Oscar Rayo

Renata Soto: "Our nation cannot afford to waste Oscar’s potential"

Overton High School senior Oscar Rayo won the My Latino Roots, My American Dream contest sponsored by Conexion Americas last fall. In his essay, he describes his journey to the U.S., the challenges he faces here, and his dream of a voice for unvisaed immigrants.

The essay is reproduced below, in full, inside Renata Soto's speech about MLK and Latinos in America, which she delivered January 14 at Maryville College.

What makes this week the perfect one for reading Renata's speech and Oscar's winning essay?

Yesterday was National Coming Out Day, which launched a week-long “coming out” of undocumented youth across the country.


A week from Sunday is March for America, in which thousands will go to Washington, D.C. to demand good jobs and full citizenship for all of America’s families.


This week was International Women's Day, and it was Conexion America's Renata Soto who eloquently matched up Rayo's award-winning story to the narrative of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the address she gave to Maryville College on January 14, 2010.

January 14 speech by Renata Soto at Maryville College, with full text of Oscar Rayo essay

As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I celebrate my African ancestors and their rich legacy so evident in our Latin American culture, music, art and way of life.

I also celebrate the presence and contributions of black Latinos to the local community and reflect on the struggles of African Americans here in my adopted home. While our histories are different --we came here by choice not by force--what it is common and shared in both stories is the desire for human dignity, the desire to fulfill the ideals of justice for all. We are reminded that we must deepen and strengthen the ties that bind our communities to make sure all children have access to a quality education, all neighborhoods are thriving and healthy, and all families are economically stable.

The Latino experience in the south is only understood if we are willing to understand the journey the most take to come here. It is a story of immigration. If we were in Texas or California, where the Latino community has a long historical presence, the topic of immigration would still be an important dimension but not the only one.

We cannot talk about Latinos in Tennessee without talking about immigration policy. We cannot have an honest conversation about Latinos and civil rights without talking about immigration policy.

Fifteen years ago when I started my nonprofit career working with Latinos in Atlanta, GA, I accepted as mine the challenge that Dr. King posted to all of us from a Birmingham jail when he wrote:

We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.

And that is why in the message that I bring to you today, I bring you the voice of Oscar. Oscar wrote the winning essay of Conexión Américas’ Essay Contest for Young Writers, an activity we host during our celebrations of Hispanic Heritage Month. The theme that high school students were asked to address was “Mis raices hispanas, mi sueño americano” (“My Hispanic Roots, My American Dream”). This is what Oscar wrote:

Essay by Oscar Rayo

My name is Oscar. I am 17 years old and I am in the 12th grade at John Overton High School in Nashville, TN. Five years ago, I left a poor town in Guerrero, Mexico, along with my father and brother to come to Nashville.

When I came to the United Sates, I brought with me a bag full of memories and dreams. The idea of having a better life and a better education filled my heart with joy and aspirations. Now that I am in the land of opportunity, those dreams and aspirations have become something different: goals.

The journey to the United States was very difficult. I had seen in the news that people died in the dessert, dehydrated or lost. I also had heard of people who had drowned in the river, who had lost their arms or legs, or that simply no one ever knew what had happened to them. All of that was very frightening, but the desire to see my family gave me strength to take the risk.

My father had decided that we would come in December to enjoy Christmas with my mother and sisters, who were already here.

The journey started in Ciudad Juarez. We along a group of people crossed the Rio Bravo in a boat in the morning. By night we were walking through the dessert, which was cold, even colder for our wet bodies.

We walked for seven hours through the dessert. We stopped every hour to drink some water and to rest a little. The one thing my father, brother and I did was to hold hands so we would not get lost or lose each other. Finally, we got to a highway, where a truck was waiting for us. We arrived to Houston, Texas, where some relatives picked us up and then brought us to Tennessee.

My experience here in the United States, like for millions of immigrants, has not been easy. The time I have lived here has taught me the meaning of perseverance. When I see my parents and sisters come back from work exhausted, it makes me think about all their efforts so that my brother and I can go to school.

My dream is to be able to go to college. I consider myself a good student, smart, diligent, dedicated and hard-working. I would like to go to college so that one day I can earn enough money to bring here my oldest brother, who is disabled. The left side of his body is partially paralyzed.

I also would like to go to college so that I can become someone my parents would be proud of.

My dream is to study accounting, although I am interested in many other things, such as history, mathematics and engineering. If I study accounting, I could manage my family’s finances. That is important because in difficult times like these, there are many families who are losing their homes. I would like to help those families.

One of my greatest dreams is that one day my voice, and the voices of my parents, of my siblings and of other 20 million immigrants, would be heard.

It is very sad to see that the nation for which we break our backs working, whose customs we have adopted, and whose tragedies we suffer as ours, does not accept us. We are not here to bother anyone. All we are looking for is the opportunity for a better life for us here and for our relatives back home.

Life as an immigrant is hard. We experience abuses, discrimination and many other injustices. The worst of all is that people do not report those abuses; they prefer to remain silent out fear of retaliation. Being an immigrant is like being invisible, voiceless, powerless. We live in constant fear of the possibilities of being detained and sent back home.

Every day when I come home from school, there is uncertainty for me. When I open the door, I don’t know whether I will find my parents and siblings. Every time when I see my parents coming back from work I turn to heaven and say “Gracias, Dios mio” (thank you, my God).

I don’t know what will happen if one day I make it home but the rest of family doesn’t.

My dream is that one day that separation of families will no longer be a threat and that something will be done so that I don’t have to live in constant fear.

I hope that someday something will be done so that immigrants don’t have to risk their lives or be separated from their families.

I also hope that I, and millions of Latino students, will have the opportunity to go to college so that we can become good, productive citizens.

Finalmente, espero que la voz de los inmigrantes sea escuchada y dejemos de vivir en las sombras.

And finally, I hope that one day the voice of immigrants will be heard and we will no longer have to live in the shadows.

(Soto speech, cont.)

Oscar is a very courageous young man. His essay, so open and honest, is a window to the obstacles and opportunities Latinos face.

In the occasion of this week’s celebrations of the life and legacy of Dr. King, I would like to reflect on Oscar’s 2009 essay through the lens of a few passages from Dr. King’s LETTER FROM BIRMINGHAM JAIL, written in 1963.

Dr. King told us that

Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds.

Yet today, Oscar lives in fear and feels he is voiceless, powerless. Not even an outsider, Oscar sees himself as “invisible.”

Oscar writes that the journey to come to this country was very frightening, but that the desire to see his mother and sisters gave him strength to take the risk, just like the desire of his parents to provide him with a better future left them with no choice but take the family up north. Even if there was not a legal path to get there.

Dr. King argued that “there are two types of laws: just and unjust.” He writes

I would be the first to advocate obeying just laws. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.

He continues:

Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.

