Monday, April 17, 2006

The Awakening of First World Mexican-Americans

By Enrique Andrade González

A control system maxim each and every Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) politician always had to obey was avoidance, at any cost, of doing anything that might cause a public outcry.  During the more than 70 years the PRI governed and kept social peace in Mexico, no party member was allowed an indiscretion in the handling of policy or the economy that might cause the people to take to the streets demanding justice.

But today sleeping Mexican-Americans in the United States have awakened, and their presence is being noticed worldwide.  Like it or not, we are facing one of the most important popular movements in recent years, one that will make a future difference on two worlds that are irreversibly entwined by geography and economies, and less and less separated by their people.

The uncontrollable desire to live in a free and democratic nation is what has united large numbers of people, those who are asking to live legally in a country that is growing daily.  They hope to live in the United States without fear, without hiding, in a country that many now hold as dear as their own, a country for which many have given their lives.

People have become aroused by bills such as the U.S. Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, the Sensenbrenner Bill, with 300,000 people demonstrating on Phoenix, 100,000 in Washington, 50,000 in Atlanta, and around 30,000 in New York.  Thousands of others marched in San Diego, Las Vegas, Houston, and Los Angeles, as well as in states like Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee.

And so far, what the Sensenbrenner Bill has done most is to finally unite a people, a political, economic and social force, who had been languishing in the shadows.

A bilingual and bicultural community without a government but with a great desire to belong, a migrant community that has abandoned Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua and other countries in order to embrace the American dream, and dreams of freedom and democracy.  A people who remember the history of their origin, who have religion and culture, and who know that the countries where they were born were unable, or did not know how, to create that which is needed to live with dignity.

As for Mexico, the government did wrong by pretending to be heard by those who, for many years, have known they are forgotten.

The large concentrations are giving these Latinos, who have shown above all that they are peaceful, an identity.  They go to the demonstrations with their children, workers who respect the laws and institutions of the United States – even though earlier they may have violated the border.  And with pride they display the U.S. flag, together with that of Mexico and the banner of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

So, are we at the beginning of Mexico’s integration with the United States, or vice versa?  And are the government’s and their representatives equal to a reality that is being seen in the cities of the First World?

The decisions they must make will be quite sensitive, considering that a real social movement is now alive in cities and in the streets.  It would be most damaging to provoke other groups into taking reprisal actions, while the need is to come up with basic proposals that seek true solutions to the consequences of migration and its causes.

That is, if jobs were created in Mexico the people would not have reason to emigrate.  If labor conditions similar to those in the United States existed in Mexico the people would not emigrate.  These must be the objectives of public policy in both countries.

It is better to have 20 miles of highway in Michoacán than 2,000 miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, and no wall will detain emigrants anymore than the deportation of 4 million people would be successful.

Whether we like it or not, these issues are realities that must be addressed.  As for the movement, up to now it does not have a political leader – it has yet to be identified with a Martin Luther King of the Latinos.  But there are those who will try to take advantage of people and groups that are so far associated with grassroots organizations or churches on both sides of the border.

As well, in Mexico the next president will now have to deal with this problem, and hopefully he will do so with more knowledge and respect than that which has been done by the current administration.

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Enrique Andrade, a Mexico City-based attorney and business consultant, writes a weekly column for MexiData.info.  He can be reached via e-mail at enriqueag@andradep.com.