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IMMIGRATION ISSUES. LOCAL & NATIONAL
NONPARTISAN BOOK REVIEWS
Back *n 1947. Ralph EUison published ht%
book. Imnsrbfe Moff. m which he presented
what it like being bUcI in this cowntiy
SmnUriy. ttm » true for Latino immigrants
who are undocumented Wr cannot always see
what they am doing. and it n difficult to see
how they am feelmg about the trap they am
m. They am loclied out of any benefits of citi
zenship. but locked in at the same time
Anywhere from 10.000 to 20,000 latino
emigrants live hem m Athem-Clarke County
Many live in mobile home parks which am not
highly visible. Many live in apartment com
plexes. The job market presents a variety of
hands-on types of work, many of which pose
dangers for injury: the poultry plant, construe
Don jobs, landscaping and furniture moving.
Latina women often work m hotels as dean
ers, Men and women work in hotel kitchens
restaurant kitchens, hospitals and the food
service on the UGA campus, and these jobs
am not so visible, behind the waits of the
kitchens.
Workers am often separated from their
families. Many workers have been hem for
years. They am locked away from then families
for years. Some of the day-labor workers have
told me they am returning home for good in
December. When the time comes, they stay,
maturing they wifi not be able to make a living
them. It is a sad situation
One of the goals of
the Economic Just**
Coalition. relaDng to the
day laborers is to help
them feel mom connected
to this community, less
isolated. We connect them
to neighborhood health
centers, lawyers, tram
lators and ESI English
teachers, teaming English,
their ability to communicate with employers
improves, and they can get better jobs.
StiU. most live in fear of being arrested
and deported, especially if they am driving
without licenses. They cannot get driver's
licenses if they are undocumented.
U.S. corporations in the 1980s and 1990s
decided to invite undocumented immigrants
here so that they could easily fill their
employment rosters. The U.S. Government pro
vided subsidies to the agricultural industries
with billions of dollars every year, putting
local fanners in many Latin American countries
out of wort. More recently, NAHA, the North
American Free Trade Agreement, made it easy
for corporations to set up industrial plants
and agricultural industries in Latin American
countries. At the same time, NAFTA companies
encouraged even mom workers to come ertoss
the border. Immigration surged in the years
following NAFTA It was supposed to have the
opposite effect
People who have lived legally in the
southwestern U.S. for centuries am now being
treated as if they were illegal. The fear fac
tor has simply compounded the existing dis
crimination. At the same time, as immigration
surged, rates of crime in those areas declined.
The fear factor in this economic situation, the
great recession, has made it possible to claim
that immigrants am criminals. The rate of
crime among immigrants is much lower than
in the American citizen population, ft would
be even lower if drivers' licenses were avail
able for all immigrants.
The Social Security Administration reported
that it holds approximately 1420 billion from
U.S. corporations is the
!980s and lSSfc deckled
to ferrite undocumented
immigrants here so that
they could easily fill
their employment rosters.
the earnings of immigrants who, endm cur***
law, wig nevw be able to claim benefits. At
the same time, those undocumented immi
grants who do pay tarns am never able to fk*
hyr fiwids. as American workers do
wra De l UfU nynvS wowneni
among Latino immigrants, comparable to
the movement of the 1990s. Just this year
we Have seen what the leadership of such a
movement will look like. The Trail of Dreams
youth who raeentty graduated from high
school after coming into this country as small
children "waOeecT through Athens on their way
from Miami to Washington D.C. Rut they do
not have Social Security numbers, cannot get
driven' licenses, cannot get jobs and cannot
go to college
Multiple religious denominations have
endorsed the idea of immigration raform.
Many U.S. otiaem ara supportive of families
and their workers. Republicans am somewhat
divided on this issue, for example, the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce approves of immigration
Tform policies. Some Democrats are opposed
to them
I have a number of suggestions.
• Recognize publicly that the U.S.
Government has been working for over 2S
years to support legit)
mate economic develop
ment in Mexico
• Offer undocumented
immigrants legitimate ID
cards and drivers' licenses,
so that fear and risky
activities can be greatly
reduced.
• Increase the number
of visas and green cards each year, so that
family members do not have to wait 10 years
to come here legally. Guest worker programs
simply encourage coercion and unsafe working
conditions, a modem form of slavery.
• For children who were not bom here but
have graduated from U5. high schools, pass
the DREAM Act which allows them to go to
college, as well as getting drivers' licenses,
and Social Security numbers for jobs.
• Offer more ESI programs. Immigrate
can be better connected to the community,
better employees and more helpful to the
police when they know English fluently. We
can use more volunteers in conversational ESI
instruction.
• Martin Luther King, Jr., just before he
died, catted for a poor people's campaign,
bringing black, brown and white together.
When the immigrants can find legal avenues,
they can join together with African Amnricaru
and whites in advocating for workers' rights,
union organizing, decent pay and working
conditions. They do not have to resent each
other. Current economic conditions are a bar
rier, but it is reasonably dear that the civil
rights movement is coming. We will become
one nation, one people, with respect and
decency across the board.
