Aztlan-Network-News Blog: Concern with immigration brings a new N-word to American culture + Comment

http://www.star-telegram.com/242/story/1259214.html

Posted on Mon, Mar. 16, 2009

Concern with immigration brings a new N-word to American culture

Twelve million or so illegal immigrants live in the United States. The economic and purchasing power of Latinos (both legal and not) in the U.S. is massive.

According to a report produced by HispanTelligence, the research division of Hispanic Business Inc., "U.S. Hispanic purchasing power has surged to nearly $700 billion (in 2005) and is projected to reach over $1 trillion by 2010."

Hence the "press 2 for Spanish" instruction when calling banks, credit cards, telephone companies, etc. This seems to infuriate the "English-only" crowd. Apparently they don't understand that, in a free-market system, businesses might want to target these folks.

Why, in our democratic-capitalist system, do some feel that a legitimate business should not be able to tap this large group of consumers?

But that is exactly what some communities (locally, for example, Farmers Branch) hope to do.

Farmers Branch has tried several times to restrict the rental of apartments to people who cannot present valid proof of citizenship. As if the members of the Farmers Branch City Council routinely carry proof themselves. Most citizens of the U.S. do not even possess a federally accepted photo ID that verifies citizenship (like a passport). A driver's license is not sufficient — try using one to get back into the U.S. from Canada or Mexico. Social Security cards aren't acceptable either.

The proper response would be to sue the heck out of the city for preventing the free expression of a private business. After 40 years of civil rights housing law telling apartment landlords who they MUST rent to (can't discriminate because of gender, sexual orientation, race, religion, disability — all good inclusive rules), now the Farmers Branch council wants to take away the right to rent to someone who may be gainfully employed and able to pay the bills. From inclusion the pendulum swings toward exclusion.

And this in a town with a 47 percent Hispanic population, yet with no representation on the council or school board. Yes, the majority of the general population voted for this rental restriction. But, had civil rights law been put to a general vote in the 1960s, it might possibly have lost.

We expect the government to take the high road and raise us to a good moral standing. That's what happened in the '60s with race relations, and it would be the appropriate stance for the Farmers Branch council to take now.

What next? Barring stores from selling to people without proof of citizenship? In what way would that be different from preventing a landlord from conducting his private business? Should grocery stores not be able to sell food to undocumented people?

For a nation built by people who came here without advanced application and reception of work permits (few processed through Ellis Island had the green-card equivalent of the day), how have we gone so wrong?

Some overstayed their tourist visas so they could work and support their families, or to escape a politically dangerous homeland (i.e., Cuba, Venezuela) to seek the American dream, and Farmers Branch won't let them rent apartments?

This in a state where the first European visitors exclusively spoke Spanish, where the original constitution of the Republic of Texas was written in Spanish by the "Anglos" living here then.

Being bilingual (English/Spanish) is a distinct advantage in this current tough job market. Companies that haven't been restricted (by any Farmers Branch-type laws) from doing business need people who can communicate in the two languages used by the vast majority of their customers.

We need this new generation of workers, to pay taxes and Social Security.

We must find a better way to integrate into our nation those who sacrifice their previous lives to come here. We should see this as the compliment it is, to our heritage and our future.

Let's not tell them "No." That's the N-word I was referring to. We can and should be able to do better.

Online U.S. Hispanic Economy in Transition: Facts, Figures and Trends: tinyurl.com/Hispanic-trends

Larry Watrous lives in the northern part of the Metroplex. He is a member of the Star-Telegram Community Columnist Panel. wllawrence@hotmail.com

Comment: It seems suspicious, but this article actually seems like a sensible positive spin on this issue. To many Latinos/Chicanos, especially 'veteranos', we already are in Occupied Mexico! However, we must be practical and realistic. The concept of a democratic capitalism here now inside the United States is an oxymoron because the majority of the people do not really control the economy inside the United States and cannot under what is really a corporate capitalist economc system.

America in relation to the continental United States belongs to all those who helped to build it no matter where they are from or where they are born.

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