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Speech

“On Social Justice, Community Outreach and Ethnic Understanding: Building a Stronger America”
Dr. Gabriela Lemus - LULAC Florida State Convention

May 20, 2006

The world we are facing today is one of many challenges.  We are bombarded with information and we are bombarded by people’s opinions.  Somewhere along the line, we have to decide what we believe in and what is important for us to act on. 

When I read the news these days, I wonder whether we will ever begin to come back together again as a nation – it is a difficult question. 

The internet has been a wonderful thing in that it allows us to dialogue across long distances and gain access to all types of information, but it also means that one is far more accessible to anybody who chooses to “google” one’s name. 

There is a lot of hate out there. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center: A 5% annual increase in hate groups in 2005 caps a remarkable rise of 33% over the five-year period that began in 2000.

There is also a lot of passion and different beliefs as to what our country is really about.   

It’s quite interesting actually.  From my casual observations, I would say that most people say things like: America is great because of its freedoms. America is great because anybody can achieve their dream if they try hard enough.  It’s the land of opportunity. It’s a nation based on strong democratic principles, humanistic values, religious freedom, and tolerance. 

That’s about where the conversation ends.  Then the interpretation of what exactly that means is as varied as the number of people who hold the opinion. 

I think what we are witnessing is a clash of ideologies. Not only politically, but philosophically.   

The United States has always borne an internal dichotomy in that it has a dual tradition of isolationism and international outreach that has varied over the centuries from different versions of imperialism – military, economic and cultural – to the current stages of globalism that are dominated by commerce, finance, technology, science, the movement of people, etc. 

The globalism piece is the tricky one because it challenges the American psyche on some levels. 

It is an old story – the United States has always had its own unique character as do all nations.  But, because of its distance from most nations with the exception of its immediate neighbors: Canada, Mexico and the islands of the Caribbean – it has been able to maintain a certain amount of distance from the rest of the world – ergo the isolationism. 

The hot-button topic these past few months has been centered on immigration.  It has brought out a cast of characters – politicos and pundits – Minutemen and “We the People” who have been proudly marching in the millions. 

One thing is clear – everybody has an opinion – we all agree there is a challenge, but we’re not quite sure how to solve it or what “solving it” means.  

On the surface – depending on your opinion, it seems easy enough.  But the reality is far more complex and requires careful study and a balancing of priorities, both real and perceived. 

Perception is just as critical as reality in this game.  Unfortunately, it is the perception component that creates the greatest challenges in that it often forces policy to be subsumed by politics and procedures. 

If you have listened to the pundits, ie: Lou Dobbs and Bill O’Reilly – you get a sense that our world is caving in because of the illegal immigrants who are breaking laws, not paying taxes and driving up criminal behavior across the nation.   

If you listen to the politicos – it’s not much better.  They are stolidly holding on to their positions alternatively praying that the issue will go away so that they can make it through another election cycle without having to vote on the issue, or joining with the pundits and demonizing the immigrants, or standing up for immigrants but with all kinds of caveats. 

The easiest pathway has been chosen by those who rely on what is quickly becoming an old saw – we need to work on border security and then we’ll do something about the immigrant situation.  That’s just a delaying tactic that the media savvy Communications Director is giving the member so as not to have to take clear positions or express opinions that might be troubling to the voter. 

Nowhere in the conversation are we discussing why we have this immigration challenge.  There is discussion about push and pull factors, but these are not really examined very closely or given much weight.  It adds to the complexity and we are looking for quick fixes. 

The reality is that there are no quick fixes.  There are a variety of levels to the problem and I’ll just mention a few right now. 

First - the bureaucracy is broken. It needs to be fixed. It takes too long to have your documentation processed. So, we have horrible backlogs. 

Second – resources are stretched thin.  The fines and fees paid by any immigrant or guest worker are not necessarily applied fully to the processing of those immigrants and guest workers – in fact, most of the money goes to the law enforcement aspects. 

Third, the mood in the country is polarized.  If you support immigration, you are immediately labeled a radical or a lefty.  If you don’t support immigration, you are immediately labeled a racist. It creates sticking points in the conversation.  

Fourth, there are undocumented people in the country and the nation feels uncomfortable about it especially because issues like language, national anthems, flags, etc. – in other words the “symbols” of the United States are apparently under siege. 

Fifth – nowhere are we really having a frank dialogue about: What is social justice? How do we reach out to these individuals and help them become successful Americans? And, how are we going to create the dialogue so that our most beautiful traditions and philosophies - humanistic values, tolerance, and democracy prevail?   

Our goal should be building a stronger, more vibrant and united America.  I am an optimist.  I know that we can do this. But, first we must go back to what our parents and teachers taught us.   

We must listen to one another and to try to find common ground so that we can get over the hump of polarization.  We must agree to disagree and find solutions that respect not only the founding principles upon which the nation was built, but also takes into account the “brave new world” in which we live. 

When the Cold War ended – many other phenomena happened as well.  We saw the growth of globalization via trade, commerce and finance.  

We witnessed with awe the creation of new technologies and scientific discoveries (things we now take for granted like the internet and cell phones).  Think about it. That’s relatively new and only occurred in the last 20 years.  That’s a lot to absorb. 

We have also witnessed the growth of non-traditional security threats like transnational organized crime, diseases like Mad Cow and the Bird Flu, drug traffickers, human traffickers, global warming, terrorism, HIV/AIDS to name a few.  

So, what to do? How do we balance this all out in our hearts and minds?   

Being the optimist that I am. I think that we achieve this by revisiting our nation’s principles of social justice and humanitarianism; by reaching out to one another as members of a community; and by being vehicles of change and ambassadors for understanding. Each and every one of us has a role to play. 

We should never make decisions based on fear and emotions.  Invariably, the outcome will be misguided and have impacts that are not always intended. 

The world is small and we are all a part of it.  If anything, the immigration debate has demonstrated that.  How we choose to act from this day forward will make the difference in how we become a brighter, stronger more tolerant nation. 

I thank you.

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