The issue of progressives against DREAM Act's military provision has by now been beaten to death, and has been discussed much more eloquently by other bloggers, such as Prerna, over at the Citizen Orange comments section:
"We already have to battle it out with nativists and with our life circumstances. We do not want to be fighting with our friends and allies too. Be part of the solution, not part of the problem."Still, one particular comment, from Erendira Guerra, really gets me going:
Dream Activist (28 March 2009)
The Dream Act is sadly a military bill with a cover of education. And it is anti-Mexican.
It is anti-Mexican because the overwhelming majority of undocumented youth who graduate from high school in the US are Mexican. And the majority of our Mexican documented youth dont go to college even when they have papers.
this is a class question. Mexicanos in the main are from working class background. When families come from across the sea, they are in the main, the lower middle classes who go to college anyways.
So, the Dream Act will benefit certain sectors of the undocumented youth. But, the majority who are Mexican will be the ones to go to war.
Right now it is not legal for the military to recruit undocumented youth. They do it, yes, but they hide it, they cheat, and nonetheless it is against the law. The Dream Act will make it legal to recruit the undocumented youth and it will open the flood gates for the undocumented Mexican youth to go and kill and die overseas.
We as a people, in a movement, cannot support this! We cannot support bringing our young people to slaughter. Those of you who support the Dream Act, especially you undocumented youth who want to go to college, your desire is just, you deserve the right to go to college. But not with a cost of sending our other sisters and brothers to war!
Forget this ME FIRST mentality that the US society promotes. We must think of each other.
Sending the majority off to war so that you can go to college is wrong.
Yes, fight for the Dream Act, but ONLY without the military provisions. Un danyo contra uno es un danyo contra todos!
I take offense to Erendira's comment, for various reasons.
The first is her labeling of the DREAM as "anti-mexican". As a "illegal" Mexican Immigrant I do not agree. How can legislation that will give me the option of finally changing my status, whether through military service or a college education be anti-Mexican? To me this is just self rightious speak coming from a U.S. Citizen that has a degree in latin american studies and joined MECHA while in college. It is more anti-Mexican to let me continue to work at McDonalds than to become an Army ranger (like my friend Ulysses- also Mexican) or and Industrial Engineer (see Me).
Secondly, she states how the "Majority of our Mexican documented youth don't go to college even when they have papers". This is not a DREAM Act issue, it's a parenting issue. I see it first hand, when Mexican parents rather watch their novelas, and drink their coronas instead of reading with their kids or meeting with their children's teachers. And please don't give me the bullshit of the parents being too busy working, because my parents were busy as well, but they managed to get three Mexican kids into college.
And last, Erendira has the audacity to tell undocumented youth to "Forget this ME FIRST mentality that the US society promotes. We must think of each other.Sending the majority off to war so that you can go to college is wrong."
This insults me in the worst way possible. How dare you imply that I'm selfish for wanting an education. How dare you imply that I think my education is worth the life of others, and that I'd sacrifice them for the right to use my diploma. How dare you sit from the comfort of your citizenship and tell me to make sacrifices.
I ask you Erindira, to walk a year in an undocumented student's shoes before you make your insulting and ignorant statements.
If you really care about us Mexicanos, then fight the crumbling school systems, the parental indifference, the gangs, the drugs. Don't bring your fight to a piece of legislation that would offer some relief from the daily strain that we americanized mojados have to deal with every day.
