Cockroach People
Rants and ruminations by a classical liberal with radical Chicano tendencies
Arizona Law Blocked (sort of)
29 Jul 2010
Judge Susan Bolton’s injunction to block some of the most repugnant parts of Arizona Law SB 1070 is a great step, but it is only temporary. It does, at least, show a strong leaning toward the federal government’s position against the law. Unfortunately, the injunction does not provide any good news for day laborers.
The language in the injunction shows a strong commitment to the concept of federal preemption, that is, that a state cannot do this business meant for the federal government (federal immigration law trumps state law). But more importantly, the language implies a rejection of the argument that most proponents of the law have been repeating ad nauseum: that the Arizona Law only restates federal law and adds nothing new.
Judge Bolton clearly takes the public policy and civil rights implications seriously–above and beyond preemption doctrine. According to the New York Times, Bolton wrote “There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens. By enforcing this statute, Arizona would impose,” she said, citing a previous Supreme Court case, a “ ‘distinct, unusual and extraordinary’ burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose.”
We all know that Chicanos, and other Latino citizens might also be affected. We all know somebody who never managed to talk like a gringo (yeah, I know that speaking English well does not equal “gringo,” but people who grew up in my hood know exactly what I mean!). Heck, even the anti-immigrant Chicanos often have a very slight Spanish ring to their English (ahhh, the irony of it all). Whether in Phoenix, LA, Chicago, or El Paso–that ring is quite universal. Is that reasonable suspicion?
In any case the most horrendous parts, except for one section on day labor, are stalled for now. The day labor provision is a tough one to assess. While I personally helped pass Chicago’s day laborer ordinance which provides substantial protections to workers, as a frequent customer of Home Depot, I do think that the way workers mob cars in the parking lot and even on the street, often blocking traffic is a potential safety problem. Criminalizing the activity is de trop , but it is definitely a real issue. Perhaps Arizona needs to create safe worker spaces while also prohibiting such unsafe situations. Day laborers are part of the economy like it or not. They are in your Home Depot parking lot because citizens hire them, period. Much like the faceless immigrants targeted in the rest of SB1070, these workers are just like you and me. They are trying to put food on the table. They are trying to perform a function in society–a function many of us want. Criminalizing them will do nothing for the rest of us except bring further ruin to the economy.
En hora buena…
Samuel Huntington’s “Arizona Nightmares”
6 Jul 2010
A few years ago, close to the end of the waves of super, mega marches for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR), I lamented the division among groups with conflicting self interests (e.g. labor vs. community groups willing to tolerate guest worker programs). I hate to always point out the negative, but one of the other things to not fully materialize in the post-Sensenbrenner campaign was the awakening of the sleeping giant vis a vis the polls. Yes, there were many new voter registrations. And, yes, many of those voters came out for Barack Obama. But there have been few if any decisive moves by this so-called giant to make anyone (especially the GOP) worried about Latino backlash. Sure, there are many mad-as-hell Latinos (me included) who are going to do everything we can to get voters to the polls. But we have to be able to deliver some tangible win very soon or else the awakened Giant will, well, go back to sleep. In fact, when CIR died last time, many Latino voters threw their hands up in the air and said “¿para que, si nada cambió?” Well, nothing did change as far as policy goes. For people from other countries who are used to government doing nothing at all in their hometowns, this is a completely reasonable reaction to inaction and incompetence here in the U.S. Latin-American fatalism seems to fit just right.
Of course, the mainstream media is already talking about the newly galvanized Latino voters in Arizona who are going to come out in droves. They are sounding the alarm that the sleeping giant is once again on the move and soon, the old structures and habits will be toppled by this beast. But, at this point, I think we know better. There will be no dramatic, 5-point Palm Exploding Heart Move to entertain us. The Latino Giant is a bit of a glacier. Its power will be felt over time. As the racists die off and Latino youth grow up, the populace will get browner. There are enough of us that have been moving up in the ranks to make sure that we are not governed by a minority. Success will be a new Latino majority that is civically engaged on a regular basis, not just in response to attacks such as the Sensenbrenner bill and SB-1070. This success would be quaint and probably not noticeable except to historians and sociologists who would crunch the numbers.
