Reply from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver concerning Orphan WorksAct of 2008

[Jeffrey Watts]

Si Senor, the GNOME project was started by, and primarily written (early on)
by Miguel de Icaza and Federico Mena.  They are both Mexicans, and Miguel
has subsequently immigrated to the United States.  Oh no!

As far as the white panic over "illegal immigrants" goes, yes, at its roots
are old fashioned racism and xenophobia.  Unfortunately those folks don't
realize that throughout our country's history there have been multiple
outbreaks of these panics.  Just ask Poles, Sicilians, Chinese, and
especially the Irish.  This is just a short list, so please don't be
slighted if I forgot a minority group.  :)

The funny thing is that there was even a very similar political party back
then, called the Native Americans (AKA the "Know Nothings").  Irony with the
name aside, they actually had very similar fears to the current crop of
xenophobes, and were terrified of the influx of Irish Catholic immigrants.
Strangely enough, most of the Native Americans ended up in the nascent
Republican Party...

They claim it's about "American culture" and "security" and so forth, but in
the end it's just xenophobia and racism.  I'd say just xenophobia, but you
don't see people getting apoplectic about white Canadians illegally entering
the US (which happens often).  I'm not saying we ought to have people
crossing illegally, I'm all for "securing the border".  However, what needs
to happen in addition to that is massive immigration reform.  We need to
crack down on employers providing sub-minimum wage jobs to illegals (which
oddly enough the GOP itself supports, as those employers enjoy the cheap
labor) and we need to increase opportunity for immigration for people
without advanced degrees.  Our forefathers came over penniless and with a
desire to build a better life for themselves, I think we ought to allow
similar people to immigrate to the US today.

Unlike most of the yokels that rant on and on about this issue, I actually
speak a fair amount of Spanish, have been to Mexico, have had many Latino
friends, and grew up next to the border.  There's no real crisis - this is
all a made-up issue in order to scare people into voting Republican.  The
only real problem is our bigoted and hoary immigration policies.  Mexicans
are people like us, and those that immigrate just want to work and better
their lives.  Instead of persecuting them, we ought to be providing them
legal, realistic methods by which they can immigrate and end the cycle of
border-jumping.

I don't think most Americans realize how hard it is to immigrate to the US
if you don't have an advanced degree or an in-demand job.  I also don't
think they realize how much of the food that they eat was picked,
slaughtered, and prepared by Mexican immigrants.  We need hard-working
immigrants who are willing to work their way up in society.  This isn't a
bad thing, it's how this country was built - people have just forgotten.

That all said, sorry James derailed the thread and took us off into
Limbaugh-land.  I don't like 'dem types of terrists, and it's hard for me to
resist pursuing them.

Jeffrey.

On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 2:08 PM, Phil Thayer <phil.thayer at vitalsite.com>wrote:

>  Really?  The Mexicans wrote GNOME?  I didn't know that.  The comment
> about support for illegal aliens might be construed as racist but, I think
> it is just paranoia about losing a low paying job that nobody else in the US
> wants to do anyways.
>
>

-- 

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from
oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that
will reach to himself." -- Thomas Paine
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