Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/65858
6A Daily News– Wednesday, May 16, 2012 Opinion DAILYNEWS RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY T H E V O I C E O F T E H A M A C O U N T Y S I N C E 1 8 8 5 Greg Stevens, Publisher gstevens@redbluffdailynews.com Chip Thompson, Editor editor@redbluffdailynews.com Editorial policy The Daily News opinion is expressed in the editorial. The opinions expressed in columns, letters and cartoons are those of the authors and artists. Letter policy The Daily News welcomes let- ters from its readers on timely topics of public interest. All let- ters must be signed and pro- vide the writer's home street address and home phone num- ber. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and cannot exceed two double-spaced pages or 500 words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section of those submit- ted will be considered for publi- cation. Letters will be edited. Letters are published at the discretion of the editor. Mission Statement We believe that a strong com- munity newspaper is essential to a strong community, creating citizens who are better informed and more involved. The Daily News will be the indispensible guide to life and living in Tehama County. We will be the premier provider of local news, information and advertising through our daily newspaper, online edition and other print and Internet vehi- cles. The Daily News will reflect and support the unique identities of Tehama County and its cities; record the history of its com- munities and their people and make a positive difference in the quality of life for the resi- dents and businesses of Tehama County. How to reach us Main office: 527-2151 Classified: 527-2151 Circulation: 527-2151 News tips: 527-2153 Sports: 527-2153 Obituaries: 527-2151 Photo: 527-2153 On the Web www.redbluffdailynews.com Fax Newsroom: 527-9251 Classified: 527-5774 Retail Adv.: 527-5774 Legal Adv.: 527-5774 Business Office: 527-3719 Address 545 Diamond Ave. Red Bluff, CA 96080, or P.O. Box 220 Red Bluff, CA 96080 Immigration and the new old me The news that Mexican immi- gration to the United States has come to a virtual halt has me thinking about all the ways that will change things. It will affect politics, culture, labor and the nation's racial climate. And it will also change how we see each other and ourselves as Americans and as Californians, me included. I'm one of those mythical And yet, despite my rooted- ness in Southern California, migration has had an inordinate effect on my life, especially my intellectual and professional life. I've always been something of a tour guide, interpreter and even a booster for my regional home- land. As a young Dodgers fan I always resented that half the sta- dium would root for the Chicago Cubs. I pronounced the glories of L.A. to my friends whose parents longed for the hometowns — New York, Milwaukee, Saigon — they left behind. (And then there's my love life. I once real- ized that most of the women whose lives have collided with native Californians you might have read about. I was born near the corner of Sunset and Vermont in Hollywood. My father was born in L.A. and baptized, as was I, at La Placita Church down- town. My mom was born in northern San Diego County and baptized at the San Antonio de Pala mission there. My paternal great-grandfather arrived in the U.S. — Arizona — from Mexico in 1893. My family has been American so long that sometimes I think I should wear one of those buckled Pilgrim hats. mine were from families — Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, German, Mexican — that arrived here because of migration's big catalyst: wars we fought or labor shortages caused by those wars.) As a kid, of course, some still saw my ethnicity and skin color as signs of my being an outsider. In third grade I was called the "N-word." By the 11th, the haters had wised up and switched to more "accurate" ethnic slurs. There were also incidents outside school, and what they all had in common was that they were committed by white kids who had fewer choices than I did. Their words stung, but they didn't keep me from being elected class president. As a suburban upper- middle-class kid from an educat- ed family, I pretty much felt I could be what I wanted to be, and I chose to be an Angeleno. Back then, although I was sometimes rudely reminded that I was supposedly lesser than white folk, my identity as an American, a Mexican-American and a local was secure and expansive. Sure, in college more than a few people just figured I was from the barrio. But my ethnicity wasn't automat- ically assumed to determine all my cultural tastes or political stances. Mexican immigration reached historic numbers. In 1970, 84 percent of adult Latinos in L.A. County were U.S.-born, and the majority of them were the grand- children of immigrants. Twenty years later, that number had been turned upside down: two-thirds But that began to change as of adult Latinos here were for- eign-born. Suddenly, like many latter-generation Mexican-Amer- icans, I had to grapple with immi- gration and what it meant for me, my city, my country. Businesses of all sorts, including newspa- pers, started looking for educated English-domi- nant Latinos to interpret the newly transformed marketplace. Once again I found myself in the position of interpreter, not as the prideful insid- er I'd been growing up but as an observer of a cultural shift. It was impossible not to be swept up in the debate over immigra- tion, legal and illegal. Though immigrant-bashers always insisted their beef was with illegal immigrants, long- established Mexican-Americans were not immune from their invective. A combination of demographic change and a polar- ized debate had imposed the specter of foreignness — even illegality — on all of us. And stereotyping didn't come just from your racist yahoos. A few years ago, the organizer of a Los Angeles