Of course there is always the worst case scenario: Latinos would continue to be ostracized and isolated to the point of setting up their own shop. All the “illegal” haters would successfully convince us that Latino immigrants are unwanted and unwelcome. But at that point, it would be too late. Our huddled masses would have already developed a sense of entitlement equal to or greater than the haters. Then, the American dream would become the Americano Dream as defined in Samuel Huntington’s nightmares.
We have a choice America. We can choose to live with each other peacefully or risk bifurcation of this great country. In any case, Latinos are certainly here stay–it’s time to deal with it.
Photo: Latina Lista
It’s incomprehensible that the Cook County Board voted to approve a resolution that “asks” the county to avoid contracts with the State of Arizona until their famous, vile law requiring brown people to carry papers (yes, I know it does not technically say that) is repealed; yet, according to the Tribune, they approved a resolution immediately afterward approving a contract for red-light traffic cameras with American Traffic Solutions, a Scottsdale, Arizona-based company!
Not that the government in the Chicago area ever makes any sense, but come on–IMMEDIATELY after??? Talk about saying something without really meaning it in order to look good. It’s not like there aren’t any other companies that make the damned cameras. In fact, one company is based right here in Illinois–Redspeed. Too bad that Redspeed is not a contender. Much like the targets of Arizona’s misguided law, poor Redspeed did not have the right identification–they are owned by a British company!
So there you have it. A resolution meant to address anti-foreigner hysteria was urinated upon by Tony Peraica’s own anti-foreigner bias. According to this article he actually said: “I find this abhorrent that we’re going to renounce an American company because of a foolhardy resolution.”
You gotta love Illinois.
In a previous post, I asked: “Will the Church Choose a Latino?“ Well, it turns out they did back in April. Jose Horacio Gomez originally from Monterrey, Mexico and already serving as Coadjutor Bishop for the Diocese of Los Angeles, was officially welcomed on Wednesday as the replacement for Cardinal Roger Mahony, a long-time advocate for immigrant rights who has also been up to his ears trying to address questions of sexual abuse in the diocese for the better part of a decade.
I have always been a fan of Cardinal Mahony thanks to his outspoken, controversial support of the poor and immigrants (you know, Christian stuff). I honestly would have been happy to see an Archbishop of any color as long as they can match Cardinal Mahony’s zealous advocacy. And given all the times people thought a Latino would be chosen for other dioceses (see the aforementioned post), getting a Latino was not guaranteed, not even expected. But here’s the twist, Gomez, who was ordained a priest in Opus Dei, has a reputation for being quite conservative and at a previous post in San Antonio, he was criticized for eliminating liberal-ish initiatives and even disbanded the Peace and Justice commission because it allegedly hinted support for gay marriage. I can only hope that Cardinal Mahony’s mentorship has prepared him for the very different reality that is Los Angeles.
In any case, congratulations to incoming Archbishop Gomez. Given the size of the diocese, the extent of the economic recession and the anti-immigrant hysteria sweeping the nation, he will need our prayers.
Border Security, The Great Chimera
In: Latin America|Mexican|Public policy|barack obama|economics|immigrants|latinos|politics
26 May 2010
Remember when every progressive Latino in America was angry with Senator Obama for supporting the Border Fence? Even a friend of mine who is a close friend of the Obamas was unhappy with the decision–though he assured me that Barack’s stance had nothing to do with him considering a run for President. His analysis was that there was just a lot of pressure to do something about the border and so Senator Obama had to compromise. Well, I still think that the former Senator’s decision to support the border fence is indicative of how he views the immigration issue–it’s a tough question that can only be answered through polling and election considerations. He absolutely wanted to be viewed as serious on border security (not merely compromising) in order to get independents and moderate-conservatives to warm up to him. And he did.