Ray MacNtrr isCo-chaif af the Economic Justice
10 aAGP0LE.COM NOVEMBER 10,2010
As I write thn column, the midterm elec
tion returns are about to come in. I can't see
the future, but by the time you wad th*v
aside from the end of vicious attack ads, its a
decent bet the news witt not have been good
The very least I can do, therefore, » throw
some items your way of a less catastrophic
nature... The hnahsts for the 2010 National
Sock Awanh Have just been announced
Ftctten
Peter Caray, Parrot and Otrem m America
(Alfred A. Knopf)
Jauwy Gordon. Lord of Mhnde (Mcfhenon A
Co-)
Nicole Krauts. Great Mouse (W W Norton A Co.)
Kathryn f rtfcwe, Noctwifpwd (
a division of P»ngu*n Prang
Laura MrNeet Amt Wafer (Alfred A. Knopf)
Walter Dean Myers, lockdown (Anristad, an
• -“tid ,n H i Al k
0e ^w»Pei \ rUW*Vwi » }
b»ta Wtttiems-Garm Owe fwy Summer
{Amiftad. an imprint of HarperCottim
- Publishers)
I want to be able to tett you about these
but the Petti Smith too »t the only one IN*
actually read. For some mason the National
book Award committee has chosen to overlook
comic books and zombie novels km consider
ation this year, so I'm to the dark. The
witt be announced Nov. 17. Go. Patti!
By the Way: One awards cem-
mitt.ee that See $ ■ ■
books and zombie novels is the
one that gives out the Warid
Fantasy Awards, which has
given the accolade for lest
Novel to Clriwa MievtUe hr The
Oty M the City (Macmillan UR/
Del ley). Haven't read this one
either, but Mievitte writes some
seriously -xi mowing
so I can recommend this one
IM I
Lionel Shriver, So Much for Thet (Harper, an
imprint of HarperCottms Publishers)
Karan Tei Yamashita. / Motet (Coffee House
Press)
Barbara Dermck, Nothing to Emy: Ordinary
Uues mi North Korea (Spiegel A Grau. an
imprint of The Random House Publishing
Group)
John W. Dower, Cultures of Won Hart Harbor,
Miroshrmc, 9-1!, Iraq (W.W. Norton A Co./
The New Press)
Petti Smith, Just Kids (Ecco, an imprint of
HarpeiCottim Publishers)
Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Ufa and
Times of Samuel Steward (Farrar, Straus A
Giroux)
Megan K. Stack, Every Man m This \hiloge Is a
Lion An Education m War (Doubleday)
Poetry:
Kathleen Graber, The Eternal City (Princeton
University Press)
Terrance Hayes, Ughthead (Penguin Books)
James Richardson, By the Numbers (Copper
Canyon Press)
C.0. Wright One with Others (Copper Canyon
Press)
Monica Youn, Ignati (Four Way Books)
Enormous news; The Boris
Bmriew since 19SJ one of the
f-»e wv .» n
rtrwn (TvfTdTy Jvl#TTi«iS on LMr
planet has just posted the
fin^f |PC*^Vf Of *T5 WfTtJPT%
*v5 wnsrS^vC TaJI T7^J, T (Ji f
—aa _ j a la w.
(MRM WC VOW m pnm nH
UWV Uf wniffy IT iwi icnfs
TrlvUtrS Inf y'MifVi WTtlMfs
of the last SO years in candid
tne*r tivrs
and may be the
sinale best resource a buddinc
(or net-so-budding) writer can have, a writing
aunt with the worlds best teachers—from
Hemingway, Fauttmer, Graham Greene and t S.
fcitot co narufci Murakami, witnam I, rounaii
and Richard Powers. You can find the archive
at WWW. thepansreview. cwg/ • nfrrww^
A fioatt» Something about a Book I None
Read: A new hardcover biography of Jams
Joplin has come out to commemorate the 40th
anniversary of her death. What makes Am
Anger s Jonh Jap#*; Bhe Op Singing (Harry
N. Abrams. 2010) unusual however, is that ft's
for teem, making it a far cry from the typical
pop-star biographies dogging the Young Adult
\rvpiv**.. * N*q:nmngs as a restless
misfit in Port Arthur, TX to her meteoric rise
and tragically short career as one of the most
influential voices of the 1990s, Angel's book
is remarxaoiy a no ranesifin^ty iranx is oeaung
with Jaunts' demons, her insecurities. her alco
hol and drug use, and her bottomless need Co
feel loved. The result H the story of a Bfe that
witt resonate with any teen who has ever heft
like a freak (which would be pretty much all of
them) far wow deeply than anything out there
on Lady Gaga or Justin Breber. Lavishly illus
trated with photos in coffee-table size Rise
Lk> Anqing is a great introduction to Janis,
and in the era of Demi lovato and the Jonas
Brothers, the more kids introduced to Janis
the better.
Paolo Badgattipi, Ship Breaker (Little,