While Oscar’s parents were disobeying the US immigration laws when they decided to come here, they were also pursuing their moral responsibility and their basic human right to work with dignity, to be fairly compensated for that work, and to provide food and shelter and meet the basic needs of their children.

While there are factors that push Oscar’s family away from Mexico, there are also undeniable realities that pull them to come the US. The problem is those social and economic realities –here and there-- are not reflected in an outdated immigration system that welcomes them but almost as second-class citizens, an outdated immigration system that degrades their humanity: in the way it forces them to come here, in the way that exposes them to exploitation once working here, and in the way that isolates them from community life. This isolation is painfully real as Oscar reflects in his closing paragraph:

I hope that one day the voice of immigrants will be heard and we will no longer have to live in the shadows.

Now, I know this is a nation of laws, and the rule of law is one of the greatest foundations upon which this country is built. So what part of “illegal” don’t I understand? some of you may be asking.

I will add that, this is not simply a nation of laws…this is a nation of just laws. It is in that aspiration of “justice for all” that lays that strength of this great nation.

Dr. King wrote

In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law […] That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty.

I cannot think of a more open defiance of the injustices of poverty and of the forces of nature than the journey one takes to cross the Rio Bravo. I know there is only love in the heart of Oscar’s parents when they decide to go north to pursue a better quality of life. And I know there is unquestionable willingness to accept the highest penalty when Oscar, his siblings and parents risk their lives and leave everything they know behind for the opportunity of a fresh start.

But still, you are asking, should we grant Oscar and his family the civil rights the rest of us rightfully enjoy?

The sanctity of civil rights in this country lies in the rights themselves, not the individuals they protect. When we relax those rights for anyone, we all suffer a profound loss. This concept was explained recently by the federal judge who struck down the anti-immigrant ordinances passed in Hazelton, PA. In his 206 page opinion, Judge Munley concluded,

The genius of our Constitution is that it provides rights even to those who evoke the least sympathy from the general public. In that way, all in this nation can be confident of equal justice under its laws...We cannot say clearly enough that persons who enter this country without legal authorization are not stripped immediately of all their rights because of this single act … The United States Supreme Court has consistently interpreted [the 14th Amendment] to apply to all people present in the United States, whether they were born here, immigrated here through legal means, or violated federal law to enter the country.

So I hear you saying, but why didn’t Oscar’s parents just wait in line for their turn to apply for a visa to come here? The simple reality is that there is no line for people like Oscar and his family. There is no line.

And to those of you who will insist Oscar’s parents should have waited until a legal path was open, I will share with you Dr. King’s words of impatience with…

...who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

Oscar and his parents could not have followed our timetable. They couldn’t sit and wait in despair and hopelessness for signs of courage from our leaders in congress to change our immigration system when –if ever- it appears politically convenient.

No one disputes that countries have a right to control their borders and who comes in. But sovereign responsibility needs to be balanced with a basic human right for people to have a home country, and a reasonable freedom to move to another country where one can better fulfill their god-given potential. Unfortunately, our current immigration system does not provide legal avenues for many of the immigrants like Oscar’s parents who come to make a better life here, and who work hard to contribute to our collective future, even if we don’t recognize it.

Unfortunately, when we refuse to change outdated laws and criminalize workers for their work, we don’t make immigrant workers less necessary to our economic vitality. We don’t change the underlying reasons why immigrants seek a life here. We simply make them more vulnerable to exploitation. And we make them retreat to further isolation out of fears of deportation if they try to protect themselves legally.

Remember the words from Oscar: We experience abuses, discrimination and many other injustices. The worst of all is that people do not report those abuses; they prefer to remain silent out fear of retaliation.

As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. King, and remind ourselves of the basic rights and freedoms we all share, it is imperative that we reexamine our national immigration system and ensure that people have a reasonable opportunity to come to this country through a safe, legal, and orderly process, to work and improve their lives with dignity and respect, and to live under the full protection of our laws.

As we answer Dr. King’s call for action, I leave you with words of Oscar, a simple but profound message:

One of my greatest dreams is that one day my voice, and the voices of my parents, of my siblings and of other 20 million immigrants, would be heard.

Please, listen to Oscar.

Our nation cannot afford to waste Oscar’s potential.

Our nation cannot be deprived of what he has to offer and of what he can become.

He represents the immigrant story that has built this country in the past, and he is also our future.

Labels: immigrants, justice

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Opening reception is 6-8 p.m. Friday

Yances immigrated to Nashville with his family when he was 13 and has a bio at the web site of the Metro Arts Commission here. He was profiled by the Nashville City Paper here in 2006. According to that profile,

[t]he Brentwood resident has sold more than 100,000 of his original works, received a commission from Walt Disney World, swept award shows by capturing first place awards and headlined major art shows in Las Vegas and Washington D.C.

Yances and his wife Pilar Arrieta are the former owners of the Palette Gallery and Café in Hillsboro Village. Yances' son Jorge Arrieta is a Nashville artist in his own right.

Labels: arts, colombia, events, immigrants

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Scene reports on the status of the DREAM Act

The Nashville Scene recently reported on "Oscar," a Nashville high school student with the kind of immigration problem that can get him deported, and the DREAM Act, the kind of legislation that can fully integrate him into American society.

I recently met Oscar at a conference, and his leadership in one of the sessions impressed me. I found out afterwards about his immigration problem. It crushed me. The same thing had happened to me over and over again when my family and I attended the Primera Iglesia Bautista on Murfreesboro Road, when people I knew for months would come up to me about their own immigration problems once word got to them that I was a lawyer.

The sad reality was (and is) that there are few immigration problems that can be fixed. It's a dead end, for the most part.

Dedicated youth like Oscar who have no individual culpability for the fact that they don't have a visa deserve at least one chance to earn legal status. Many already demonstrate personal responsibility in the circumstances they can control, like their studies, and as in Oscar's case, in extracurricular activities as well, where leadership skills flourish. The DREAM Act would verify that these students have kept their noses clean and done everything that's been expected of them through the end of high school, and grant them legal status. It would no longer be a dead end.

Instead of wasting the beneficial America-child relationship that has been developing throughout their young lives, we should be realizing that these young immigrants are already assets - already "us" - and make sure our laws see them that way.

The DREAM Act is a wonderful start. The Scene story has more details about the law and about students like Oscar. Aunt B. also has an August post entitled "Kids Who Need the Dream Act," among others.

Getting the DREAM Act passed

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper told the Scene that a lot more work is needed to make the DREAM Act a reality:

"Right now the DREAM Act is a dream," he tells the Scene flatly. "And to turn that into reality is going to take a whole lot more work than anybody has put in so far."
...
Cooper adds that even if the DREAM Act passed in Congress, the Tennessee legislature would have to green-light portions of the legislation, mainly the question of whether to allow in-state tuition to undocumented students.