But now, much of that same demographic is livid thanks to the passage of health care reform (you know that thing we passed a while back that was supposed to usher in a new era of fascism). So that horrible iteration of Politician Obama (i.e. court-the-conservatives-Obama) is back to save the day (for him at least and perhaps for many other Dems). Enter the National Guard. The White House’s announcement to place 1,200 National Guard troops on the border, while receiving somewhat of a mixed reaction on the far right, puts Obama back in good company with conservatives on the immigration issue. Even Jan Brewer–or Bloody Brewer as I like to call her–praised Obama’s commitment and even took credit for the decision. The red herring (i.e. the will to perfect border security) worked then; so why not now? Given the Latino support he received in the Presidential election, he certainly got away with it.
Well, a couple of things have changed since then. First, we didn’t have a ridiculous law such as Arizona’s SB1070 to make Latinos a little less forgiving than before. In addition, we didn’t have an anti-Democrat, anti-incumbent mood like we do today. That combination could cost the Democrats the Latino vote in places where they need it. Not that Latinos are going to come out to vote for the anti-immigrant crazies in the Republican party, but mainly because some of us will be so disgusted by the lack of any real choice that we will stay home from the polls, suffering from an acute attack of apathy.
The Republicans will reap the benefits of the anti-immigrant hysteria whose epicenter is firmly situated in Arizona–if only in the short term according to some poll analysts. Democrats gain very little from jumping on the border security bandwagon–they just give people like Bloody Brewer a chance to gloat. To be fair, stepped enforcement will deter a few immigrants from jumping a fence or a few coyotes from attempting a high-speed suicide run to the other side. But the real security threats, e.g. the drug traffickers who have friends on the inside and who can easily pay off the right people to maintain their operations, those folks will be undeterred. As for terrorists, homegrown radicalism is probably the most pressing issue that is being ignored thanks to our obsession with the border. The other real issues, the economic reality of the 12 million+ undocumented and the actual practice of employers t0 seek the lowest possible labor costs (duh, Econ 101), the border be damned; those issues get postponed or ignored in order to tend to an elusive, unattainable and chimerical political beast: perfect border security.
Ronald Reagan: A Latino Leader?
5 May 2010
“it makes one wonder about the illegal alien fuss. Are great numbers of our unemployed really victims of the illegal alien invasion, or are those illegal tourists actually doing work our own people won’t do? One thing is certain in this hungry world: No regulation or law should be allowed if it results in crops rotting in the fields for lack of harvesters.”
Ronald Reagan
For all of Reagan’s horrible faults and actions (e.g. his foreign policy in Latin America), one thing is hard to escape: it was he that signed a major amnesty bill. There are still a number of Latinos who joined the Republican party back in the 1980s for that reason alone. My Dad who incidentally is not an immigrant, left the Democrats partly because he was disillusioned with Jimmy Carter and partly because he thought the Republicans were serious about Latinos.
Being liberal on some issues but conservative on others, I have never completely fit in with either party ( though I certainly do lean Democrat). For me, then, it is easy to try to find the good on either side, often (but not always!) resisting the temptation to demonize party leaders. In the case of the Gipper, I hate somewhere near 70% of what he did as President. But he gets a whopping 30% approval for his public discourse and policy vis-à-vis Latinos and immigrants. For Reagan, immigrant Latinos were the ideal conservatives: people who work hard, hate government, have strong family values, oppose abortion…the list goes on.
An article in Politico today reminds us of this one Reagan legacy that liberals ought to appreciate. Now all we need is someone to remind the Republicans of the Reagan Legacy–especially the ones in Arizona.
Mortgage Fraud, Latino Style: Meet Eliseo Carrillo Jr.
