Last week, I discussed the sad state of our education system and the conservative opposition to progress. I hoped I would be able to move on to exploring solutions to the problem, but a brief overview of the news revealed further aggravating complications. I’m becoming convinced that xenophobia is the most fundamental tenet of conservatism. As I’ve mentioned before, some pessimistic whim has lead me to conducting rather unpleasant research: I listen to the bigoted morons on conservative talk radio on a daily basis. The racism these people spout continues to boggle my mind.
I caught a segment on Phil Valentine’s show yesterday detailing the struggle towards barring illegal immigrants from getting financial help for college, or, in some cases, attending collage at all. Wonderful. Barring students from Universities…how low can people get? Have these scumbags ever heard of a guy named George Wallace?
According to a recent article in USA today, South Carolina, that bastion of progressive ideology, does not allow any “undocumented” student to apply to a public university. North Carolina blocks undocumented students from applying to community colleges. Arkansas will enact similar legislation this coming fall.
Apparently, a piece of paper stating the coincidental facts of your birth determines not only your ability to succeed but your ability to learn. Seriously. A piece of paper that says Sally or Juan or whoever was born in Des Moines or Mexico City. Neither Sally nor Juan chose to be born in Des Moines or Mexico City.
Xenophobia, friends. I can’t figure it out. Do these conservatives honestly believe ten-year-old Hispanic children are climbing the fences or wading the Rio Grande with back-packs filled with physics texts and ACT practice tests? Were that the case, I imagine a very vocal contingent of the conservative “base” would advocate training an army of border-patrol junior-high kids to take them on with BB guns and sling shots, thus teaching them a little lesson about the ole U.S. and A.
Personally, as a small child, I would stand outside my parent’s bathroom door when my mother heard the call of nature and cry until she returned. In other words, these children don’t have a choice about immigrating.and then they are persecuted in our country for wanting to improve their situation, and, *gasp*, attempt to contribute to our society.
Several states-Georgia, Arizona, and Oklahoma-deny in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. This issue is currently being debated by Tennessee politicians, and I imagine a similar decision to deny in-state tuition to illegal immigrants is on the horizon.
The general argument for blocking in-state tuition for these students goes something like this: “hey, man, I don’t see why an illegal should get in-state tuition if people from other states don’t get it neither.illegals ain’t even Americans.at least people from New York are technically Americans.but don’t get me started on that.Jimmy, son, get offa the ****** TV! We ain’t paid it off yet! What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Mexicans. I mean illegal Mexicans. They gonna fill up the colleges so Jimmy can’t even go. Jimmy, get your fingers outta there! “
We need all of the serious students we can get, and I believe that any child intelligent and hard working enough to overcome the huge disadvantages illegal aliens face in this country and gain admission in to college deserves financial aid.
Of course, this discussion bleeds into a larger one, so I need to shift gears and get something off my chest once and for all. I want to ask a question of everyone who reads this, and I would appreciate responses on the website. I’ve asked myself the question and think I have a pretty good answer. Here goes: assuming you were born in America, does that make you better than someone who was born somewhere else? If so, how? How are you any different, any better or worse, at birth, than any other person born anywhere else?
If America is, in fact, the best country in the world, as Americans so often proclaim, why don’t we welcome as many people as have the means to get here. The answer is xenophobia. Conservatives, and, I’m sure, plenty of so-called liberals, would be quick to list the drawbacks to opening our borders. And all of those answers boil down to one simple idea: these people will come and take from me.
So, return to my original question. Were we, as Americans, born wanting to take something from others? Or were we born wanting to be taken care of by your parents? Later in life, we don’t need our parents support, we need an education. Why would this be different if we were born in Mexico, Afghanistan, Bali, or Lithuania?
Without exception, there are only two kinds of people in this world. One type of person continues to insist on perpetuating systems of “us” and “them,” and continues to find ways to divide, categorize, and stereotype people. The other type of person pays the price.
See you next time.
