Immigration and Arizona Senate Bill 1070

There has been much in the news lately about Arizona Senate Bill 1070. The key to dealing with the situation along the Southwest US border is identical to the key to US-Latin American relations in general. Simply put, cooperation, not conflict is the way to the future.

Centuries and millennia ago, when cultures clashed, often one would try to simply eradicate, push out or sack and pillage the competing culture. Forced migration, genocide, cultural imperialism and rape & looting were considered normal (Vikings, Huns, Arabs, Western settlement of the Americas). In times past, these events were seen as natural occurrences, albeit man made. Now while these things still occur today in somewhat milder forms, the concept of cultural competition still underlies the problems today.

Why did the illiterate, smelly hordes of Genghis Khan invade China? They couldn't get any good Dim Sum for Sunday Brunch? To some extent, yes! They had certain powers, military organization and strict training, and they wanted to trade them, so to speak, for literacy, government, wealth and stability which the Chinese had. So, lots of people got killed and displaced then the two cultures underwent a meaningful and useful exchange of ideas and resources.

Now history is absolutely littered with such incidents, each with its own particular details. The lesson we should learn though is:

ONCE THE BLOODSHED AND SUFFERING SUBSIDES, THE CULTURAL EXCHANGE TAKES PLACE AND LIFE RESUMES ITS NORMAL PATH. SO, A SANE PLANET WILL SEE PAST THE VIOLENCE AND EMBRACE THE EXCHANGE KNOWING THAT IT IS BOTH BENEFICIAL AND UNAVOIDABLE!

With North America and Central America, the time for strengthening ties is long overdue. The uneven advances in economic and environmental planning brought by NAFTA are a start, but the people of North and Central America need to begin to see their future together. An American Union similar to the European Union should be in the future for all of us. This American Union should be one with high standards of societal organization meant to benefit all, not particular special interest groups, be they old money, ethnic identities or whatever.

We need to stop looking at genetic differences as barriers and instead look at the wide range of human potential. On the one hand, the proponents of Arizona Senate Bill 1070 seek simply to enforce the laws that are already on the books, which is sensible. However, it is the laws on the books that are the problem. If instead, the proponents of the Bill would unzip their suits of corporeal clothing and change them for the suits of Guatemalan farmers, they would immediately see the hopes and dreams that drive these people to action. Then they would recognize these hopes and dreams as their own . The same heart that pulls people in the US to work for a better life and a better world beats in the chests of our neighbors. The people on all sides of the issue are part of a human drama, played out in history time and time again. It is not the actors in this drama that need to change, it is the drama itself, the dynamic of interaction.

Our neighbors are just that, neighbors, not enemies. Let us work together for integration and cooperation while actively minimizing the conflict and suffering that artificial barriers promote. Let us dedicate time, resources and energy throughout Canada, the US, Mexico and Central America to education, economic cooperation and the monitoring and enforcement of high standards in government, business, environmentalism and the evolution of human culture.

We will gain more from cooperation than conflict, more from schools than walls!