Maureen Lane
Learning from Students on Immigration
Andrew Friedman's blog Monday is an important heads up. He notes we shouldn't let our outrage at HR 4437 and its radical disconnect to civil rights, immigrants' rights and human rights mesmerize us into complacency. Just because we cannot believe that the House bill will pass, does not mean we don't need to act strongly to stop the milder Senate versions as well.
These proposals affect people. Policy and law is what we, as a society, decide is acceptable behavior.
We have many students in Welfare Rights Initiative (WRI) who are immigrants. This past Tuesday, the class gave their creative presentations. They were an informative and outstanding integration of what they learned in the class this year. One student used power point to present on HR 4437. Talking about the changes the bill would make, the student stopped to note that undocumented people would not be allowed in public places. A pain came through in their voice that resonated in all of us in the room. The student said they had family members who do not have their green cards and that the separation of children and parents would be unbearable. In the Congressional versions of the immigration bills, Andrew Friedman mentions that families will be criminalized for helping each other.
The WRI student brought the proposed federal legislation to stunning reality. Not only do we need to stop the bills from going through. We need to have a public dialogue to bring us collectively to a clear understanding of where we are going as a country with civil rights, human rights and immigrants' rights. We want to get to solutions that promote a livable present and support the enriched future our dynamic diversity demands. What we have coming at us now is unacceptable.
Posted at 12:37 PM, May 11, 2006 in Education | Immigration | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Comments
Although I am against HR 4437, I haven't stopped to fully think about the repurcussions of these bills being passed. It's eye-opening to read about people's personal stories and how the bills will affect even the simplest thing such as being out in public with their families.
Posted by: JRO | May 23, 2006 02:24 PM
jro
thank you for your comments. as you note,an important aspect of policy-making is the impact for people on the frontlines. impact must be gauged by hearing the voices of people and families immediately affected. community change for the better comes alive when information and firsthand experience leads to policy solutions that are dynamic and coherent. democratic ploicy-making insists we connect on deeply felt beliefs and values through the wisdom of the people from the community. this takes time. too often politically driven policy-making is hurried through without important but maybe less politically potent considerations illuminated. what do you think?
Posted by: maureen | May 23, 2006 07:41 PM