When regarding the lively exchange over Minuteman Jim Gilchrist’s CSULB visit Tuesday, some thoughts occur on immigration at the border about whether we ourselves are part of the problem.
The Good Book’s great Commandment says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Leviticus 19:18 ). A famous guru of Western civilization confirms this truth, with “thy neighbor” morphed into “thy enemy” (Luke 10: 25 ).
Might those undocumented penetrating our border be that “Samaritan” (mentioned in the passages)? If so, then no matter our political or economic stance, we must solve the problem for both them and us. By figuring out how to love “ourselves” effectively, it’s win-win.
Maybe, as a start, we need to study the problem beyond “them versus us,” by finding why those Samaritans by the thousands rush our borders.
Really, might we ourselves be part of the cause? Economic studies reveal that one and a half to two million farmers south of the border have lost their jobs because U.S. agri-business, under NAFTA, dumped subsidized grain on their market.
Former President Bill Clinton’s North American Free Trade Agreement makes small farms bankrupt.
Jobless and homeless immigrants, lacking food to feed their families, travel north, where we enjoy the fruits of NAFTA.
If committed to the love commandments, need we not seek some form of justice, not solved by “search-and-eject?” Their ships have gone under, sunk by our NAFTA torpedoes.
Do we then shove them away from our ship to drown? Or do we look to change the torpedoes into better business practices? Do we change our priorities, work with our legislators and see whether we all might keep more afloat?
Or do we at least honor their desperation with compassion, not ruthless anger, while we demand new, more comprehensive immigration laws?
– Robert Brophy, English and comparative world literature professor
