We have to face the fact of our presidents many shortcomings and failures, some from inexperience and incompetence, some from his own background, character and ideology, some from the force of the opposition he has faced. I don’t want to under-estimate the difficulties created by the opposition, and I don’t want us to forget that Obama at least moved on the Dream Act. His heart may well be in the right place, but the appalling deportation statistics are deeply disturbing and yes, unacceptable. The only justification for the deportations under Obama was the belief in a need to prove that a Democrat-led government could be tough on protecting the border, as a tradeoff for a strong immigration bill. But the bill that finally came forward is so negative, so punitive that I for one would be afraid to risk my own status or that of my family in the effort to win the very uncertain rewards it offers. And even this bill does not satisfy the Republican right which has consistently sought to hide its obvious racist and culturalist biases. Now, we have the paradox of a supposedly progressive government that has carried out these deportations. And this is not all this supposedly progressive government’s done. It’s held alleged terrorists in prison for years; it’s earmarked many others for death by drones involving collateral damage affecting countless innocent parties; it’s spied on its citizenry in every way and criminalized those who have blown their whistles and exposed the violations of our rights and liberties. It’s done a wide range of things that are far from progressive or that only seem progressive in relation to other, more terrible actions. As for its policies in Latin America and elsewhere, the record’s very far from being a positive model. Looking at it all, we would have a perfect right to wonder what worse we could expect if an even less progressive government were to come to the fore. And we may wonder if it would be worthwhile to use all our energies to bring in another “progressive” government that may lead to further disappointment even if elected. Obama may actually make a few good moves by executive order over the heads of his opponents; he may design a great program for minority kids that will make him a great ex-president. But he will have failed to preserve and deepen our liberties; he will have left Latinos in this country with no way to go that will lead to the real changes that are required. What should Latinos and those who support Latinos do, then? Certainly we cannot jump ship and join our new Cuban American right wing stars; and forming a third party will just help the most reactionary Republicans any way. So, we’re probably stuck with the same old of trying to make inroads within the Democratic Party, knowing all the time that that might not take us very far. In the short run, for the sake of so many suffering families we have to push for an immigration bill which we see as unjust, and if this fails, we need to push Obama to use his executive authority to help who he can and end the deportation nightmare. Clearly, in the long run, we are not strong enough to go it alone. We need allies, we need something like our old rainbow coalition but more--it can’t be the same African American-led thing, it’s got be different and more in relation to a new time. We need to build a new, more extended bloque, and that’s not easy. But in whatever we do, whatever direction is chosen, we need to struggle for the best and deepest values imbedded in the diverse forms of Latino culture and find the bases for an ever deeper and firm stance of resistance and affirmation.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 13:10:10 +0000
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