March on.

I went to the immigration march yesterday, to support my co-workers and friends, and to be there. It was pretty great. There was no conflict, everyone was there to support each other, I was impressed. Of course I donned my peaceful white shirt. To sum up my feelings on the issue, I will give you snippits of conversations that I've had with people in the last week.

Conversation #1(with Nichole at work, discussing how the restaurant was going to handle it, and the thought that the cooks might get fired if they don't show for their shift)
Me: Do you really think that that is a good idea?
Nichole: Think about it, for every Mexican that doesn't want to work, there's one at home who does.
Me: But they DO want to work, that's the whole point.

Conversation #2 (with my mom, she was shocked to find out that I was going)
Mom: Well, some people say that they contribute to the economy, but they are making money, and sending it home to their families, and they don't even pay taxes.
Me: Whoa, whoa, whoa. They do pay taxes. They do.
Mom: How? That doesn't make sense.
Me: They get paychecks. When they are filling their paperwork out at their new jobs they don't say "I don't need to pay taxes because I'm an illegal immigrant". They pay taxes.
Mom: I..
Me: Do you want my friend Armando's number? You could talk to him about it, he was just struggling trying to figure out his tax return.
Mom: Well, not all of them do.
Me: Neither do all Americans. [Yes, I understand that the ratio of those who pay to those who don't is not equal between legal and illegal residents]

Conversation #3 (with Carl, about the jobs that they do)
Me: Think about California's[where Carl is from] agriculture. Do you think that that economy would survive without those workers?
Carl: I'm sure that they would figure something out. They'll find a way.
Me: Yeah, but not for the pay that they're offering.
Carl: Exactly, people will be getting paid a decent amount for the work.
Me: They'll be overpaid, our cultures have a very different work ethic. People will do less work and get paid more money. Don't get me wrong, I think that the workers should get paid more, but the same people who want whites picking their oranges want to pay $1.19 a pound for them, and it just isn't going to happen.

Conversation #4 + 5(me thinking to myself and getting mad)
Me: Wow, so people think that it isn't ok for immigrants to come work for $5.15 an hour, that they are keeping the minimum wage low, but those same people think that it's perfectly fine for us to send our work off to other countries, like India, and pay less than federal minimum wage for their labor. Wow. [angry face]

Me: They want to ship 12 million immigrants back home, but they don't understand that they'll just come back. Yes, we have a problem with illegal immigration. But to fix the problem, we have to assess the cause of it, and make changes there. If my teeth were yellow, yeah, I could get white strips and whitening gum and toothpaste, but they would just turn yellow again unless I cut back smoking and drinking coffee[two habits that I don't actually have]. Seriously.

I was reminded of that last thought when we were walking yesterday and a group was all holding onto a large American flag [like when we used to play parachute with the big orange tarp-like thing] and chanting:
"Aqui estamos, "We are here,
y no nos vamos, and we aren't going[anywhere]
y si nos sacan, and if they take us
nos regresamos." we'll come back."

Also, I'm a bit sunburnt. Again.