Gerald Britt serves as Vice-President of Public Policy and Community Program Development at Central Dallas Ministries.
The Dallas Morning News published his editorial essay on the "Dream Act" in yesterday's edition of the paper. I knew you'd want to read it. So, here it is:
I want to go on the public record as a supporter of the Dream Act. You may have never heard of it and, like me, would not have thought a great deal about it if you had. My support is provoked by two incidents that force me to confront an issue that finds me somewhat conflicted.
Two young Hispanic people, Monica and José, were picked up in Greenville at a senior skip day gathering earlier this year. However you feel about kids skipping school, senior skip day is an unofficial tradition that goes back to my ancient day.
The problem is, this brother and sister are not citizens. Their parents are undocumented, even though they have been in this country since Monica was 5. Now two young people – who have done nothing but go to school, prepare for a bright future and make their community proud – could be deported.
Similarly, young Victoria Chiwara is an immigrant from Zimbabwe. She and her family came to America seeking asylum. Her attorney missed a filing deadline, and this young lady, enrolled in community college in Tarrant County, with a scholarship to Baylor University, was threatened with deportation, until her friends and the media intervened.
The Dream Act legislation would provide temporary legal status to any child of undocumented immigrants who has no record of criminal activity and completes high school, enrolls in a two- or four-year institution of higher education or enlists in the armed forces. As I see it, this is legislation in the best interest of the children of undocumented immigrants and our country.
I understand anxiety among African-Americans that a focus on immigration reform comes at the expense of our own struggle for justice. The National Urban League's audit of black America's progress is a torrent of statistical social inequities showing that when it comes to poverty, employment, education, housing and incarceration, black people are not doing well.
But a commitment to total justice for black Americans cannot mean hatefulness toward others. The African-American legacy has always been the championing of human rights for all. Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the door to equality for all citizens. The hope inspired by these august achievements makes our country attractive to people from all across the globe.
We and our allies have challenged America to make room for all people. This cannot apply only to the sons and daughters of former slaves and slave owners; it must also apply to immigrants.
The rhetoric of some in our post-9/11 world suggests the "illegal" presence of immigrants represents a security threat. We must not be swayed by 9/11 paranoia and xenophobia that scapegoats the foreign born and those of foreign ancestry. Forgotten is the fact that the 19 hijackers who caused the devastation in New York entered the country legally. And the most horrible terrorist act prior to 9/11 wasn't committed by an undocumented alien but by an American named Timothy McVeigh.
The challenge of immigration is rooted in America's failure to deal with race. Thomas Jefferson, another conflicted American, said that dealing with race is "like holding a wolf by the ears, you did not like it much, but you dare not let it go." We must deal with racial injustice, class inequity and immigration.
The Dream Act isn't the total answer. It is, however, a meaningful start.
The Dallas Morning News published his editorial essay on the "Dream Act" in yesterday's edition of the paper. I knew you'd want to read it. So, here it is:
I want to go on the public record as a supporter of the Dream Act. You may have never heard of it and, like me, would not have thought a great deal about it if you had. My support is provoked by two incidents that force me to confront an issue that finds me somewhat conflicted.
Two young Hispanic people, Monica and José, were picked up in Greenville at a senior skip day gathering earlier this year. However you feel about kids skipping school, senior skip day is an unofficial tradition that goes back to my ancient day.
The problem is, this brother and sister are not citizens. Their parents are undocumented, even though they have been in this country since Monica was 5. Now two young people – who have done nothing but go to school, prepare for a bright future and make their community proud – could be deported.
Similarly, young Victoria Chiwara is an immigrant from Zimbabwe. She and her family came to America seeking asylum. Her attorney missed a filing deadline, and this young lady, enrolled in community college in Tarrant County, with a scholarship to Baylor University, was threatened with deportation, until her friends and the media intervened.
The Dream Act legislation would provide temporary legal status to any child of undocumented immigrants who has no record of criminal activity and completes high school, enrolls in a two- or four-year institution of higher education or enlists in the armed forces. As I see it, this is legislation in the best interest of the children of undocumented immigrants and our country.
I understand anxiety among African-Americans that a focus on immigration reform comes at the expense of our own struggle for justice. The National Urban League's audit of black America's progress is a torrent of statistical social inequities showing that when it comes to poverty, employment, education, housing and incarceration, black people are not doing well.
But a commitment to total justice for black Americans cannot mean hatefulness toward others. The African-American legacy has always been the championing of human rights for all. Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened the door to equality for all citizens. The hope inspired by these august achievements makes our country attractive to people from all across the globe.
We and our allies have challenged America to make room for all people. This cannot apply only to the sons and daughters of former slaves and slave owners; it must also apply to immigrants.
The rhetoric of some in our post-9/11 world suggests the "illegal" presence of immigrants represents a security threat. We must not be swayed by 9/11 paranoia and xenophobia that scapegoats the foreign born and those of foreign ancestry. Forgotten is the fact that the 19 hijackers who caused the devastation in New York entered the country legally. And the most horrible terrorist act prior to 9/11 wasn't committed by an undocumented alien but by an American named Timothy McVeigh.
The challenge of immigration is rooted in America's failure to deal with race. Thomas Jefferson, another conflicted American, said that dealing with race is "like holding a wolf by the ears, you did not like it much, but you dare not let it go." We must deal with racial injustice, class inequity and immigration.
The Dream Act isn't the total answer. It is, however, a meaningful start.
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