Monday, January 14, 2019
Immigration-Zander Pryor
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/2019/1/8/18173780/trump-speech-response-crisis-fake
Immigration has been at the center of our political debates and crises as of late. From Trump's disastrous speech to the ongoing government shut down, one way or another it feels as if every issue and roadblock has at its heart a connection to immigration. I think this is in large part due to Trump promises on the campaign trail but in even greater part to the times we live in. People want something to blame and immigrants provide an easy target, especially with how our media paints them.
This blaming of immigrants reminds me quite a bit of the gilded age. Both then and now, immigrants were and are vital to our economy, working jobs citizens often consider beneath them such as the new railroad only to be criticized for "stealing" jobs and to be told that they aren't wanted. The only key difference I can see was the completion between immigrants. There is no equivalent to the Irish and Chinese rivalry, only immigrants and a government who needs them blaming them for everything.
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Emma Burkey: Immigration does seem to be the forefront of all of the media right now because it is such a roadblock for the different political parties. I think you are totally right in saying that the media paints the immigrants unfairly; it is incorrect and ignorant to assume that all immigrants are drug dealers.
ReplyDeleteTo me it seems as if the government forgets that immigrants are people. They just need a home, and though I've said it before, I'll say it again. Our Statue of Liberty says, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the retched refuse of your teeming shore." That described immigrants, both in the Gilded Age and now. People just want a safe place, and they figured they would find it in the land of opportunity, but apparently that is no more.
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