The latest news about Alabama's immigration law (the toughest in the nation)

Here are some stories about the latest firestorm in Alabama over the passage of the nation's toughest anti-illegal immigration bill:

The Economic Reality Of Tough Immigration Laws

The untended consequences of Alabama's immigration law

Georgia passed a similar law and has already lost an estimated 75 million dollars this year; they are now trying to pass an emergency guest worker bill.

Mixed Orientation Marriages

"In class, one thing someone got pretty upset about was the idea of mixed orientation marriages. They said this was something forced on them to help them fit in. But I think we need a more eternal perspective. Finding the companionship of someone worthy and uplifting (if not sexually attractive) is a positive thing for those who feel that that is right. I don't see that they are giving up anything--they are getting sealed to a great person that they love, and given the chance to bring children into the world. Don't you believe that they will get the chance to become perfected in heaven? At that point, whatever qualms they had about sexual attraction will be gone and the relationship that they have built will be a source of great blessings and happiness.

That being said, I don't think every one in that situation has to get married on this Earth. I don't know how I would handle such a difficult situation, but I imagine that for many, a mixed orientation marriage would be really, really hard. But no matter whether they can get married on Earth or not, they will have the opportunity after death. Another thing I am thinking is that God gives us weakness and trials so that we can come unto him. I can't think of a trial more difficult than dealing with those feelings and a knowledge of the truth for my whole life. But I think that the members of the church who struggle with same sex attraction must be very, very strong or God wouldn't have given them this challenge. Weakness isn't sin and the fact that good, faithful members deal with this challenge and desires positively is amazing and inspiring to me."

Jessica Vance

LDS Forum Explores Immigration Challenge

As the immigration debate has exploded into the American political consciousness, so has the internal turmoil for many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mormon teachings press the faithful to be both compassionate and law-abiding, while current government policies seem to make the two goals mutually exclusive, a theme struck over and over at Saturday’s Sunstone Symposium: "Choose the Right — But Which is Right?

Robert Crawford and five other panelists described how they have reconciled the question by applying their personal experiences, church teachings and some critical thought to an issue that defies a simple conclusion.

"The Scripture seems to be telling us one thing," said Crawford, a Provo medical doctor. "Man’s laws seem to be telling us another."

Crawford noted that he had been raised to look to LDS apostles and prophets for answers to many of the tough questions. And when LDS leaders began issuing a series of statements on immigration a few years ago, he could not help but take notice.

The leaders urged "a spirit of compassion" in considering immigration. And they advocated a "thoughtful and factual, not to mention humane approach."

 Full article at http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52340027-78/immigration-law-lds-crawford.html.csp

We pride ourselves on being a compassionate people, however, our helping hands have not quite grasped those of our foreign brothers and sisters.  Some members of the church would argue that illegal immigration is against the law, and they would be right. However, I believe that human life is above the law. That people are more important than money.  I think it's time we put our religious principles before our political principles. 


Mallory Fox

A Child's Perspective

This is a simple study in which two identical dolls are placed before several black children. Each child was asked questions of opinion about the dolls. The only difference between the two dolls is that one is white and the other is black. The results are surprising.

By some means, majority of the children interviewed in the 1940's saw themselves as looking more like the white doll. White was more beautiful than black and they would have rather of had a white doll. But now, 60 years later, an even greater majority identified with the black doll.

So it would seem we have come a long way in making black and white races feel that neither is superior over the other.

I feel like this is good progress in the sense that slowly, over the years, black children are gaining a better respect for themselves that had been stolen away by the culture of the early United States. However, in relation to the questions concerning personality over looks, there is still the issue of picking one to be nice and one to be mean based off of color. I think as though it is natural to feel that one would be more so attracted to someone of the same race generally speaking, but to feel that whether or not someone is nice or mean based off of color is wrong. So referring to race in looks, feeling as though the doll of the same color is "more beautiful" is good! But until it is more common that both dolls are equally nice or equally mean, we still have much work to do.

In this episode of "What Would You Do", a black actress is shopping at a store owned and run by white people. The black woman is constantly asked to leave and is even frisked because the employee claims she is a risk, and that she “knows her type”. While discrimination is nothing new, the interesting part of this episode comes at the end of the show when they begin discussing how few people intervened. They bring up the fact that more people of color stepped in to help to actress than white people.

What does this mean in relation to the “white privilege” theory? Did white people feel no need to step in because, due to their white skin, they do not know how to relate to the black woman; or do they think that they are above the woman and her problems because they are white? Did more people of color step in because they are more caring; or because they have experienced the same situation; or do they feel the attack on one black woman is also an attack on them?

The real question is what would you do, and why? I think that it is so easy to assume that we would do the right thing and stand up, but when put to the test, how brave would you be? The take away lesson for me was that racism may not be a problem that I can single-handedly solve, but I can solve racism on personal levels.

The Bullying Epidemic.

A blog I follow called Single Dad Laughing (SDL at www.danoah.com) recently posted a series of highly personal memoirs. They are some the author's personal experiences with bullying throughout his life. There are 15 in total and can be read here. Be warned, it's a long read if you go through all of them, and they're explicit at times.

This video was included at the end:





I'd like to extend the broad discussion of bullying to this blog. You don't even need to go read the memoirs to add to this conversation. We have a lot of posts citing specific bullying incidences due to controversy surrounding homosexuality and race. Are these the only two bases for hate crimes? What else are people intolerant of? What kinds of people bully and what leads them to do it? What can we do about it?

