An argument is being made in many places in the Latino
community condemning Obama for his not
taking executive action and
condemning Civil Rights veterans such as
Dolores Huerta and Eliseo Medina for their positions of not condemning the
Obama lack of action. Here is an example.
http://voxxi.com/2014/09/24/latino-leaders-wrong-obama-immigration/
A problem with this effort is that attacking our allies does
not move immigration policy forward.
And, an argument from a position of moral correctness does not necessarily change
policy. We need to be on the morally
correct side, as Huerta and Medina are,
but that is not enough. See prior posts
on this blog about Medina and Huerta.
I learned this in the anti war movement against the war in Viet
Nam. We had hundreds of thousands in the
streets opposed to the war, but the war went on. 58,000 U.S. soldiers died, 100,000s were
injured. Over 1.2 million Vietnamese
died. Although we were morally correct,
the war went on.
In El Salvador between 1982 and 1992 the U.S. backed
government carried out a civil war against the population. At least 75,000 were killed. In Nicaragua between
19 79-1990 at leas 40,000 were
killed. In Guatemala the civil war cost
at least 200,000 lives. Our solidarity
efforts in the U.S. were morally correct, but our efforts did not change U. S. policy.
Moral correctness does not change policy because political and economic power largely controls
this country. We have a political
oligarchy- the control of our government by the super rich. Our government is dominated by corporations. We need to study and to understand neoliberal
capitalism. Then, we will need to go to work to change it.
In the current immigration
debate.
Tony Castro in VOXXI explains the dilemma this way.
Democrats’ growing concern about losing control of the Senate
this fall and the fear of a potential debacle in 2016 is now increasing doubts
about whether any immigration reform bill can be passed during President
Obama’s final two years in office.
Not only are Democrats
pressing Obama to hold off indefinitely on unilaterally making immigration
changes — not just until after the election — they are also saying he shouldn’t
use executive authority to ease deportations at any time.
Perhaps, more importantly, Republicans appear to be turning away
from comprehensive
immigration reform, and
even Democrats and independents appear less enthusiastic than at any time
during the Obama presidency.
So then, we come down to
the argument about the Democrats keeping control of the Senate. There are handful of states where the control
of the Senate will be decided in this election. They include:
Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan,
Kentucky, Georgia, Arkansas. These are
the states where the Senate majority will be decided. In each of these states Latinos make up
less than 3 % of the total vote. Arturo Camona of Presente argued that Latinos
should vote against the Democrats in 4 of these states- the effect is that they should vote for control of the
Senate by Republicans.
If the Republicans gain
control of the Senate, rather than bills like we faced last year we will face
bills like the 2006 Sensenbrenner bill, or the 1984 Simpson-Mazzolli bill, or
the highly regressive bills passed in the Republican House this summer.
Advocates of punish the leaders approach under estimate the
effects of the Republicans controlling both the House and the Senate. Santos, cited above, says that the President
will still have a veto. Yes, he will.
But the House has already passed legislation to further militarize the
border and to end DACA. They could well
package legislation such as ending DACA as a part a bill for the U.S.
budget. Then the critics expect Barack
Obama – who they denounce daily- to veto the entire U.S. budget and shut down
the government in order to protect DACA. Recall that DACA is temporary, it must
be renewed. Lets be a little more
realistic.
Rather than spending our time denouncing long time civil
rights leaders, we should spend our time organizing for political power. Between
now and Nov. 4, we need to do all we can
to prevent the Republicans from gaining control of the Senate. Voting for Republicans delivers the Senate to
Republican control.
Being morally correct is not enough- you also have to have
allies and a strategy that can move your
effort toward winning.
Progressives need to continue our work with labor and the
immigrants’ rights movement toward a fair and comprehensive immigration reform
for the U.S. – a better bill than the one passed last year in the Senate, which
among other things called for doubling the current border patrol by hiring an
additional 20,000-plus border agents. The border patrol has grown from
some 4,000 agents in 1992 to over 20,000 agents today – and the border crossing
is more dangerous than ever.
U.S. immigration
policy should help families reunite, treat immigrants with respect, and change
the economic and trade policies that the U.S. and U.S.-based corporations have
implemented in Central America and Mexico that have led to massive migration.
To get fair, comprehensive reform we will need to organize,
vote and defeat right-wing mostly Republican legislators who primarily want to
militarize the border and those in both parties who promote so-called “free trade”
zones. If the Republicans gain control
of the U.S. Senate in the fall elections, all hope for a humane immigration
reform will end for at least a decade.
The task of defeating anti-immigrant Congress members and
senators, including most of the members of the Republican party, is work for us
here in the U.S.
Individually, we can provide support, donations and
volunteers to assist the refugees. The
migrants particularly need legal volunteers.
We should actively oppose the further militarization of the
border (Texas) and the growth of the for-profit prison system based upon
incarceration of the maximum number of people.
We can support good jobs, not prison jobs.
Finally, we can join with immigrants’ rights groups, religious and community
groups in “know your rights” workshops and in providing support and shelter. Literature is available from the ACLU and
other sources. These efforts help
migrants to protect their own constitutional rights.
Despierta Pueblo. ¡Vota! Todos Votamos.
Duane Campbell is a professor emeritus of bilingual multicultural
education at California State University Sacramento, a union activist, and former chair of Sacramento Democratic
Socialists of America.
Duane Campbell.
Democracy and Education Institute.
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