For all the 1,200 Nissan employees who have moved here and been overwhelmed by the cheap cost of housing and the lower tax burden, remember that there are no bargains in life.
You get what you pay for, or what people in the Old South and here in Tennessee don't want to pay for. And we're cheap here when it comes to investing in enlightenment and tolerance. You'll discover the heavy price being paid by your soul and conscience -- and those of your children -- to live here.
If you're Hispanic, you'll discover that you're living in a hostile environment to the Spanish language, surnames and the color of your skin. Don't leave your home without your driver's license or your seatbelt not on. You're target No. 1 of law enforcement authorities.
Old times, they indeed are not forgotten. But many of us cannot look away, nor move away, because we know the vulnerable people who would be left without advocacy. The only way to really change what is wrong is from within. So some of us hope your presence will bring more soldiers to the fight we're losing.
Don't let Nashvillians fool you about how progressive of a city they have. It's not, period. The public school board just voted to resgregate schools, according to white versus black. A Hispanic mother, Juana Villegas, was tortured by local law enforcement authorities and her child was separated from her soon after birth over the Fouth of July weekend.
Her terrible crime? A civil offense. She was in this country without needed documentation. And she was arrested for a traffic offense of operating a vehicle without a driver's license. Tennessee doesn't allow undocumented workers to get licenses.
Just think what would have been done to her if she had done something violent. Yes, your state has not resolved the matter of undocumented workers either. But at least there is some recognition that Hispanics were in America before there was an America on the West Coast. As Delores Huerta likes to say, "we didn't cross the border; the border crossed us."
Es verdad!
There are things you'll see and experience here that will be shocking from your more diverse and tolerant lifestyle in California. The South has severely regressed in the humane treatment of people, this time against Hispanics. More than 1,500 people LEGALLY in this country have been detained and questioned for hours in Nashville even though the 287g deportation program here was sold as only going after undocumented immigrants who were criminally dangerous to society.
Yes, politicians lie, even in California. But there is a heavy dose of ignorance with each dishonesty here. And it's willful ignorance. The FBI raided the state Legislature here several years ago for lawmakers making money unlawfully under an federal sting.
Thankfully, you'll find pockets of exception. For instance but not exclusively, Vanderbilt University and Medical Center are an oasis of public service, enlightenment and compassion. Some churhces here make a big difference outside their own four walls. They peform a lot of heroics. But the silence of too many congregations to social outrages is deeply disturbing and telling.
WWJD? He'd walk away from Nashville.
But of course, you're lucky to still have a job in this recessed economy. I'm sure few of you were invited to the lavish state-by-state receptions for your decision-making executives. Your company's North American headquarters is located in Williamson County, just south of Nashville. People here are nice, as are many people in Nashville. Family life is big.
But their leaders also are talking about bringing 287g to Williamson County. Every sheriff candidate is trying to sound tougher than the rest on illegal immigration.
Encourage people down here you meet to not embrace 287g as in Nashville, and the cost to the soul and conscience.
So be careful, neighbors. Watch your back and your values and embrace those here you find valuable. Protect your children. Nurture their minds with an overriding sense of humanity to all.
Be warned. You've moved to the Old South, where old times are not forgotten. They're simply relived.
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4 comments:
I see that Tim will NOT stop lying about immigration laws. Title 8 Sect.1325 USC makes it a CRIME to illegally enter the US. It is NOT a civil infraction, and the penalties are specified in Title 18which is the criminal section. I suggest that all go and see for themselves as to the FACT that Tim is a LIAR!
As a former CA resident, I am glad I am out. It is beautiful, but too expensive and cold. I am in TN temporarily and will be returning home to Texas which I find much nicer in many ways.
I know that there is NO problem for Hispanics to compare with what MY grandfather experienced during WWI. His home and business in Boston was burned down simply because he had a German name. He could not even speak German. When you can show me
similar things being done to Hispanics on a large scale in the area, THEN you can bitch!
I am opposed to ILLEGAL immigration and the reason that I like Texas is the Hispanic influence and I will be retiring to the most heavily Mexican American area in the Valley. I want the rest of the Anglos to stay out and keep it the way it is now. If I didn't want to hear Spanish, I would live somewhere else. So you can hardly say I hate Hispanics.
