Inside Immigration

I feel it's quite ironic to find myself today employed professionally as a person with a psychiatric disability. I now am counted among people who are employed part-time. Before this economic depression, I was one of the "uncounted", that class of people disabled, permanently unemployed or "Those who have given up". Interesting choice of words and perspective. As if there was a choice involved.

I am an ESOL (ESL) teacher of adult immigrants within the poorest city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Regrettably, it is also one of the poorest cities in the United States. In Lawrence, Massachusetts, where I teach English, the unemployment rate is a dismal 25%. It's most likely more. The 'poor' here reflect a wave of immigration from the Dominican Republic. Being in Lawrence, one feels after crossing the mighty Merrimack River, as if they are indeed in a different world. Here Spanish and poverty dominates. It's a convenient mask because it under-estimates the faith, the courage and the perseverance of the human spirit against the worse possible odds.

In this self-proclaimed "Immigrant City", the citizens have elected the first Hispanic mayor in Massachusetts history. He has inherited a financial, an educational, a social services and infrastructure mess. It is also the site of a new Federal Immigration and Naturalization complex. No one gives a damn about Lawrence because it's surrounded by affluent and middle-class towns. Those residents seek their entertainment elsewhere. Even the educated and prosperous immigrants flee the city as soon as possible making the economic and citizenship base even shakier.


I have witnessed the hard work, the earnestness, the persistence, the dedication, and the sacrifice immigrants endure daily in their commitment to learn the English language. It has given me a renewed meaning to be collaborating with so many amazing people and families. Too often, the Hispanic population is stigmatized and disdained by the national and local populace. Even within the greater Latin community, a pecking order exists.
I've heard the Colombians are on the top rung and the "peasants" from the island of Hispaniola are on the bottom rung. There is a co-existing ladder based upon color, too. Such prejudices are culturally deeply ingrained. Give me the underdog anytime.

Today Americans from the elite and middle class can smell Fear and taste Vulnerability. They are scared to death about their future prosperity despite their posturing. They don't seem to share the same values and haven't learned to share their resources like the "poor". They are paralyzed by their greed, egocentricity, selfishness and prejudices. Therefore, they can not be expected to act in the best interests of anyone but themselves.
This is the tragedy of our time.