Times-sponsored event asked me to sit on a panel discussing democracy in Latin America. Although I had written a weekly column for the paper for six years, she didn't seem to get that the focus of my writing, my expertise, has always been U.S. society. There are worse assumptions, Gregory Rodriguez to be sure. But in my career, I've had to contend with my apparent foreignness over and over. You'd be shocked to know how many smart people presume to know what I like or think based on my last name, or ascribe beliefs to me based on my ethnicity. And then there are the peo- ple who insist on speaking to me in pid- gin Spanish. Now comes the end of the largest wave of immigration from a single nation in U.S. history. It carries all sorts of benefits. Mexico can start rhaging productive people for far too long. California, where migration from other states is all but over as well, now has an emerging homegrown majority population that has a demonstra- bly intense attachment to its state. After a generation of massive global migration, it's high time for all of us to settle in and make ourselves at home. rebuilding a civil soci- ety that's been hemor- This time, I think I'll interpret it for myself. As an Angeleno, same as I ever was. Gregory Rodriguez is executive director of the Center for Social Cohesion at Arizona State University and a columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Readers may send him email at grodriguez@latimescolumnists. com. Your officials STATE ASSEMBLYMAN — Jim Nielsen (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 6031 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 319-2002; Fax (916) 319-2102 STATE SENATOR — Doug LaMalfa (R) State Capitol Bldg., Room 3070 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 651-4004; Fax (916) 445-7750 GOVERNOR — Jerry Brown, State Capitol Bldg., Sacramento, CA 95814; (916) 445-2841; Fax (916) 558-3160; E-mail: gover- nor@governor.ca.gov. U.S. REPRESENTATIVE — Wally Herger (R), 2595 Cean- othus Ave., Ste. 182, Chico, CA 95973; 893-8363. U.S.SENATORS — Dianne Feinstein (D), One Post Street, Suite 2450, San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 393-0707. Fax (415) 393-0710. Barbara Boxer (D), 1700 Montgomery St., Suite 240, San Francisco, CA 94111; (510) 286-8537. Fax (202) 224- 0454. Easy life in France just a dream Commentary unemployment, poor economic growth, massive government spending and powerful public- sector unions that are gobbling up tax dough, the French people just voted against austerity mea- sures to get their finances in order. Ah, to be French. In the face of high taxes, high conservative, was defeated by Socialist Francois Hollande, who promises to hire more gov- ernment employees and increase the tax rate for "the rich" to 75 percent. President Nicolas Sarkozy, a even I know it sounds too good to be true -- and therefore, prob- ably is. The only way France can meet its massive financial oblig- ations is to unleash its private sector to produce growth that will increase tax revenues. But that would require real reform and a bit more austerity, so to heck with that. Surely many French folks understand that increased spend- ing cannot work, but I have to admire them for their pluck. The truth be told, I am tired of being a fiscal conservative. I'm tired of having the freedom I'm just an English major, but to rise or fall based on my own decisions and actions. own health insurance, tired of worrying about bills and taxes and business insurance policies to protect against lawsuits in the event that somebody slips on a banana peel in front of a piece of ground I own. I'm tired of paying for my The truth be told, a part of me has rooted for President Obama, the closest thing we've ever had to a French president. I dreamed of free health insurance that somebody else would pay for. I'd be able to quit working so hard -- and worry so much less. eral government that hired lots more federal workers. Could I attain such a job and the job security that goes with it? I would gladly give up the stress of having to satisfy communica- tions clients endlessly to ensure they'll keep giving me work. I dreamed that the president I dreamed of a powerful fed- would use more taxpayer funds to support the arts. Might I get a massive would allow me to cease work- ing altogether, so I could work on the great American novel? financial grant that provide generous unemploy- ment benefits like France does, allowing me to live off the fruits of others' labors for a good long while. Sure, I know France's socialist ways will be that country's undoing. I know that if France's new Socialist president actually car- ries out his plans, the French could face real economic collapse and be in for a world of hurt. Or maybe America could the waters of some exotic loca- tion. I dream of sitting around quaint cafes, sipping cognac and nodding approvingly as pretty women stroll by. Tom I know that America isn't that far behind France, where our financial situ- ation is concerned. We cannot sustain our current spending unless our economy begins to undergo massive growth -- and that growth will not be possible without massive reforms to our tax system and entitlement spending. But Obama hasn't shown any interest in that. Still, I dream of a govern- ment-mandated, stress-free exis- tence. I dream of enjoying several weeks of vacation, basking in Purcell defense. I dream of finally being able to relax, knowing that if any- body tries to take away my government job or vacation or generous unemploy- ment benefits, mil- lions of people, also on the government dole, will march into the streets in my Nice as it would be if Ameri- ca could be more French, even for a little while, I know it is just a dream. ——— Tom Purcell, a humor columnist for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate. Visit Tom on the Web at www.TomPurcell.com or e-mail him at Purcell@caglecartoons.com.