Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Not Human: A label

       

There are those who would blame my very nature for undermining the foundation that binds people together as a community.  To make matters worse, they would continue, the ease of travel and communication, let’s say, through this blog, exponentially increase my chances of weakening the US national identity.  According to Edwards (2007), the fact that I am an immigrant with dual citizenship and access to Internet makes me a tool just as destructive for the US patriotic commitment as, let’s say, our last President’s middle name.  Can you hear the rumbling in the fabric of the world?  You must then be listening to Bill O’Reilly and Lou Dobbs drone —pun intended— about immigration and its push for “wiping out the ‘white privilege’” and replacing it with “the browning of America” (Holland, 2010, p. 193).  In their attempt to promulgate fear and to promise to “keep the American people safe,” the paternalistic tone of the news media reinforces the prejudicial ideal that immigration is a threat to the American way of life, seemingly legitimizing exclusion and racism.  The current U.S. political affairs and the president immigration policies give us plenty food for thought on its roots and where we are heading as a powerful —using the adjective widely— nation within an increasingly interconnected world.
Those perceptions, held primarily among television pundits and social conservatives, have undermined significantly specific human rights for those excluded from the legislations; namely, the undocumented migrants.  They have used immigration as a wedge issue for political gain, a means to manipulate public opinion through fear and the obsession with national security, reinforcing cultural hegemony.  The manipulative portrayal of the immigration as a threat to the status quo and the depiction of refugees as lazy or marauders at best, and terrorists at worst undermines the humanity of the individual person and marginalizes a significant part of the world.  In turn, myths and misconceptions have appeared based on the spread ignorance on the causes of immigration.  This distorted perception of the processes of immigration blame the victim, leaving behind the complex social, economic, political, and historic phenomenon that propels immigration influx from the developing to the developed countries.  In most instances, Immigration is the result of “the ravages of this unforgiving global capitalism” (Olivos, 2012).  It is not merely a personal or legal matter.  In case you do not know it already, immigration comes as a last resort to the majority of us.  The large majority of immigrants and refugee come from nations where there are legitimate reasons to flee. Besides, these demographic movements are not new to the 21st century and it will behooves us all if we can keep this in mind.
We can agree that the balance between effective immigration legislation and the immigrants’ rights is not meant for any chicken Soup reading.  However, we do have a responsibility to check our sources and be informed. Is this not the ultimate goal of living the technology and information age?  Doha developments rounds, G8 summits, and/or any other political efforts have to date been barren to propel the world’s economy and help the marginalized poor.  On the contrary, it has proposed dysfunctional policies conducive to exclusion and the tightening of the borders (for example,

Directive on return of illegal immigrants and the end of Schengen agreement in Europe), the increase of anti-immigration policies throughout Europe and in the US, the lack of coverage of 25.000 refugees and immigrants deaths at sea or the current situation in Mosul, etc.  A search in Google with the words “illegal immigration” leads to countless depictions of dehumanized identities.  Immigration is obviously not a neutral position on social justice issues.  It caters to people’s emotions, especially with fear-arousing messages as the preferable method of communication.  I believe it is imperative today more than ever to have a conscientious and calm public dialogue aiming to bridge our differences and modeling for our kids the skills to reach consensus, to cooperate in improving our society at home and thousands miles away.  This said, information is the key.
Ten years ago, after dinner with my husband’s family, the discussion turned to politics, voting, and social responsibilities of citizens of the United States.  Broaching my own, let’s say “enthusiastic” opinion on these issues, a relative interceded: “but don’t worry, you’re not human.”  In a Freudian moment, attention was inadvertently called to my “nonhuman” status, referring to the fact that I was not a US citizen, yet. 
           Jokes aside, the throwing of scaring words, such as invasion and illegal in the same sentences as national security has long become a sort of national sport.  The rules are to throw them repeatedly in successive tweets stepping over objective journalism in orchestrated efforts to arouse the readers’ fear until it reshapes how we think.  Even the accidental substitution of ‘human’ for ‘citizen’ illustrates the underlying feeling of separation that many in America feel for those who are not blessed with the lucky geographical birth within a more prosperous border.  There is a need to challenge the cultural hegemony underlying public discourse.  As Young (2007) argued, “the moral right to limit immigration is little different from the preservation of feudal privilege” (p. 30). 

References
Edwards, J. (2007).  The 50% American: Immigration and national identity in an age of terror. Political psychology, 28(4), 501-505. Doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9221.2007.00584.X
Holland, J. (2010). The fifteen biggest lies about the economy. Hoboken, NJ.: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Young, I. M. (2007). Global challenges: War, self-determination and responsibility for justice. Malden, MA.: Polity Press.
Olivos, E. (2012). Teaching and learning about immigration as a humanitarian issue: The sociopolitical context bottleneck. In Gorski, Zenkov, Osei-Kofi, & Sapp (Eds.), Cultivating social justice teachers. Sterling, VA.: Stylus

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