What Huerta said No es la verdad. It might be a catchy phrase, but being Hispanic is NOT a nationality and does NOT qualify you for citizenship in any country in the world. Just ask Mexico if any US Hispanic is Mexican. They will say NO and kick you OUT if you don't have the proper documents. The ONLY people who had the border cross them are those who were already living in the territory which was a VERY small number. Their descendents are also a very small number as well and simply being of Hispanic descent does NOT mean that you have a right to live here because SOME Mexicans were living here at the time. Since you are too ignorant to figure it out, if the border crossed you or your ancestors, you are ALREADY an American and are NOT an illegal.
Maybe you will figure that Russians should be allowed to come into the US based on the fact that Alaska used to be part of Russia. The border also crossed THEM as well. Think the Russian descendents and immigrants should be demanding that illegal Russians not be deported? Thankfully the Bering Strait is too tough to cross in winter when it is frozen, otherwise we would have an illegal Russian immigrant problem too. Would you be shouting loud for their right to stay? I doubt it.
We deny licenses to LOTS of people who are NOT illegals by the way. The underage, people who have an unsafe driving record, people who cannot pass the exams, people who are visitors, those who are too old to see properly. So since we deny them the right to drive, why should those here illegally get licenses? We don't allow visitors to get a license.
I guess that we should ignore the law if we don't like it. What is she teaching her children about being a good citizen? When her kids get old enough to reach the controls, they can drive without a license too. She obviously thinks that it is wrong to license people and you demand that they simply let anybody drive. How about having insurance or registering the cars? Why should they follow those laws if it costs too much? Let the other poor suckers pay the costs is your attitude. Thanks but no thanks.
You sure have a way with welcoming newcomers to Tennessee. Just your way of warning those from California who you may suspect to be illegal to "stay in the shadows"?
Why do you insist in ommiting the facts?
"Villegas was taken to a Nashville hospital on July 5 where she was restrained until two hours before she gave birth." That was labor time, she was not "shackeled" during labor.
"She was restrained again about six hours after the birth." Yes, because she was still under arrest. Thousands of women go into labor while incarcerated, and they stay handcuffed too.
In Tim Chávez's pro-illegal mind: Handcuffed = Shackled = Torture.
This illegal was ordered deported back in the 90's; an order she deliberately refused to obey. She chose to stay in this country long enough to deliver four (count them! 1! 2! 3! 4!!) anchor babies! Try asking yourself, just who paid for those deliveries?
All legal latinos should be appauled by your trying to turn this into a racist issue and defending her as a victim. The ones waiting in line are the victims!
You should go "back" to Mexico if you are so discontent with Nashville and it's decision to enforce the law!
"So some of us hope your presence will bring more soldiers to the fight we're losing."
Yes, you are. More and more legal Latinos are getting sick of the defence, by people like you, of illegals!
http://politics.nashvillepost.com/2008/07/24/a-heaping-helping-of-hispanic-haterade/
Dear randyjet,
You have to have a camera at the border to prove someone has entered the country illegally. That is indeed a felony.
So what prosecutors can only prove is that these human beings(you probably want to argue that label, too) are in the country illegally -- a civil offense. That's what the letter of the law demands.
It's really quite simple to understand, when you don't let hate get in the way.
Most people who are charged with being illegally here have come to America LEGALLY -- as seasonal workers to harvest crops and work on golf courses and work at amusement parks and an assortment of menial labor workplaces because Americans are too lazy to do these jobs ... or perhaps there is another reason for not giving an honest day's work for a wage.
So in charging these human beings with a civil offense of being illegally here, the court has to recognize that the immigrants have simply overstayed their visas.
Meanwhile, American businesses cry for these workers to be let back into the country because Americans really don't want to work ... or perhaps there is another reason.
So put on your rationalization hat and come up with another excuse.
By the way, some of these human beings stay and fight and die in Afghanistan and Iraq even though they are not citizens of the United States. The Arab press laughs at this nation and calls these human beings "Green Card" soldiers.
Again, these human beings are needed because too many American citizens don't even want to fight their own country ... or perhaps there is another reason.
Thanks for reading and commenting,
Tim Chavez
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