For this blog post, I am going to focus on 9500 Liberty, since I believe it gave me a better understanding of immigration than The Guardians did.
I don't even know where to begin. The movie 9500 Liberty is the story of Prince William County in Virginia, and their xenophobia that hit is peak in 2007-8, due to the large number of Latino immigrants that moved to their county for jobs. The people of the county, especially in the city of Manassas, began to become paranoid as to the new faces, and the documentary, which began as a series of Youtube clips, showcased the goings-on of the hatred.
One of the main perpetrators of the xenophobia was a man named Greg Letiecq, who started bvbl, a blog that contains comments of the nasty sort, directed at the so-called “illegal aliens.” With his blog, which is still somehow online, he incited hatred among the residents of the county, and helped push forward the first “probable cause” ordinance that gave the police of the county the right to check the legal status of anyone they believed was not a legal resident of the United States. In other words, Letiecq helped the county of Prince William take away the freedom and safety of the county, and instill fear in its citizens.
The cost of the ordinance was heavy for the county, as many of the Latinos/as, whether they were legal or not, left, and the economy plummeted. One of the main points of the documentary, in my opinion, was to show the after effects of such a controversial piece of legislation. The county was virtually split down the middle: people who supported the ordinance vs. people who vehemently opposed it.
I had a conversation with a fellow student after the movie, and we discussed not only the movie, but the farther reaching implications of what this (the actions of the people of Prince William county) kind of xenophobia is doing to our country. Throughout the movie, the white non-Hispanic citizens of the county continuously called all of the Latinos/as in the county illegal aliens, and some even referred to all of them as illegal Mexicans. This is not as surprising to me as I think it should be. Even around here in Goshen, people call all Latinos/as “Mexican,” and often blame them for the problems and hardships of the county. On a broader scope, in the recent past, Arizona passed SB 1070 which is exactly the same type of legislation that was passed in Prince William: if the police have “probable cause” to ask for legal status, they can. No questions asked. To me, this reeks of racial profiling, and no Latino/a, legal or no, is safe.
Rereading this blog post, I noticed that I am quite a bit negative, and not very forgiving with much of what is happening in our country when it comes to immigration, or Greg Letiecq. There are a few things I want to mention. I don't think that people should come into this country illegally. However, I think that when people do cross the border illegally, they are doing it because they want a better life for their families: how can I be mad at that? If I was in the same situation, I would risk the US government, the coyotes, the desert, and the hardships of life here to provide for my family. That's life, and like one of the men in the movie said, we are all human beings, and we should all be treated like human beings. Equality shouldn't just be for the citizens and residents of the US. It should be liberty and justice for all.
Rikki, I really appreciated both your gut, emotional reactions to the movie as well as your last paragraph. I guess that we ought to be able to tell when an issue is really important to people by how intensely they immediately respond to it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with much of what you say in the last paragraph. But thinking about what you said more made me think about a lot of questions...
What do you think should happen if people cross illegally? Should the US government send them back to their home countries? Should the government put them in jail? (Are they even criminals, like Greg Letiecq and others in the video claimed?) Should the government leave them alone once they've gotten into the country and allow them to stay indefinitely--eventually gaining their citizenship, maybe? Should the government's role only be in preventing them from coming across the border and not sending them back once they've crossed?
Your blog post made me think about how I was thinking about this movie and I realized that I am pretty biased against Greg and his supporters. To me though the issue that I really don’t think was handled well was how they were going about finding illegal immigrants, to racially profile people is not right and as this movie shows can divide a community very easily. The police and the Board were trying to find illegal immigrants, which they have a right to do, however the probable cause in the law was not the best way to do this to ensure fair and equal treatment of the community members.
ReplyDeleteRikki,
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your willingness to analyze your conflicted feelings in your blog post. This shows me that you have been wrestling with this issue for a little while; this is a good thing.
The last part of your blog "It should be liberty and justice for all" stood out to me because I finished reading "The Devil's Highway" last night and read that each undocumented worker who tries to cross the border, costs the government or the hospitals $55,000 a piece. Reading statistics like this pull me in two directions: on the one hand I do not want anyone to die because of heat exhaustion and the fact that they want a better life for their family, but on the other hand I do not want the government or hospital to foot the bill. In regards to your "liberty and justice for all" statement, I am troubled by this. If we truly want liberty and justice for all, why can't the government spend money ($55k), on poor individuals in this country who try to make ends meet each week for their family?
I do not mean to be insensitive to the issues of Latinos, but it saddens me that many people who were born here, are poor themselves, and are taxpayers have to be partially responsible for paying for the care of undocumented workers in hospitals.
As a reminder, I want to say that "liberty and justice for all" also means Americans in this country. Let's not forget those who suffer here in the U.S., too. In some places in the country, Americans are worse off than some illegal immigrants who try to cross the border each day.
Rikki, I also have a really hard time having compassion for those who scheme against he livelihood of Latinos. Hearing many of the angry and emotional words spoken in this movie made me, well, angry and emotional.
ReplyDeleteIt angers me even more the way that different industries game the system. They realize that they are dependent on Latino. Many company's have even helped bring people over here. However, they will never get behind providing legal means to do so. A person with a work visa doesn't need to live in the shadows. They can complain if they are ill treated or underpayed.
This country is fantastic at supporting it's infrastructure and agriculture with cheap labor. Migrant workers have - for decades - filled the roles that slaves once held. If the United States is really a country that seeks "liberty and justice for all," it's time that they - for once in their history - walk the walk.
Rikki, I really appreciate the honesty you show in that last paragraph, evaluating your own response to the issue. I agree, it is extremely difficult to not be negative without any caveats towards people like Letiecq. However, as you say, there are also legitimate concerns about doing things illegally. While I do think that that needs to be addressed, I don't think it's being done in the right way currently, and I also believe that it is horrible to allow racial stereotypes to define a "negative impact" on a community. Just because you don't like someone else's music style or car choice doesn't mean they can't live near you.
ReplyDeleteI can tell from your post that this film really drew you into deep conversation and that you're wrestling with the issues. You do a great job of reaching beyond your initial reaction--"people shouldn't enter the country illegally"--to "they are only looking for a better life and if I were in their shoes I would do the same." This doesn't solve the problem of either illegal immigration or of the ignorance of much of the American public about the real nature of the problem. But efforts to understand, such as yours, are what we need more of. Then we could talk to each other instead of shouting.
ReplyDelete