Mobilize for Immigrant Rights on May 17

The struggle to win amnesty for undocumented workers continues. There will be a mass march this Wednesday in Washington D.C. See the A.N.S.W.E.R. website for more information. The email I just got from A.N.S.W.E.R. had some pretty good insights into what's going on right now:

Undocumented workers, having been driven from their homeland by the U.S. government’s so-called “free trade” policy, are being scapegoated. This is a trick. It is the old style divide-and-conquer tactic employed once again by the rich and powerful. At a time when millions of workers in the United States are losing their pensions and healthcare benefits, and watching their wages being slashed, there is a full scale campaign to blame low paid immigrant workers. Meanwhile, the 400 richest people in the United States, 374 of whom are billionaires, have a combined wealth of $1.1 trillion, larger than the gross domestic product of Canada and Spain, the 8th and 9th largest economies in world. While the U.S. government has worked hand in glove with the corporate and banking elites as they amass greater and greater fortunes, the same government is seeking to divert the anger of working people into a reactionary and racist anti-immigrant hysteria.

Think about it. You were just minding your business not thinking about undocumented workers at all. You were, however, thinking about this criminal war in Iraq and all the saber rattling going on over Iran. You have been concerned about rising energy prices and a host of other issues that are important to Americans. But were you really thinking about the guys down at Home Depot who are just trying to help some yuppie hang some drywall? Probably not.

The good news is these idiots only have two types of tricks. They either use fear and scare the hell out of you that the Indians/Huns/Communists/Terrorists are gonna get ya. Or they simply instigate hatred of one of our minority groups. Hate or fear you pick, but the trick amounts to the same: it distracts us from the important stuff and keeps us--working people--divided.

We have to stand together. If you can, please attend the march on Wednesday. If not, get involved in some way to end this madness. Google for peace. Blog for peace. And hopefully we'll see you marching for peace and justice and all those other beautiful American ideals. We need you.

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