In: Mexican|caciquism|corruption|economics|immigrants|latinos
4 May 2010
Our regular readers may remember a post about a year ago called The New Caciques. I told the story of an immigrant who had been duped into becoming a straw-buyer investor for an equity stripping scheme. I withheld the name of the perpetrator for legal reasons since there wasn’t enough evidence to flesh out the story and the victims were not ready to go public. Well, thanks to Tony Olivo at the Chicago Tribune, a fantastic story highlighting the alleged fraud has come to light. The article asks: “[ Is Eliseo Carrillo Jr.] a White-Hat Hero or a Scammer?” (Spanish version in Hoy Newspaper)
The Tribune goes into great detail about Carillo’s alleged misdeeds including the equity-stripping scam that was first reported here. It turns out that not only are undocumented immigrants the ones who Carrillo allegedly preyed upon, but citizens were victims too. One of the families is suing Carrillo with the help of the Legal Assistance Foundation. Even banks are suing him for millions of dollars.
As I stated in The New Caciques, corrupt Latinos are the most qualified to exploit our people. Sure, we need to watch out for Goldman Sachs and friends, but it’s often our own that facilitate the scams. Who else could use the feelings of patriotism and culture so well to manipulate our gente into such complicated and even when not exactly illegal, certainly immoral, schemes. Exploitation almost always requires people from the ranks of the exploited in order to be successful. Colonialism, slavery, La Conquista–you name the oppression–were all propped up by corrupt people from the native populations.
In this case, Mr. Carrillo, a man who went out of his way to cultivate an image of a compadre or paisano who was just like the rest of us, told us he was our friend. Meanwhile, he took advantage of the good will and trust given to him. He made big bucks and collected fancy cars (including a Bentley), and even is known to have built a whole housing development in Mexico with streets named after his family members. But his rise to wealth, may have left many families and neighborhoods devastated.
With friends like that…
What is going on with politicians? How dumb to you have to be to not know that the public is always watching? Look what happened to the MPs (Members of Parliament) in Britain who have resigned and have even faced prosecution for fairly innocuous but questionable expenses. Even Gordon Brown himself has been forced to repay money paid to his house cleaner from the public coffers (though technically because he paid her too much). But Americans–never willing to be upstaged by the Brits–have really gone mad.
It turns out that in addition to the GOP’s lesbian bondage party brouhaha, a scandal that might implicate an old college buddy of mine who–believe it or not–is an ex-MEChista (MEChA member) turned Young Eagle!, other problems have been coming to light. For example the Florida Republican Party is now under investigation by the Feds for all sorts of random expenses charged to American Express Cards by high-ranking party leaders as well as other fiscal shenanigans. Some allegations border on the ridiculous. For example, former state House Speaker Ray Sansom’s stashing of $6 million in the state budget for an airplane hanger and a friend and campaign donor. Others are fairly mundane but, as with the MP scandal, they are definitely problematic. A good snapshot of such expenses can be found in Marco Rubio’s (who’s Marco Rubio?) expenses that were under review as early as February 2010:
• $765 at Apple’s online store for “computer supplies.”
• $25.76 from Everglades Lumber for “supplies.”
• $53.49 at Winn-Dixie in Miami for “food.”
• $68.33 at Happy Wine in Miami for “beverages” and “meal.”
• $78.10 for two purchases at Farm Stores groceries in suburban Miami.
• $412 at All Fusion Electronics, a music equipment store in Miami, for “supplies.”
According to TPM, the IRS is now “digging into the tax records of former state party officials and elected Republicans — including Rubio and former state GOP chair Jim Greer — to determine whether they misused their party credit cards for personal expenses. This is in addition to the separate investigation on Rubio for the aforementioned expenses, et. al.
You would think that given the sad, sad state of the GOP, Republican leaders would be more thoughtful about little expenses like these. At the very least, given their anti-gay agenda, they should think twice about hanging out at lesbian bondage shows.
On Vacation; No posting for another week or so.
In: Uncategorized
11 Apr 2010Sorry to my regular readers. I decided to take a trip through Europe; I thought I’d have time to blog but it hasn’t worked out that way. Anyway, my apologies. I get back into town at the end of the week.
