were all radicals. Many of them were Christian, but some were Deists, some atheists, and some agnostic. Government has no place at all in our spiritual lives. Now people who claim to love our country and respect our Constitution want to take that right away from Muslim Americans? Where does it end?

People keep saying Muslims were behind 9/11, and no one is correcting them. Why? How is it fair to blame the actions of a few on an entire religion? That's like holding all Christians responsible for Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church! How about this: Salem, Massachusetts has a large Pagan community. What if they protested new churches on the grounds that Christians murdered thousands of Pagans by burning them at the stake? How do you think that would go over?

I don't recognize this America. We're supposed to be the Great Melting Pot, where people of all ethnic backgrounds and religions live together in harmony. We're supposed to be the Home of the Free, the shining example of individual liberties and human rights. When we stop reading rights to citizens because they're Muslim, the terrorists win. When we extend religious freedom to everyone except Muslims, the terrorists win. Black, white, brown, yellow, red, Christian, Pagan, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, atheist, Democrat, Republican-we are ALL Americans. If anyone is "un-American" it's those who would proclaim to love and uphold our Constitution, then try to butcher it because they don't like the people it gives rights to. These are the same people who denounce our President because he said Muslims have the right to build that mosque in Lower Manhattan. Guess what? He's doing his job. He took an oath to uphold the Constitution, no matter what.

America is having an identity crisis, it would seem. I think we need to ask ourselves if this is who want to be. Do we want to deny rights to a fellow citizen because we don't like their religion or their color? Do we want to be us against them? I don't. Think about it carefully: who benefits from a divided nation? While we're busy quarreling amongst ourselves about whether or not all Muslims or terrorists or all illegal immigrants are drug-dealing babymakers who get food stamps unlawfully or African-Americans are all "reverse racists" who hate white people, what do you think is going on? The important discussions-about our economy, our jobs, our rights being infringed upon by people who think the Constitution says church and state have no wall of separation, who want to make the middle and working classes pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans-are not being had. The people in power are distracting us from the important things. They're exploiting our fear and uncertainty. I'm not biting. I will not hate my black neighbors. I will not scapegoat people who come here, legally or not, for a better life. I will not support denying another's right to worship. We need to stand together. We need to find solutions to our problems together. I refuse to take part in the us vs. them paradigm. The crap I see on the news is heartbreaking and outrageous and wrong, just wrong. I want no part of it. What's your decision? Are you proud of it? Is it honorable? I am just one person. You might think I'm stupid, you might disagree with me, you might decide I'm with "them" (whoever that is), you might think my opinion doesn't matter. Maybe it doesn't. But my conscience does not allow for silence when I see wrongdoing. So tonight I will sleep well. And hopefully tomorrow will be a different day, with more acceptance and more peace than today. How about you? How will you sleep?