(This diary was originally published on July 4 on another blog)
In this July 4, amid the celebration for the independence and creation of this country, right after the so called Immigration Reform legislation considered in the Senate, which fortunately failed, fortunately because it was in reality an internal security program wrapped up in immigration reform rhetoric and very aggressive measures to deport as many as "deportable" undocumented workers as possible, plus the 21st century version of indentured workers, euphemistically called "guest workers" but in reality was yet another "bracero" program.
I believe it is important to attempt to balance what is said on this Independence day by refreshing our memories to the dark side of the United States of America who does not have an exclusive on darkness, but because it is so powerful, it's actions and propaganda reach a higher level of harmfulness (sic).
And this document does not even mention the Chinese Exclusion act or how, in their time as newcomers, the Italians, Irish, Slavs, Japanese Americans, etc. were treated just as cruelly.
Slavery of African Americans, albeit immigrants as well, they were brought in against their will and treated even worst, so bad that, for me, I find it very difficult to find a word that truly conveys how I feel about it.
Native Americans had the dubious "Honor" Of being the first victims of the "Christians(?)" For their own good, of course!
And it continues to be so to this day.
All of the above groups have something in common, they were different. As years went by, the people with white characteristics, were/are more accepted, even so they may be immigrants; what remains to this day is the prejudice against non-whites fomented primarily by hate radio and tv, the names of these hatemongers are well known and their impact on the "Bobbleheads" Is self evident.
Tha latest targets of their words full of hate, are the immigrants, Latinos and Mexicans in particular.
But in general, it can be said that anybody who is different, is viciously attacked.
Some of the latest examples:
Savage on immigrant students' hunger strike: "[L]et them fast until they starve to death. ... Go make a bomb where you came from"
Boortz on illegal immigrants: "Give 'em all a little nuclear waste and let 'em take it on down there to Mexico"
CBS contributor Dobbs defends false leprosy claim after confrontation by CBS' Stahl
Michael Savage called transgender murder victim a "psychopath" and a "freak"
citing more sex-change operations, increased lesbian fertility clinics, Savage said of 9-11: "That was God speaking"
M. Savage should remember that Jesus of Nazareth particularly despised and had nothing but utter contempt for people like the "Whiner", you know, hypocrites.
If we immigrants have people who seem to WASPs as "strange", when we see some of the people in this country who attack us with so much hate, we feel like saying, as comedian Yakov Smirnoff used to say: "What a Country!"
I hope you are enjoying this day remembering that the promise of the Constitution "With Liberty and Justice for All", has yet to be fulfilled in it's entirety.
Aurora
THE MEXICAN REPATRATION PROGRAM
If asked about the Trail of Tears 1, 2,, many Americans, especially Oklahomans, would be able to respond that it was a shameful time in U.S. history dealing with the forced removal of Native Americans.
If asked about Manzanar 1, 2, 3, some would recognize it as one of the Japanese internment camps where Japanese Americans were forced to stay during World War II, and yet another shameful time in U.S. history.
But if asked about The Mexican Repatriation, how many would respond "What?"
The Mexican Repatriation was the largest involuntary migration in the United States up to that time. It was greater than the Native American removals of the nineteenth century, or the Japanese American relocations of World War II.
It is estimated up to two million Mexicans and Mexican Americans were "repatriated," sent back to Mexico, between 1929 and 1944! Why do so few know of this tragic period of our history?
Part of the reason is the Mexican culture itself, a culture of "silence and forgetting." One Mexican survivor said, "Forgetting is to Mexicans what remembering is to Jews."
Each culture has their own coping mechanisms. But descendents of survivors have started pressuring them to tell the story.
This was not the first time that Mexicans were repatriated.
In 1848, following the Mexican War, was perhaps the first large scale repatriation (estimated at several thousand). While periodic smaller scale repatriations continued over the years, the next large scale repatriation happened in 1915, as a reaction to a plan to have Mexican Americans rebel against the United States and to re-conquer land lost by Mexicans to the United States. This resulted in thousands more Mexicans being sent back to Mexico.
However, The Mexican Repatriation of 1929-1944 was different, not only in its size but in the number of American citizens who were sent to Mexico. It is estimated that approximately 60 percent of those deported were legal American citizens of Mexican descent. The program was first started under the Hoover administration as a means to get rid of illegal immigrants and open up jobs for "real" Americans suffering during the Depression. It was based in large part on racism and the prejudice against those who did not speak English and who looked different. However, most of those rounded up and deported were not given a hearing. And those who could prove citizenship or legal work papers often found their papers suspected as forgeries and torn up, sending the individuals back to Mexico.
Although "back" is not the correct term for the many who were born in the U.S. of Mexican descent but had never even been to Mexico.
There are more and more stories being published of forced deportation during this era.
One example is a nine-year-old girl who was born in Los Angeles of Mexican descent, who was suddenly deported. She was taken away from her home, school, family and friends, and sent to Mexico, even though she knew very little Spanish, where she was forced to live outdoors.
Many stories include husbands and fathers who were deported and never seen again.
One story is of a 23 year-old woman, and her three-year-old American son, who responded with her family to a meeting about a famous Mexican painter, Diego Rivera. However, at the meeting they were told it was not about the painter, but was to inform them that they needed to go back to Mexico because the United States could not afford to keep them They were told that Mexico had lots of open land for them. When they got to Mexico they found neither land nor food.
And their belongings which had been packed on a train in the U.S. were never seen again.
They had been duped by both the Mexican and U.S. governments.
FDR ended federal support of the program under his administration, but many states and local governments continued the program on their own. The deportations, while primarily from the southern states reached all around the country, including as far north as Illinois and Michigan. Over the last couple of years legislation in California has been proposed to remove the statute of limitations for survivors to make claims against California for their unconstitutional deportation.
Even today, many Americans of Mexican descent live in fear of being stopped. They fear leaving their homes without proof of citizenship, even though they were born here.
Why are they stopped? Often simply because of the color of their skin.
This documento's source on The Mexican Repatriation Program - PDF File
The Mexican Repatriation Program on Wikipedia
Mexican Americans and Repatriation - From the Handbook of Texas Online
Remembering California's "Repatriation Program - NPR Audio
Homeland Security Announces Second Year of Interior (of Mexico) Repatriation Program
Operation "ENDGAME" - PDF File -- "Homeland Security, fighting terrorism since 1492"
Some books, if interested.
Decade of Betrayal: Mexican Repatriation in the 1930s (Paperback)
by Francisco E. Balderrama (Author), Raymond Rodríguez (Author) - Amazon Online Reader
Mexican Workers and the American Dreams: Immigration, Repatriation, and California Farm Labor, 1900-1939 (Class and Culture) (Hardcover)
by Camille Guerin-Gonzales - Amazon Online Reader
Walls and Mirrors: Mexican Americans, Mexican Immigrants, and the Politics of Ethnicity (Paperback) by David G. Gutiérrez (Author) "On February 2, 1848, delegates representing the governments of the Republic of Mexico and the United States met in the dusty village of Guadalupe Hidalgo..." - Amazon Online Reader
The Mexican American Family Album (The American Family Albums) (Paperback) by Dorothy Hoobler (Author), Thomas Hoobler (Author), Henry G. Cisneros (Introduction) "The first Mexican Americans did not choose to leave their homeland and come to the United States...." - Amazon Online Reader
Stories from the Barrio: A History of Mexican Fort Worth (Hardcover)
by Carlos E. Cuellar (Author) "The history of Mexicanos in Forth Worth goes back almost as far as the history of the city itself..." - Amazon Online Reader