Community and Global Awareness

My visit to Postville this week was interesting because a lot of people were deported in the last week.  I asked the women how they felt about that and they said that they were happy about it because their husbands were no longer in jail.  Their family members told them that they were treated very badly in jail and that they were cold and many other bad things happened to them.  Therefore they were relieved that their husbands were deported, even though that meant that they are stuck in Guatemala without any hope of getting a job.  I was shocked to find out that one of the women who's husband was deported only found out that he was back in Guatemala because his name was mentioned in a Guatemalan newspaper that she saw online, as being interviewed about the situation in Postville, so she knew that he must have been deported.  I asked this woman if she wanted to go back to Guatemala to be with her husband and she adamantly said no.  She wants to stay in the U.S. so that her kids can be safe.  Women are so desperate to be safe and to be able to feed their children, that they are willing to be separated from their husbands.  This says a lot about the impossible conditions in Guatemala.  

We also talked about the presidential candidates and if there is any hope for change in immigration policy.  Some of the women seemed really hopeful that Obama would make changes that would address this if he became president.  Another woman, however was more skeptical and wasn't sure that either candidate would change much.  This may be a more realistic assessment and I was impressed to see that these women understand how our government works and they know what challenges our gridlocked government presents for any kind of change.  One of the women also told me that there is a party in Mexico that has some control over oil and has a lot of oil money ( I got a little confused with the Spanish here.)  She said that if this party was removed it would be beneficial for Mexicans because they would be treated better, and it would be better for the U.S. as well because they would get out.  

I think that it is really interesting that these women are so globally aware and politically informed.  Most people in the U.S. do not know what is going on in other countries much less what is happening in their own country and how our own politics and government function.  It is interesting that these women with little education are so interested in the politics of our nation, whereas many Americans, when questioned about their political views respond by saying that they just do not like politics or do not understand it.  I think that this kind of ignorance is a privilege that middle class/upper-middle class white Americans have, because they do not tend to suffer at the hand of our laws and our government.  They are also able to ignore what is happening in the rest of the world because they are protected by our wealth and military power.  And I do not claim innocence of this either, because I no am ignorant of many things that are currently happening in our world.  However, I think that it is our responsibility to get informed and use our voices and our votes responsibly.  

Another thing that has become very clear to me over the past few weeks is the sense of community that exist within the women of Postville.  They know what is happening in each others' lives and they laugh and cry together.  The horrors of the raid have forced them to come together and support each other.  This is another beautiful thing about the hispanic way of life that I think is lacking in mainstream white American culture.  Mainstream culture is all about individual success and betterment and rarely focuses on the good of the whole.  An example of this difference is the way that people think about time.  For white Americans it is important to be on time and it is considered rude to keep people waiting because they are trying to get as many things done in one day as possible.  However, it is not uncommon for hispanic people to show up late to a meeting to to go on and on in conversation much longer than was originally intended.  However, this is not done out of a lack of consideration for your schedule, but rather because people are more focused on other people and building relationships than getting the maximum number of things done.  I personally think that this is a beautiful way to live that is often devalued because it does not fit the model of production that Americans are supposed to strive for.