August 13, 2014
^Jortlanb (Observer
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How Can I Forget Those Frightened Faces
Families tom apart by a broken immigration system
by the
R ev . M . L inda
J aramillo
I c a n ’t g et
them out of my
m ind .
E v en
when I ’m not
w a tc h in g the
news, I still see those frightened
faces o f children w ith tears
streaming down their cheeks.
How can I forget? Their skin
and their eyes are the same color
as mine. We speak the same
language and share a common
understanding of family.
We know fam ily that ex
tends far beyond a m om and
dad, or a sister and brother.
We know fam ily to be grand
parents, aunts, uncles, cousins
and some who live near-by who
may not even related by blood.
Even if our skin and eyes did
not m atch, I still consider these
children my fam ily.
These past few w eeks have
presented but a glim pse at the
cruel truth that we m ust take
personally. Fam ilies are being
torn apart by our broken im m i
gration system . I have to take
it personally because ju st like
m ost o f you, I am an im m i
grant.
You see my g ran d fath er,
m any g en eratio n s rem oved,
was born in 1601 in the New
M exico Territory. Yes, before
the Plym outh Rock landing.
Yes before 1776. It was fur
ther back than many A m eri
can H istory books account for.
It was more than 400 years
ago w hen the land inhabited by
our N ative A m erican ances
tors, was part of M exico be
fo re b ein g claim ed by the
U nited States.
The truth is that my grandpar
ents and many of my family did
not cross the border. The border
cro sse d us. E ven w ith my
family ’ s history on this land, like
most of you, I am an immigrant.
I am proud to claim my ances
try and refuse to be accused of
being a problem to American
society. Mass deportations have
not created public safety. On the
contrary, they have created ter
ror and fear of law enforcement
officials.
W hen local police are forced
to serve as im m igration au
thorities, people are afraid to
report crim e, m ore people are
victim ized, and public safety is
sacrificed. As fam ilies are torn
apart, neighborhoods suffer.
The separation o f fam ilies
m ust stop. Every day that the
A dm inistration and Congress
delay, another 1,100 aspiring
A m ericans are deported.
As a person of faith, I am
outraged that record levels of
deportations continue. As a re
ligious leader, I am deeply sad
dened by the fam ily separa
tions that deportations create
across our country. I respect
the law of the land; how ever, I
respond to a higher m oral law.
O ur faith traditions m ust hold
us to a greater calling where
we put G od’s law to love our
neighbor above and beyond any
unjust hum an law.
For these reasons, I stood
with my brothers and sisters
on the grounds of the W hite
H ouse and was arrested, to
call on P resident O bam a to
stop the deportations that are
breaking our fam ilies apart.
M ost A m ericans acknow l
edge that our im m igration sys
tem is broken and over 70 per
cent o f us agree that the unac
c o m p a n ie d m in o r c h ild re n
should be treated as refugees.
O ur elected leaders m ust stop
deporting kids, m om s, dads,
grandparents, w orkers, and the
members o f our congregations.
It defies hum an dignity and
denies our rich history as a
nation o f im m igrants.
President Obama and Con
gress not only have the authority
to fix this problem now, they
have the moral obligation to do
so. They must take it personally,
because like us, most of them
are immigrants, too.
The Rev. M. Linda Jaramillo
is executive minister o f Justice
and Witness Ministries fo r the
United Church o f Christ.
Our Education System’s Racially-Charged Crisis
When children
are afraid of
learning
J eanine R ussaw
“Why are you
[re a d in g ]
so
m uch?” “W hy
are you speak
ing so p ro p
erly?”
A t a recen t
town hall in W ashington D.C.,
President O bam a illum inated
these questions - questions he
often hears from youth in pre
dominately black neighborhoods
where some children are afraid
to learn. Yes, afraid. This fear is
brought on by the taunting many
well-educated black individuals
receive because their peers be
lieve that being well read and
articulate constitutes “acting
white.”
