Just like in the 9500 Liberty Film, racial profiling is very much an issue in our country. People of any color were likely to get in trouble with law enforcement for no other probable cause other than the color of their skin. Not only is this extremely racist and ignorant, it is very much ILLEGAL. Why is law enforcement getting away with this? I remember even in the ferguson film that they said the police even had marked amounts of the profit they were going to be making by increasing the number of people they pull over (which was mostly minorities).
In the 9500 Liberty film, the council members could see how the immigrants were great members of the community. Most of them agreed that they were hard workers and very family oriented, just like most of themselves and that they could fit right in. They were thankful -- while other council members argued to just "put them in a box and take them out".
This is just so sad to think about. Immigrants are here to just like we are to live in freedom and away from poverty, but instead they are just getting harrassed. These false idenifications about immigrants are hurting people who were already hurting. It was just a really harsh reality to see how unfair life can be for reasons that are so out of control.
I think the book by Chavez was very interesting because it tackles a lot of the perceptions people have about latino immigrants. Immigrants receive criticism because they are stealing American jobs and on top of that they have a very different culture so they receive double jeopardy for being different and not 'assimilating.' Many people's racist and prejudice views results from a lack of in depth analysis of the problem, as Chavez points out. People are not understanding how their poverty situation combined with the United States job labor market situation creates the need and demand for immigrants in the US. American businesses don't take enough heat for the consequential situation as the immigrants do.
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ReplyDeleteI am not one to usually speak about my political views or comment on politics- mostly because I am not great with confrontation. HOWEVER, I think Donald Trump's views are disgusting. He emulates an individual scared of "the latino threat." In the book, Chavez describes the conjuring up of hate and how it takes place in the media- look no further than Donald Trump. He is creating panic where there is no need and does not embrace diversity whatsoever. The book specifically talks about the use of language to create panic and fear- articles for newspapers with illustrations of immigrants "flooding" the borders.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone in this country could use an extra dose of compassion.