Speaking of politicians capitalizing on the fears and anxieties of the public, this LA Times article identifies illegal immigration as the most pressing issue within the GOP. That’s right, it even surpasses healthcare and the war in
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Jumping the bandwagon
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Campaign ads reaching an all new low
Maybe it’s me, but I just can’t seem to take some of these Republican presidential candidates seriously these days. Case in point, check out this wonderfully “24”-esque television ad from Rep. Candidate and Colorado Senator, Tom Tancredo. Oh, and just for clarification, I’m making reference to the Kiefer Sutherland show here.
Tancredo, “Tough on Terror”? Right. More like, let’s group together what have seemingly become America’s biggest fears: terrorism and the invasion of illegal immigrants deemed as the other. The result is an uber alarm against the two, yet more so a wake-up call to the latter. Literally warning Americans “before it’s too late,” Tancredo is obviously positioned as the answer to it all.
What the ad does in actuality, though, is stereotype all of the 12 million undocumented immigrants estimated by TIME magazine – I’m sorry, that’s 20 million aliens according to the senator – by immediately associating them with the imminent desire to blow up American malls. Moreover, Tancredo targets not only Islamic terrorists (and people of this faith in general), but makes a sweeping reference to Latino and Asian immigrants with the “20 million aliens already taking our jobs.”
What I take issue with then – other than this sensationalist approach of galvanizing political support – is the fact that people like Tancredo often do not ground their assertions in facts. Rather they largely base them off of the public’s trends of anxiety and fear, which is then reinforced by these same politicians in a never-ending cycle.
Thus, it comes at no surprise that such negligence of the truth is drawn into another segment of the national debate on immigration: the costs of undocumented immigrants for the American taxpayer versus the contributions that they make to the American economy. In these recent articles from both the LA and NY Times, researchers have found that in some cases, the contributions far outweigh the costs in healthcare, education and other social services. Adding to that, such expenses are far much less than they have typically been made out to be.
In the LA Times article, the focus of illegal immigrants’ use of public services is on healthcare. According to the Times, UCLA researchers have found that illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are 50 percent less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms in California. In this study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers confirmed that immigrants are indeed less likely to be insured and seek routine and preventive care. The reasons? Not because this generation of illegal immigrants is younger and healthier than the overall population, but rather they do not seek medical treatment out of fear of leaving a paper trail.
Even Alexander N. Ortega, the lead author of the study, agrees in the reluctance of some politicians to acknowledge fact. “The current policy discourse that undocumented immigrants are a burden on the public because they overuse public services is not borne out with data, for either primary care or emergency department care,” said Ortega, also an associate professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health.
In the NY Times article, immigrants, both legal and illegal, are attributed to one-fourth the economic output for New York State. From a statewide immigrant population of 21 percent, contributions to the state GDP were $229 billion in 2005, as stated in the independent study “Working for a Better Life.” The estimates are that 16 percent of the 4.1 million statewide immigrants are residing there illegally.
Again, case in point, “We just felt like there was such a deep misunderstanding about who immigrants were that the political discourse often got far afield from any factual basis of what’s really going on here,” stated David D. Kallick, the principal author of the study.
Put that in your backpack and blow it up, Tancredo.
And since I’ve already jumped back to the ad, I still must give credit to the senator’s brilliant use of the ticking time bomb, images of terrorist attacks abroad, and the suspicious-looking, could be your next-door neighbor, hooded culprit. That said, Tancredo does an excellent job of capitalizing on the fears and suspicions of immigrant-weary Americans. At the same time, I’m just tired of hearing all of the b.s. while people eat it up like it’s candy.
Additional Links and Sources:
Tancredo, “Tough on Terror”? Right. More like, let’s group together what have seemingly become America’s biggest fears: terrorism and the invasion of illegal immigrants deemed as the other. The result is an uber alarm against the two, yet more so a wake-up call to the latter. Literally warning Americans “before it’s too late,” Tancredo is obviously positioned as the answer to it all.
What the ad does in actuality, though, is stereotype all of the 12 million undocumented immigrants estimated by TIME magazine – I’m sorry, that’s 20 million aliens according to the senator – by immediately associating them with the imminent desire to blow up American malls. Moreover, Tancredo targets not only Islamic terrorists (and people of this faith in general), but makes a sweeping reference to Latino and Asian immigrants with the “20 million aliens already taking our jobs.”
What I take issue with then – other than this sensationalist approach of galvanizing political support – is the fact that people like Tancredo often do not ground their assertions in facts. Rather they largely base them off of the public’s trends of anxiety and fear, which is then reinforced by these same politicians in a never-ending cycle.
Thus, it comes at no surprise that such negligence of the truth is drawn into another segment of the national debate on immigration: the costs of undocumented immigrants for the American taxpayer versus the contributions that they make to the American economy. In these recent articles from both the LA and NY Times, researchers have found that in some cases, the contributions far outweigh the costs in healthcare, education and other social services. Adding to that, such expenses are far much less than they have typically been made out to be.
In the LA Times article, the focus of illegal immigrants’ use of public services is on healthcare. According to the Times, UCLA researchers have found that illegal immigrants from Mexico and other Latin American countries are 50 percent less likely than U.S.-born Latinos to use hospital emergency rooms in California. In this study published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers confirmed that immigrants are indeed less likely to be insured and seek routine and preventive care. The reasons? Not because this generation of illegal immigrants is younger and healthier than the overall population, but rather they do not seek medical treatment out of fear of leaving a paper trail.