Well, at least one form of work to make the DREAM Act a reality is to contact our represented officials. Contact your U.S. representative at writerep.house.gov, and contact your U.S. senators at alexander.senate.gov and corker.senate.gov. (Remind Alexander and Corker that Republican Senator Orrin Hatch and Republican Senator Richard Lugar have been sponsors.)

In the House, Representative Steve Cohen is already a sponsor.

Labels: education, immigrants, justice

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Journalists, politicians, and anyone interested in politics, take note.

On Sunday, Chas Sisk's top-of-the-fold Tennessean cover story on business tax amnesty demonstrated how to describe unlawful behavior without using the noun or adjective "illegal" to describe the lawbreaker.

The word choices to describe the people who had violated the law were simple: "businesses," "companies," "people," "businesspeople," and "owners."

Only two terms in the article turned the lawless behavior into a noun or adjective that described the offender: "scofflaws" and "noncompliant businesses." These terms were used half as frequently as the generic terms such as "businesses" and "people." The term "illegal" doesn't appear once.

If the standard for Americans who break the law is to predominantly use terms like "businesses" and "people," then it's slanted to commonly describe foreigners who break the law as "illegal" or "undocumented," and picking one word over the other can't make the descriptions any more accurate or any less unequal.

As I said last month, how we handle our words when we describe foreigners is a moral issue. If we tend to avoid certain words (like "illegal") when we describe an American who breaks the law, we mustn't favor that vocabulary when it's a foreigner who breaks the law. Being even-handed in our criticism of Americans and foreigners is about being morally, not politically, correct.

For a run-down of the Tennessean article's exact word choice, see here.

See also: Elizabeth Wright is pro-amnesty and Even tax collectors want to make compliance easy.

Labels: immigrants, justice

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I frequently commemorate holidays on this web site by posting a Bible passage, so posting the cartoon above that cracks a joke about the gift-giving of the magi seems like a 180 from that, and possibly offensive to some. But today is Christmas, material gifts were given on the first Christmas, materials gifts will be given to my children and family today (including some last night), and material gifts were given earlier this month to kids in families with immigration problems in news that was so outstanding that I believe today - Christmas - is the right time for a follow-up.

To recap, earlier this month, I posted about a Tennessean story describing kids being turned away from Christmas toy charity programs because of the immigration status of their parents, and about the subsequent outpouring of Nashville generosity to find toys for those kids.

This follow-up is to mention the efforts of local writer Betsy Phillips and also the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, who demonstrated wisdom in their generosity this Christmas season. Their efforts reveal the wisdom and generosity of many others, also named below.

Betsy Phillips (lifting up Houston reversals, Tom Grimaldi, Catholic Charities, Metro Social Services, El Crucero, and the West Nashville United Methodist Church)

Nashville writer Betsy Phillips blogs as "Aunt B." at Tiny Cat Pants and in her own name at the Nashville Scene's Pith in the Wind. Phillips' multiple posts on the toys-not-for-those-tots controversy reached her sizable audience, from her initial post on the national story before it became a Nashville story:

But, in what I count as a Christmas Miracle, both the Salvation Army and the Houston Fire Department seem to have recently “clarified” their policy and children in the same circumstances as Jesus was will no longer be turned away.

...to her Sunday School lesson for the charities turning kids away, on the Nashville Scene blog:

It does take an act of God to get people to act decently toward each other.

...to her praise for Tom Grimaldi and others who were the focus of the Tennessean story on the people who contacted the newspaper to give gifts:

These are the folks next year who should get to be the Grand Marshalls of the city’s Christmas Parade.

...to her call to the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition for ideas on where people could send toys to these kids:

I have talked to TIRRC about whether they know of charities that don’t discriminate based on immigration status. They will be getting back to me. I will share what I know when I know it.

...to her reporting back on agencies giving gifts to children regardless of immigration status:

Catholic Charities
Metro Social Services
El Crucero
The Lay Pastor for Integrative Ministries at the West Nashville United Methodist Church (they also could use some volunteer help this weekend, if you’re bilingual).

As these posts demonstrate, Phillips readily and generously employs her passionate writing to shed light not only on the plights of immigrants but also on the boneheadedness or kindheartedness of their hosts, whichever the case may be.

Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

The Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce also organized a toy drive for children regardless of immigration status. The event attracted the rare bipartisan support of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats and the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Tennessee, and news of the drive was picked up by NewsChannel5. That report was then picked up by the national blog LatinaLista.

Over 200 children enjoyed toys, hot chocolate, food, singing, and time with Santa. The chamber posted photos of the event here.

"Merry Christmas to all."

Photo by Terry Hart. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: faith, immigrants

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Criticism not applied to Americans, and not specific

The importance of a name

Whether the word "illegal" is an appropriate way to describe someone with an immigration problem is the subject of debate again.

On Tuesday, USA Today prominently used the term "illegal students" in an otherwise informative article about students trapped in their immigration status, and Change.org organized a petition in protest. I think it's important to sign the Change.org petition, even though I would quibble with its wording.

The use of "illegal" as an adjective or a noun has bothered me for a while. In October, 2006, a reader-inspired fake ad campaign (sample above) pointed out the ethical problem of how Americans break the law but never call ourselves "illegal." One of my January 2007 posts called out the Tennessean when it used the word "illegal" as a noun in a headline, a practice which the National Association of Hispanic Journalists said they are "particularly troubled" by. In October of this year, Kleinheider noticed my use of the term "visaless" in one of my stories about the Baby Yair case, in which the State wouldn't turn over a rescued baby to family members on the grounds of their immigration status.

Name-calling is easy when the name can't apply to you

When a label is a criticism, it's ethically important for the label to be one that could apply to the person making the criticism.

We all know we don't use "illegal" in the same way when we describe Americans with other legal problems. I remember seeing "illegal" used as a noun in an ABC News headline recently, so on a lark I just searched Google News for all ABC News stories using the word "illegal" in a headline. I went through ten pages of results, and there wasn't a single reference to an American lawbreaker. There were a few references to illegal conduct by Americans outside the context of immigration, but no use of the word "illegal" to describe the American person or people in the story.

A Google search revealed some reference to "visaless" in reference to Americans traveling abroad without permission, so that gives the label greater credibility as one that could be used in reference to foreign citizens who are traveling or living abroad (here) without permission.

The words "internationals" or "expatriates" are other words that are more often used to describe Americans abroad that could be adopted into our vocabulary of describing foreign citizens here.

Be specific

In describing the status of someone with immigration problems, "visaless" and/or "unvisaed" are also more specific than "illegal" or even "undocumented" or "unauthorized," because it's the lack of a visa that more specifically describes people without immigration status. Most visaless people usually are in possession of whatever documents the government allows them to have - you've never seen a visaless immigrant driving without a license plate, have you? And until the change in TN law, unvisaed immigrants had drivers' licenses, which made the concept of a driver who is legally licensed but still referred to as "undocumented" even more clearly nonsensical.

