I dissent with the idea that people have to assimilate to the micro-culture of their village, town, city, etc… I find it extremely disrespectful that the prevailing powers, cliques, or cultural issues (racism usually,) prevail over the heads of the new people. This is how we do things… You look different and think different, so we ain’t talking to you… The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many… You need to attend this church if you want respect from us… blah blah blah…

Then there is the imaginary immigration problem. Let us call it what it is. It is a racial issue, not an immigration issue. From the perspective of the immigrant there is an economic gap between what is in their homeland and what there is here in the United States. As long as that exists, that imaginary immigration problem will persist. BTW, all of these immigrants from South of the border are Americans too. They just use Central America, or South America for the preceding qualifier.

I have moved all over the place. Part of it is the unstable job market of a music educator. Part of it is my tendency to be curt, blunt, sarcastic, and opposed to micro-cultural ways of doing things. I take full responsibility for my idealism and disagreeable disposition. I have become more politically correct and silent, but sometimes I still challenge those lines. (I started this blog to express these ideas in a different way.) I would say the current state of government affairs in the USA is the micro-culture of white nationalism and unfettered greed brought on by neoliberal capitalism. I oppose all of these ideas… …some would say, I’m biased… …to some extent, yes… I prefer idealist or dreamer.

When I started in education back in the 20th century, my first job was in a segregated small town in Southern Illinois. If you were white you lived on the South side of town. If you were black you lived on the North side of town. My apartment was on the North side of town. It was all I could afford in town. I ended up being one of three white tenants in the building. I had no idea that this would be a problem. My car had numerous flat tires over the year I was there. I ended up buying used tires because they were being flattened at a record pace. Turns out it was an attack by the black gangs, or the KKK members for choosing to live on the North side of town. Having come from Northern Illinois where diversity was embraced more warmly in my hometown, this war on my melatonin level was outside my range of experience.

I developed a nice relationship with my neighbor across the hall. He was a disabled Vietnam Veteran. He helped me thwart a gang initiation attempt. I’m thankful he had a gun, and the courage to use it. He also defended my foreign status. “He’s from up North. He doesn’t know our fight. Leave him be.” Racism was a cultural issue in this town. My boss (principal) at the time was not especially inclusive. There was an air of white superiority in how the school was managed. This boss has passed away, and I will say nothing more on it. We had a racial riot in the middle school in the days following the Rodney King Police Brutality Case. In an attempt to quell the feelings we teachers were asked to talk about it on an endless loop. My two cents to my students was, “If you are charged with an offense, I hope you all can afford to hire these attorneys. They can convince a jury that a right-handed man is ambidextrous. Who am I kidding? None of us can afford those attorneys.” I heard a student in one class say, “Mr. Bressler gets it.” This type of cultural and racial discrimination is all too real in community after community. I began to see how privileged I was. I also began to see my hometown was not as inclusive as I thought it was…

I have had the unfortunate privilege of having powerful and wealthy parents of students that I have taught. I have seen them use this wealth, power, and privilege to blame me for their child’s lack of responsibility. I have stood my ground on this numerous times, providing my class expectations, syllabus, structure, and even research. Yet, these parents think or feel that their child is above the expectation. There is an entitlement of privilege where the teacher is blamed for not doing enough to help their child succeed. I’ve seen this in athletics, arts, and even colleagues’ classes. I have seen many non-local teachers lose jobs over this type of malfiesance. I was asked to resign once for having a conflict that the administration took the side of the parents on. I don’t regret standing my ground. It is just disappointing that there are people who think they are more privileged than others. These micro-cultural behaviors punish us all, eventually… …look at Washington DC currently…

About ten years ago I had to take an undergraduate course on diversity and inclusion for my Iowa teaching certification. I was one of the oldest students in the class. I had read many of the materials previously as I had taken some seminars and clinics at music conventions for serving diverse learners. Honestly I could have taught the class. Like everything in life, you can still find something even in an undergraduate class that can provide an experience worthwhile. This class required us to participate as a volunteer in a diverse situation. I found citizenship classes offered by my community in Columbus Junction, IA for employees of the meat processing plant on the North side of town. I ended up volunteering for two complete class sessions, even though I had completed the class prior to the second session.

Nothing changes one’s mind about immigration like meeting immigrants personally. When you get to know them as an empathetic human, you see a courage far greater than you can imagine personally. I had the privilege of helping immigrants from several countries with the United States citizenship test. The men and women I had the opportunity to coach spoke two and three languages beyond rudimentary English. Many had college educations, but were working at the slaughterhouse because the US Education system did not recognize their college degrees. One of the men I worked with had an engineering degree. He worked on the line slicing carcasses, but when a machine broke the company had him fix it. He could see the issues better than the American employees who were in charge of the machines. Did he get paid extra? No.

The US Citizenship test is challenging. There are several questions that require knowledge of the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, holidays, and other cultural American events. I personally think our president would fail this test. Many of his staff would too. Imagine coming from a different continent and having to learn about our messy history in a foreign language to them. It is not an easy proposition. I tutored and drilled as much as I could. I also encouraged them as often as I could. I admired these men and women. Their sacrifices for their families are far greater than anything I have ever done. It truly makes me appreciate my privilege.

As for immigration. I feel if you want to regulate it, you have to understand the full issue. First, you need to be able to pass our citizenship test. If you fail, you can’t vote on the issue. You should be expelled from Congress, the presidency, etc. Second, you need to have a full understanding of how the imperialist doctrine of the United States has damaged Central and South American nations economically, politically, and sociologically. None of our current administration cares or knows about our arrogant imperialist damage. Third, there needs to be an economic understanding of the gap between the United States and our Latin American neighbors. The American Free Trade Agreement took advantage of cheap labor in Latin America at the expense of the American worker. It preyed on the unfortunate workers of our neighbors. Exploitation is a term I would use freely in how billion-dollar businesses used this economic gap to their advantage. In short, our perceived immigration issue is a product of the United States’ imperialist exploitation of the Latin American nations of Central and South America.

President Reagan was the last Republican president to understand this issue from a humanist angle. Despite his neoliberal economic love of exploitation he chose to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants. Since then Democratic and Republican presidents have been using force, racism, and fear to avoid addressing the greater economic issue or taking responsibility for our imperialist ways. This requires thought and hard work, and accepting responsibility… …no one wants to do that… …that would make the billionaires unhappy… Again the privilege of a micro-culture of people influencing and exploiting their power to oppress… …well, everyone…

I have a healthy distrust of anyone who uses fear to legislate or marginalize people from other places. I have experienced this within the country personally and professionally. I have seen it firsthand as our legislators oppress those who came here legally or illegally and prevent them from having due process. I find diversity and difference bring innovation and ideas together. Whereas privileged fear brings the same process, creating the same problem, just to make a few richer, and calling it a righteous solution.

You’s right… I ain’t from around here… …but I’m here, how can we work together to improve things… I don’t want to embrace the status quo… …so it goes…