Solidarity

I won't be buying anything today, and I'm wearing a white shirt. As my husband pointed out to me, illegal immigrants are human.

I was first moved by the growing masses around the Georgia state capital building--pride, awe, and a feeling that those people I used to know were supporting the protest of working, albeit illegal, immigrants.

Then a woman in Denver said she was shutting down her restaurant business to join the parade because (I paraphrase), "Money comes and goes but friends...I want to be there for my friends." Denver expects 50,000 people to protest in part because of a ballot measure that attempts to take away social services and school tuition from illegal immigrants.

I remember a liberal friend of mine remarked at how much illegal immigrants (and I imagine the working poor as well) cost the healthcare industry and that that was our national problem. I was disappointed that she was blaming healthcare costs on the poor, rather than an economic system that exploits the poor. Do we want lower healthcare costs and higher grocery costs instead? Hmmm.

I thought this was the United States:

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me..." http://www.libertystatepark.com/emma.htm