DEAR MEXICAN: My father and mother were able to come over because after the “yellow scare” was over, the States didn't seem to mind that the Chinese were coming over here by the boatload. Since my parents were given visas and green cards, my father was able to get into school pretty easily. This seems to be pretty prevalent among most of the Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and Indian populace here (a.k.a. the model minority groups). As a result, immigrants from China, Taiwan, Korea and India have been able to get an education here and prosper. Additionally, many of these immigrants maintain a pride in their home countries (as do Mexicans—unlike what most of the anti-immigration crowd thinks, you're not the only ones who wave your home country's flags around). This resulted in a lot of newly educated Chinese, Taiwanese, South Koreans and Indians bringing skills and expertise back to their home country. This allowed the aforementioned countries to build up. And these countries have begun to pump out fewer emigrants since there are a great number of job opportunities, better education systems and better living conditions overall (still a ways to go in China and India, but it'll get there).
So my point is: Why doesn't the U.S. grant a greater number of Mexicans green cards, visas or college education? I mean, it would stop all the whiners from saying, “We'll all be speaking Spanish soon.” I mean, seriously: If the States would allow more Mexicans in legally, then we'd have more Mexicans with actual opportunities in the States, which would mean Mexico would eventually benefit, which in turn would reduce the number of illegal immigrants coming in from Mexico. You're a much better fact and statistics finder than I am (and you reach a lot more people than I do), so I was wondering if there is any way you could let some of those wall-building whiners know that billions spent on letting Mexicans in and helping them succeed now (the illegals are a necessity anyway—New York would grind to a halt if the legal or illegal immigrants left) is a whole lot better in the long run than billions spent building a wall that doesn't work, then spending billions more to tear it down when we realize the damn wall separates us from our neighbors and destroys ecosystems that keep America from turning into the Sahara.
Baby of Immigrants (Doesn't Really Matter If They Are Legal or Illegal)
DEAR CHINITA: Hear, hear all around. I'll just note that the Right wants to keep Mexicans pendejos, poor and illegal because it makes it that much easier to scapegoat and exploit them. You rarely hear Know Nothings go after Indians, for instance (who get by far the largest share of high-tech visas: 64 percent compared to Mexico's puny 1.2 percent), because they'd go all Shiva on them with their money, education and ghost peppers.
* * *
CONFIDENTIAL TO: The young student at Claremont McKenna College who approached me after my recent speech there to fret about family members not liking her because she's not 100 percent Mexican. Don't pay attention to the haters. I know the Mexican part of you feels obliged to hang out and respect family members because they're familia. Screw that. NEVER surround yourself with people who obsess about racial-cultural purity because they're the ones whose futures are doomed in this multicultural reality of ours—they're going to end up whining as much as neo-Nazis. ALWAYS surround yourself with people who'll celebrate your diverse background. Stand strong, breathe deep and repeat after me: ¡A LA CHINGADA CON HATERS!