If you search the web for "unvisaed" you don't see the term used much here in the U.S., except by me in the pages of HispanicNashville.com - but it's a commonly used term in Australia. As mentioned above, "visaless" is an even more common term. Both are reasonable alternatives.

And just to be clear on two points: First, figuring out what word to use is not the same thing as figuring out or making a statement on what immigration law is or how people should act in regard to immigration law. Second, I use and have used a variety of terms to describe problematic immigration status (including the less favored ones described here), so my point in this post is not to force or prohibit the use of one term or another, but to encourage the use of the best possible terms.

"I have called you by your name"

Along those lines of encouraging the use of the best possible terms, and all this having been said, it's worth remembering that the best label for someone is their name.

Some people like to joke that those of us who resist the term "illegal" would call a thief in our homes an "undocumented explorer" or something like that. In response to that kind of joke, and putting aside for a moment the fact that they wouldn't use the term "illegal thief" either, my thought is that if someone is living and working in your house and getting paid for that work for a number of years, it's you that's out of place if you're calling them anything other than their name.

The importance of a name was eloquently invoked by Phil Bennett of Belmont Church in his recent post, "His name is James." I encourage you to read Phil's full post here. In the comments, Becky Nickins drove the point home for Christians:

"I have called you by your name; you are Mine”
Is. 43:1

Labels: immigrants, justice

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The award-winning Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition (TIRRC) holds its seventh annual Membership Convention this Saturday, December 12 at the Hotel Preston Convention Center on Briley Parkway:

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together"

- Desmond Tutu
The TIRRC Convention is our biggest annual event where we come together as TIRRC staff, volunteers, supporters and member organizations to reflect upon the year, think strategically about 2010, and celebrate together as an immigrant rights movement. There will be some amazing workshops and trainings for individuals and organizations alike, as well as a Cultural Celebration Dinner to end the day!

When: Saturday, Dec. 12th from 9:30-5:00pm

Where: Hotel Preston Convention Center, 733 Briley Parkway, Nashville TN

REGISTER TODAY

Click here for stories on previous TIRRC conventions.

Labels: events, immigrants, TIRRC convention

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"Rosa" character and her husband are joined by a cast of cowboys, Santa Claus, the Border Patrol and an angel

Holland most recently starred in "The Nashville Monologues"

Diana Holland, of Tango Nashville and Hispanic Link Consulting, will be starring in the Groundworks Theatre production "Christmas on the Pecos" December 4-20 at Darkhorse Theater in Nashville. Showtimes are Tue/Thu/Fri/Sat at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2:30pm. Admission is $15 Adults, $12 Students/Seniors, and $10 Tuesdays.

The story of "Christmas on the Pecos" is described in the official synopsis:

GroundWorks Theatre presents the gentle comedy, "Christmas on the Pecos," written by company founder Robert A. O'Connell. On Christmas Eve, two modern cowboys, sheltering from a storm, find themselves host to a couple seeking protection from the storm and the law. The arrival of Angel Vasquez and Rosa, his very pregnant wife, is soon followed by a man who thinks he just might be Santa Claus, two members of the U.S. Border Patrol and one amazing angel, who all make this a most memorable holy night.

The Nashville Scene says in its write-up that "O’Connell exploits the theme of illegal immigration here, presenting a parallel to Joseph and Mary’s journey to Bethlehem, and his cowpoke lead characters battle wits over the pluses and minuses of Christmas cheer."

The Tennessean recently reported here on Holland's decision to take to the Nashville stage:

Holland recently returned to acting after a long hiatus. She co-founded Tango Nashville as well as established her own business, Hispanic Link Consulting, but the chance to be back onstage has breathed new life. She recently finished The Nashville Monologues with Rhubarb Theatre Company, but is excited — albeit feeling the pressure — to be the first actor to play Rosa in the premiere.

Read the full Tennessean article, which also refers to Argentina-born Holland as being able to identify somewhat with a character looking for a better life somewhere else, here.

Labels: arts, events, immigrants

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A reader alerted me to a mention of Vanderbilt professor Stella Flores in an Economist article about a higher education gap in achievement "between Hispanic and 'Anglo' students" and how to close that gap. In the article, Flores is cited for the proposition that

the best thing that can be done at the state level is to adopt policies that allow all of a state’s high-school students to pay fees at its public universities at the discounted rate that normally applies to people from that state, regardless of their legal status.

(It would have been my preference that the Economist clarify that not all Hispanic students have legal status problems or are even immigrants - (almost half of all Hispanic residents of Tennessee are U.S.-born, and half of those who were born abroad have legal status) - but maybe the sophisticated readers of that British publication already knew that.)

Dr. Flores tells the Hispanic Nashville Notebook that when in-state tuition is offered to high school students regardless of legal status,

they are more likely to take advantage of such a benefit and enroll in college as compared to similar students who live in states without an in-state resident tuition policy. The overall numbers of students are not massive. However, if the benefit is available, over time, students do go to college as a result of having such a policy in a state.

Flores' latest article on the subject will appear in The Review of Higher Education.

About Dr. Stella Flores

Flores got doctoral and masters degrees from Harvard University, her doctorate being in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy with a concentration in Higher Education. She has another masters in public affairs from U.T. (Texas, not Tennessee), and her bachelors is from Rice, where she spent one semester at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago.

Prior to joining Vanderbilt, Flores served as a program evaluator for the U.S. General Accountability Office and as a program specialist for the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Professor Flores has also served as a policy researcher for the Texas State Legislature and various city governments in Texas.

Professor Flores’ work employs large-scale databases and quantitative methods to investigate the impact of state and federal policies on college access and completion for low-income and underrepresented populations. She has written on the role of alternative admissions plans and financial aid programs in college admissions, demographic changes in higher education, the role of the Hispanic Serving Institution in U.S. higher education policy, and Latino students and community colleges.

The lawyers who read my blog will be particularly interested the citation of her work in the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision Gratz v. Bollinger (dissenting opinion) and in various amicus briefs in the Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger Supreme Court cases on affirmative action in higher education admissions. (Flores and another researcher concluded that "it is incorrect to attribute any significant increase in campus diversity to a percent plan alone." Percent Plans in College Admissions: A Comparative Analysis of Three States’ Experiences (2003)).

Her publications also include two edited volumes, Legacies of Brown: Multiracial Equity in American Education published by the Harvard Educational Review (with Dorinda J. Carter and Richard J. Reddick) and Latino Educational Opportunity published by Jossey-Bass as part of the New Directions for Community College series (with Catherine L. Horn and Gary Orfield).

Professor Flores currently teaches courses in college access policy and general education policy. Her recent work includes an examination of the effect of in-state resident tuition policies on the college enrollment and persistence of undocumented students across the United States, an analysis of institutional response to federal and state changes in race-conscious admissions policies and programs, and an investigation of the interaction of state and institutional financial aid policies targeted at low-income students also across the United States.

