http://www.faraichideya.com/
Today I was on a bus making hairpin turns in Guatemala when I went on my phone and checked my Twitter feed. I read about the shooting in Arizona that left Representative Gabrielle Giffords with a bullet through the head, in critical condition, and others dead. Anyone who has been following Arizona politics knows the state has been on boil for a while. Rep. Giffords has spoken out against the immigration law SB1070. I can´t help but wonder if that was a factor in her shooting. Certainly, she faced incendiary rhetoric, like this, which implied violence against her.For a week and a half, I´ve been in Guatemala taking Spanish lessons. One day I hope to be able to conduct interviews in Spanish, since so much of the work I do concerns diversity, immigration, and economic change. Here, everyone I speak to has friends or relatives who are in the U.S. without papers. In the town where I am staying, even some of the more educated citizens end up working in the coffee plantations for 30 quetzales, or about four dollars, a day. Given that, many other people are willing to take the chance to cross into the United States for work.I had a long discussion on the bus ride with an American about immigration and enforcement. The reality is, unless we have business side enforcement, the situation will not change. And unless we learn to manage our (often misguided) anger, we will continue to see political tensions erupt into bloodshed.
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