CP
Cheap, Lazy Californians Should Quit Blaming Undocumented
In: Mexican|angry white men|economics|immigrants|latinos|politics
25 Mar 2010I came across this comment on another blog which discussed whether or not undocumented people pay taxes:
Dear Concerned Citizens,
The reason that California is in fiscal trouble is that Californians apparently prefer to not pay any taxes, then blame the inevitable bankruptcy on poor people. If we replaced every California skinflint with a Mexican, the state might be in better shape. At least the immigrants take work for the crappy wages you and your neighbors pay, and are happy to pay their taxes, unlike those of you who prefer to enjoy the fruits of society but play the parts of eternally complaining victims. For you, queue the really tiny violin music.
But if you prefer to not subsidize immigration I’d suggest you stop buying restaurant food, getting fast-food, taking your laundry out, getting your cars washed, or enjoying half a hundred services that would cost twice as much if Americans were doing the work. Go ahead (if you can). Or, you may focus on stopping those people who hire and exploit undocumented workers and end up driving everyone’s wages down as a result. I might even support that one myself. Just shut up about the “illegals”. I’m deadly sick of resentful cranks finding fault with people working and feeding families the best way they can. Selfish law breakers my a**. More like selfless parents, sons, and daughters, working their fingers to the bone to raise families and add value to the economy.
If you were in their shoes, you would rush at the same opportunity — unless you were as irresponsible as you are crass.
Yes, you may kiss my professionally employed, second generation Italian-American behind. My kind may be assimilated, but I’ve heard enough stories at my grandparents’ knees to know attitudes like yours for what they represent. Your opinions are neither new, nor true, nor deserving of any further consideration.
Ciao, babies.”
I can’t remember anyone having said this in a such a clear and passionate way. I think I might make this my email signature! Robert Austin of Texas, you are my new hero.
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About this blog
While some people look at cockroaches as disgusting pests, I view them as resilient organisms that predate humans and will likely outlive us as well. People of color, the poor, the downtrodden, and the oppressed, much like cockroaches, are often despised, feared and in some cases have been the objects of extermination.
I started this blog as an attempt to understand the complicated world we live in. Things have changed since the old days of conquest, colonization, and slavery. Anonymous living, consumerism, and mass media have made it difficult to identify the forces that make modern-day oppression possible. Thus, posts here tend to focus on corruption, media, bureaucracy, ethics, economics, law, human rights, etc...in short, I try to take a second-order inquiry into assumptions and systems that some of us take for granted. I also take time to challenge stereotypes that function to place us in a box. Occasionally, I just rant.
Thank your for reading!
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- Esteban: I still say let's just everyone leave and we will see if this country is really "not dependent" on t [...]
- City of Bell’s Public Officials Live High on the Hog!: [...] at the expense of the working class that they serve. This reminds me of the cacique mentality [...]
- Samuel Huntington’s “Arizona Nightmares” - Cockroach People: [...] close to the end of the waves of super, mega marches for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR [...]
- lockim up: if he did his job so well, where is he now? exactly. [...]
- Paloma Andrade for Cook County Commissioner 7th: The 2 Latino commissioners may have had good intentions to approved the Arizona boycott but in one h [...]
- Arizona Law Blocked (sort of)
- Samuel Huntington’s “Arizona Nightmares”
- Illinoisan Dunces Approve Anti-AZ law, then sign contract with AZ
- Opus Dei Comes to LA: Welcome the new, Latino Archbishop
- Border Security, The Great Chimera
- Ronald Reagan: A Latino Leader?
- Mortgage Fraud, Latino Style: Meet Eliseo Carrillo Jr.
- Marco Rubio, Lesbian Bondage, and the GOP’s Spending Problem
- On Vacation; No posting for another week or so.
- Cheap, Lazy Californians Should Quit Blaming Undocumented