Ok so i guess i need some help understanding what's going on. On this auspicious eve of bush's presidential address on immigration policy i'm trying to understand how language can hide so much violence, hatred and inhumanity. i'm trying to understand how sentences do not grammatically falter from the weight of so much hypocrisy. And i'm trying to understand what mechanisms have so flawlessly facilitated a logic that allows us to forget legacies of genocide, slavery and oppression in exchange for values of democracy, liberty and justice.
What the fuck am i missing here?
Perhaps extracting some quotes from tonight's speech will help to explain my confusion:
"We must begin by recognizing the problems with our immigration system. For decades, the United States has not been in complete control of its borders. As a result, many who want to work in our economy have been able to sneak across our border and millions have stayed."
Did he just say "sneak??" See 'cause when i think of the word "sneak" i tend to associate it with the more light-hearted of activities. Such as sneaking into a second movie matinee without buying a ticket or perhaps a kid sneaking in a donut before dinner...shit like that. Working for years to finance an incredibly physically and emotionally draining journey across latin american borders where in which you are more than likely to fall victim to robbery, as well as physical and sexual assault at the hands of gangs who roam the streets looking for migrants, if not at the hands of police authorities themselves, seems deserving of another descriptor. Furthermore, to say that they just "snuck" across the border denies them the dignity of acknowledgement of the circumstances from which they are fleeing. It infantilizes people, reducing their struggles to a childish game of hide-and-go-to-america. It refuses to recognize the tremendous amounts of hope and investment, fear and terror, as well as danger and risk by which such a journey is characterized.. ok lets move on the next quote:
"Once here, illegal immigrants live in the shadows of our society. Many use forged documents to get jobs, and that makes it difficult for employers to verify that the workers they hire are legal. Illegal immigration puts pressure on public schools and hospitals, strains state and local budgets, and brings crime to our communities. These are real problems, yet we 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 but they are beyond the reach and protection of American law."
Alright so first we are told that these people are criminals that leech off the services and institutions financed by honest hard-working tax-paying citizens, but then we're told that most don’t fit into this category....anyone else a lil confused? It contains elements of the die-hard right wing camp to which bush subscribes in its simplistic understanding of illegal immigrants as responsible for inordinate (and thus noteworthy) amounts of crime, as well as "straining" the economy. But wait! Then there’s a liberal sounding sequel that absolves the majority of immigrants from such social disgrace and reconstitutes them as honest, hard-working and god-fearing.
But alas, just when you think the president might be aware of some sort of shared humanity outside his white supremacist, heteronormative, imperialist world, further investigation renders this possibility moot.
What bush is actually saying is that america welcomes immigrants as long as they are humble, downtrodden, obedient, docile, hardworking and INVITED. The same way bush's ancestors were INVITED by the native people of America to inflict genocide, territorial invasion and centuries of subsequent occupation. So in other words, they (we) are welcome as long as we KNOW OUR PLACE. Just like how black people have always been welcome in the states as long as they knew their place (ie under the whip of a taxpaying white citizen). It’s only when us pesky coloured folks start applying the standards of white humanity to our own bodies that things get ugly.
ok moving on:
"We are a nation of laws, and we must enforce our laws. We are also a nation of immigrants, and we must uphold that tradition, which has strengthened our country in so many ways. These are not contradictory goals. America can be a lawful society and a welcoming society at the same time. We will fix the problems created by illegal immigration, and we will deliver a system that is secure, orderly and fair. So I support comprehensive immigration reform that will accomplish five clear objectives."
oh gawd, now i'm lost again. WE are a nation of immigrants??? Is he actually admitting that his existence in america is not divinely ordained but in fact the result of a very real migration path that led him there? Could it be possible that empire is acknowledging its roots?
OR is this just an elusive statement that could also be understood as NOT including bush (and by extension europeans) as part of the immigration stock boiling in america's big melting pot, but instead be read as referring to the large population of "foreigners" that have come to america in recent years or perhaps have lived there for generations but carry the stain of colour on their skin that denies them naturalized nationality?
The rest of the speech dileneates his five magic objectives that will solve the big bad "immigrant problem." The first describes extensive measures that will be executed in order to strengthen border patrol, including a significant deployment of armed soldiers, military equipment, technology and resources to 'trouble' areas where the "sneaking" takes place. While describing these plans bush assures us that "the United States is not going to militarize the southern border"....I guess he felt like injecting a little comedy into the speech.
The second and third objectives describe his ingenious "temporary worker program" solution that subjects workers from the south to numerous humiliating checks and interrogations before they are deemed fit to enter america for a predetermined period of exploitation.
His fourth objective benevolently spares the many undocumented immigrants already residing in the US from the indignity of deportation and instead graciously allows them to simply pay "a meaningful penalty." Which, if monetary, should be easy considering all the big bucks undocumented immigrants must be making once they minus the remittance (the $$$ they send back to their home countries) from their lucrative taxi driving and housecleaning paycheques. I guess bush does have a heart after all.
His final and most touching declaration was a warning to all them foreigners to remember that once you're let into america, u need to talk, eat, worship, dress, walk and fuck american. Oh! As well as KILL for america, which he relays through a little anecdote of Guadalupe Denogean, a man from mexico who was severely wounded in Iraq. In exchange for his bravery and courage, he was awarded citizenship with bush attending his oath-taking ceremony. Does this mean undocumented immigrants can fight in american wars while they are turned away from the country itself??? Is it apparently legal to die for america when its illegal to enter it???
This is eerily reminiscent of the black americans who fought in vietnam for america when americans at home were forcing them to drink out of separate water fountains. As well as the Native Canadian soldiers who fought in the second world war only to come home to residential schools and the continued appropriation of their culture and heritage. But that was all in the past right? Heaven forbid that we try to contextualize and understand the realities of today by looking to history...or try to understand WHY people are risking their lives and separating from their love ones and homelands to come to the west. Could it have something to do with the stifling economic policies of the present, coupled with the debilitating marks of a colonial past?
I think that it is only through understanding these new immigration laws as rooted in histories of utter inhumanity that we are able to begin to resolve the contradictions inherent in the language of this new world empire. Perhaps this will hopefully help us discover ways in which we can work in solidarity with our suffering sisters and brothers across all borders, no matter how guarded.
The full text of the speech can be found here: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50223
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