Dr. Flores was recently named a co-investigator in a $1.9 million grant from the Gates Foundation on barriers to college completion, and she was also a research expert for Governor Bredesen’s Task Force on Readiness, Acceleration, Models, and Paths (RAMP UP).

Dr. Flores is at the Peabody School of Education at Vanderbilt University. According to Vanderbilt, Peabody is the top-ranked school of education in the nation as ranked by the U.S. News & World Report's 2010 survey. Peabody has held a top-10 ranking for the last 14 years.

Some information taken verbatim from Flores' Vanderbilt bio and the Peabody web site.

Labels: awards, education, immigrants

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"They should be allowed to stay...": 51.0%

The 2009 MTSU poll asked this question:

Which comes closest to your view about illegal immigrants who are currently working in the U.S.?

• "They should be allowed to stay in their jobs, and to eventually apply for US citizenship."
• "They should be allowed to stay in their jobs only as temporary guest workers, but not to apply for U.S. citizenship."
• "They should be required to leave their jobs and leave the U.S."

And these were the answers:

"They should be allowed to stay...": 51.0%

• "...and to eventually apply for U.S. citizenship": 29.4%
• "...but not to apply for U.S. citizenship": 21.6%

"They should be required to leave...": 42.8%

Conducted by Middle Tennessee State University’s College of Mass Communication, the telephone poll of 716 randomly selected Tennessee adults has an error margin of plus or minus four percentage points at the 95 percent level of confidence. Theoretically, this means that a sample of this size should produce a statistical portrait of the population within four percentage points 95 out of 100 times. The Survey Group at MTSU provides independent, non-partisan and unbiased public opinion data regarding major social, political and ethical issues affecting Tennessee. The poll began in 1998 as a measure of public opinion in the 39 counties comprising Middle Tennessee and began measuring public opinion statewide in 2001. Learn more and view the full report on the poll’s website, www.mtsusurveygroup.org.

Seventy-five percent of Tennessee Hispanics are U.S. citizens or legal residents (story here).

Illustration by HispanicNashville.com

Labels: business, immigrants, justice, statistics

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Cecilia Melo-Romie and Avi Poster

Avi Poster: "My parents were immigrants; they had challenges when they came here, but they were made to feel welcome in this country"

On September 30 at La Hacienda in Franklin, Williamson County resident and Chile native Cecilia Melo-Romie (no relation to Eva Melo) threw an event to launch a dialogue on the successful integration of new arrivals in Williamson County. The event featured two of the county's elected officials and many of its residents.

The moderator was Avi Poster, who jokingly described himself as an "adopted" Williamson County resident on account of his frequent visits to its restaurants. After Poster asked the crowd to thank La Hacienda owner and host Salvador Guzman ("one of Williamson County's favorite citizens"), he described Nashville's efforts to redirect "awful" conversations about new arrivals to the city, which led to the Coalition of Education about Immigration, which now claims 1200 individuals and 40 organizations among its members. Poster said the purpose of the event was to help bring "that conversation" to Williamson County about 30 days out from the event, which is right about now.

Poster said:

My parents were immigrants; they had challenges when they came here, but they were made to feel welcome in this country.

Williamson County resident and Loews Vanderbilt Hotel's Tom Negri described the efforts of Nashville for All of Us to beat back the Virginia-funded English Only referendum in January. He mentioned that the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce was recently named the No. 1 large chamber of commerce in the country by American Chamber of Commerce Executives, in part because of the chamber's role in Nashville for All of Us. Negri also mentioned that he spent three years in Colombia, his wife is Colombian, and that his oldest son Danny just bought a house in Williamson County. He told the story that on Danny's first night in the home, one of his neighbors called the police reporting a Hispanic male in the back yard of that house. So while Danny was watering trees he had planted behind his own home, three police cars pulled up and wanted to know what he was doing there. Negri said "the officers were great" - in fact, they actually knew Danny. "But these things happen, and we don't want them to happen," said Negri.

Fabian Bedne of the Middle Tennessee Hispanic Democrats urged new citizens to vote so that political campaigns would take them into account. He also pointed out that even though some campaign strategies focus on the voters of the last ten election cycles as those voters most likely to influence an election, candidates should remember that such a metric will discount active and interested new citizen voters, who will show up only for the election cycles since they obtained their U.S. citizenship.

Bedne also mentioned his bipartisan efforts, along with his Republican colleague Raul Lopez, to register new citizens to vote. Together, they fought the misperception that speaking Spanish means that you aren't a U.S. citizen, when the fact is that certain U.S.-born citizens (like residents of Puerto Rico), as well as older immigrants, may not be fluent in English but are nonetheless U.S. citizens and eligible voters. See their joint statement here, including the excerpt, "To say that a Latino who doesn't speak perfect English is not a citizen is simply wrong."

Another attendee's account of the event is at Sarah's Juniper Tree. I have more on the event which I hope to post later.

Photo by John Lamb. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: chile, immigrants

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Metro Council Member Frank Harrison

City Paper also provides broad coverage of opposition viewpoint

Last Tuesday, October 20, three Metro Council members expressed Nashville's first official opposition to 287(g) in its current form. "287(g)" is the name for the program that ratchets up the interactions between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. In some of the 60 or so jurisdictions where 287(g) is in place, thousands of people have been deported even though they are not dangerous criminals. Nashville is one of those jurisdictions.

The council members voting against 287(g) were Megan Barry, Sam Coleman and Frank Harrison.

I asked Frank Harrison why he voted the way he did, and this was his response:

I felt that it was the right thing for me to do and would have preferred some debate before the vote. Perhaps more would have felt the same. Also I would not feel comfortable being part of causing hardships on families.

The lack of debate before the vote was reported by the Tennessean here and lamented by local blogger Aunt B. here:

If you cannot face the people most affected by a decision you make and explain your reasons for making your decision, even if it will be wildly unpopular with them, it tells both you and those people something–that you know you’re doing the wrong thing.

Monday's City Paper gave opponents' points a lot of ink, starting with the main story:

"The reality of the program here is that the vast majority of people who are being identified by this program have committed misdemeanors,” Esquivel said. “Rather than focusing on what I think there's a broad consensus on — which is using this program to target real criminals — we're using it to target people who are not criminals in any sense that the community had in mind when this was rolled out or what it ought to be used for.”

The City Paper's anonymous columnist "Rex Noseworthy" caught a hypothetical about the potential economic impact of 287(g):

“How long will it be a until a Nissan executive from Mexico has a rental car with a faulty blinker and winds up in a Metro jail because of it?” Esquivel asked.

Kleinheider, from the City Paper's sister publication the Nashville Post, explored the influence of ideology on support for or opposition to 287(g):

Most people who support the 287(g) program no more want the police actively targeting undocumented workers to deport than most opponents want the government giving illegal immigrants unfettered access to public services.

