Everyone But the Republicans Like Obama's Reform Plan

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/nov/21/latin-america-response-us-immigration-reform

So while Congress is still peeved, the rest of the world, particularly the leader of Latin American countries are very pleased with the moves of the President. Leaders from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are super happy with Obama's decision to help keep families together.

The response from the rest of their people is a little more lukewarm, however. There have been newspapers explaining what the reform will or will not do and activists feel it is a step in the right direction but there is still more to be done.

I just find it interesting that the only backlash the President is going to get is from Congress and since he's in the second half of his second term, I don't think it bothers him all that much. Have the Republicans decided to do anything or are they still threatening that they will do something, they just don't know yet?

Executive Action

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30139606

This article is pretty slick. It details a lot of the issues now about immigration reform. It starts out with very similar quotes about immigration from both political parties and raises the question of why no one wants to get along.

It goes on about how Obama is just tired of the back and forth and getting nothing done, so now he's going to do something, the article even likens him to Teddy Roosevelt using his 'big stick'.

Obama insists the system is broken and the article explains how it would take thirty years to deport everyone who's here illegally.

A lot of people who are against immigrations are those with low immigrant populations. They also believe that most of the immigrants are Mexicans and there are more just waiting for the other shoe to drop to run over the border. But statistics tells us that isn't true. There are a lot more going back to Mexico because their economy is getting off and running.

Reactionary Republicans

http://www.voanews.com/content/obama-planning-to-shield-millions-from-deportation/2520454.html

So, here's my thing. I've read four or five of articles along the same line as this one. Basically, the president is going to hold off deportations for children fleeing violence from Central America and their parents. And the Republicans are calling foul. The argument runs that he's abusing his executive power, yadda yadda yadda.

I have yet to hear any plan for immigration reform by Republicans beyond 'whatever Obama does, we will block it'. I don't think the reactive game plan is ever a good idea, but this just hits me as childish. I can't find anything in my casual searching on what Republicans plan on doing, I just keep hearing about what Obama is going to do, which tends to be stable. He's going to protect children and their families fleeing violence from drugs and war in Central America. Yes there's five million of them but how is that not the right thing to do?

Canada's Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act

http://www.voanews.com/content/canada-considers-immigration-ban-on-polygamists/2510250.html

Canada is considering limiting the rights of immigrant polygamists in the Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Act which has got to be the best name for a law I have ever heard.

Canada already bans polygamy and this law would close the loophole that would let polygamists get immigration benefits. They can also deport polygamists without needing to convict them of any criminal activity.

This law would also criminalize forced marriages and limits the defense of honor killings in legal cases. It puts the minimum age for marriage at sixteen. Those under the age of 18 would need parental consent.

The sanctuary movement

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/24/us/us-religious-leaders-embrace-cause-of-immigrant-children.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B%222%22%3A%22RI%3A13%22%7D

Like we talked about in class today, the new surge of immigrant children fleeing Central America are getting the attention of religious groups, hoping to take them in and protect them amidst arguments of sending them back, claiming America cannot take in every child with a problem.

Religious groups argue that this isn't just a political issue but a moral one. They are trying to make it clear that these kids are people not problems. They are trying to get them out of detention centers and keep them from being deported.

So while Congress is deadlocked over the issue, churches are going out of their way to offer food and shelter and just basic necessities. Many have moved to the direction of immigration reform which is unusual for traditionally conservative groups.

Chinese Immigrants in Yosemite

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29666347

Here's some history about Chinese laborers working to map out Yosemite national park. They were doing similar back-breaking work like the railroads. They were the ones digging through mountains to build roads throughout the massive park.

Then the article hones in on a particular immigrant, who they aren't entirely sure was Chinese, but apparently he was a culinary mastermind that worked with mappers like John Muir, cooking in the mountains. He apparently worked keeping meat fresh and made his own bread. He has peak named after him, which is super cool.

Asian Americans and Political Parties

http://www.voanews.com/content/us-political-parties-asian-americans/2486338.html

This is related to our reading this week, about Asian Americans. According to the article, they are the fastest growing minority in the U.S. and have finally gotten some attention from the two political parties. Both parties are beginning to view the various ethnicities as an untapped voting bloc. As more immigrate, they are expected to make a bigger impact in coming elections.

Something I noticed was a Republican spokesperson reiterating the model minority idea from the book. He claims that not only are they the best group of immigrants in terms of assimilation, but they would be the perfect material to lead the new direction of the Republican party.

Eugenics and Immigration Legislation

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/science/haunted-files-the-eugenics-record-office-recreates-a-dark-time-in-a-laboratorys-past.html?_r=0

New York University has a new exhibit recreating the Eugenics Record Office that was the center of the movement by the 1920's. Eugenics was a disturbing pseudoscience based on social Darwinism, that some 'races' were superior to others. The concept behind eugenics was the same reasoning used by the Nazis in WWII against the Jewish population in Europe. In America, the rise of eugenics was part of the rationalization of the Immigration Act of 1924, which established the quota system and barred many immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe, deemed lesser, but the prevailing 'science' at the time. The other half of eugenics politically was sterilization of the unwanted and feeble-minded, so they could not continue to populate the country with lesser humans.

Just reading the article and the description of what the exhibit will look and sound like is chilling. They talk about having typewriters click, and letting people look through copies of the original documents in a closely reproduced room.

Mediterranean Immigrants Part II

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-24636868

Alright everyone, the article above is a good read for the overall gist of the rising immigration to Europe, mainly from Syria due to all the violence recently. This article has a lot of helpful graphics. The basic premise is that Europe is getting a lot of asylum seekers from the east and south. They are coming from Russia, Syria as well as other parts of the Middle East, and Africa. Germany is holding the most, even more than the U.S. last year. Greece and Italy are the two places most of these refugees are landing. Syria is where most of the influx is coming from followed by Russia and Afghanistan. There are even some groups from Serbia claiming asylum from discrimination. Oh Serbia, will you ever not be a powder keg of ethnic tension?