What draws me into this discussion are the poll numbers SDL cited at the beginning of his memoirs. He wrote:


"I tested the waters. I placed a very unscientific poll on my blog and asked my readers to “check all statements that apply to you now or in the past.” I let it run for 48 hours, curious to see what the results would be. At the end of two days, more than 22,000 different users participated. It was by far the most involvement I’d ever had in a poll. But far more shocking than the number of participants was the result of the poll.

43% of participants reported they had been bullied “viciously.”
64% of participants reported they had been bullied “minorly.”
27% of participants reported they had been a bully to others.
48% of participants reported they had seen others being bullied and done nothing.
57% of participants reported they had seen others being bullied and stepped in.
And only 0.6% of participants reported that they had never bullied, been bullied, or seen bullying."

These numbers surprised and shocked me. I can't think of any time when I've been bullied - or even witnessed bullying. I do vividly remember trying to turn my friends against someone I disliked in elementary school once (we'd leave this girl out of our games and talk amongst ourselves about how 'uncool' she was). It lasted about 4 days before my teacher sat me down and was very blunt with me - I didn't realize how cruel I'd been until then. I never did anything like it intentionally again. Was I a bully? I think so. Did it stem from a fear of people who are different from me? I'm not sure.

What are your thoughts? What have your personal experiences been with bullying? Does all bullying stem from misunderstanding of 'diversity'?

Alabama Immigration Bullies Schoolchildren

Immigration laws in Alabama are taking a toll on those who deserve it least: children.

Here is an article, posted by USA Today, about how Hispanic families are afraid to send their children to school in a time when the state is cracking down on illegal immigrants of all ages. For the first time, children enrolling in school are required to provide an American birth certificate, or else some proof of their legal status. Even the children who were born and raised in the U.S., but have parents who were not, fear the questions and suspicion they face from the school system. Some families are even relocating, as is illustrated in this video posted at cnn.com.

The United States prides itself on being a nation of security, so why are we forcing our most innocent demographic to hide like fugitives? Young kids shouldn’t have to live in a state of fear, worrying that one wrong move or a slip of the tongue will get them and/or their families deported. No child should feel they cannot even get a basic public education in a safe environment.

This isn’t just a failure on the part of the sate of Alabama, but on the U.S. as a whole. For too long the issue of immigration has swept under rugs. Legislatures have shuffled the rules around and made small, virtually insignificant passes at trying to control the situation, when in fact an entire overhaul of the immigration process has been in order for decades. I’m not suggesting there is an easy solution here – there definitely isn’t- but I don’t feel enough effort has been made to examine the issue. The immigration system is complicated and broken, but the last thing we should be doing is scaring people into submission, especially kids.

Hiring Locally for Farm Work Is No Cure-All

Here is a fascinating article about a farmer in Colorado who figured he could hire less foreign workers and replace them with local workers who were out of jobs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/us/farmers-strain-to-hire-american-workers-in-place-of-migrant-labor.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

I found the following paragraph telling:

Six hours was enough, between the 6 a.m. start time and noon lunch break, for the first wave of local workers to quit. Some simply never came back and gave no reason. Twenty-five of them said specifically, according to farm records, that the work was too hard.

It's important to note that these workers were all getting paid $10.50 per hour. Despite the Great Recession it appears as if we still need guest workers.

"The N Word"

This an article I found that shows how a light hearted morning show can get very tense with the use of one offensive word. While reporting a story, Barbara Walters says "the N word", in the exact same context that Whoopi Goldberg said it just seconds before. A fellow host, Sherri Shepherd, gets very uncomfortable when she hears a white person say it, as opposed to a black person. Shepherd goes on to say that she uses "the N word" with her friends and does not mind when black people use it but "When white people say it, it brings up feelings in me." I find it interesting that two people can say the exact same word in the exact same context, but if one is white, the word becomes offensive. Whoopi points out that it is only the older people that have a problem with the word, that teenagers now just do not care. I like how Whoopi says "Let's not pretend that this isn't part of the fabric of America." Racism is very much a part of the American past and present, but we should try to not let it affect our future.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/barbara-walters-n-word-view_n_992656.html

Race Issues Penetrate Religious Event

I was watching "Inside Mecca", a documentary about the Islamic pilgrimage that Muslims make to Mecca. The pilgrimage and subsequent days of worship is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. You would expect such a large and awesome religious gathering to inspire feelings of acceptance and peace from the gatherers. However, this documentary shows that not even religious gatherings are immune to prejudice or segregation.

Watch from 6:33 - 9:12 and then 33:33 - 35:20.



It is important to note that only Muslims are allowed into this religious gathering. Earlier in the documentary, it is stated that 80% of Muslims are converts. However, the woman from Texas is a victim of some racial profiling. As seen in the video, some Muslims there still expect to see an Arab muslim, and have a difficult time adjusting to seeing a white muslim. Earlier in the video, she tells how she needed to have extra documentation to prove that she was Muslim to sign up for the pilgrimage, since her name doesn't sound like a Muslim name.
The Muslim from South Africa also feels out of place because of his race. At the Hajj, the travelers are divided into sleeping areas by the region that they came from. The black man from South Africa also endured many comments because of his race, so he decided to worship in another region's area because he fit in better though. We had watched a video in class and had talked a little about the segregation that just happens in certain areas - how the whites band together in one neighborhood, the Latinos in another area, etc. Interesting to see how that "natural" segregation happened even at this religious event.

Increased Poverty in Latin American Children

An interesting article posted in The New York Times indicates that poverty of Latino children outnumber impoverished white children within the US. This is pretty shocking because the Latin American population only makes up 16% of the entire population in the US. Interesting statistics to look at and the explanation of the author is even better. If you are interested go ahead and take a look at the link below.

"Hispanic Children in Poverty Exceed Whites, Study Finds" by Sabrina Tavernise