The City Paper excerpts above are brief clips; there is more discussion about 287(g) in the full content of the main story here, in Rex's column here, and in Kleinheider's column here.

Labels: 287g, immigrants, justice

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My friend Alejandro from Miami told me this wonderful story about when he became a U.S. citizen.

Alejandro moved to Florida from Chile a number of years ago, and recently he was eligible to apply for U.S. citizenship. When he got to the point of his citizenship test, where you have to be able to name the 13 colonies, the number of voting representatives in the House of Representatives, the name of the U.S. President during World War II, and other facts like that, along with a basic command of English, he passed.

When they told him he had passed, he asked, "May I sing at the ceremony?" Alejandro is a trained classical tenor.

The test administrator wasn't sure what to think. She asked him what he had said, and he repeated his request: "May I sing at my naturalization ceremony?" The administrator, befuddled, excused herself and walked to the office of her supervisor. She and the supervisor returned a few moments later, wanting to make sure they understood right, and they had.

"You want to sing at the ceremony," the supervisor asked, now the second person in the office who was trying to make sense of the unusual request.

"Yes, I am a singer," he replied, "and I would like to sing the national anthem of my new country."

"And you really can sing?"

"Yes," Alejandro answered.

They then asked him to step into another room and requested that Alejandro provide a demonstration of his vocal skills. In full performance volume, Alejandro started belting out the Star-Spangled Banner.

The women were blown away.

Not only did Alejandro sing the Star-Spangled Banner at his own naturalization ceremony, but officials have since asked him to return for two other naturalization ceremonies.

And so Alejandro has become a beautiful part of the first moments of being an American.

Photo by Josh Hallett. Licensed under Creative Commons.

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Photo by Brent Moore. Licensed by Creative Commons.

How many peace-loving families have to be sacrificed to get rid of dangerous criminals?

Prayer vigil at 5:30 p.m.

Last night, I was at the Courthouse to watch the Metro Council public safety committee deliberate the "287(g)" agreement between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Thousands of people have been deported out of Middle Tennessee as a result of the program, most of whom were not dangerous criminals. The 287(g) agreement was nonetheless unanimously approved by the committee.

Two 287(g) opponents were given the chance to express their concerns that people who aren't dangerous are being caught up in the program more than dangerous criminals are. David Esquivel, the son of Cuban immigrants, talked about the disproportionately severe impact on ordinary people in the immigrant community. Pastor Gwen Brown-Felder of Ernest Newman United Methodist Church offered the committee a vision of 287(g) as contrary to our faith. Her comments crystallized for me that we will look back on 287(g) in shame.

The good news is that a handful of council members asked thoughtful questions of the Sheriff, who gave his own presentation. At least two council members, however, took a simplistic view of the issue. One of them quoted the Bible and in the next breath concluded with, "what part of illegal don't you understand." So much for Letter from Birmingham Jail.

The committee's unanimous vote in favor of the program was disappointing. I left the Council chambers concerned for my hometown. To see the city so far from Brown-Felder's vision was disheartening.

As I was walking off the beautiful new lawn of Public Square, under a refreshingly clear field of stars, my only recourse was to pray. I prayed for my city. I prayed for the hearts of stone to be softened. God was close, bigger than the city machinations that had just taken place.

Below my feet as I faced War Memorial auditorium and the newly refurbished Deaderick Avenue, I noticed the word "STRENGTH" in an artistic feature in the Public Square pavement. "Strength" was a value the committee likely thought it was implementing perfectly by approving 287(g) without a second thought. I wondered what other values appeared in the pavement around the circle-shaped lawn, and whether there might be a complimentary value to strength that the city aspired to. I walked around the circle to the towers that bump up against the Cumberland River to see what was the counterbalance to "Strength."

It was "PROTECTION" - surely another value that the committee would consider it had upheld last night. Was I surprised that "Strength" would be balanced by "Protection" - definitely, yes. Not much of a check and balance.

Then I noticed I wasn't done examining the circle. In the 6 o'clock position in the circle there was another value.

It was "WISDOM."

Particularly appropriate that wisdom is the closest of the three values to the new reflecting pools and also to the fountain that rises from the ground at the southern entrance to the plaza. A city that so thoughtfully developed this place of reflection and meditation rightly honored wisdom with this central and thoughtful location.

It's an empty wisdom, however, that merely defers to strength and protection instead of informing the exercise of those values. In the words of Primo Levi:

A country is considered the more civilized the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak or a powerful one too powerful.

The charge of this city to the members of the Metro Council is that they bring wisdom to their full vote on 287(g) tonight. I would ask council members, have you spent any time with immigrants and their world-class advocates in Nashville, without which it is impossible to fully consider the facts about an immigrant-related local program?

Have you asked how many peace-loving families have to be sacrificed to get rid of dangerous criminals? Can the disproportions ever become so great before the trade-off is deemed unjust, inefficient and unwise?

Constituents of Nashville's council, please ask yourself the same questions and urge your representatives to write our laws and give our city's approval not just with safety or protection in mind. Wisdom calls for more.

A prayer vigil will be held tonight at 5:30 p.m. at the Courthouse.

For more on the strength, protection, and wisdom symbolism at the Courthouse, as well as other values, see Paragraph II B of this 1981 report by Ann Reynolds, Historic Preservationist, Historical Commission of Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County and section 1.G. of this recent call for artwork to represent those values. See the diagram below for the layout of Public Square and the pavement decorations.

Labels: 287g, immigrants, justice

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Nashville's Vine Street Temple, dedicated in 1876
This weekend's 30th Annual Oktoberfest had me thinking again about the history of German immigrants in Nashville. The Church of the Assumption celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, and I have previously reported that 50 of those years featured German-language preaching.

German immigrants to Nashville were also instrumental in founding Jewish congregations, and like their Catholic counterparts, the majority of them worshiped in German for a while, according to the Encyclopedia of Southern Jewish Communities:

Jews were very active in civic life in Nashville. Many were involved with non-Jewish fraternal societies like the Masons and Odd Fellows. A number joined German-speaking lodges, reflecting their strong German identity. Indeed, most of the sermons delivered in Nashville’s synagogues in the latter half of the 19th century were in German.

Photo source: Tennessee State Library and Archives

Labels: faith, german, history, immigrants

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"DCS is supposed to try to keep families together and there were plenty of relatives willing to take in the children"

2009 Ketron bill would make i.d. available to qualified visaless applicants

Nashvillian Maria Gurrola has been cleared of the baby-selling allegations that arose following the abduction of her son, Yair Carillo, but those allegations put her children in state custody for a few days until she was cleared. Yesterday, Travis Loller of the Associated Press reported the reason for the taking of the children.

