If Arizona's Iced Tea, I'll Drink Coffee

I was born
here in a Capital place,
as in DC, or so I'm told
by the yellowed scrap of paper
embossed with a seal,
which Birthers might say is forged,
but it's not, and that's
a happy circumstance for me,
because I hear folks like me
are different, maybe even
exceptional,
and with that lone American
difference comes a boat load of perks,
including the right to say
I don't see any difference
when it comes to simple
appearances,
but I do feel different
than those who want to speak
in the name of the same
old stupid conceit
that some belong
and some don't,
all the while they search
for differences
and seize on the might
to drive wedges
between us,
and if they end up driving out
our differences with this crocked-up
lack of a due process
cloaked in the flag, well that would be
the real crime.

---

It's the final day of NaPoWriMo, an occasion marked with the mixed emotions of satisfaction, relief and a touch of sadness. Today's prompt from ReadWritePoem isn't really a prompt at all, but a free day (and farewell). A huge thank-you to the folks at RWP, without whose nudging this would have been much more difficult and much less interesting. Unfortunately today marks the last day of the RWP site too, and it will be missed. As far as this poem, I generally try to steer away from political commentary, but some issues demand a reckoning, and yesterday's news-inspired piece got me lathered up. Thanks to everyone who played along or commented during the 30-day Challenge, and I hope to keep the poetry rolling well beyond April.

Egoyan's 'Next of Kin': Role playing and dysfunctional family values

Through the recommendation of a friend, I discovered Atom Egoyan's first film Next of Kin (not to be confused with the 1989 silliness of the same name that starred Patrick Swayze), which despite its tiny budget and unknown actors delves into some themes I find fascinating. Its look at identity, role playing, and the ways we escape and accept the roles society offers us, is still very relavent 23 years later.

The tale's central character is Peter Foster, a 23 year-old with a penchant for pretense who feels stifled by the expectations of his controlling upper middle class background. He enters group counseling with his parents to try to unlock the source of his existential ennui, and is captivated by his therapist's ability to direct his patients' lives toward happy endings.

The sessions are videotaped, and Peter likes the idea of performing for the camera, speaking the lines expected of the dutiful son. Later, while at the doctor's office reviewing himself interacting with his parents, he discovers a tape of another family. Watching the Armenian triad of father, mother and daughter try to cope with the memory of a son given away for adoption, Peter sees an opportunity to pursue a new kind of role playing — taking the place of both the prodigal child and the probing counselor.

It's an interesting reversal, where a white, well-to-do kid trades in his already assimilated identity for that of the scion of Armenian immigrants still trying to adapt to North America. His new father, George Deryan, has his own hangups, especially when it comes to controlling his artist daughter Azah, but that just allows Peter to practice his ability at interpersonal problem solving. The new situation is no less dysfunctional than the one he came from, but the difference is the level of familial control Peter is able to enjoy as the miraculously returned Bedros.

It's a very humanizing look at both sides of the cultural divide. The advantage Peter enjoys is his ability to redefine himself and escape the trap of expectations. Each of us faces similar artificial limits on what we can do and who we can become, and depending on our personal adaptability and social context, some of us will be more successful than others at escaping them.

Like to like, each to each ...

by Francis Scudellari

Like to like, each to each, ever more attracting
Our self-same, seeing the same selves separating
Uni(n)formed, in-clothed, a-dressing as one, closing
Minds walled off, a-side, to smaller corners pulling

Pushing the other into e’er tighter clutches
Opening debates to expose those thought poor-minded
Uniting behind berms built high, borders made bold
Alien-making, light darkened, us them-ed, untied

I, left staring at the lone self mirrored
Your right wrongly made, different, a-part, not-us
Both now looking through a glass suddenly rubbed clear
T(w)o see our goal won, none, abandoned, no other

Immigration debate: Echoes from the past

According to Answers.com, May 6th is the anniversary of an interesting little piece of legislation from our past that illustrates the bad policy that can arise from xenophobia. The law was called The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and as the name implies, it prevented the Chinese from emigrating to the US for 10 years. It was an over-reaction to a misplaced fear that Chinese workers were "stealing" American jobs, and reflected racist attitudes more than economic realities. It also set a bad precedent and lead to the exclusion of other immigrant groups.

There are obvious parallels to today, as policymakers seek to coddle an equally xenophobic public. The targets of choice for the current errant villification are the Latino immigrants, but the laws being proposed will affect all groups. Latinos, of course, make up a much larger segment of the population than the Chinese did in 1882. They also have much more political muscle behind them, so the battle won't be so one-sided.

Here is a short description of the Act from US History Companion as posted on Answers.com:

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. Those on the West Coast were especially prone to attribute declining wages and economic ills on the despised Chinese workers. Although the Chinese composed only .002 percent of the nation's population, Congress passed the exclusion act to placate worker demands and assuage prevalent concerns about maintaining white "racial purity."

The statute of 1882 suspended Chinese immigration for ten years and declared the Chinese as ineligible for naturalization. Chinese workers already in the country challenged the constitutionality of the discriminatory acts, but their efforts failed. The act was renewed in 1892 for another ten years, and in 1902 Chinese immigration was made permanently illegal. The legislation proved very effective, and the Chinese population in the United States sharply declined.

American experience with Chinese exclusion spurred later movements for immigration restriction against other "undesirable" groups such as Middle Easterners, Hindu and East Indians, and the Japanese. The Chinese themselves remained ineligible for citizenship until 1943.

Click here to read more information on the Act from other sources.

Favorite Song of the Day: Divide and Conquer

Tomorrow, thousands of workers, immigrants, and concerned citizens will take to the streets of Chicago and other cities to voice their support for meaningful immigration reform. The marchers will come from all walks of life and together they will take a stand against the politicians who break down barriers to allow the free flow of capital but erect them to constrain the movement of people.

You'll hear lots of self-proclaimed pundits spouting vitriol as they demonize immigrants for all of our society's ills. It's a pathetic attempt to scapegoat those who are least able to defend themselves. Do they really believe that people in this country lack jobs, homes, adequate health care and social services because undocumented workers are stealing their wages and benefits? The destruction of the social safety net perpetrated by the Right over the last 30 years is the more likely culprit. Not to mention George W's morass of a war that's diverted billions of dollars from our nation's economy.

These "Defenders of America" will also fall back on the argument that we should all play by the rules, at the same time they look the other way while businesses illegally exploit the very workers they want to keep out. Their hypocrisy is astounding, and their nationalistic and xenophobic rhetoric shamefully reminiscent of the most repressive eras in this country's history.

Most disappointing of all, there will be recent immigrants who will speak against those who are in the country "illegally," manipulated by the "divide and conquer" propaganda that's been used over the years to play segments of the poor and working class against each other in order to perpetuate their exploitation at the hands of big business. In light of that, I chose today's favorite song ...

Divide and Conquer by Hüsker Dü

They divided up all the land
We've got states and cities
Cities have their neighborhoods
And more subdivisions

There's lots of area codes
And nine digit zip codes
Secret decoder ring codes
Arteries, shopping nodes

There's countries divided by walls
Oceans and latitudes
And longitudes longing to find out
What they're missing

Big Brother on every wall
Muzak plays in all the halls
Embassies rise and fall
They divide, conquer

It's not about my politics
Something happened way too quick
A bunch of men who played it slick
They divide, conquer

Well I expect I won't be heard
Because my silence is assured
Never a discouraging word
They divide and conquer
They divide and conquer