Re: <ChicagoMayDay> FW: the DREAM Act and the military recruitment of low inc...

[Neal...@aol.com]

Betty Resnikoff writes the following response--

 

8/27/10

 

THE MOVEMENT FOR IMMIGRANT RIGHTS AND THE  SO-CALLED “ DREAM ACT”

 

 The whole immigrant rights movement has been mobilized to fight for the rights of documented and undocumented immigrants. Undocumented workers of all ages have courageously come out to challenge the government to end the injustices.  So the government has thrown in a monkey wrench to confuse and divide the movement--its so-called “Dream Act.”  
 

The government is presenting the bill as a gift or “step forward” for the movement.  But Sen. Dick Durbin (IL),  the bill’s sponsor, has said that the Dream Act is a way to get the many more recruits needed by  the military-- since the undocumented have not been legally eligible to enlist but would possibly get a conditional green card under the Act.  But no youth should get an “option”  to kill or be killed in the U.S.’s never-ending and illegal wars.
 

With this poison pill,  the bill  includes a  sweetener:   the small number of undocumented youth who want to go to college are also offered the possibility of legal status, if they can get high ACT/SAT scores, can afford college without financial aid, and can maintain passing grades for at least 2 years.
 

The government hopes that these ambitious youth will  become  salesmen for the Dream Act.  The government wants to recruit these youth   to sell the bill to the movement--  presenting it as “a step forward.” 
 However,  many movement activists have seen through  this trick to divide the movement-- with youth being separately offered the possibility of legality,  while the rest of the movement fights for the rights of all.  These activists are determined to expose  this  “gift”  nicely wrapped and placed  in the movement--because it hides a weapon against the unity and strength of the movement. 

  THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE TOLD THAT IMMIGRANTS CAN  SEE THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT’S  DREAM  AND WILL NOT LET IT  WEAKEN AND DIVERT THE IMMIGRANT RIGHTS MOVEMENT.

 

 

 

In a message dated 8/26/2010 8:23:33 A.M. Central Daylight Time, rosi...@hotmail.com writes:

---

 There is no dilemma between taking a position in favor of the DREAM Act and opposing the war machine as some of the members of the antiwar movement pretend.  The DREAMers and their supporters are against the war and against the military recruitment of low-income people of color. The students fighting for the DREAM are immigrants, (low income people of color without documents!)  fighting for their right to have access to higher education. Here is the answer posted for one of the youth, arrested in the action in Washington DC, in response to an article about the DREAM Act and the recruitment of low income people of color:

“... the U.S. Army has a very strong focus on recruitment of low income people of color, beyond undocumented immigrants. That targeted recruitment will continue to happen regardless of whether there is a military provision in the DREAM Act or not. Even if the DREAM Act did not include the military option, as soon as undocumented youth began their path to citizenship, they would be the perfect population to be targeted for recruitment by the Army. The focus of the left on the military option, which is only one of the options for qualifying for the DREAM Act, without listening to the way that undocumented youth are talking about the DREAM Act is irresponsible. I am an undocumented youth, who is also an activist for immigrant rights, and for passing the DREAM Act. I am also anti-war, and within the DREAM Act movement we have often talked about the measures that we need to take to make sure that DREAM youth know what the military is like, and to make sure that college does seem like an option. But also, people need to stop being paternalistic towards undocumented youth. Even though I am opposed to the army, I believe that if people are informed, they have the right to join the army. It is not to any of us to determine what options undocumented people have or do not have. That is paternalistic, and does not listen to the needs and thoughts of those who are directly affected by being undocumented youth. It doesn't make any sense to oppose the DREAM Act because of the military option, when youth, both documented and undocumented would be getting recruited by the army anyway, and when undocumented young people are dedicating their lives to fighting for this bill, fully conscious of the contents. It is time for the movement to listen to the reasoning and the activism of people who are actually affected by this issue. Undocumented youth need to be at the forefront of immigration activism, and undocumented youth want the dream act. It is time for people to listen”

I refuse to choose between the DREAM act and my position against the war and the military recruitment that  targets low income people of color. I am against the war, I am against the military recruitment focused on low income people of color and I am in favor of the DREAM Act.

Let's not forget that the fight for the immigrant rights has renewed  hope because of the actions of the five DREAMers in Arizona and the 21 students arrested in Washington D.C.

amistosamente

Rosi

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