Reply #93: Something strange about beliefs

[ninkasi]

A few years ago, before we moved, my husband and I lived across the street from a couple which had an Irish husband, although 3rd generation, and an English wife. When Princess Diana died, our neighbors flew the Union Jack. Several neighbors placed flowers on their porch. Nobody saw the British flag as a token of anything except acknowledgment that the wife in this case came from England.

None of the neighbors saw anything sinister in flying the British flag, we all took it to mean an expression of support for our British friend. If I were to move to another country, there would always be part of me which would wish to support the U.S.

This is an incredibly complex issue, and being born and raised in Houston, Tx., I might have a different point of view compared to other people. I was born in 1943, and even though the schools were segregated when it came to blacks, the Latino students came to schools that would have been considered white. The drum major of my high school's drill team was Latina. Another was one of the Thespian Society's most respected stars.

In the late 50's, my older brother married a woman whose mother was born in Guadalajara. Her father was an American Consulate. I married, a couple of years later, my sister-in-law's cousin. Later, in an even more strange twist, my younger brother married my sister-in law's sister...my own brother's sister-in-law, and our older brother's brother-in-law.

These intertwined relationships are not unusual for Texas, and other border states. My second husband's father was Puerto Rican, and while his mother was not Latina,she spoke Spanish, as do I. His oldest granddaughter has two children whose father is the son of naturalized Americans, of Mexican origin.The reality is that for some of us, our lives are so entwined with those of latino descent, it's hard to know what view is right. For us, the argument about immigrants, legal or illegal, it's also about family members, and very close friends.

They would not come here, if every employer refused to hire them. For the well off, however there is always that bottom line, and how to pay the least salary for the most amount of work. If the government were truly serious about stopping illegal immigration, it would be doing much, much more to penalize employers of illegal immigrants.