Thursday, September 30, 2004

Jesus, Haiti, USA, Cuba and Immigration Policy

The situation in Haiti must be responded to by the American Church and by the US government. I will save the lessons on policy and a reading of Matthew 25 and assume a little knowledge...

I have a modest proposal. First of all, we would need to change our immigration policies. Maybe we could let Haitians have the same rights for immigration as Cubans (who of course, are lighter skinned- but the US would not look at anything so superficially). I think that allowing people from 1 nation to immigrate if they set foot in the US while people from another nation are sent back if they set foot on our soil is a travesty. We need to understand that although Cuba is communist, the government is no more oppressive and corrupt than that of Haiti.

Secondly, we invite everyone from Haiti to the US. We just open our borders. Then we give them New Mexico. Why? There are not alot of people in New Mexico and it is hot. The east coast is too crowded to give a huge swath of land to one group of people- it needs to be a western state. I thought about West Texas but I like Haitians too much (for anyone saying we need to close our borders to immigration- aren't you glad the US did not do that to your family- as an Irishman whose family came over during the potato famine, I think anyone should be allowed in the from a poor country- the same arguments people are making now were used against my people). Remember that whole "huddled masses" thing on the Statue of Liberty- it used to mean something.

I will play a rightwing card here- If you do not believe in what the Statue of Liberty stands for and are against immigration- then you are un-American and un-Patriotic. Wow! I see why the right plays that card so often- it feels good.

Then, to placate the border controlling section of the populace, I offer up Haiti as a bombing range. It is large. It is in the Caribbean (like Vieques). It is close to Cuba. And, there is no possible way bombers can ruin the environment there anymore than it already has been ruined by clearcutting (oh, maybe the environment does matter. Maybe saving the trees is really about saving people). Of course, we need a 100 mile barrier before the border with the Domican Republic- because that is still a beautiful country with good forests (see-trees save lives).

I would rather plant trees and give the country 20 years (at least) with no human populace to bring it back and then hand the nation back to those that want to return. Lastly, I would introduce every anti-immigration racist that says these people that come to America just to take our resources to a Haitian family and see if that American could work anywhere as hard as that Haitian for the same amount of money. That American would go on welfare first.

To play those cards again- If you disagree you are not a Patriotic American- and you are not a true Christian. Sorry I had to do it. It just feels too good. I hope I can stop before I become a habitual judger.

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