Covertly racist corporate me
dia and hegemonic Caucasian
opinion make dangerous impli
cations that suggest minorities
are both incapable and unwilling
to learn and our education sys
tem reflects these untruths.
These implications only create
by
innumerable obstacles and widen and to the misallocation of re out and reach for what his true
delineate betw een the “haves”
the achievement gap between sources in black communities intelligence and abilities may al
and the “h a v e -n o ts.” The
whites and people of color in that neglects education.
low him to achieve. This includes U nited S tates’ capitalistic sys
America.
In his 2005 book, “Sham e of reaching his full potential with tem thrives on that. Com ing to
Knowledge is power, and our the N ation,” author and jo u r access to quality education, en
grips with this truth will speed
own ignorance of socially con nalist Jonathan Kozol calls our couragement to learn, and a be
up our inevitable rejection of
structed racial characteristics education system “apartheid lief in the efficacy of doing so.
this outdated, harm ful notion.
and the ludicrous expectations schooling.” In his m ore recent
So, how do we interrupt this
M / dream is th at we as
we make based on those char book, “Fire in the A shes,” pub pervasive and dam aging racial
A m ericans will one day m ove
acteristics must stop. Only then lished in 2012, he recalled many divide in our education sys
into an actual post-racial era
will we create a society where children o f color with whom he tem ? We should discard the
w here content o f character is
everyone has equal access to w orked often had their educa n o tio n th at “ a c tin g b la c k ”
n o t s o c ia lly p r e d ic te d by
this nation’s highest right: The tion consistently interrupted. m eans being more interested
“race.” That people o f color
freedom to learn.
W hen they were able to go to in hip hop culture than litera w on’t be afraid to learn, and
What does “acting white” look school, their underserved pub ture. L et’s renounce the m is
highly educated “m inorities”
like? In mainstream America, lic schools “resem bled those conception that “acting w hite”
will be the norm.
this is going to a quality school, o f M ississippi 50 or 100 years means grow ing up in suburbia
My dream is to see a world
actually paying attention and before.” W hy is nothing done and speaking properly. We
in w hich black youth do not
being able to provide a well about this? Cruel reality check: ought to refuse to pander to
purposely dum b them selves
thought-out answer when ques N othing is done because the the discrim inatory foundations
down in an effort to keep pace
tioned by the teacher in class.
expectation o f achievem ent for on w hich this society w as with what is expected o f them ,
W hat does “acting black” these students is low. For m ain fo u n d e d — th e so c ie ty th a t
and educators w on’t expect
look like? On the other end of stream w hite A m erica, th ey ’re hated dark skin and ethnic fea
them to lack intelligence. W e
the spectrum , there is black not worth the effort.
tures so much that a person need a cultural shift o f our
ness: C utting classes w hen
Is.it any wonder why little with only “one drop” of A fri understanding o f race. All chil
ever possible, looking like a Billy feels that, as a young black can blood was forever labeled
dren have a natural capacity to
fool w hen called on by the boy, he’s neither capable of, nor as a second-class citizen - or
learn. O ur educational system
teach er, co n seq u en tly se rv supposed to demonstrate, intelli three-fifths o f a person - in
- our teachers, adm inistrators
ing— and cutting - detention, gence? It’s not entirely his fault. her own country.
and policies - needs to reflect
blow ing o ff all hom ew ork as H e’s simply conforming to what
U nderstan d in g the social this. The future o f A m erica
signm ents and failing and re American society expects. His construction of “race” would
depends on it.
peating your current grade.
parents experienced this as well. help as well. We are all human
Jeanine Russaw writes fo r
These low expectations lead Maybe he has no one to tell him beings; the idea o f “race” in
PeaceVoice, is a multimedia
to a fear o f succeeding, because to dream bigger— to look be this country is little more than
journalist, and a journalism
it will go against the “status quo,” yond what this society is handing a socio-political structure to
student at Hofstra University.