Even Alexander N. Ortega, the lead author of the study, agrees in the reluctance of some politicians to acknowledge fact. “The current policy discourse that undocumented immigrants are a burden on the public because they overuse public services is not borne out with data, for either primary care or emergency department care,” said Ortega, also an associate professor at UCLA’s School of Public Health.
In the NY Times article, immigrants, both legal and illegal, are attributed to one-fourth the economic output for New York State. From a statewide immigrant population of 21 percent, contributions to the state GDP were $229 billion in 2005, as stated in the independent study “Working for a Better Life.” The estimates are that 16 percent of the 4.1 million statewide immigrants are residing there illegally.
Again, case in point, “We just felt like there was such a deep misunderstanding about who immigrants were that the political discourse often got far afield from any factual basis of what’s really going on here,” stated David D. Kallick, the principal author of the study.
Put that in your backpack and blow it up, Tancredo.
And since I’ve already jumped back to the ad, I still must give credit to the senator’s brilliant use of the ticking time bomb, images of terrorist attacks abroad, and the suspicious-looking, could be your next-door neighbor, hooded culprit. That said, Tancredo does an excellent job of capitalizing on the fears and suspicions of immigrant-weary Americans. At the same time, I’m just tired of hearing all of the b.s. while people eat it up like it’s candy.
Additional Links and Sources:
(LA Times) Few migrants, much opposition
Saturday, December 1, 2007
A new battle takes to the field
South Central Farmers acquire 85 acres of new farmland in Buttonwillow, California*
*Note: The following information has yet to be published in the media, though its source is confirmed by longtime SCF organizer and advocate, Sarah Nolan.
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A week’s work has just ended on a Friday night, and families in South Central climb aboard a small bus to drive for hours into the Central Valley. Not long past dawn, the bus slowly lurches into Buttonwillow where the South Central Farmers will pack another week’s work into one weekend – plowing, sowing and harvesting fresh fruits and vegetables from 85 acres of new farmland.A year and four months after the forcible eviction from their 14-acre community garden on 41st and Alameda Streets, the South Central Farmers (SCF) now have a new place to call home – well, maybe not home, exactly. In October 2007, the South Central Farmers Health and Education Fund (SCHEF) secured a loan from an anonymous non-profit organization, allowing SCHEF to purchase 85 acres of land in Buttonwillow, California. As such, the farmers maintain that they have only been displaced, not defeated.
“We stood up for the needs of the community and we will continue to develop the work that was done at the South Central Farm,” stated Rufina Juarez, SCHEF president. But this isn’t the first time that the farmers have brought in fresh produce following the eviction. Since summer 2006, SCF has been farming on smaller community gardens throughout Los Angeles and on leased land in collaboration with other agricultural cooperatives in Fresno and Bakersfield.
Yet this new farmland, just east of Bakersfield, resembles little of the 14-acre urban oasis that had served as the foundation of SCF. Without the picturesque setting of massive walnut trees and burgeoning flowers collectively halting South Central’s typically blighted landscape, row upon row of crops frame this farmland. As part of the Central Valley, Buttonwillow is situated in the region that sustains California’s most productive agricultural efforts.
Still, many things remain the same. Dotted by hunched-over wives and husbands or fathers and daughters, the new farm is still the site of toddlers running through the furrows. And as the farmers finish churning the earth, planting and watering seeds, weeding tiny sprouts, and harvesting crops, they must package all of the produce, driving it along Interstate 5 and back into South Central by Sunday. Once here, the fresh, organic produce is sold by SCF at a monthly “Tianguis” (Meso-American marketplace), in which music, dancing and other cultural events also take place.
And the food does not stop here. Nearly a ton of produce – including Swiss chard, radishes, squash, lima beans, broccoli, cauliflower, corn and other crops – is distributed and sold in farmers markets across Los Angeles. All of the excess produce is then donated to Catholic Charities, Food Not Bombs, food banks in Azusa and other local, non-profit organizations.
As such, the South Central Farmers embody all that is grassroots LA. Their continued srength and solidarity despite eviction, displacement and repeated setbacks is exactly what this city needs and thrives on - even if it is the City working against them for most of the time. With the mayor waning in support for SCF since his 2005 election into office and Councilwoman Jan Perry (District No. 9) who has always kept close relationships with city developers for political support, SCF has learned that they cannot depend on these same elected officials to maintain their empty promises.
Moreover, as the lengthy appeals process over the original 14-acre farm continues in the courts, SCF cannot and has not waited to address the needs of the community. While SCF refuses to give up on this land, continuously striving to bring local farming back to South Central, this goal is just one part of a larger objective now. The destruction of the original farm and current displacement of the farmers has not stopped SCF from pursuing its greater mission of bringing healthy food and nutritional consciousness into the city’s most impoverished and neglected communities. According to Sarah Nolan, longtime SCF advocate and organizer, “The fight is not over, it’s just a different struggle.”
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Additional sources:
Sarah Nolan
SCHEF
Phone: (888) SCFARM-1
Fax: (302) 370-0612
(USA Today) Dozens arrested at L.A. community garden
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-06-13-urban-garden_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA
(L.A. CityBeat) Tezozomoc
http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1955&IssueNum=98
(BBC News) Actress Hannah in garden protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5078404.stm
(Washington Post) Farmers vow to prevent garden demolition
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402132.html
Sarah Nolan
SCHEF
Phone: (888) SCFARM-1
Fax: (302) 370-0612
(USA Today) Dozens arrested at L.A. community garden
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2006-06-13-urban-garden_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA
(L.A. CityBeat) Tezozomoc
http://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=1955&IssueNum=98
(BBC News) Actress Hannah in garden protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5078404.stm
(Washington Post) Farmers vow to prevent garden demolition
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402132.html
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