Change Begins With Me2010-05-03

 Typically, I use this column to share best practices and prognosticate rather than to editorialize--but if you’ll indulge me, I’m making an exception because this column was designed to foster a community and generate a dialogue with a thousand fellow travelers I’ve had the pleasure to encounter--and the last 10 days have given us much to discuss.

 

Not only has our nation been subjected to a return to nativism with  Arizona’s “show us your papers” law, but it has become clear the environmental and economic cataclysm of the devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill. What do these two seemingly disparate events have in common? In two words: “scapegoating” and “change.”

 

As Frank Rich wrote so eloquently in the Sunday New York Times, “To be angry about illegal immigration is hardly tantamount to being a bigot. But the Arizona law expressing that anger is bigoted, and in a very particular way.”

 

A special thanks to Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart for providing us with the most biting satire of Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, wryly noting, “There has never been a movie made about Nazi Germany where the phrase ‘show us your papers’ wasn’t used. In fact, it’s very possible to this day that anytime someone says ‘show us your papers,’ a member of Adolf Hitler’s family gets a royalty check.”

 

While Arizona will continue to be the butt of national and international jokes over the coming weeks, the knives have already come out for multinational oil conglomerate BP. Comedian Bill Maher has already proclaimed that “everyone who ever uttered ‘Drill Baby, Drill!’ should be forced to report for cleanup duty on the Gulf Coast this week, and the video of Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech where he mocked the need for federal monitoring of disasters and championed more offshore oil drilling has been played in a continual loop (deservedly so).

 

Far from being an apologist for BP or the “Take Back America” wing of the Republican Party, I’ll be enjoying the jokes at their expense and sharing the outrage. But what concerns me is for all the bluster over these two unfortunate events, it will inevitably follow a time honored narrative arc that goes from tragic event to finger pointing to caterwauling to moving our gaze to the next mash up, while missing the critical complexities of these situations that could serve as a teachable moment and a catalyst for true change.

 

In the case of illegal immigration, it’s much easier to blame poor faceless migrants for taking jobs in a recession rather than take a hard look at: our nation’s insatiable appetite for illegal drugs that causes so much of the violence around border cities; Americans who exploit poor immigrant women sold into prostitution; or restaurant price wars that cause owners to seek ever cheaper labor to turn a profit. (Steak and lobster for $9.99 anyone?)

 

Likewise, while there will be the inevitable perp walk for BP executives in front of Congress in the next few weeks, do you really believe a member of Congress of either party will ask those same execs if the finger really should be pointed at Americans’ unsustainable belief that cheap oil doesn’t come with a price? Yes, BP is making billions in quarterly profits for their shareholders, but why? It’s because we keep buying their product.

 

A few weeks ago, I accompanied my 12-year-old daughter’s class to the Heifer Foundation in Arkansas for a four-day exploration of the causes and solutions of global poverty and hunger. One of the exercises required the kids to take off their shoes, and put them on the country where they were manufactured. When asked why they ended up with a Dubai Tower on China, every single kid understood the connection. After sleeping outside for a night with no electricity or running water and limited food, every kid understood the cost. 

 

If a sixth grader can understand the link between supply and demand (and the attendant costs), shouldn’t it be possible for their parents and grandparents to take even the most incremental steps to alter those links?

 

Change begins with one person, so to all of the politically interested and environmentally conscious readers of this column, I offer a challenge this week--ignore the temptation to blame the rich, the poor, the white, the brown, the political right or left; instead, be the agent of change.

 

If you are outraged by the oil spill or how BP is limited to a $75 million liability damage cap unless the law changes, leave your car at home one day this week, walk to the store, recycle your plastic or use less of it, support your local farmers’ market and visit one of the multitudes of websites that proliferate on the Web that can help you reduce your energy use.

 

On illegal immigration, I hope you’ll do more than join a Facebook group calling for Major League Baseball to revoke Phoenix as the host of the 2011 All-Star Game. Join me in supporting candidates who believe that ‘duck and cover’  and ‘show us your papers’ aren’t viable national strategies; support organizations who are mounting legal challenges to Arizona’s misguided law or those like the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project whose sole aim is to give a legal and underrepresented minority population a political voice. 

 

Many of the issues that surround the illegal immigration problem shouldn’t be that controversial. We already have laws on the books that prevent human trafficking, but the National Human Rights Center says there are about 10,000 forced laborers in the United States today. We have the power to stop this insidious form of slavery.

 

If you want to email your Senator or Congressional representative to support building a fence from Texas to California--fine--but understand the guns and money that fuel the drug cartels corrupting Mexico aren’t waiting in line at the border to have their papers checked. Instead, tell your representatives in Washington that it’s past time we dealt with meaningful drug reform beyond sound bites like “Just Say No.” 

 

Unfortunately, Congress appears likely to only consider legislation on either illegal immigration reform or climate change this year, but not both. Don’t let the angry finger pointers drown out good policy. If you have a passion for either of these issues, get involved and be a part of the solution. 

 

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