March 31st, 2006

immigration reform and student walkouts
POSTED AT 03:53 AM in Teach For America

lemme tell ya what's going on over here in Los Angeles.

in light of the recent immigration bill passed by the House in December and being deliberated (or perhaps decided already) by the Senate, Los Angeles, with it's huge population of Latino immigrants, has been going crazy.

i feel like i'm part of history.

saturday, close to 500,000 people, most Latino, went to downtown LA, taking roads such as Sunset Ave (where I live), Olympic, Broadway, etc. to march in white t-shirts and protest against legislation that would make close to 12 million illegal immigrants "criminals" and cause them to be deported. not only that, but people, such as churches and non-profit organizations, would also be arrested for housing illegal immigrants. there's also been talk of having a temporary workers program. but anyway, huge traffic jams on the surface streets and highways going towards downtown LA. i saw signs like "rasism (spelled incorrectly) is bad" and "America is country made of immigrants!" i thought it was pretty cool that people would take to the streets and demonstrate peacefully about governmental issues.

monday morning. my roommate comes to observe me 1st period. normally, these kids are angels! they do their work, they listen, they obey. yet, due to the protest on saturday, the news, and, i'm sure, overheard conversations between adults, my students are all riled up. they're having a hard time concentrating. come nutrition (aka recess), i step outside my classroom and there are hundreds of kids running around in circles, like a herd of cattle, chanting "WALKOUT" and trying to find the easiest way to leave school to, as the kids say, "protest immigration." some kids lean over one of the fences at our school, but, luckily, no one jumps the 15 feet or so. said "walkout" was inspired by the Walkout movie that aired on HBO a couple of days ago. finally, when my principal opens the door to the main building so kids can go to class, tons of kids run throughout the buildling and out through the main entrance of the school and run away. that day, half of my kids aren't in class. lesson plan ruined.

with the kids that are still in class, we talk about the immigration bill. i try to inspire them to do well in school, to gain positions of power, like Mayor Villargosia, who's Latino too, by getting good grades and going to a good 4-year university. my goal, as their teacher, is to inspire and educate these kids to change this world for the better. these kids, unfortunately, don't believe in themselves and keep repeating to me that "walking out" is the best way for the government to hear. that their parents, who are hard working, are taking jobs that no one else wants to do in the US. for example, "who else is going to get down on their knees and pick fruit all day?! you don't see the white people or the black people doing that!" one of my students emphatically says.

"the government is just run by rich white people. they don't care about us! we should go bomb the whitehouse! or the governors house," another student suggests maliciously. doh.

"No no," I try to stress,"see, you want to destroy this country. Why would anyone want you to stay to destroy this place?" trying to convince my kids.

apparently, kids from neighboring high schools were helping the kids at my middle school climb over fences and escape. one girl, it is rumored, had her blouse torn on one of the fences and was hanging by her bra. some 2000 kids marched down to City Hall in LA. i suppose, it's admirable. but it's also very chaotic. and they're not going about it in the right way.

tuesday: kids are back in class, except, by 3rd period, you hear "WALLLLKOUT!" and screaming down the street. the kids from the neighboring middle school have run by our school to pick up kids. i have girls running out of class (which is right by the street) and one girls jumps over a pretty large fence. another girl falls from the 2nd story stairs and miraciously is unhurt and starts running away. another girl from my class injured herself and went to the hospital. these kids are pretty resilient and determined. even cold rain didn't dampen their behavior or their desire to leave school. if only they put this much passion into their school work...

wednesday: so, the superintendent or the mayor, or someone of importance, made an announcement that any kid caught leaving school would be fined $200. the kids are back in class and sigh of relief for Ms. Chen. fences are rented from "rent-a-fence" and put up around school, sectioning off fields and entrances and making it a lot darn harder to get out of school. even for the teachers. See article here.

thursday: announcement made after school that students were plotting to meet in front of school to protest, but not come in. how they communicate? by MySpace of all things! HA.

friday: we shall see what happens tommorrow.

comments: their desire to protest unfair legislation is admirable. however, the students that are skipping out of school are doing it to get out of school. they don't really understand the reasons behind it all. and it disrupts my lesson plans. i had to scrap everything for this week. and i will be teaching it again next week, when hopefully things will have calmed down.

as far as immigration is concerned, this is what i believe should happen:

1.) tighter control and security around the border. if the US really doesn't want anymore immigrants, they should concentrate all their efforts into not letting more in. just let the immigrants who are here continue living here because after all, they are filling in a much needed niche for menial, cheap labor that no one else wants.

2.) deport only those illegal immigrants that commit major crimes. leave the good ones here.

3.) i'm for the temporary workers program. like i said in #1, illegal immigrants get paid dirt poor to do work that no one wants to do.

4.) get rid of the clause that makes it illegal for people to aid or house immigrants. i'm sorry, but helping people, especially illegal immigrants who probably have no money and no where to go, is the humane thing to do. illegal immigrants are humans too and if you deny them access to such services, who knows what they might try to do to survive.

I agree mostly with what Arnold says here in the LA Times.

pictures from LA times: