Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COLUMN: What are we waiting for?
By Josh Wilder
Massachusetts Daily Collegian (U. Massachusetts)
05/09/2006

(U-WIRE) AMHERST, Mass. — Last Monday in the United States we witnessed people taking to the streets in record numbers to support immigrants and their rights as citizens. Some people walked out of their jobs while others didn't even bother to call out at all. For all involved, it was a monumental effort of solidarity in the face of the strong change in immigration policy beginning to sweep U.S. law books.

The issue of immigration is multi-faceted to say the least, as members of both viewpoints hold their own justifications. In spite of your own personal opinion on the matter, I believe that we all must take our hats off to compliment the incredible bravery and savvy of all who turned out to support the cause. In Chicago, one of more than a dozen cities which saw massive amounts of protestors, close to 300,000 people flooded the streets. Watching the coverage on television made most people think, "Gee, I can't remember the last time I've seen a turnout like that for something....except for American Idol."

Sadly enough, that statement is actually the truth for the state of affairs here in America lately. Can't remember seeing a protest like that? Well that's probably because we haven't been alive long enough to see anything closely resembling the turnout last Monday. In an age where materialism and apathy have become the norm, it was refreshing and uplifting to see people actually stand up for what they believe in and fight back against a system they feel is unfair.

After all, since America is a place where the government is supposed to listen to the people and act accordingly, what better way is there to be heard than to take to the streets? The thousands of immigrants who took part in "A Day Without Immigrants" by skipping out on work took a big gamble; they put all their chips in the pot without looking at their hand first. They put the rights of their people in front of monetary stability and job security, without knowing the end result. How many big time executives and corporate cronies would put anything above money as a priority in this country nowadays? Not many.

Will these marches sway law-maker's minds on the issue and work to benefit immigrants across the states? Maybe last Monday was the initial spark needed to set off a chain reaction of immigration reform leading to some sort of happy medium or compromise — or maybe politicians will once again turn a deaf ear and ignore the situation. Nobody can say for sure, nothing is set in stone. But the fact remains that these protestors felt strongly enough about the cause that they literally put their lives on hold in order to try to make a change.

Whether you agree with them or not, we should all appreciate their dedication to being a presence on the streets and the news. Ironically enough, these illegal immigrants demonstrated 'The American Way' in a more stunning and effective manner than the citizenry has mustered up in quite some time.

Watching the news coverage of the protests I couldn't help but begin to think about the anti-war movement of the sixties, where college students across the country came together to fight the oppressive warmongers sending the youth off to die. The government will ignore the people when it feels it can get away with it, and unfortunately that has been the recent story in this country.

Instead of taking an avid concern in current events, many Americans, college students especially, have become obsessed with the most trivial of interests. Facebook, My-Space, American Idol, MTV Cribs, Nanny 911, YO MTV Raps and many, many more mindless distractions are all the rage, while going to a protest or a rally have become lame and pointless. It seems like there are so many hot button issues right now that it is almost overwhelming, it's hard to decide where to begin.

The war in Iraq, global warming and the abuse of planet Earth and the massacres in Darfur are just a few of the problems facing the world right now. People feel strongly about these issues but prefer the route of sitting around and complaining instead of being proactive and actually doing something about it. All Americans should take a page out of the book of these immigrants and stand up for something they believe in. This is a country that allows you to stand up and fight for what's right... so what are the rest of us waiting for?

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