Anti-immigration OR White supremacy?
In response to the Señor Senator pieces [“Señor Smith,” “Señor Smith, Part Dos,” “Tres Strikes,”WW, Sept. 10, 17 and 24, 2008] and the issue of immigration, let’s be realistic. The U.S. as a nation has benefited twofold. First, the free trade agreements enacted by the government provide multi-national corporations with land, factories, and carte blanche. Secondly, when all the locals who find themselves without land or work due to corporate interference head north to look for a source of livelihood the U.S. gains a veritable army of labor. This [raises] the question why would the U.S. government ever attempt to do anything about the issue of “illegal immigration” besides maintain the status quo?
This fact illustrates that people like Tom Wenning and organizations like OFIR (Oregonians For Immigration Reform) are a joke. They lack even a semblance of serious analysis regarding the situation, and are completely reactionary. They are spinning their wheels trying to get the government to change something that it benefits from. Unless they are riding this issue to further a more frightening nationalistic agenda. We should see these anti-immigrant people for what they actually are, which is the contemporary expression of white supremacy. They struggle not against immigration policy, but against the makeup of the country. If the borders were airtight tomorrow they would still be in operation. Let us not become distracted by the slew of red herrings in their rhetoric about American jobs and the abiding by the law. Their actual goal is keeping the “Legal America” White.
Beriah
Northwest 19th Avenue
CORRECTION: In WW’s March 12, 2008, Rogue of the Week about Palazzo Custom Homes, LLC’s and Randy Palazzo’s homebuilding in Portland’s Concordia neighborhood, WW reported that a neighbor complained Palazzo employees had trespassed on his property. Palazzo denies the allegation, and neither Palazzo Custom Homes, LLC nor its employees have been charged with or sued for trespass in connection with the project. WW also reported that Palazzo employees had left sidewalks covered with building debris and that Palazzo’s workers complained to police about a neighbor, resulting in the neighbor’s arrest. Palazzo had closed the sidewalks with permission from the City of Portland, and the person making a police report was an employee of a subcontractor, not an employee of Palazzo. WW regrets the errors.
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Let me assure Willamette Week and the author of the letter that my views on illegal immigration have nothing to do with racism. Understand this clearly: I am not anti-immigrant. Immigrants were instrumental in building this great country. I am, however, against the illegal hiring of illegal immigrants.
Workers - legal and illegal - pay taxes that support social security, education, and other important services, however, harboring illegal workers and encouraging them to work illegally - as the City of Portland has done -denies legal citizens opportunities that should belong to those who play by the rules and live here legally.
Guest-worker programs allow seasonal workers to enter our country legally and work here LEGALLY.
I wish that Willamette Week would consider the issue rationally, rather than print letters that portray those who disagree with the City Council as racists. Illegal immigrants are exploited by those who hire them. Employers who hire illegal immigrants should be held accountable.
Reasonable citizens would likely agree that the illegal day labor site should be shut down. Jobs should be given to those who are legally credentialed to work. The issue of race and racism is a means to inflame and persuade people not to truly analyze the issue. It is far too simple-minded to describe anyone that is against illegal immigration as racist.