Loller reports that the Tennessee Department of Children's Services ("DCS") took Maria Gurrola's children away from her during the investigation of the now-disproven allegations because some of Gurrola's family members, who could have otherwise taken the children, are visaless and don't have sufficient I.D. for a background check:

Maria Gurrola, still recovering from stab wounds and a collapsed lung, started crying and shaking when she learned week-old Yahir Anthony Carrillo and his three siblings would be put into foster homes, said Norma Rodriguez, the cousin of Jose Carrillo, the baby's father.
...
[Gurrola's court-appointed attorney Dennis] Nordhoff questioned the need to put the already-suffering family through the trauma of separation. He said DCS is supposed to try to keep families together and there were plenty of relatives willing to take in the children, but DCS would not allow it because they were illegal immigrants, although some of them had been in the country for many years without ever getting in any trouble. Gurrola is originally from Durango, Mexico.
...
[DCS Spokesman Rob] Johnson, speaking generally, said, "DCS always looks for relatives who already know a child as an alternative to state custody, but DCS must be able to perform background checks and DCS must be able to verify people's relationships to a family in question."

Over 40,000 visaless Tennesseans were stripped of their I.D. when the state changed its drivers license law in 2004. A 2009 bill by State Senator Bill Ketron (R) would make a state-issued I.D. available to qualified visaless applicants.

Gurrola's experience is another example of why it is important for everyone to be able to have I.D. Also, it's the first time that the family members' immigration status has been reported in a way that is relevant to the Gurrola story (see my Monday and Tuesday discussions of the relevance of immigration status to this story).

I say "visaless" and/or "unvisaed" instead of "undocumented," because it's the lack of a visa that more specifically describes people without immigration status. Most visaless people usually are in possession of whatever documents the government allows them to have - you've never seen a visaless immigrant driving without a license plate, have you? And until the change in TN law, the visaless had drivers' licenses, which made the term "undocumented" even more clearly inappropriate.

*And is it "Gurrola" or "Gurrolla"? The Tennessean and now Loller's AP piece are using "Gurrola." The Nashville police department had previously reported both spellings, even in the same press release, but it appears that corrections have been made to unify the police department's spelling to "Gurrolla." On the other hand, the FBI's criminal complaint against the alleged abductor uses "Gurrola" exclusively. Google News searches show that there are many more stories with the "Gurrolla" spelling than with the "Gurrola" spelling.

Photo by atom heart father. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: immigrants, justice

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Tennessean narrows focus to core question: "It's unknown why Gurrola was targeted and how her attacker knew when to strike"

I'm still struggling with whether it's right to report an alleged crime victim's immigration status, which was the basis of my post yesterday about Maria Gurrolla*, the Nashville mother who appeared before the press last week to report that her newborn son had been stolen by someone posing as an immigration agent.

Here's how an actual journalist (which I am not) compared the dilemma about mentioning immigration status in a story to the issue of mentioning race, and this quote was part of the Poynter.org piece I linked to yesterday:

Immigration, in some respects, is like another thorny identifier in stories: race. We've been taught that you only identify one's race if race is central to the story. Immigration status mandates a similar threshold. (Of course, identifying someone's race will never get them deported.)

My question is whether the alleged victim's actual immigration status should be in the story. Using the test above, is the victim's actual immigration status "central" to the story of an alleged abduction in which the alleged perpetrator posed as an immigration agent?

Here's why the immigration status of the alleged victim might not be central to the story, even when the alleged perpetrator poses as an immigration agent:

1. The Question. The central question is a combination of, "why was the alleged victim targeted," and "why was the immigration agent ruse chosen?"

2. The Possible Answers. Possible answers to one or both of those questions include the following:

(a) that the alleged victim had observable characteristics that are equated with problematic visa status, like the Spanish language and/or ethnicity (see “Alderman Cherry responded, ‘If they’re speaking Spanish, I tend to think they are illegal.’”)

(b) that the alleged victim had observable characteristics that are equated with the Hispanic community, which has a heightened word-of-mouth awareness of being on the wrong end of an immigration raid, whether justified or not, and also proximity to people who would be subject to an immigration raid, or

(c) the alleged victim’s actual immigration status, which if tenuous, and also if that fact was known by the alleged perpetrator, would imply that the perpetrator had more information about the alleged victim than what could be obtained by casual observation.

Addressing Question 1 by reporting that the alleged perpetrator's motive and strategy are unknown - as the Tennessean did this morning - is central to the story. Going straight to Answer 2(c) without even mentioning Question 1 is not central to the story. Answer 2(c) becomes central to the story after Question 1 has been mentioned first, as well as 2(a) and 2(b) or any other possible answers. Answer 2(c) also becomes central to the story when facts are revealed that make it the actual or more likely answer.

Why does this matter to me? Maybe because it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see an alleged victim hounded by questions of what the victim might have done wrong. Also, if the assumption is that someone who opens the door for an immigration agent might be hiding an immigration problem, then what is the assumption about someone who refuses to open the door for an immigration agent?

Labels: immigrants, justice

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If someone posing as the IRS attacked you at work, would the press interview your accountant?

Boy found after 4-day search

Even before Maria Gurrolla's days-old son Yair Anthony Carillo was found after only four days, thanks to amazing police and investigative work, the abductor's ruse led the press to dedicate part of their stories to the immigration status of the mother (saying it was "unclear" or "unknown").

Why should the ruse of the criminal abductor lead to reporting on the immigration status of the victim? If someone posing as the IRS attacked you at work, would there be an investigation into your tax returns?

An AP report by Kristin Hall simultaneously brings up the immigration status of Gurrolla while pointing out that Nashville police spokesman Don Aaron said that her immigration status was "not significant to the investigation":

Police said they think the mom has been in Nashville about 10 years, but it isn't clear if she is an immigrant or a citizen. Her family has declined to talk about the issue, and police spokesman Don Aaron said her citizenship was not significant to the investigation.

According to a police press release, Gurrolla had to be hospitalized with stab wounds "to her head, neck, breast and thigh." It was also reported that Gurrolla had a collapsed lung as a result of the attack.

In 2008, journalist asked when immigration status is relevant

A year and a half ago in a column on Poynter.org, Mizanur Rahman of the Houston Chronicle asked the question, when is it relevant to report on the immigration status of crime suspects?

I'm wondering when it is relevant to report on the immigration status of victims.

Child abduction has hit Hispanic Nashvillians before

Kristin Hall's AP article rightly points out that an attempted abduction of another Hispanic Nashvillian child occurred in 2005, but with much worse results: the mother and her 3-year-old daughter were killed.