Migrant Dead of the Mediterranean

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/sep/30/europe-migrants-dead

This article calls for the European Union to take note of all the people who had died trying to immigrate into the EU. What's most appalling is that the average number of deaths per day is 8. they calculated that over a 14 year period. The article explains that most of the people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea are classified as missing, not dead. What's more, even when bodies are found on shore, there isn't much done to identify them and tell their loved ones. The lack of resources and political backing make such efforts to bury and identify the dead impossible.

The article argues that because the EU has gotten so caught up in protecting its borders, it ignores the impact it has on real people. Those living near the sea are disillusioned with their governments, because they see both the live and dead washing up on their shores.

Legal Representation for Young Immigrants

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/23/nyregion/groups-to-provide-lawyers-for-children-who-face-deportation.html?ref=us&_r=0

Very cool thing happening in New York. Two charities (the Robin Hood Foundation and the New York Community Trust) are working together to fund a program that would allow child immigrants facing deportation representation in court. According to the article, those without representation, technically being denied due process, are far more likely to be deported than those with lawyers.

The groups have acted very quickly in response to the government's accelerated time frame of hearing child immigrant cases. There are groups that represent these kids for free, but when the new mandate went into effect, there were too many cases for them to work on. One of the spokespeople explains how they couldn't stand aside and watch case after case being decided for these kids, who have no idea what's going on. Realistically, they probably don't know any English, nor the legal system, so how can they possibly represent themselves well enough to avoid being sent back home?

I think it's great that two charities were able to work together to put forward a million dollars to give these kids a fighting chance. Restores a little faith in humanity.

Generational Change

http://www.voanews.com/content/russian-americans-on-ukraine-conflict/2449789.html

Above is a really interesting article about how Russian Americans in New York are conflicted about the Ukraine-Russia situation. The patterns are similar to some of what we discussed in class.

The first would be the younger generation being more Americanized and having more complaints about Russia's behavior. The argument being that these generations have gone through school and college here, they are used to being able to discuss matters and have spirited debates on difficult issues. They say the older generation tends to view Putin almost as a monarch. That strength in a debate involved destroying the opposition not discussing with them. The older generations are also the ones who aren't speaking English. This goes along with the idea that with each generation, more and more of the original culture is lost as people change to fit into the larger society.

A little more meat from California History on the Missionaries

In the reading I saw the word ethnocide being used in regards to the methods employed by missionaries towards the Native Americans. I had a California History class last semester at CSM where my professor was quick to defend the missionaries against Indian genocide, stating the intentional wiping out of the Indian population was not part of their agenda. We did not, however, talk much about the cultural impact the Indian neophytes (think novices of a religion) had to deal with as a result of being Christianized. We glossed over the fact that while the neophytes were allowed visits to their families off the missions, they would be brought back against their will if they wouldn't return on time. Basically, the neophytes were not allowed to leave once they agreed to live on the mission and become Christians.

They were subject to working with different crops and creating tallow and cow hides (cow hides were California's big cash crop during the Californio period) but my professor argued this was not a cruel and unusual amount of labor. In addition, the neophytes were taught different skills which sounds nice, and perhaps a few of them taught their friends and family some of these skills, but they still weren't allowed to leave the missions. We also read of the instances of the missionaries trying to rid their neophytes of some of their cultures more vulgar practices. I assume that probably how the ethnocide began, having them shed the more disgusting behavior before slowly bringing them more and more into a European world view and behavior.

Capitalism and Slavery

Was it just me or did anyone else notice how significant the triangular trade became? In most of my classes, that part gets a triangle shape on the board with a few arrows telling you which direction everything goes. I do not remember anyone ever connecting infant capitalism with slavery before.

But it makes sense. For the Industrial Revolution to be successful, it needed a large labor pool that could be paid cheaply and individual workers who were replaceable with the rest of the labor pool willing to do anything for a job. It's what made strikes so difficult and allowed a relative few to gain huge fortunes in a small amount of time.

But infant capitalism had a large labor pool that didn't even have to be paid. And whenever they died, depending on where in the New World they were taken, they could be replaced by one leg of the triangular trade. Meanwhile, the other two legs enriched the a colonial merchant class and the mother country. The system was self-sustaining.

According to the book, the wealth from this trade is what jump-started England's manufacturing. The same manufacturing that later became the first industrialized power. An industrialized power whose ideas were later stolen by its neighbors and former colonies to begin their own industrialization. Most of the time, history books teach us that slavery was particular to the southern economy. No one ever mentions the North's industrial power may not have even been possible without slavery. It certainly makes the fact that the North was industrialized being part of the reason it won during the Civil War a little ironic.

Myths

This chapter dealt with a lot of misconceptions on English immigration to the United States. It discussed how few the Puritans actually were, which makes sense considering they were radicals.

In addition, the chapter discusses how exclusive New England was. Where myth promotes its religious freedom and courtesy, those actually living there were very particular about their neighbors and their leaders worked to keep outsiders out.

One of the things I found surprising was that of the 900,000 who came, 600,000 of them were not free. They were either Africans or indentured servants. It's an interesting beginning to the country that became an experiment of democracy, that most of its population lacked liberty.

Speaking of those indentured servants, the three pages in the chapter that have excerpts of lost ads for runaways were extremely detailed. Compared to the stereotype that the upper classes don't notice those underfoot, those people kept track of their workers.

First Post

First Post of the Semester!