Yesterday’s New York Times Opinion, “The Great Immigration Panic,” poignantly depicts the “war” that has been waged on immigrants in the U.S. It describes the current state of affairs:
“A nation of immigrants is holding another nation of immigrants in bondage, exploiting its labor while ignoring its suffering, condemning its lawlessness while sealing off a path to living lawfully,” while exhorting the Presidential candidates (Obama & McCain) to “confront the issue with courage and a plan.”
The journey for equity in the U.S. must afford undocumented immigrant families a proper path towards citizenship, in a manner that is dignified, and recognizes our collective identity.
“Below the Line: The Changing Face of American Poverty”, the provocative series featured on the Tavis Smiley Radio Show, has profiled a vast range of people living at or below the poverty line in the United States. The series has critically examined what it looks like to be poor in America today, by telling stories as varied as the young, African American, single mother of two children who lost her job at Enron only to find herself making less than $10,000 a year as a nursing assistant; a young married couple, graduate student and carpenter, trying their best to sustain a family of five on the land by growing a community garden; and the Ethiopian immigrant working full time at a meat packing plant, and part time as a child care provider in rural Minnesota.
Angela Glover Blackwell frames each installment from a public policy perspective, while respective experts offer insight and strategic solutions for the foreclosure crisis, living wage, inadequate health care, homelessness, transitional housing, and ex-offender re-entry, along with other issues faced by a growing number of Americans.
Now you can catch the entire series right here on EquityBlog:
Episode One
The series begins with Terreal Grant of Baltimore who is coming out of poverty and drug addiction with help from the Thompson Mobility Program [PDF].
Episode Two
The second installment features Cici Youngblood, a college graduate who describes her path to poverty as “riches to rags” and Jeff Page, a former DJ who went from fame to a downward spiral into homelessness after cancer. Both profiles illustrate how poverty is compounded by health and how successful programs (e.g. Rainbow Apartments) in Los Angeles’s Skid Row community work to meet these challenges.
Episode Three Reporter James Mills shares the story of Abeba Adella of Minnesota. Originally from Ethiopia, Abeba left an abusive husband, raises two children alone, and works two jobs to barely avoid poverty.
Episode Four From Augusta, Georgia, reporter Charles Edwards speaks with two residents who struggle with less than the federal minimum wage. Richard Sparrow suffered a back injury and was shunned by employers as an insurance liability. Unemployed since 1996, Richard lives on less than 700 dollars a month, over half of which goes to medicine. Sunny Johnson, a former Enron employee, describes the sacrifices she makes with her wages from her day and night jobs.
Episode Five New Orleans producer Eve Abrams brings us the story of Vanessa Nevilles, who is struggling to find a job with health insurance, and Keith Carter who was shunned from employment after an arrest and a lengthy legal battle.
Episode Six Executive Producer Cheryl Flowers visits Mississippi to find two stories of poverty in small rural communities. Mississippi is home to one of the highest concentrations of poverty in America.
Radio and TV talk show hosts and pundits often conjure images of destitute Mexican immigrants, hell bent on spreading their law-breaking ways and threatening sovereignty of our southern border. But Massey’s book provides ample proof that the face of immigrant America has changed dramatically in regard to race and class. The book documents how immigrants from Africa, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and other parts of the globe are making important contributions to the economic and social vitality of cities, towns, and rural areas.
In this interview on New York’s WNYC public radio, the Princeton sociologist explains that we must understand and respond to the underlying economic factors that have fueled the dispersal of immigrants from traditional gateway cities (Los Angeles and New York City) and states to suburban and rural communities in virtually every region of the country.
Amidst the shrill cries to “restore the rule of law” — often through evermore draconian policies aimed at punishing hardworking immigrants — Massey reminds us that addressing the dilemmas posed by these new patterns of immigration is not as simple as militarizing the border and cutting off services to immigrant children and families.
In communities from the Midwest to the Northwest, where white populations are simultaneously declining and aging, immigrants are the key to economic and social revitalization. Small towns that rely on industries (e.g., agricultural sectors, food processing, hospitality, etc.) with significant proportion of immigrant workers would face even greater financial challenges if immigrants were to leave voluntarily or by force.
There are some business and government leaders who understand this. Thankfully, they are quietly building support among civic leaders to help residents understand and respond constructively to rapidly changing demographic, economic, and social realities. A key element of this new outlook is the willingness to challenge leaders to go beyond scape-goating to collectively analyze the changes most needed to strengthen their communities.
Lester Heitke, who serves as Mayor in Willmar, Minnesota is a good example of this new leadership. When conflict erupted in Willmar in 2004, as a reaction to an escalation of ICE raids targeting families that worked in surrounding industry, Mayor Hietke did not rely on business as usual tactics. He refused to remain silent. Instead, together with the Chief of Police, the President of the Community College, and some other local leaders, Mayor Heitke organized community forums to give local residents a chance to vent their frustrations with the raids and the underlying economic conditions.
Since those tumultuous days, Heitke has garnered buy-in from city department heads, business, community, and other civic leaders to develop a more informed and visionary strategy to respond to the challenges facing the entire community-immigrants included. See link below for details of the goals that were developed by a civic engagement process Heitke refers to as Wilmar 2020. As the name implies this strategy seeks to improve Willmar’s economic and social prospects by looking forward not backward.
The series has critically examined what it looks like to be poor in America today, by telling stories as varied as the young, African American, single mother of two children who lost her job at Enron only to find herself making less than $10,000 a year as a nursing assistant; a young married couple, graduate student and carpenter, trying their best to sustain a family of five on the land by growing a community garden; and the Ethiopian immigrant working full time at a meat packing plant, and part time as a child care provider in rural Minnesota.