Labels: immigrants, justice

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Belmont Church associate missions pastor echoes Nolensville churches' 2006 sentiments

Stuart Stokes, World Outreach Associate Pastor at Belmont Church, writes about a world of "missionary" opportunities right here in Nashville:

“So, I bet you love to travel.”
Not necessarily. In fact, it would be easier if all our missionaries lived right here on Middle TN.
This usually gets a strange look.
I want to go to Africa to see the Cochrans or the Omallas and the work they are doing.
I go to Mexico to see the Arroyos and partner with them for a short time. I want to go to Europe to see Randy in his element. The same with Joseph Watson where ever he is at the time.
If I want to “travel” I just put my passport on my night stand and drive over to Nolensville Road.
Suddenly the world is at my fingertips. Mexicans, Kurds, Sudanese, Vietnamese, Kenyans, Saudis and the list goes on and on.
...
My name is Stuart Stokes and I want to be a missionary to Nolensville Road.

In 2006, some Nolensville churchgoers were also seeing ministry opportunities toward neighboring immigrants. Here is a sample from that story:

Raylene King, wife of Stonebrook minister Dennis King, looks at immigration not so much as an issue but as a really big ministry.

Read Stokes' full post here and the Nolensville full story here.

Photo by David Antis. Licensed under Creative Commons.

Labels: faith, immigrants

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State senator intervention is free, but the new process would cost $500

Speaker Ramsey and Deputy Speaker Ketron visit Hispanic Heritage Month networking lunch

A few weeks ago, I sat down across a lunch table from Tennessee State Senator Bill Ketron (R-13). Sen. Ketron's district comes within a stone's throw of my home, covering "western Rutherford County and all of Maury, Marshall and Lincoln counties," according to his web site. The site also points out that Ketron has been Deputy Speaker of the Senate since January 2009.

The event we attended was the Tennessee Hispanic Chamber of Commerce networking lunch celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, on September 3 at Chappy's on Church Street, in the Napoleon Banquet Room.

The conversation turned to state-level bills related to immigrants and immigration. Since I was across the centerpiece from Sen. Ketron, it was a little hard to hear. It seemed that I was hearing that Sen. Ketron supports the concept that people in the U.S. without a visa should nonetheless be able to identify themselves with I.D. issued here, and that "coming out of the shadows" is a good thing.

The background that led to this position seems to be that Sen. Ketron was once able to use his position in government to help someone get in line for either a visa or citizenship. I believe Ketron wrote a letter to the immigration authorities on behalf of this person.

Sen. Ketron thought there should be an easier way than having to go through your state senator.

His idea was that if a person comes here for a good reason and just wants to make a living and raise a family, coming clean and applying for immigration relief should be easier than it is currently. (For those who don't want to live here peacefully, they should be picked up and shipped out, he said.)

So what can a state senator do? For starters, he authored the bill identified as SB 2158. Under this bill, the State must issue an I.D. card to anyone proving identity and 15 days' residency in Tennessee. After two years of living with a trackable identity, good behavior gets the cardhold a letter from the state - just like the letter Sen. Ketron sent on behalf of his constituent - except instead of having to get the letter from a state senator, the cardholder gets it from the state itself (the bill is silent on which state agency would send the letter).

Here are some specifics about SB 2158:

• What will appear on the i.d. card, at a minimum:

  the cardholder's name, photograph, date of birth, gender, and an expiration date.

• How the state will verify the data on the card: the bill specifies the documents that establish identity and residence either by themselves or in combination with other documents, depending on the document.
• What the state will charge: $500 for adults; $250 for minors. If the Department of Safety come up with a way to verify income, it can offer discounts or even waivers to low-income applicants.
• Obligations imposed on recipients: any foreign citizen who applies for the card has to sign a form stating

  that the person pledges to learn the basics of the English language and abide by the laws of this state and country

• Sending a letter to the immigration authorities to show good behavior: two years after issuance of the card, if "the person has not been convicted of any felony or Class A misdemeanor" and if "the person passes a test on the basics of the English language" then

  the state shall work with the appropriate federal agencies to help the person become a citizen of the United States.

• Driving privileges conferred: none

Labels: immigrants, justice

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See Cartoons by Brian Fairrington - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

If spontaneous reactions have a place in politics, let's set the groundwork for outbursts of compassion

"Compassion is not a new or sudden concept for her, awakened in this big moment."

The outburst during last week's health care address to Congress was about how and whether the unvisaed will get access to health care and health care benefits.

I said at the time that I am upset by the hotheadedness in any discussion about people who don't have a visa. As Baptist Minister Drew Smith recently said on Ethics Daily and Diana Butler Bass recently said on BeliefNet, respectively:

I am troubled that many folks are not concerned about developing a compassionate response to the immigration issue

and

I wish the American family's compassion could embrace undocumented immigrants.

In 2006, as part of the launch of the Welcoming Tennessee Initiative, I made the point that Americans are generally compassionate in one-on-one interactions, but that in politics we tend to switch that channel off:

Most businesses and organizations and individuals treat people with decency and self-respect on a one-to-one basis. But at least in the public dialogue we haven't heard a whole lot of these values.

If we bring compassion into our political discourse, we might stand shoulder to shoulder with politicians like Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said that the unvisaed shouldn't be scapegoated.

We might find that our voices echo these words of former President George W. Bush:

[W]e must remember that the vast majority of illegal immigrants are decent people who work hard, support their families, practice their faith, and lead responsible lives. They are a part of American life...

America needs to conduct this debate on immigration in a reasoned and respectful tone. Feelings run deep on this issue, and as we work it out, all of us need to keep some things in mind. We cannot build a unified country by inciting people to anger, or playing on anyone's fears, or exploiting the issue of immigration for political gain.

If spontaneous reactions have a place in politics, let's set the groundwork for outbursts of compassion. I'm reminded of this powerful sermon on the Egyptian princess' spur-of-the-moment decision to save Moses from the Nile:

The writer of Exodus tells us absolutely nothing about the life of the Pharaoh's daughter up to this point. We do not know how old she was or whether she had children of her own. We don't know what she has been doing with her freedom and privilege up to the day that she saw the little basket on the river bank. We are not told her opinion of her father's social policies. We don't know whether she has been arguing with her father, wringing her hands over the newspaper, joining protest marches, or just going on as usual, eating, drinking, and shopping at the mall. We don’t even know her name. All we know about her is what she did at that moment: she saw the basket, had it fetched, opened it, and seeing the crying baby she had pity. Whether her compassion was already deeply rooted in long-considered conviction, or whether it was awakened all at once by the baby's cries, we do not know. But I have a hunch.
...
[M]y hunch is that the Pharaoh's daughter has already been thinking about what is going on in Egypt. And she has already been practicing compassion in other ways. Compassion is not a new or sudden concept for her, awakened in this big moment.

Read or listen to the entire sermon here. (I think it's a must-read, with a fresh angle for just about any reader, whether you rarely - or frequently - think about immigrants and immigration.)

Going forward, as the American discussions continue about access to visas and benefits - and about the people to whom those lifelines are currently or will be out of reach - let's build up our political muscles of compassion to the point that the outbursts are in love.

Labels: faith, immigrants, justice

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